God’s Laws – Messiah For All

Messiah for all 2015 in review

January 14, 2016January 14, 2016Marcus Ampe8 Comments

Welcome

Dear reader,

Thank you very much for visiting this young site.

After a turbulent year in which the Belgian Christadelphians had to undergo several tests I decided to react to those Christians who called me dirty names and send me horrible things, accusing me of defiling Jesus name or God’s name.

It is a well-known fact that in Christendom and Christianity there are many denominations which do not like the sight of others. Many denominations are convinced they are the only ones who carry the truth and shall have their followers ‘going into heaven‘. In Christendom we also do find several fundamental Christians who threaten others with hell, a place of eternal damnation (according to them) where those who will not convert to their faith will be forever tortured by hell-fire. Because of so many accusations concerning our believe in and our relationship with Christ Jesus thrown at our face, we wanted to make it more clear what we think about the Nazarene rabbi Jeshua, who is today better known as Jesus Christ. At the sites where nasty things were written about me, my believes, my faith and the Christadelphians, I mostly was silenced and could not defend myself nor the Christadelphians, nor all the Christians who, like me do not believe in a Holy Trinity.

Reasons to start this blog

For that reason, wanting to bring a clear picture of the Biblical character Jesus, at the beginning of 2015 I started looking for a new platform to present texts which could justify our way of thinking and could open the eyes of others, offering them also the material from the Bible, the infallible Word of God, itself. In our eyes the Bible is the best tool to bring guidance and insight. After we shall have introduced general introductory texts, about the Word of God, presented in the Book of books, the Bible, and about the Creator and creation in general, we shall present more Biblical fragments by our explanations and when we shall come to the period of the New Covenant and New Testament we shall go step by step through the Messianic Writings (or Kethubim Bet or Kethuvim Bet), using the words of those Godly writings to show who Jesus is, what he has done and what he is still going to do, plus what he means for us, for mankind and for the whole creation.

More than once we have been and still are accused of being haters of God and being haters of Jesus, which made it so important to proof to you and the world that we carry our heart on the right place and do love Christ with all our heart, really appreciating what he did and acknowledging his position as sent one from God, who liberated the world from the curse of death. with this website we want to show you and those who come along that we are a loving group of worshippers of God who live peacefully as united people under Christ, being part of his body and not belonging to this world but to the world of Christ and the world of God, the Divine Creator.

Getting away from the starting bloc

Having tried out several starting blocs we are now on our way with WordPress. – Pressure-sensitive starting blocks at the start line of the 100 metres at the 2007 Pan American Games in João Havelange Olympic Stadium.

After looking at and trying out several systems of blogging I came to chose the trusted WordPress system and published my first article on February 10, 2015 looking back at several try outs, with the title “A beginning with many false starts”.

Many Christians do believe that Jesus created the earth and several of them also are convinced that this creation process exactly took six 24 hours periods, whilst many atheists are convinced everything started from something (or nothing: Something from nothing) with a big bang. To get to know more about the creation and What or Who is behind it we started looking at the world from its conception. To uncover all the creation myths we started from the Book Genesis (Genesis Among the Creation Myths) and continue from there onwards. the whole proces also brings us to look at gods or a god and The God of gods (The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods)

Some may say

“The Eternal Laws of Creation are exact to the minutest detail because they are the expressions of the perfect Will of the Almighty! Where uncertainties and imperfections are found they only arise from man’s limited understanding and application!” {Eternal Laws of Creation #8…..likes repel, opposites attract!}

This uncertainty often frightens man. The not knowing for sure brings up many questions, doubts and lots of insecurities. We are very limited in our thinking and handling. But we should trust more in the given Word to humanity. With this blog we want others also to see how we as human beings fit in the whole universe and in the Plan of God. We want to show how Christ is The Way to God and the Way to life and how we do have to become in Christ to become a whole person and not a split one in this world full of controversy.

By the Will of God

There exist the the popular belief that creation and everything in it (its fullness thereof) exist through the Will of a Creator (variously known as Supreme Intelligence, the Light-Cause, the Almighty, God, etc.) and supervised by the Laws of the Creator! {Eternal Laws of Creation #2…….Omniscience and eternal laws!}

Usually, Light messengers, prophets, masters, etc. mediate or, hand down rules and observances to guide their followers in living aright! Without doubt, these rules have beneficial spiritual relevance especially if they are received from Luminous Heights like the Biblical Ten Commandments! They are infallible guidelines for the human spirit living on earth and in the immediate beyond but, not meant for the literal, one sided interpretations many believers give to them! {Eternal Laws of Creation #2…….Omniscience and eternal laws!}

Man has taken himself many leaders, guides and people who presented lots of dogma‘s they were willing to accept as part of their belief, because they think we otherwise would not comprehend God. Many Christians do thrive on dogmatic teachings. We may have many scholars and theologians in this world but may not forget the promised Spirit to enlighten us.

Man can not do anything without god letting it happen. this is also for the work we try to do to get the work of God be known at more places on the earth. the first ten months of the existence of this blog we could find readers in 66 countries. Most visitors came from The United States (1048). United Kingdom (111) & Australia (88) came before Belgium (62) and the Netherlands (16) which became behind Canada (64), India (35) and the Philippines (27).

With His Will God spans everything, maintains everything, and furthers everything from out of the Living Law which brings to each individual that which he deserves, i.e., that which he wove for himself! {Eternal Laws of Creation #2…….Omniscience and eternal laws!} And we want to knit some good duvet to keep us warm in cold Winters (figuratively speaking). In the times coming we do know we are going to enter a hard time, coming closer to the end times.

Writings and Readings

In the ten months this blog existed in 2015, there were 76 new posts, not bad for the first year!

Coming nearer to the end the messages we want to send in the air are necessary. Jesus asked his followers to go out into the world to preach the Good News of the coming Kingdom of God. Bringing that Gospel of the Kingdom of God we, with several writings, want to bring your thoughts to the teaching of Jesus, remembering the days that our father Abraham rejoiced that he would see Jeshua’s day. (John 8:56). Throughout the years we do hope to present our writings in such a way that you and others might come to “see” the coming day.

Remembering what Paul told the Corinthians

“we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

we dare to ask our readers to look beyond our writings. We want to challenge you and our other readers to go looking in your own or their Bible and to compare what is said in that book and what you believe at the present or believed in the past.

We sincerely hope throughout the years we shall be able to build up some followers and find more people coming to the Biblical Truth. As such we also do hope that in our readings (followed by meditation) of God’s Word, we shall be able to be “clothed with gladness” – a gladness that flows out from the relationship we have developed with our Lord.

Invitation

Therefore we do invite you to looking with us at the Source of joy. Our most commented on post in 2015 was The very very beginning 2 The Word and words. In it we looked at the Bereshith, the book of the Beginnings or Genesis where is not said “gods” created, but is spoken of a Singular Person Who speaks and Makes or brings into being. He is the Supreme Being of beings. The One Whose Words we want to resound all over the world, not just in those few countries we are reaching at the moment.

We commit our selves and want others also to commit themselves to the trustworthy Creator, coming to see man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose.
As many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus let us going over the texts presented here and looking at the Bible passages mentioned see the bigger picture.

As our world falls apart – more and more – we are going to need to sense the importance of becoming active partakers of the Body of Christ. As we are trying to do our best in the name of Jesus we want you to work with us to “work together with him” (2 Corinthians 6:1), that the Most High Lord His Guiding Hand is there and our

“times are in His hand”.

Looking towards 2016 and beyond

We hope to find you back here more than once and hope you too may have your heart in the right place and have like us a brightly burning faith.

In the Bible we have the assurance that we may have good hope and that God preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Let us therefore be strong, and let our and your heart take courage, all you who wait for Jeshua, the Kristos or Christ to return!

In the meantime have a look at our statistics for 2015, the first ten months we presented this blog and offered our readers 76 posts.

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 28 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Please do find additional reading:

Also of interest

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Further related articles

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Muslim God, Christian God (theamericanconservative.com)
12-18-2015 Jesus, More Than Meet The Eye (fellowshiproom.org)
John 13 & The Distinguishing Mark of a Christian (2cherish2commend.com)
How the world looked when Jesus was born, according to Roman geographers… (atlasobscura.com)
Will the USA Be the Arena of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? (spiritualmagazine.co.uk)
The Messiah in the Manger (hillsbiblechurch.org)
Scientists Use New Technology To Reveal What Jesus Really Would Have Looked Like. See The Photo… (americanoverlook.com)

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015Marcus Ampe29 Comments

In the previous postings we have seen that man had to be reminded to his own choice to be without God as their Commander and because off that choice got a reminder of their mortality.

We by know should see the significance of the introduction of the Sabbath commands being associated with the provision of manna.

For many people Mosaic law in the Bible can be confusing and often also in Judaic groups we can find lots of debates about certain laws to be followed in what sort of way. Many Christians do not like to talk so much about those laws and which ones we have to follow.

Critics of Christendom and Christianity and non-believers often question how there can exist such a god who is so demanding. Some even find that Judaism, Christendom and the Muslim world do have a very cruel and petty god.

In many religious groups the question is posed which laws we still do have to follow.

According to some

” There are definitely some bizarre statutes, such as not being allowed to mix two kinds of fabric, or not cooking a goat in its mothers milk. There are also all the dietary restrictions of not being allowed to eat certain “unclean” animals such as pigs, not to mention all the sacrificial laws to atone for sin. These things seem drastic and at the very least, unnecessary. Now obviously most Christians don’t follow any of these. So what are we supposed to do with it? We know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So what has changed? {What are we gonna do with this Torah?}

In the previous postings we have shown that all relates to mankind’s decision to take a certain attitude to God. We need to understand that because of sin we were not able to relate to God as he intended it. By man’s own choice he became separated from his own Creator. For this reason god made a structure so that they could often enough be reminded of Him Divine Creator.

In the previous writings you could see that God provided physical and spiritual food for man and gave them rules to follow so that they could have an easier life. He also demanded from them to respect Him as the Only One True God and not to make any graven images of Him.

We also could see how God provided already from the beginning of the fall of man, a solution in the person of Jeshua, Jesus Christ, the sent one from God who could bring salvation by showing the world a man was able not to do his own will but to rightly follow the Will of God.

Before the placed one on earth

Before the only begotten son of God was placed on the earth, all believers where still in a situation to be compared with God’s people in Egypt. But now we do have Jesus, God’s faithful Son who is called out of Egypt, filling up what was lacking in the first faithless son, Israel.

