Out of the seed of Eve

The seed of Eve

In the previous postings we have seen that immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, the Divine Creator Jehovah determined that there would be offered a solution for mankind by a symbolic mannin or woman who was to bring forth a seed, or son.

God having His Book of Life and death had placed the name of that Send one in it, and as such this saviour was already there in the mind of God before Abraham was born. Jehovah did not predetermine from the beginning that Adam and Eve would sin and that the ransom sacrifice provided by means of Jesus Christ would be needed. From the beginning God allowed man to have a free choice and to use it according to their wants.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Adam and ...
Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553): Adam and Eve. Beech wood, 1533. Bode-Museum, Berlin (Erworben 1830, Königliche Schlösser, Gemäldegalerie Kat. 567) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There was no “throwing down of seed,” before Adam and Eve sinned. Following the rebellion but before the conception of offspring by Adam and Eve, Jehovah foreordained the appearance of the “seed.”

The act of adversary had to come to an end. The 1st man had made the wrong choice and let himself be carried away with bad thoughts. Both were mislead by thoughts which went on in their mind. It was an act of adversary which is called the devil or satan in the Bible.

When Adam and Eve went in against God’s Wishes, they themselves became adversaries of Allah/God (satan).  When Eve chose to eat from the forbidden fruit she committed an act of insubmission, going against the Will of God. By doing that she did wrong and sinned against a holy God; going against His righteous laws. Following her bad thoughts she committed sins against God His love, against His name and cause. Therefore God took action and delivered a judgement over them. When He did that, as a loving Father would rebuke His children He also spoke a prophecy that gave hope to their offspring, saying to the serpent:

“I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

From the beginning, the identity of the promised “seed” was a sacred secret or a mystery of God. About those mysteries God declared they would become clear for the lovers of God in due time, not at the time of man but at the time of God.

This prophetic statement revealed that there would be a seed, which would not have to be literal children, or offspring, though later he declared also by His Word seed would come from the tribe of King David. This meant that this promised seed, God His speaking, would only become a reality “after” King David, as an offspring of this great man of God. That also means that the promised seed was not yet in the heaven with God, though the thought of it was already there with Him … in God’s mind.

The origin of the seed and the being of the seed originated by God. Like everything came into existence from nothing, by the Speaking of God, it also was the Word of God that gave existence to the seed. By God’s Power, the Spirit of God, a woman got pregnant with the send one from God. And this only happened many many years, even centuries, after the first sin of man, long after Adam was created and Cain and Abraham were born.

All who came after Adam and Eve in a way were from the devil (satan) because they all came forth from a man and a woman who were under the spell of treason to God. As such all born on this earth came under the same spell or from the same “father”.

John 8:44 NHEBJE  You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.

1 John 3:10-12 NHEBJE  In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who does not love his brother.  (11)  For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;  (12)  unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

Many would not like to hear it, but everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, whilst the others do. And the one who proved never to go against the Will of God is the one who most of all can claim to be son of God. More than that, this special envoyé was placed in a particular way in the womb of a devout Essene young lady. She bore the pains of insult and of birth as well having to see how her son was being slaughtered. When her son was of age and went public, it was God Himself Who declared that man standing in the river Jordan to be His only begotten beloved son.

Luke 3:21-23 NHEBJE  Now it happened, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened,  (22)  and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”  (23)  Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Eli,

From the 1° Adam and Eve, the first parents, came forth all people. From the 2° Adam were to come forth those who would choose to follow Jesus and to love God. Like the 1° Adam was part of a creation now the 2° Adam was the beginning of a new creation. Both those creations came into existence by the Speaking of God. God‘s Voice sounding and bringing into being. From the beginning this Voice or God’s Word was with God. And from the beginning of mankind God’s Word, His promise for a solution, was with God also. God His Word was to come in fulfilment much later, bringing a very important person (a god) to man, by whom no new creation could come into being and everything would have stayed the same as after the fall of man. But now, that promised seed brought a new world for mankind.

John 1:1-3 NHEBJE  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  The same was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.

That important man (a god), the seed of the woman but also seed of King David, was a deliverer who would destroy the one really represented by the serpent, namely, the great serpent and enemy of God, “Satan” the “Devil”.

Revelation 12:9 NHEBJE  The great serpent was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

From the early times many people would be deceived. From the revelation of St. John we can figure out that the devil and satan would have a “seed.” It would require time for the two seeds to be brought forth and for enmity to develop between them. This happened not before the fall of man, but long after. Both seeds came into existence even after Adam and Eve their act of disobedience. When the brought forth children, soon came a time that we could see that the seed of evil was again planted and a brother killed his own brother.

Jehovah also foresaw the result of the enmity between his woman and “Satan” and between their opposing seeds. Although Jehovah would allow the seed of God’s woman to suffer a bruising in the heel, in God’s due time, the seed would bruise the serpent, or satan the devil, in the head. In the meantime, Jehovah’s purpose unfailingly advanced through the chosen genealogical line down to Jeshua the Kristos or Jesus Christ.

Jeshua or Jesus, like he is most know in Anglophile countries, was of the natural seed of Abraham, through his mother Mary (Miriam); he was of the tribe of Judah; and both naturally through Mary and legally through his adoptive father Joseph, he was of the line of David.

Some may say

“It was not until Jesus was begotten by the spirit, thus becoming a spiritual son of God, that he became the ‘seed of the woman’ and the seed that was to bless all nations.

This occurred at the time of his baptism by John in the Jordan River, 29 C.E. Jesus was then about 30 years of age. The holy spirit, coming upon Jesus, manifested itself to John in the form of a dove, and God himself acknowledged Jesus as his Son at that time.

Matthew 3:13-17 NHEBJE  Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.  (14)  But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”  (15)  But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.  (16)  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.  (17)  