First Israel, God’s son, broke the covenant and deserved God’s wrath. Like at the beginning in the Garden of Eden, God‘s promise brings the one and only working solution for mankind. It is not by doing certain works that the liberation shall come over us. It is by the Gift of Grace that we receive freedom, but that would not liberate us from following certain orders made by God.

Galatians 4:3-5 NHEBJE So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. (4) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, (5) that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.

Completion of Israel’s designation

God his only begotten Son Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:17), whom God loves and with him God is well pleased, is the one who came to complete all that Israel was designed to perform. Some Jews got to see that, but also some non-Jews. Therefore the Jews started wondering if those new converts also had to fulfil all the requirements of the Jewish or Judaic and Mosaic Laws.

Those Jews who had chosen to follow their Master–teacher Jeshua as the Messiah had also some who came to compare the old Jews and the new ‘Jews’ or converted goyim, people from all nations and all sorts other religions. The news of the conversion of the Gentiles is received with joy (Acts 15:12). They could see how many thousands of Yehuḏim there had come to be ardent for the Torah.

Torah and morality for man to follow

For generations since Moses the Jews had their preachers in every town, and it was been read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath how to conduct oneself. As such it was questioned what the new converts had to avoid. Had they to worry about anything that has been contaminated by idols, immorality, the meat of strangled animals, and the tasting of blood?

The Jews had their Mosaic Law as a great bulwark of morality, and there was excuse for wondering whether pagans could keep its moral precepts, without observing it entirely. So this party, which did not represent the church at Jerusalem, (Acts 15:13 ff.), came to Antioch and insisted that circumcision and the Law were necessary for those who wished to enter the Messianic kingdom on earth, and be saved. The Judaizing party had evidently little following outside Jerusalem.

Gentiles, Judaizing Christians and Jews

In Jerusalem many thought that Paul was teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. Therefore they requested the assembly to meet. Concerning the Gentiles who believe, the apostles have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

Acts 21:17-26 NHEBJE When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. (18) The day following, Paul went in with us to James; and all the elders were present. (19) When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things which God had worked among the Gentiles through his ministry. (20) They, when they heard it, glorified God. They said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Judeans of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law. (21) They have been informed about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the customs. (22) What then? They will certainly hear that you have come. (23) Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. (24) Take them, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is no truth in the things that they have been informed about you, but that you yourself also walk keeping the Law. (25) But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written our decision that they should keep themselves from food offered to idols, from blood, from strangled things, and from sexual immorality.” (26) Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purified himself and went with them into the temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them.

An elaborate list of “do” and “don’t” items

A turn was made in history of man when the sent one of God had proven that man could do the Will of God and presented himself as an offering for all sinners. Jesus himself also knew that said that the Sabbath was made for man. (Mark 2:27).

Mark 2:23-28 NHEBJE It happened that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. (24) The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?” (25) He said to them, “Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungryhe, and those who were with him? (26) How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?” (27) He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (28) Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus reminded the Pharisees about their attitude concerning observing religious rituals; like they declared that joy was more important than observing religious rituals, but could not see how on the Sabbath certain things could be done. The gleaning on the fields by the apostles was not considered stealing according to Deuteronomy 23:2, but the rabbis were more concerned about the day on which it happened and felt it belonged to an act of their elaborate list of “not to do” items relevant to the Sabbath. For them it was a serious violation of one of the items on this list.
When the disciples began to pluck the heads of grain, in the eyes of the religious leaders they were guilty of 4 faults: reaping, threshing, winnowing, preparing food.

At this time, Rabbis filled Judaism with elaborate rituals related to the Sabbath and observance of other laws. Ancient Rabbis taught that on the Sabbath, a man could not carry something in his right hand or in his left hand, across his chest or on his shoulder. But you could carry something with the back of your hand, with your foot, with your elbow, or in your ear, your hair, or in the hem of your shirt, or in your shoe or sandal. Or, on the Sabbath, you were forbidden to tie a knot – except a woman could tie a knot in her girdle. So, if a bucket of water had to be raised from a well, you could not tie a rope to the bucket, but a woman could tie her girdle to the bucket!
{Guzik commentary on the Gospel of Mark}

What they did not understand is that Jeshua never violated the mitzvah or God’s commands in any way. He took time to study God’s Word and did everything to live according to it. Jeshua with his disciples went to different places and wherever they came they took time to worship God and to observe the Sabbath.

For this sent one from God, who did not want to do his own will (which he would have done in case he himself was God, like some think)would not have approved of his disciples violating God’s commands to observe the Sabbath. But for him there was a big difference between the laws of God and the laws made by man. He could see that by time man added rules had come in the Jewish tradition, which had more to do with man made legalistic ways than with God His Ways.

Human need more important than religious ritual

A very often overlooked issue is the one of the needs of man and of the regulations for man in this time of age.

We do live in a world where man can reign, but where man has also many needs. People do have to eat and to be taken care for, every day and not just one day of the week not. When people would not be treated one day in the week it could well be that they would die that day, because of not having had the right treatment. But not only for life matters it was important to recognise that man could and should be able to do certain things which he would or would not do on the other days of the week. It could be for relaxation, for entertainment, or for making himself wiser, etc..

Also people had to take care for others, and our of love should also sometimes do things which would demand work.

Can you imagine those who do believe in God and do find we do have to keep Sabbath, but take a taxi or public transport, watch television, want to have shops open for getting what they want, want to go to the theatre and have people working for them, so you could say they are not concerned that those people then would do something against the Will of God and would loose their life? This would be very unloving and very selfish.

Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset

Those who say Christians do have to keep to the Sabbath Law should then keep Sabbath from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset and should abstain of any form of work but also of any relaxation which would have others working, like watching television, going on the internet, wanting medical care, etc.

Those who say the Sabbath is Sunday should look at Jeshua which day he kept. That was the Jewish Sabbath and not what they call the Lord’s Day. God’s Day of rest was from what we now call Friday-night until the time sun goes down on Saturday and not when the clock strikes 12 on Saturday night until Sunday 12 pm..

It is not by days that we can be separated from God, but by our acts of doing wrong. It is sin which alienates us from God not the keeping of one or an other day in a different way than the other days.

To remind our position in the universe of God

God had given the Law to Moses so that people could be reminded of their Creator and of their position in the creation. God’s law shows us that we are not able to attain righteousness through laws, but by making our own right choices like the sent one from God made the right choices from his own, not pushed by any other person.

The first Adam did not keep to God His Wishes and his descendants were not better. Though the descendant of the tribe of David, showed he also had could reason to be a beloved son of God. As the second Adam he also could not attain righteousness through the law. He like any man could sin, something only God can not, but he always made the right choices, following not his own will but the Will of God.

Because of being infected by the fall of man we are unable to be without spot. For us week human beings it is difficult to keep to God’s standards. His ordinances may be set apart from the human rules, but that does not yet mean that we can’t be able to become set-apart our selves (being holy).

Fulfiller of Law

By only doing God’s Will and not the one of his own, Jesus proofed to God and to mankind that man is able to keep to God’s Will. By his way of living and giving himself for mankind he opened the way for a restored relationship between God and mankind.

For centuries man had tried to live according to God’s regulations, but did not seem to succeed. Now there was this Nazarene man who succeeded. By doing so he fulfilled the law and liberated all others from the Old Ordinances bringing them under a New Covenant, a New Regulation. By the sealing of his death a start was given to a New World.

Jesus died as a perfect payment for all the past, present, and future sins of all people. Though now people do have to recognise that sacrificial offering and have to come to see that Jesus is the Way to God now.

Matthew 5:17 NHEBJE “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

In a certain way do we not need the Mosaic Law any more, when we accept Jesus as our new law giver. God gave him authority to teach the world and to judge the world. We are by Christ Jesus Justified by faith. So it is up to people to follow Jesus or either to ignore him like many ignore Jesus his heavenly Father, the Only One God.

Through Christ Jesus righteousness is granted to us, and not any more by the Mosaic Law. He nailed the law and its consequences unto the stake. Through Jesus the sacrificial laws have been nullified and the temple curtain has been torn to allow all who know God to come to him, unrestricted, through the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8-16 NHEBJE (8) for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, that no one would boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. (11) Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision,” (in the flesh, made by hands); (12) that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (13) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ. (14) For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, (15) having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace; (16) and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

Ordering works and ways of living

From the Jews there were ordered works of Torah, but those who came to Christianity should have to see that Jesus nailed the Old Covenant to the stake and as such did not have to keep to certain laws of food and customs.

Paul had also come to see that certain Jews did more live like gentiles and therefore questioned a.o. Cephas how he who lived not like a Jew, could force the Gentiles to live like Jews.
The Jews by birth who followed Jeshua understood that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. Jeshua’s followers believed in the Nazarene man to be the Messiah, the promised sent one from God. They were convinced that by works of the law no one will be justified.

From the 1° Adam onwards all man had been with sin except Christ Jesus. Jeshua did not become a servant of sin. Those converts to the teachings of Jeshua died to the Mosaic Law so that they might live to God. They should walk and live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us all.

Galatians 2:14-21 NHEBJE (14) But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, how can you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do? (15) “We, being Jews by birth, and not Gentile sinners, (16) yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. (17) But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! (18) For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. (19) For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. (21) I do not make void the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

False teachings unsettling minds and burdens

In the early times of Christianity already false teachers could be found and people who disturbed others by their teaching and unsettled others their minds. The assembled meeting of Jewish brethren unanimously resolved to select representatives and send them to the ecclesiae so that they could hear how the view was made under the direction of the Holy Spirit after prayer and wise consult. By word of mouth the message was given to the other ecclesia. They agreed that it was for the Holy Spirit and their meeting that had decided not to lay upon others any burden but this indispensable one, that they had to avoid whatever has been sacrificed to idols, the tasting of blood and of the meat of animals that have been strangled, and immorality. They in first instance had to keep themselves free from these things.

Acts 15:24-29 NHEBJE Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, to whom we gave no commandment; (25) it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, (26) men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (27) We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth. (28) For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: (29) that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

As such old customs like bringing certain offers, tithing, were not necessary any more, because even by the Jews there were ones who did not like it and tried to escape from it.

From several parables and sayings form Jeshua, Jesus Christ, we do know that it is much more important to live according to the spirit of the Law, be it Mosaic or any other law, than to the letter.

End of the law

Those people who say they are Christian should follow the teachings of the master-teacher, rabbi Jeshua, and should accept his words about himself, his heavenly Father and about how we do have to live.

He also gave a golden rule which should guide us through our life and be our goal to love God and God His creation, like Jesus loved us we should love ourself and one another.

John 13:34-35 NHEBJE A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. (35) By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 15:12-13 NHEBJE “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

John 14:21 NHEBJE One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

Romans 10:4 NHEBJE For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Colossians 2:6-17 NHEBJE (6) As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, (7) rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving. (8) Be careful that you do not let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in him all the fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily, (10) and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power; (11) in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; (12) having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. (13) You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, (14) wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; (15) having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (16) Let no man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, (17) which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

Preceding articles:

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #1

Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

Creation of the earth and man #7 Of the Sabbath day #5 Respecting the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead

Creation of the earth and man #8 Of the Sabbath day #6 If it be necessary to keep Sunday

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

Additional reading

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No other god besides Jehovah who gives all explanation

July 15, 2015Marcus Ampe39 Comments

Lots of people do think they are not able to understand God’s Word without the explanations of theologians. They are mistaken and have a wrong idea about the Divine Creator Who is a God of order and clarity.

From the beginning of creation the Maker of everything let His Voice resound in the universe. He wanted everything to hear His Voice. He also came to make human beings in His image and wanted that they knew Him and listened to His Voice, His commandments, His statutes and would follow His Wishes.

Being created in the image of God each human being has certain elements or qualities of God in him or her. Every created human being has something in him or her which has the quality or feeling of the Divine Maker. As such every human should be able to feel that there is a Divine Creator. He is the Father of universe Who let His Voice hear and let His products of His Hands show the wonders and glory of His Majesty.

Wherever people dwell they can look around them and see the wonders of nature. Nature can speak for itself. In the magnificent glory of the universe every human being should be able to recognise the Hand of God.

Those who are willing to seek the Lord God shall be able to find Him whenever they shall seek Him with all their heart, and with all their soul in their affliction.

Deu 4:29 NHEBJE But from there you shall seek Jehovah your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deu 30:1-3 NHEBJE It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Jehovah your God has driven you, (2) and shall return to Jehovah your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; (3) that then Jehovah your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Jehovah your God has scattered you.

2Ch 31:21 NHEBJE In every work that he began in the service of God’s house, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

Psa 119:2 NHEBJE Blessed are those who keep his statutes, who seek him with their whole heart.

Jer 29:13 NHEBJE You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.

In the beginning of times nor in the old times there where people who called themselves theologians or had the idea that they alone could truly understand the Words of God and give people insight. Those who claim to be the only ones who can fully understand the Bible and give the only right explanation are passing God’s Words and forgetting that it is God Himself Who calls and gives insight.

To come to know God we can look around us and see what nature has to offer us. We should open our eyes and see the micro-cosmos with its many wonders. Becoming aware of the nissim or miracles in nature we shall be able to recognise the invisible Hand of God.

Jehovah also has raised up for us prophets, men of God, His servants who wrote down God’s Words and tried to help people find the Most High Lord of the universe. Jehovah of Hosts, the Elohim of Israel, wants us to find Him and has taken care that His words were correctly written down and delivered from one generation unto the next.

The Elohim has gone forth to take to Himself a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by battle, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that He, the Most High of all beings, shall be known as the One Who Is The Being Itself, the I Am Who Is’ or “I am that which I am” [ayah ashar ayah. This is not His Name, but it is an explanation that leads up to the revelation of His Name in v. 15, namely: יהוה {Jehovah}] Who did so many things for those who lived on the earth, so that they could come to see Who is behind it all.

Elohim His a strong hand and outstretched arm we should allow to come over us. We should allow it that by great fearsome deeds, according to all that יהוה {Jehovah} our Elohim has done in the past we shall get to know Him better by having our eyes and ears open for Him more than for human words and tricks. When opening ourselves for Him He shall let Him be known and shall recall to our heart that יהוה {Jehovah} Himself is Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath; there is none else beside Him.

God has at all times given His Words and has provided means so that people could find Him and could come close to Him. The only thing what He requires is that people listen to Him and guard His laws and His commands which He has given to man and which are recorded in the Book of books.

Deu 4:34-40 NHEBJE Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (35) It was shown to you so that you might know that Jehovah is God. There is no one else besides him. (36) Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. (37) Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt; (38) to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day. (39) Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else. (40) You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah your God gives you, forever.

Exo 3:14 NHEBJE God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

Jehovah gave His remembrance to all generations and His Word’s notated in the Holy Scriptures should be sufficient for us to come to knowledge. when we are willing to hear God speaking to us in His infallible Word, the Bible, we should not worry about learned scholars, theologians or not being sufficient educated to find and understand God. God does not hold back necessary information for any body. He wants to give everybody, learned or not educated the chance to find Him and to worship Him.

God stretches out His Hand and, like all that Jehovah our God did for His people in Egypt before the eyes of the world, He is still present to bring trials and signs and wonders and even war, with an outstretched arm and with great and awesome deeds. Many may find it strange God allows fighting and wars going on, but may not forget that man himself wanted to be master of the world and arrange everything themselves. It is up to man to take care of their own life and their own environment, though those who want God near them, God shall not leave them abandoned but shall come to their guidance and help.

With the Holy Scriptures we have been given a very handy tool and a manual for life. We all are shown the wonders of God in order for us to acknowledge that Jehovah is the God; there is no other God besides him.

Exo 15:11 NHEBJE Who is like you, Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

We should trust God and follow His words. No other man or god besides Jehovah shall be able to give all explanation and would be mightier or better than the Word of God itself.

It is by reading the many books of those prophets that we can come to know God, His Works and His son, who also used those books to explain what he came to do and to show who the Messiah was.

Luk 24:26-27 NHEBJE Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?” (27) Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luk 24:31-32 NHEBJE Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished out of their sight. (32) They said one to another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

Luk 24:44-45 NHEBJE He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.” (45) Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.

Like in the old times many persons their eyes may still be closed. Many people their minds are also still closed. Our minds may like the apostles their mind still being covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. We should know that it are not the theologians who are going to remove that veil because it is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers many so called ‘Christians‘ their minds. But it can be removed, as the Scripture talks about Moses his veil being removed when he turned to the Lord Most High. Also at the time that Christ Jesus was afraid for what was going to come he wondered why God had abandoned him and cried unto God. We too like Christ can call unto his heavenly Father and in the same way as Christ found guidance from God in the Holy Scriptures, we too can find guidance in it. God’s Spirit accompanied Christ Jesus who was keeping to the Word of his heavenly Father, the Only One God. Like him we, when letting the Spirit come into our heart can find liberation of human doctrines and find freedom.

Those who call themselves followers of Christ Jesus should listen to his words and to the words of the heavenly Father Who sent Jesus to this world. Those willing to become a Christian should get to know the Holy Scriptures like Jesus knew the Scriptures very well. With uncovered faces, not afraid to take the words of the Bible like they are written down, we should reflect the glory of God יהוה the Spirit, and where the Spirit of יהוה {Jehovah} is, there is freedom, finding transformation into His likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.

2Co 3:14-18 NHEBJE But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away. (15) But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. (16) But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (17) Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (18) But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Isa 29:18-19 NHEBJE In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. (19) The humble also will increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Preceding:

Gone astray, away from God

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

Necessity of a revelation of creation 12 Words assembled for wisdom and instruction

Necessity of a revelation of creation 13 Getting wisdom

Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures

Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us

Additional reading:

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God-breathed prophetic words written torah and the mitzvot to teach us

June 3, 2015Marcus Ampe17 Comments

Here you can find the bible verses by the previous article:

Necessary to be known all over the earth

“23 but the words, “it was credited to his account…, ”were not written for him only. 24 they were written also for us, who will certainly have our account credited too, because we have trusted in him who raised Yeshua our lord from the dead-” (Romans 4:23-24 CJB)

“for everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that with the encouragement of the Tanakh we might patiently hold on to our hope.” (Romans 15:4 CJB)

“16 all Scripture is god-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living; 17 thus anyone who belongs to god may be fully equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 CJB)

“19 yes, we have the prophetic word made very certain. you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark, murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 first of all, understand this: no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted by an individual on his own; 21 for never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing – on the contrary, people moved by the Ruach haKodesh spoke a message from god.” (2 Peter 1:19-21 CJB)

“he has to remain in heaven until the time comes for restoring everything, as god said long ago, when he spoke through the holy prophets.” (Acts 3:21 CJB)

“{A: v, S: iv} “these words ADONAI spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire, cloud and thick mist, in a loud voice; then it ceased. but he wrote them on two stone tablets, which he gave to me.” (Deuteronomy 5:22 CJB)

“8 you are to write on the stones all the words of this torah very clearly.” 9 next Moshe and the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, spoke to all Isra’el. they said, “be quiet; and listen, Isra’el! today you have become the people of ADONAI your god. 10 therefore you are to listen to what ADONAI your god says and obey his mitzvot and laws, which I am giving you today.”” (Deuteronomy 27:8-10 CJB)

“2 “the spirit of ADONAI spoke through me, his word was on my tongue. 3 the god of Isra’el spoke; the rock of Isra’el said to me, ‘A ruler over people must be upright, ruling in the fear of god; 4 like the morning light at sunrise on a cloudless day that makes the grass on the earth sparkle after a rain.’” (2 Samuel 23:2-4 CJB)

““isn’t my word like fire,” asks ADONAI, “like a hammer shattering rocks?” (Jeremiah 23:29 CJB)

“then he answered me, “this is the word of ADONAI to Z’rubavel: ‘not by force, and not by power, but by my spirit,’ says ADONAI-Tzva’ot.” (Zechariah 4:6 CJB)

“yes, they made their hearts as hard as a diamond, so that they wouldn’t hear the torah and the messages that ADONAI-Tzva’ot had sent by his spirit through the earlier prophets. this is why great anger came from ADONAI-Tzva’ot;” (Zechariah 7:12 CJB)

“David himself, inspired by the Ruach haKodesh, said, ‘ADONAI said to my lord, “sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’” {#Ps 110:1}” (Mark 12:36 CJB)

““brothers, the Ruach haKodesh spoke in advance through David about Y’hudah, and these words of the Tanakh had to be fulfilled. he was guide for those who arrested Yeshua—” (Acts 1:16 CJB)

“but this is how god fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.” (Acts 3:18 CJB)

“(12:14) by a prophet ADONAI brought Isra’el up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was protected.” (Hosea 12:13 CJB)

“in my distress my comfort is this: that your promise gives me life.” (Psalms 119:50 CJB)

“for the mitzvah is a lamp, torah is light, and reproofs that discipline are the way to life.” (Proverbs 6:23 CJB)

“but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.” (Exodus 20:6 CJB)

“ADONAI said to Moshe, “come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” (Exodus 24:12 CJB)

“observe the charge of ADONAI your god to go in his ways and keep his regulations, mitzvot, rulings and instructions in accordance with what is written in the torah of Moshe; so that you will succeed in all you do and wherever you go.” (1 Kings 2:3 CJB)

“so be wholehearted with ADONAI our god, living by his laws and observing his mitzvot, as you are doing today.”” (1 Kings 8:61 CJB)

“all the more does he say this for our sakes. yes, it was written for us, meaning that he who plows and he who threshes should work expecting to get a share of the crop.” (1 Corinthians 9:10 CJB)

“these things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim.” (1 Corinthians 10:11 CJB)

“for ADONAI corrects those he loves like a father who delights in his son.” (Proverbs 3:12 CJB)

“he must hold firmly to the trustworthy message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it.” (Titus 1:9 CJB)

“the sexually immoral – both heterosexual and homosexual – slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone who acts contrary to the sound teaching” (1 Timothy 1:10 CJB)

“if anyone teaches differently and does not agree to the sound precepts of our lord Yeshua the Messiah and to the doctrine that is in keeping with godliness,” (1 Timothy 6:3 CJB)

“follow the pattern of the sound teachings you have heard from me, with trust and the love which is yours in the Messiah Yeshua.” (2 Timothy 1:13 CJB)

“and it’s true! for this reason, you must be severe when you rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come to be sound in their trust” (Titus 1:13 CJB)

“also you have forgotten the counsel which speaks with you as sons: “my son, don’t despise the discipline of ADONAI or become despondent when he corrects you.” (Hebrews 12:5 CJB)

“(his talmidim later recalled that the Tanakh says, “zeal for your house will devour me.”) {#Ps 69:9}” (John 2:17 CJB)

“it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” (John 6:63 CJB)

“23 Yeshua answered him, “if someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 someone who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words—and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the father who sent me. 25 “I have told you these things while I am still with you. 26 but the counselor, the Ruach haKodesh, whom the father will send in my name, will teach you everything; that is, he will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 “what I am leaving with you is shalom —I am giving you my shalom. I don’t give the way the world gives. don’t let yourselves be upset or frightened. 28 you heard me tell you, ‘I am leaving, and I will come back to you.’ if you loved me, you would have been glad that I am going to the father; because the father is greater than I. 29 “also, I have said it to you now, before it happens; so that when it does happen, you will trust. 30 “I won’t be talking with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. he has no claim on me; 31 rather, this is happening so that the world may know that I love the father, and that I do as the father has commanded me. “get up! let’s get going!” (John 14:23-31 CJB)

“so Yeshua gave them an answer: “my teaching is not my own, it comes from the one who sent me.” (John 7:16 CJB)

“for I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it.” (John 12:49 CJB)

“10 don’t you believe that I am united with the father, and the father united with me? what I am telling you, I am not saying on my own initiative; the father living in me is doing his own works. 11 trust me, that I am united with the father, and the father united with me. but if you can’t, then trust because of the works themselves. 12 yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the father. 13 in fact, whatever you ask for in my name, I will do; so that the father may be glorified in the son. 14 if you ask me for something in my name, I will do it. 15 “if you love me, you will keep my commands; 16 and I will ask the father, and he will give you another comforting counselor like me, the spirit of truth, to be with you forever. 17 the world cannot receive him, because it neither sees nor knows him. you know him, because he is staying with you and will be united with you. 18 I will not leave you orphans—I am coming to you.” (John 14:10-18 CJB)

“while others refused to believe. so they left, disagreeing among themselves, after sha’ul had made one final statement: “the Ruach haKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha‘yahu the prophet,” (Acts 28:25 CJB)

“10 finally, grow powerful in union with the lord, in union with his mighty strength! 11 use all the armor and weaponry that god provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the adversary. 12 for we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. 13 so take up every piece of war equipment god provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. 14 therefore, stand! have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, {#Isa 11:5} put on righteousness for a breastplate, {#Isa 59:17} 15 and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the good news of shalom. {#Isa 52:7} 16 always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 and take the helmet of deliverance; {#Isa 59:17} along with the sword given by the spirit, that is, the word of god;” (Ephesians 6:10-17 CJB)

“but since we belong to the day, let us stay sober, putting on trust and love as a breastplate and the hope of being delivered as a helmet. {#Isa 59:17}” (1 Thessalonians 5:8 CJB)

“it is the spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. the words I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” (John 6:63 CJB)

“see, the word of god is alive! it is at work and is sharper than any doubleedged sword – it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12 CJB)

“then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.’ thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of god!” (Matthew 15:6 CJB)

“thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the word of god! and you do other things like this.”” (Mark 7:13 CJB)

“you have been born again not from some seed that will decay, but from one that cannot decay, through the living word of god that lasts forever.” (1 Peter 1:23 CJB)

“the emissaries and the brothers throughout Y’hudah heard that the Goyim had received the word of god;” (Acts 11:1 CJB)

“another reason we regularly thank god is that when you heard the word of god from us, you received it not merely as a human word, but as it truly is, god’s word, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13 CJB)

“when we say this, we base it on the lord’s own word: we who remain alive when the lord comes will certainly not take precedence over those who have died.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15 CJB)

“having made his decision, he gave birth to us through a word that can be relied upon, in order that we should be a kind of firstfruits of all that he created.” (James 1:18 CJB)

Several Bible-translations on the Bookshelf

Preceding:

Necessary to be known all over the earth

Additional reading:

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“Friends and Neighbours” Parashat Acharei Mot – Kedoshim 5775 (blogs.timesofisrael.com)
Living the Mitzvot (israelnationalnews.com)
How to be Noble Person (idkh.org)
You may speak in tongues if …. (atwistedcrownofthorns.com)
Pentecost (catholicjules.net)
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1956msbess.wordpress.com)
Bible sayings about God (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

May 5, 2015Christadelphians43 Comments

Image of the Dutch Reformation iconoclasm (Bee... — Image of the Dutch Reformation iconoclasm (Beeldenstorm) Image from: De eerste jaren der Nederlandsche Revolutie (1555-1568), Elsevier, Rotterdam 1882 Reproduction in: Het beleg van Haarlem; Haarlem’s heldenstrijd in beeld en woord 1572-1572, F. De Witt Huberts, Oceanus, 1944 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many in this world hate instruction from the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah, and throw God’s Words behind them, refusing correction and rejecting His commands (Psalm 50:17). Many rebelled and disobeyed God’s laws. Some even killed God’s prophets, who warned them to turn back to God, and they cursed God’s Holy Name. There were those who like king David guarded God His misvoth (or commandments) and walked after Him with all their heart, to work only, straight in God His Eyes. But many others liked men’s words and and vilified to work above all who are at their face and went and worked other elohim and molten to vex the Most High Elohim and to bow down in front of graven images in front of beings they called ‘god‘.

Neh 9:26-27 NHEBJE “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. (27) Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.

1Ki 14:9 NHEBJE but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back:

Today even in Christendom we can find many people bowing down in front of crucifixes or statues of Jesus or other persons. Those people call themselves also Christians but they seem to forget what God, the Adonai who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, Himself said about such a worshipping with bowing down in front of graven images.

Exo 20:2-7 NHEBJE “I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) You shall have no other gods before me. (4) “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (5) you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, (6) and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (7) “You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

This God Who created the heavens and the earth demanded to follow His instructions.

Pro 4:13 NHEBJE Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

Receive God His instruction rather than silver; God’s knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it. (Proverbs 8:10-11)

Pro 13:13 NHEBJE Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

The law of truth should be found in followers of Christ but throughout history we can see that there were many who preferred to follow teachings by men who called themselves theologians. already at the time of the apostles false prophets came unto the scene and a few centuries later the ‘church’ sold her soul to the Roman Empire fulfilling the wishes of Caesar Constantine instead of keeping faithful to God’s commandments of honouring only One God Who is One.

When centuries later some rebellious priests found that the Bible alone (sola Scriptura) should have everything to say and to instruct and condemned the Roman Catholic Church, soon they too went the same way as that church making their own doctrines. A 2014 survey on American Evangelical beliefs found that most American evangelicals hold views condemned as heretical by some of the most important councils of the early church. Many came to understand that their personal (“alone”) interpretation of Scripture would be authoritative instead of taking the words like they are written in the Bible (Old and New testament) for what they really express.

G. K. Chesterton remind us that it is arrogant to ignore the teachings of our forefathers in the faith, but we should be weary to find who was in the faith. They faced many of the same theological questions we do today, and their answers have stood the test of time, but that does not mean yet that their answers are the right ones. When we look at the previous theologians their writings we must remember that bishops and councils, after all, can err. We all should also remember that politics played a big part in it as well. That’s how the Nicene Creed came to be.

To protest against an error, such as Romanism, and to affirm that every man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, is a very different thing to believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and walking in all the institutions of the Lord blameless. To do this would unchristianize a man in the estimation of State churches and sectarian denominations; for the Bible religion requires a man to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints”, which in these times cannot be done without upheaving the very foundations of the self-complacent, self-glorifying, and self-laudatory communions of the antipapal constitution of things. It is true that no man or power has a right to interfere between God and the conscience; but it is also true that no man has a right to worship God as he pleases. This is a Protestant fallacy. Man has a right to worship God only in the way God has Himself appointed. “In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” This is the judgment pronounced by the wisdom of God upon all worship which He has not instituted. He declares it to be vain worship; concerning which the apostle to the Gentiles says: “Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath; let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. Be not subject to dogmatisms (δογματίζεσθε) after the commandments and traditions of men; which things have indeed a show of wisdom in WILL-WORSHIP and humility.”
These exhortations apply to all faith and worship, Papal and Protestant. If Popery judges men in meats, Protestantism doth the same in drinks, and in the Sabbath; they both judge men in holy-days and “movable feasts”; and though Protestantism repudiates the worshipping of angels, it proclaims in its “fasts”, “preparations”, “concerts”, etc. a voluntary humility, anti celebration of “saints and martyrs”, renowned in legendary tales for “the pride that apes humility”. Let the reader search the scriptures from beginning to end, and he will nowhere find such systems of faith and worship as those comprehended in the Papal and Protestant systems. The gospel of the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus is not preached among them; they are communions which are uncircumcised of heart; theological dissertations on texts, called “sermons”, are substituted for “reasoning out of the scriptures”—for “expounding and testifying the Kingdom of God, and persuading men concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets”. Puseyism, Swedenborgianism, and all sorts of isms, to which in apostolic times the world was a total stranger, run riot among them; the lusts of the flesh, of the eye, and of the pride of life have extinguished even the energy and zeal of the antipapal rebellion out of which they have arisen; they are dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, and therefore the time is come to cut them off as a rotten branch from the good olive tree. Let therefore every man that would eschew the wrath which is begun, and who would become an heir of the kingdom of God, save himself from the unholy, lifeless, and effete denominations of these “Latter Days”. By remaining in them, a man partakes of their evil deeds, and subjects himself to their evil influences. The word of man has silenced the word of God in their midst; and religion has degenerated into a professional commodity sold for cash according to the taste which most prevails in the soul-makers of the world.so
Let us then “cease from men, whose breath is in their nostrils; for wherein are they to be accounted of?” “They be blind leaders of the blind”, in whom is no light, because they speak not according to the law and the testimony of God. Let us repudiate their dogmatisms; let us renounce their mysteries; and let us declare our independence of all human authority in matters of faith and practice outside the word of God. The scriptures are able to make us wise, which the traditions of “divines” are not. Let us then come to these scriptures, for we have the assurance that he who seeks shall find. But we must seek by the fight of scripture, and not permit that fight to be obscured by high thoughts and vain imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Great is the consolation that “the wise shall understand”, and “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament”. Be this then our happiness, to understand, believe, and do, that we may be blessed in our deed, and attain to the glorious liberty and manifestation of the sons of God.
To the Bible then let us turn, as to “a light shining in a dark place”, and, with humility, teachableness, and independence of mind, let us diligently inquire into the things which it reveals for the obedience and confirmation of faith. The object before us then will be, to present such a connected view of this truthful and wonderful book as will open the reader’s eyes, and enable him to understand it, and expound it to others, that he may become “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”; and be able intelligently to “contend for the faith”; and by “turning many to righteousness, to shine as the stars for ever and ever”.
In effecting this purpose, we must proceed as we would with any other book, or in teaching any of the arts and sciences; namely, begin at the beginning, or with the elements of things. This was the method adopted by the spirit of God in the instruction of the Israelites by Moses. He began His revelations by giving them, and us through them, an account of the creation of the heavens and the earth; of animals; and of man. This then would seem to be the proper place for us to start from; and as we have the system completely revealed, which they had not, we may extend our enquiries into the reason, or philosophy of things farther than they. Be this, then, our commencement; and may the Lord himself prosper our endeavours to decipher and understand His word, and to disentangle it from the crude traditions and dogmatisms of contemporary theologies, useful in their beginnings as “oppositions” to the Mystery of Iniquity, but now “waxed old and ready to vanish away” with the thing they have antagonized; but which, though consumptive of the civil and ecclesiastical tyranny of the Image of the Beast, have by their glosses in effect taken from the people “the Key of Knowledge”, and thus shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men. Our endeavour will be to restore this “Key”, that they may understand “the mysteries of the kingdom”, and “have right, to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city”. And this we will do if God permit.

Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 6–9). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding articles:

Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1

Necessity of a revelation of creation 4 Getting understanding by Word of God 2

Necessity of a revelation of creation 5 Getting understanding by Word of God 3

Necessity of a revelation of creation 6 Getting understanding by Word of God 4

Necessity of a revelation of creation 7 Getting understanding by Word of God 5

Necessity of a revelation of creation 8 By no means unintelligible or mysterious to people

Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures

Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Necessity of a revelation of creation 4 Getting understanding by Word of God 2

April 4, 2015April 4, 2015Christadelphians30 Comments

Like God had given His manna to His people in the desert, He still continues to give spiritual manna to the people in the world. Throughout history several people came to understand that God was guiding them and giving them spiritual nourishment. King David was not so pride to hide that he received knowledge from God and wrote down many psalms for his Sovereign Master. Like any other man David also made faults. After he repented (doing a work of faith) he was pardoned by God Who exalted him.

God had told the world He would make His words known to the people because He has called, though many did not want to or refused to listen. God even has stretched out His Hand and no one has heeded, because man has ignored all God’s counsel and would have none of His reproof, and therefore Jehovah God also will laugh at our calamity and will mock when terror strikes the world.

Pro 1:20-33 NSB Wisdom calls you! She raises her voice in the streets and marketplaces. (21) She calls in the streets, in the opening of the gates: in the city she utters her words. She says: (22) »How long, you simple (stupid) (foolish) ones, will you love simplicity (foolishness) (stupidity)? The scoffers delight in scoffing. Fools hate knowledge! (23) »Listen when I reprove you. I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. (24) »I called you! I stretched out my hand to you. You paid no attention to me. (25) »You have ignored all my counsel. You accept no correction. (26) »I also will laugh at your trouble. I will mock when your fear comes. (27) »Trouble and distress will surround you like a whirlwind, like a great storm. (28) »You will ask for my help, but I will not listen. You will search, but you will not find me. (29) »You have no use for knowledge and you refuse to respect Jehovah. (30) »You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you. (31) »Now you will get what you deserve for what you have done. Your own advice will make you sick. (32) »Sin and self-satisfaction bring destruction and death to stupid fools. (33) »Whoever listens to me will be secure and will be free from the fear of evil.«

For ages, centuries, many people would not want to see that it is not good or not right to reject the counsels of wisdom. God gave council to the world but His given wisdom was not liked by man, though it is quite clear and evident in Solomon’s teaching that true wisdom is from God and that the understanding of His words is something that is given and not innate to human nature.

Job 21:14-15 NSB »They say to God: ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.’ (15) »Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what do we gain if we pray to him?

Job 22:17 NSB »They said to God: ‘Leave us alone.’ They asked: ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

Isa 30:11-14 NSB »‘Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path! Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’« (12) This is what the Holy One of Israel says: »You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support. (13) »For that reason your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall. (14) »It will break like pottery. It will be smashed. Nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir.«

They hated knowledge coming from a place unknown to them and did not choose the fear of the Maker of everything, despising all His reproof. Therefore those people shall have to abide in the consequences. Even though the words are so strident and even harsh, it is actually a kindness for wisdom to rebuke so sharply in accord with justice — it is life itself which is at stake. The chiefest of our duties as creatures of God Most High is to fear him; thus, it is the height of rebellion to despise the reproofs of wisdom that comes from him.

Rom 1:28 NSB They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate (depraved) mind, to do things that are not fitting.

Pro 6:23 NSB For the commandment is a lamp. The law is light. Reproofs for instruction are the way of life.

Psa 19:7-11 NSB The law of Jehovah is perfect. It gives new life. The testimony of Jehovah is dependable. It makes the simple wise. (8) The statutes of Jehovah are correct. They make the heart rejoice. The commandments of Jehovah are radiant. They make the eyes shine. (9) The reverence of Jehovah is pure. It endures forever. The decisions of Jehovah are true. They are completely fair. (10) They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even the drippings from a honeycomb. (11) They warn your servant. There is a great reward in following them.

Psa 119:151-152 NSB You are near, O Jehovah. All your commandments are truth! (152) Of old I have known from your laws that you have founded them forever.

From the beginning of times there were the Laws of God. Adam and Eve got to hear them. They heard the things they could do freely and got to hear their restrictions. They did not obey God’s commandments. When they were cast out of the Garden of Eden it did not make an end to those commandments.

God had set out rules for a certain reason. It is also to protect ourselves. Following those rules we shall be able to have lesser problems in life than those who do not want to know about God’s commandments. As time went by God had to add certain laws, but His Word did not change like He did not change at all. He is, was and always shall be the same eternal God Who made heaven and earth and Who has a Plan with creation.

Some may find God’s Words and His commandments not so clear, but often it is because they have not yet opened their ears for that Word of God fully. The understanding of His words shall also come in the time of God. As God likes it He will see what is in the heart of a person and shall provide accordingly.

Deu 8:1-2 NSB »Be careful to do all the commandments I commanded you today! You will then live and multiply and go in and possess the land Jehovah promised to give to your forefathers. (2) »Remember the forty years Jehovah your God led you in the wilderness. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know what was in your heart. Whether you would obey his commandments.

Jer 17:9-13 NSB »The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately corrupt. Who can understand it? (10) »I, Jehovah, search the heart and examine the mind (inner man). I give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. (11) »A person who gets rich dishonestly is like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay. During his lifetime, he will lose his wealth. In the end, he will be a wicked fool.« (12) From the very beginning our sanctuary was a glorious throne on high. (13) You will put to shame all that forsake you, O Jehovah, the hope of Israel. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, for they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living water.

Jer 11:20 NSB O Jehovah of Hosts, you are a fair judge. You test motives and thoughts. I want to see you take revenge on them. For that reason I presented my case to you.

Jer 20:12 NSB Yet, O Jehovah of Hosts you test the righteous. You see the mind and the heart. Let me see your vengeance on them for to you I have revealed my cause.

Lots of people thought to have wisdom in them, but it was more their pride that let them think they had wisdom. they also forgot that everything a man has he receives from God. When a person can do something it is because God allows it to happen. It is not said that it would be good or would be bad. Some things may look bad at one moment but turn out for the better at a later stage. Those getting pride in what they know or in what they can do should remember that wisdom is not innate to human nature. It is also not said we are all born stupid or without any wisdom. But by birth we lack a lot of things, because we have been formed by imperfect beings, our parents also being the result of a copulation of two not so perfect beings. By time the faults in the human genes got multiplied. Man lost also the feeling with creation, becoming less connected with fauna and flora.God wants His creation to be in unity with each other. Man has drifted away from that good relationship which was there in the Garden of Eden. That good relationship is also what God wants to be restored and has provided for His theocratic reign, the future Kingdom, where there will be no death, because that is something He hates. Jehovah views death as an enemy.

1Co 15:26 NSB The last enemy to be destroyed will be death. (Revelation 20:14)

God brought it over Adam and eve and their offspring. Straight ahead in the Garden of Eden He promised for a solution and throughout He let His people know He did not like this situation with suffering and death. He has a longing to conquer that enemy, to undo death by means of the resurrection. He yearns to bring back those who are in his memory and to see them live on earth again.

Job 14:14-15 NSB »If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my change (release) to come. (15) »You will call and I will answer you! You will long for the creature your hands have made.

God feels for us when we suffer, wants others to know how He is with His people and shall protect them and provide hope that all suffering will end.

Zec 2:8-11 NSB »Jehovah of Hosts proclaims: ‘He sent me after glory! He sent me to the nations that plundered you. For he that touches you touches the pupil of his eye.’ (9) »Behold! I will shake my hand (power) over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them.« Then you will know that Jehovah of Hosts has sent me. (10) »Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For I am coming, and I will dwell in the midst of you,« said Jehovah. (11) »Many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and will be my people! I will dwell in the your midst, and you will know that Jehovah of Hosts has sent me to you.«
Psa 37:9-13 NSB For evildoers will be destroyed, but those who wait for Jehovah will inherit the land. (10) A short time from now the wicked man will be no more. You will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. (11) The meek (gentle) (mild) (humble) will inherit the earth and will delight in the abundance 0f peace. (12) The wicked plots against the righteous and grinds at him with his teeth. (13) Jehovah laughs at him, for he sees that his day will come.

But man shall have to be patient until the Day of God shall come. even Jesus did not know when that day would come. In the meantime man should consider how Jehovah God feels when His people are cruelly mistreated. (About the past times the Bible says that Jehovah was distressed because of “those who were treating them abusively.”)

Jdg 2:18 NSB When Jehovah established judges he supported each judge. He delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days the judge lived. He had compassion for them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

God provided man to lead, judges, priests and kings, but most of all His Word, written down by men could trust and was willing to provide with His wisdom.It was at God’s time that things were written down and so not directly whilst he events took place. After the events took place but the prophesies where written down years and years long before those events took place. About certain elements it was not yet necessary to have them written down at the time because the people who hear about it had also been witnesses of the events. Before the Gospels were written, the gospel message was still known because people preached it (e.g., Matthew 28:19-20). The eyewitnesses who were alive at the time could verify and vouch for the validity of the message that was being preached (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; 1 John 1:1-4). When the original eyewitnesses (especially the inspired ones [John 14:26]) of the events the Gospels describe were reaching the end of their lives and would soon no longer be able to orally verify that accounts of Jesus’ life given in teaching and preaching were true (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 1:1-4). The writers of the Holy Scriptures have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among them. They felt the Hand of God and were seriously aware of the necessity to report everything truthfully, without hiding their own deficiencies. In Scriptures you may find the writers their own imperfections or flaws. They show us how they were guided and got wisdom from God’s Word and how necessary it is for us to take heed. With what they wrote down we should be able to come to more wisdom. Many do not know the scriptures or the power of God, but those who are opening their mind to read it and learn from it can find answers in their head. The sent one from God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ, tried to get the people to understand easier the Word of his heavenly Father. He too had to open the eyes of his pupils, like other prophets before him.

Luk 24:45 NSB He opened their minds that they might understand the scriptures.

It are also those Scriptures which tell us what happened and what still shall come. They show us how God provided a solution against death and who that solution is. But to see what the solution is people have to come to hear the testimony which that Nazarene man gave. as soon as the time was indicated by God that son of man testified of his heavenly Father; for the works which the Father had given him to finish, bear witness of him, that the Father has sent him and that it was not like some think God Himself coming down to earth. Scripture tells us that people shall have to hear that it was the Heavenly Father Who sent Jesus and testified of this man telling no lies to the world and saying to all those around Jesus that he is His son.

Mat 3:17 NSB Then a voice from heaven said: »This is my Son whom I love and whom I have approved.«
Joh 12:28-30 NSB »Father, glorify your name.« A voice came from heaven: »I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.« (29) The crowd near him only heard thunder. Some said an angel spoke to him. (30) Jesus said: »This voice came for your sake and not for mine.

Today also for us it is impossible to see Jesus or to see God. We also cannot say with certitude we heard God His Voice as such or seen His form. Though we can hear God’s Voice by what Jesus has brought over the world and by the Comforter Jesus asked God to sent to this world. The ones who refuse to read the Bible or to listen to words of it shall not find God’s Word abiding in them, for they do not believe Jesus whom the Most High Elohim has sent. They may search the Scriptures, because in them they think that they have eternal life or they may dream of a separate element being taken out of their body, which they call their soul going up to heaven. What we see in this world that many of those still prefer like in the old times to keep to traditions, to keep having part in the pagan celebrations. Some of them may even say they love Jesus, but they do not want to see and take Jesus for what he really is and for what he really has done. In a certain way they refuse to come to Jesus so that they may have life, becoming children of God in a restored New World. We should not be like those who do not believe that Jesus is the sent one from God. We should believe the words like they are given in Scriptures and have to come to believe that Jesus receives glory from Jehovah God, from Whom he comes. We should accept and put our hope in the fact that Jesus has come in his Father’s name. We do have the Old and the New Testament to teach us and to guide us and to make it clear how everything happened and who is who. From Scriptures we shall come to see on whom we have to set our hope. We should believe Moses, Isaiah and other prophets and have to believe in Jesus’ words.

Joh 5:36-47 NSB »The testimony I have is greater than that of John. The works I do are the works the Father gave me to accomplish. They testify that the Father has sent me. (37) »The Father who sent me testifies about me. You have not heard his voice nor seen him at any time. (38) »You do not have his word dwelling in you. This is because you do not believe in the person he has sent. (39) »You search (investigate) (study) the Scriptures because you think that in them you have everlasting life. These Scriptures testify about me. (40) »And yet you will not come to me that you may have life. (41) »I do not accept glory from men. (42) »I know that the love of God is not in you. (43) »I came in my Father’s name and you did not receive me. If another came in his own name you would receive him. (44) »How can you believe? You seek praise and glory from one another? Why do you not seek the glory that comes from the only God? (45) »Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Moses on whom you have set your hope is a plaintiff against you. (46) »It is a fact! If you believed Moses you would believe me. He wrote about me! (47) »If you do not believe his writings how will you believe my words?«

Preceding articles:

Next: Necessity of a revelation of creation 5 Getting understanding by Word of God 3

Additional reading:

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On other WordPress blogs:
Psalm 23 A Love Song
Dig for Wednesday the 25th of March…..we are blessed because of God’s love for His son…..2 Samuel 9:1
Listening to Your Spirit

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The historic/Jewish people’s emergence/radically different from/story told. (eagleman6788.wordpress.com)
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs’ acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it.
Those Other Christians and Their Weird Beliefs (danspulpit.wordpress.com)
The Lord regularly promised spiritual and other kinds of prosperity to the leaders of Israel and Israel themselves if they walked in His ways. His blessings then and now are conditional. Many today in our self-centered, greasy grace time in history have the idea that they somehow should receive the blessings of God just because of His love for them. But if you read from Genesis to Revelation you find that God’s blessings are indeed conditional, whether we like it or not.
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We are told there are 38,000 Christian denominations on the earth today that differ in theology, how they do worship and church stuff. Some of these denominations t really believe some pretty off the wall stuff and some of them do some pretty crazy stuff. But there are God lovers in all of them. I am weary of believers throwing the baby out with the bath water. Your don’t have to spend much time on line to find believers condemning pastor so and so’s entire ministry because of a doctrine or practice they don’t agree with. How arrogant it is to believe you or I are completely correct on every doctrine and every practice. We all have a few things wrong, but just haven’t realized it yet. Preachers and believers with good fruit should be respected even if we don’t completely buy everything they believe or practice. We are exhorted repeatedly to keep the unity of the Spirit in the church and love one another and to be one just as Jesus and the Father are one. This includes crossing denominational and theological lines. In 1 Corinthians Paul condemns the divisions that so easily quench what God intends in the church. From God’s perspective, there is one church and no denominations. Believers are believers. God lovers are God lovers. Good fruit is good fruit.
When That Which Is Hidden… (michaelgurley.wordpress.com)
It’s a fearful thought that who we “were” and what we hope to never be “revealed” will somehow come to the light of day. However, there is a way to assuage the guilt, to erase our sin. A single scriptural principle.The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever! (Psalms 111:10 ESV)

This word “fear” should be better interpreted as “moral reverence” – it is not the fear that leaves us quaking from the boogey man. Rather, it’s the reverence we have for the moral superior. It’s respect. Almost like the feelings we get when we are around somebody we want to rub shoulders with, but are perhaps afraid of getting too close to them.

Revere. Respect. Even worshipful. It’s almost as if we expect this special one to see right through our thin veneer.
Proverbs 1 (cutpaste.typepad.com)

Imagine God said that to you. What would you ask for? Solomon asked for wisdom. He recognized his desperation for wisdom.

We would be wise for us to recognize the same. It will do us no good to read through the rest of the book of Proverbs unless we first recognize our need for wisdom.
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Wisdom does not come with age. There are plenty of old people living like fools. Neither does wisdom come with experience. It’s possible for us to have experiences and rather than learning from them we just continue making the same mistakes. Wisdom comes from God. And since it comes from God alone, there is only one place to turn when we need it.
Open Heavens Sunday, 29 March 2015 : Emmanuel (emmanuelayeni.com)
One reason why the Holy Spirit caused the Gospel of Matthew to be written is to show that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah. One of such prophesies is found in Isaiah 7:14 which says,
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
This prophecy was shown to be fulfilled by Jesus in our Bible
The Passover eclipse blood moon prayer (mobile.wnd.com)
Today, when people express the opinion that eclipses do have meaning, they are generally interpreted as a sign or omen of bad news rather than good. It has always been this way throughout history. In fact, this view may have saved Chrisopher Columbus’ life back in February 1504 when on his fourth and final voyage, he used his knowledge of a coming total lunar eclipse to scare the local natives into providing his men with much needed supplies and protection. The account says that Columbus met with the island chief that day, proclaimed that God was angry with him and his people for treating his men poorly and pronounced that a sign wouldbe coming to prove it. (Eclipse tables had been invented recently, so he knew one was coming that very night). Then, as the lunar eclipse went all the way to the blood-red stage, Columbus entered into prayer, coming out of his cabin just as the phase was ending and pronouncing loudly, “God has forgiven you.” Needless to say, relations with the island natives immediately improved!
Sermon: Greater Days Are Ahead (grantspasschurchofchrist.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015Christadelphians36 Comments

In the beginning there was only emptiness and the Untold Greatness of the Supreme Adonai (a title of reverence for God, serving also as a substitute pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton יהוה {Jehovah}) Elohim Creator God of gods. His Voice echoed in the universal space and thus arose the things that He had formed. We wished His Voice echoed through eternity as He is infinite. He spoke and something came from nothing into life and the Divine Creator wished that His creation would hear His voice.

When He had created man in His own image, and blown His breath in the nostrils of this man, the 1° Adam came into life with blood running through his veins, and could hear His creation talking to Him, giving him the surroundings to live in and to give names for all the things man could find in his life. Though not so happy on his own man requested a partner, so God provided a mannin (the female, part of the red blooded man) out of his rib. This woman, Eve, also could hear the Voice of God and live with her partner in the Garden of Eden, which was a perfect world. This female creature got a dignified role in the creation, and had to bring forth other human beings to populate the earth.

We may understand God expected man and mannin to be been a faithful to each other and to Him. He had organised the system, having created space, heavens, planets, solar systems, time and as such an organised system of things and asked them also to organise their life by first calling the things by name. They had to take care of mother earth.

God created things with the appearance of age. This allows a specific ‘literal’ interpretation of Genesis 1, 2. It is suggested that miracles such as the turning of water into wine indicate that the miraculously provided wine was created with an apparent age. This idea is extended for example to God creating trees with apparent annual rings that God had fabricated. God organised the whole system so that everything would become clear as soon as man got more insight in those things. Several different combinations of radioactive isotopes in the rocks independently indicate an age of several billion years, that way people can come to place the things in the time indication they are following, which can be different now from one group of humans to an other. Today we may find the Gregorian calendar, the Jewish, an Islamic and Julian calendar in use, making it that for each of these population we are in ‘an other time’.

God normally provided sun, moon and darkness to provide a time indication. This a lunisolar calendar is still being followed by the Jews. The time indication given by God for man is different than God’s time indication for Himself, being one day a thousand years.

Gen 1:5 NSB God called the light day. He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.

2Pe 3:8 NSB Do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (Psalm 90:1, 4)

Psa 90:4 NSB In your sight a thousand years are like a single day, like yesterday, already past like an hour in the night.

In the time span of God man could live freely but had to respect the days of God. By time passing, days were added and as such man was requested to organise special days for God. These holy days could be determined by the the dates on that calendar of the People of God or Hebrew calendar. With it people can organise for Jewish holidays and for Christian holidays, to get the dates right for the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits, and daily Psalm readings, among many ceremonial uses. In Israel, it is still used for religious and for civil purposes, providing also a time frame for agriculture. Although the civil calendar usage has been steadily declining in favour of the Gregorian or Western calendar also sometimes called the Christian calendar, which is internationally the most widely used civil calendar.
The Julian Day calendar, introduced by the authority of Julius Caesar in 46 bce, brings a system of astronomical dating allowing the difference between two dates to be calculated more easily than conventional civil calendars with their uneven months and is still used by used by some Orthodox Churches. Dates in the Julian calendar are sometimes designated “Old Style.”

God gave preparation days and special days to remember and to take rest. For mankind it had to be followed and to be a “legacy,” or “inheritance” (nachala) (Time (of) Year) Later in history we shall see that the Roman emperor Constantine organised the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, one of the key concerns was to determine a date for celebrating Easter that would be the same across the board for all Christians and in accordance with the celebration of the god of fertility Eostre, the namesake of the festival of Easter. Constantine wanted to have all the Christian festivities falling together with those of the Romans and having the Christians to accept the Roman tri-godhead celebrations in their meetings. The determination of a dating method for the pagan feast which later became a holiday in many Christian communities called Easter, got all the different Christian communities who came to accept the tri-une godhead to celebrate Easter on the exact same day, whilst the other true Christians kept on celebrating God’s Days but got it more difficult to know which day had to be celebrated. As such the Romans and those who got more power from emperor Constantine hoped they would not be able to follow God’s holidays and soon would join the public holidays.

But before the adversaries of God had taken most in control god took care that His Word would keep sounding all over the world at all times. The order and organisation offered to man by god was rejected by the man and mannin, they questioning His right to govern everything and to decide everything, being Master over everything and especially over the Knowledge of good and evil (with the Tree of good and evil). The order of hierarchy became damaged and God had to provide a new world order with man having now given the right to organise everything himself. After the fall, the first sin of man, the human beings could receive all the robes in their hands to arrange life.

Man and mannin were cast out of the perfect world which was all the time in harmony. Now they came in the outer boarders where God had allowed the world continually to develop. From then onwards people would feel the creation evolving with among others the movement of the earth’s liquid interior causing earthquakes and volcanoes as lava is forced to the surface and the plates of the earth shift. However, movement of the earth’s liquid core also creates the magnetosphere, a magnetic field shielding the earth from cosmic rays. This all made part of God’s Plan but now man got more knowledge of it and had to bear the consequences of their actions contrary to the Will of God. Whilst at the beginning, man had not to fear volcanoes, they now came to fear them for their destruction. Instead of gaining the knowledge they had hoped for, becoming equal with or even higher than God they lost their innocence and their inner peace, coming not to see straight ahead what possible benefits such eruptions of volcanoes could have. Volcanoes are part of the earth’s carbon cycle, regulating temperature and carbon balance so that life can survive and flourish.

God had everything placed so nicely in His system, but man wanted to be master over their own system. Now they got it. Perhaps the Garden of Eden was such a sacred place where there would not have been any problem with the further development of the universe that the movement of the earth’s surface plates over-there would not have created deadly earthquakes and tsunamis. Spread out over the earth’s surface people had to find places to live which perhaps were not provide for such conditions at first, but with man moving to the wrong places, making the wrong decisions to live somewhere they came to suffer by those actions of the earth were the movement of these plates is also essential to life on earth and were the streams of water are also necessary for the development and fertilisation of the soil.

The God of order had everything in His ‘head’ and enclosed in His ‘heart’ and had everything foreseen for His human beings. The divine Creator is the One to Whom belongs Rulership and awe. Dominion and fear are with Him. He establishes order in the heights of heaven and He makes peace in His high places.

Job 25:2 NSB »Rulership and awe belong to God. He establishes order in the heights of heaven.

Adam and Eve were created perfect. We do believe, unlike most trinitarian Christians, that God made His creation perfect and that Adam and Eve had everything to be and to stay perfect. God was not a cruel god who imposed laws he knew man could not keep. The Divine Creator did very well know that the Laws or Commandments He gave to the human beings could be followed by every human being. In case Eve had listened to God and not driven her own will, there would not have been any problem. Now she got judgement over her and got damned with suffering. With her the 1° Adam also was taken into to temptation and into the damnation of the fall. Man became consigned to perdition, being made from dust he was to return to dust again.

Gen 2:7 NSB Jehovah God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living being.

Gen 3:12-19 NSB Adam said: »The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.« (13) Then Jehovah God said to the Eve: »What is this you have done?« The woman answered: »The serpent deceived me, and I ate.« (14) So Jehovah God said to the serpent: »Because you have done this you are cursed above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. (15) »And I will put enmity (hostility) (hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) and hers. He will bruise (overwhelm) (crush) you in the head, and you will bruise (overwhelm) (crush) him in the heel.« (Romans 16:20) (16) He said to the woman: »I will greatly increase your pains in childbirth; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.« (17) He said to Adam: »Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (18) »It will produce thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. (19) »You will eat your food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground. You came from the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.«

Job 34:15 NSB »All flesh would perish and man would return to dust.

Psa 90:3-10 NSB You turn men back into dust and say: »Return, O sons of men!« (4) In your sight a thousand years are like a single day, like yesterday, already past like an hour in the night. (5) You sweep mortals away in the sleep of death. They sprout again in the morning like grass. (6) In the morning they blossom and sprout. In the evening they fade and wither away. (7) Your anger consumes us. We are troubled by your rage. (8) You set our sins in front of you. You put our secret sins in the light of your presence. (9) Indeed, all our days slip away because of your fury. We live out our years like one long sigh. (10) The days of our lives are seventy or eighty years if we are in good health. But the best of them bring trouble and misery. Indeed, they are soon gone, and we fly away.

The God of order and love presented an ending to the suffering, an end to the misery by the end of life. But this end of life does not fit the Plan of god and therefore He provide a solution to return the consequences of disobedience in the hope more human being would come to obey His orders and be prepared to honour Him as the Only One God.

To help them to find the right way to restore the damaged relationship He continued to give His Word with the people in the world.

Preceding articles:

Continues with: Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God

Additional reading:

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Ides of March: What Is It? Why Do We Still Observe It? (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
Aside from its historical connection, the concept of the Ides of March would have resonated with English citizens in 1599, the year Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar was probably performed, Ziegler said.

“This whole business of the Ides of March and timekeeping in the play would have had a strong impact on audiences,” she said.

“They were really struck by the differences between their Julian calendar [a revision of the Roman calendar created by Caesar] and the Gregorian calendar kept in Catholic countries on the continent.”

Because the two calendars featured years of slightly different lengths, they had diverged significantly by the late 16th century and were several days apart.
Fisher: The coming of spring (themorningsun.com)
Anxious people stop me on the street and at parties. I can tell by their expression that they are worried. I clasp their hand firmly in both of mine. “What is wrong, friend?” In a hushed tone they respond, “When is Easter coming?” “Why, the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Vernal Equinox,” I assure them.

We orbit the Sun every 365.24+ days each year. Think of a clock face, with the Winter Solstice at 12 o’clock, and the Summer Solstice at 6 o’clock. Our planet moves counterclockwise on the clock face. Earth is now very near 9 o’clock, the spring, or Vernal Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere. It will occur at 6:45 p.m. on March 20. (The Southern Hemisphere reverses these: they are entering their fall.)

Cultures throughout history have celebrated the coming of spring, thanking the gods for delivering them from the miseries of winter. Sacrifices, feasts, wild parties and lots to drink were accessories to this time. It was important to understand when spring arrived so farmers knew when to plant their crops. The atmosphere was one of joy and rebirth.
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Among the oldest such festival is Passover, April 3 this year, a Jewish celebration of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. Christian Easter, the most important celebration in their calendar follows from this. Jesus was crucified after the Passover feast of Seder, in 30 CE. Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it does not occur on the same date every year.

Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man

March 31, 2015September 25, 2015Christadelphians33 Comments

The Divine Creator of heaven and earth wanted His creation to know Who He is and wanted to be worshipped by them. When man revolted against His Wishes He had to make it clear to them that He is and always shall be the Most High. Loving His creation He knew that they were miserable in making the wrong choice. Therefore He provided a solution but demanded His creation to come to know Him better and to restore the broken relationship.

He had a plan with His creation, but by the choice man made this plan was interrupted. To come back to the point were man went wrong there had to come a second Adam who would proof the world that it is possible for man to keep to the commandments of God and to fulfil God’s Wishes. The world had to come to see who that man of salvation is and why God has imposed such Laws unto man. At the same time the one sent from God (Jeshua from the lineage of King David) would come to declare the works of God and show the world Who his heavenly Father is and what He wants from the human beings. This man to be born in Bethlehem would have to reveal the Divine Creator.

The whole world should come to see the necessity of a Revelation to make known the origin, reason, and tendency of things in relation to man and the world around him — An intelligible Mystery, and the only source of true wisdom; but practically repudiated by the Moderns.

Man in the world may have forgotten Who is behind everything, but it are the lovers of God who should bring them back on track and show the world the light of Christ and the Way to the Most High Supreme Power.

Man may be lost in the amount of things around him. He might consider him just an element in a universe about which we still do not know much. Though some may think they know a lot of that universe. When looking at it they may see the world or earth revolving upon its own axis, and describing an ample circuit through the boundless fields of space, a planet of the solar system bearing upon its surface a population of over a thousand millions subject to sin, disease, and death.

Dr John Thomas wrote in the 19th century:

This orb of the starry heavens shines with a glory similar to that of its kindred spheres. Viewed from them, it is seen sparkling “like a diamond in the sky”; and with the rest of the heavens, declares the glory of God, and shows forth the handiwork of Him that did create it.
This celestial orb, which is a world or system of itself, is styled The Earth. It is the habitation of races of animals which graze its fields, lurk in its forests, soar through its atmosphere, and pass through the paths of its seas. At the head of all these is a creature like themselves, animal, sensual and mortal. He is called Man. He has replenished the earth and subdued it, and filled it with his renown. His crimes, however, rather than his virtues, have illustrated and distinguished him with an unhappy pre-eminence above all other created things. His heart is evil; and, left to its uncontrolled impulses, he becomes licentious, merciless, and more cruel than the fiercest beast of prey.
Such is the being that claims the independent sovereignty of the globe. He has founded dominions, principalities, and powers; he has built great cities, and vaunted himself in the works of his hands, saying, “Are not these by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” He repudiates all lordship over him, and claims the inalienable and inherent right of self-government, and of establishing whatever civil and ecclesiastical institutions are best suited to his sensuality and caprice. Hence, at successive periods, the earth has become the arena of fierce and pandemoniac conflicts; its tragedies have baptized its soil in blood, and the mingled cries of the oppressor and the victim have ascended to the throne of the Most High.
Skilled in the wisdom which comes from beneath, he is by nature ignorant of that which is “first pure, and then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”. This is a disposition to which the animal man under the guidance of his fleshly mind has no affinity. His propensity is to obey the lust of his nature; and to do its evil works, “which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, sects, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”. All these make up the character of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life”, upon which is enstamped the seal of God’s eternal reprobation. “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” but “they shall die”.
Such is the world of human kind! The great and impious enemy of God upon the earth. Its mind is not subject to His law, neither indeed can it be. What shall we say to these things? Is the world as we behold it a finality? Are generations of men, rebellious against God, and destroyers of the earth, to occupy it successively through an endless series of ages? Are men to repeat the history of the past for ever? Is the earth always to be cursed, and sin and death to reign victorious? Who can answer these inquiries? If we survey the starry canopy, thence no sign or voice is given expressive of the truth. They declare the eternal power and divinity of their Creator, but they speak not of the destiny of the earth or of man upon it. If we question the mountains and hills, the plains and valleys, the rivers, seas, and oceans of the earth, and demand their origin, why they were produced, to what end they were created; their rocks, their strata, their fossils, or deposits, afford us no response. Turn we to man and ask him, “Whence comest thou, and what is thy destiny? Whence all tile evil of thy nature, why art thou mortal, who made thee, who involved thee in the wide-spread ruin and calamity on every side?”
Ask an infant of days the history of the past, and he can as well detail it, as man can answer these inquiries without a revelation from Him who is before all, and to whom is known from the beginning all He intends shall come to pass. So true is it, that, unaided by light from heaven, “since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what is prepared for him that waiteth for him”; but, adds the apostle in his comment upon these words of the prophet, “God hath revealed these things unto us by his spirit … which things we (apostles) speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spirit teacheth; interpreting spiritual things in spiritual words.”
To the Bible, then, all must come at last if they would be truly wise in spiritual things. This is a great truth which few of the sons of men have learned to appreciate according to its importance. A man may be a theologian profoundly skilled in all questions of “divinity”; he may be well versed in the mythology of the heathen world; be able to speak all languages of the nations; compute the distances of orb from orb, and weigh them in the scales of rigid calculation; he may know all science and be able to solve all mysteries,—but if, with all this, he be ignorant of “the things of the spirit”; if he know not the true meaning of the Bible; he seemeth only to be wise, while he is, in fact, a fool. Therefore, the apostle saith, “let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men”. If our contemporaries could only attain to the adoption of this great precept, “let no man glory in men”, they would have overleaped a barrier which as a fatal obstacle prevents myriads from understanding and obeying the truth.
But while God lightly esteems the wisdom of the reputed wise, there is a wisdom which He invites all men to embrace. This is styled “the wisdom of God in a mystery”; it is also termed “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world which none of the princes of this world knew”. It is said to be hidden in a mystery, because until the apostolic age, it was not clearly made known. This will appear from the following texts: “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to the revelation of The Mystery, which was kept secret (χρόνοις αἰωνίοις) in the times of the ages, but now (in the time, or age, of the apostles) is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” “By revelation God made known unto me, Paul, The Mystery, which in other ages (former ages under the law of Moses) was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”

Here is “the knowledge of God”, in which are contained “exceeding great and precious promises”, the understanding of which is able to make a man wise, and “a partaker of the divine nature”. Now, although these hidden things have been clearly made known, they still continued to be styled the mystery; not because of their unintelligibility, but became they were once secret. Hence, the things preached unto the Gentiles, and by them believed, are styled by Paul, “the mystery of the faith”, and “the mystery of godliness”, some of the items of which he enumerates; such as, “God manifest in the flesh, justified by the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory”. Thus an intelligible mystery characterizes the once hidden wisdom of God, and becomes the subject matter of an enlightened faith. This, however, is not the case with regard to religious systems which are not of the truth. Unintelligible mystery is the ultima ratio for all difficulties which are insoluble by the symbols of ecclesiastical communities, whose text of universal application is, that “secret things belong to God, but the things which are revealed, to us and to our children”. This is true; but, then, these things which were secret in the days of Moses, have been revealed by God to the apostles and prophets for our information.

– Thomas, D. J. (1848-1849/e-ed. 1990). Elpis Israel: a standard work of the Christadelphian community and exposition of the kingdom of God with reference to the time of the end and the age to come, available at the Christadelphian bookshop.

Preceding articles:

To be continued: Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things

Additional reading:

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Our Father In Heaven By: Joe Stowell (christianmotivations.weebly.com)
What do we know about God as our Father? According to Jesus’ prayer, we know that our Father in heaven is available and attentive to us. It is also clear that He provides for us. He forgives us and protects us from evil (vv.2-4).
Some Sins Indeed Result In Greater Judgment (planet.infowars.com)
, if Christians are guilty of the criticism of which they have been charged, isn’t that tendency in part the result of the way the Biblical narrative presents itself?
Man who raised God as son (wordignite.wordpress.com)
just like God had a plan for Joseph, God has a plan for each one of us. The plan does not need to be more than that He wants us to be upright and righteous. He wants us to be loving parents, loving husbands and wives. God wants us to follow the law – observe the commandments. But, just like Joseph, we may feel that we don’t have anything to contribute: that we are nothing but simple carpenters…we may feel insignificant, that we have nothing to offer. Still, God has a plan for us. God gives us dreams and speaks to us in our dreams.
Follow Me (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
With Christ being alive and with us we can do all things if we trust in him. He has a place picked out for us in his heavenly kingdom, filled with God’s presence.
David “A Man after God’s own Heart | How God Chooses in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (wordsforliving.org)
Some may wonder why we would even bother to spend time on a man who has been dead some three thousand years. The short answer to that is this: David achieved in his life something that God wants each of His children to achieve. David achieved something that many of us fail to accomplish. David became a man after God’s Own heart and a study of his life can teach us how to do that too.
Sermon: The Heart of God Seeks Unity (grantspasschurchofchrist.com)
The Civil War left a tragic aftermath of bitterness, hatred, and resentment in America. The wounds inflicted by the war were deep and painful. Though the guns fell silent, the angry recriminations went on. Many could not forget or forgive what had been done. Exchanges between former enemies rarely rose above the level of angry accusations and scornful denunciations.
Gospel, 21 March, Lent, Year B (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
Chrysostom adds that the Pharisees neither knew the fullness of the Law, neither did they do what it commanded, for it said that no man should be killed without being granted a hearing. But it is clear, from the testimony of Nicodemus, that not all the Pharisees were blind. He knew, from his own experience, the power of the words of Jesus, but he is silenced, as Peter will be later, by fear of the wrath of the Pharisees. Like us, he is weak and fearful. Authority on earth is a powerful thing and can drive us into silence. Can we summon the courage to confess Him in such circumstances?
1 Samuel 26 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
David knows good and well it is not God who wants him dead. So he calls on Saul to wake up and realize that he is listening to bad advice and direction from his men.
March 9 – peace (cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com)
Heavenly Father, help us purge ourselves of those attributes which make not for peace but which set the stage for war.
Lord hear our prayer, and grant us your peace.
Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
For the Jews this Shabbat is the last of the Four Parashiot that have special Torah readings in preparation for Pesach (Passover), which is only two short weeks away! For Jews and Christians it should be the most important day of the year.

	A biblical answer to… on The Servant’s Prayer
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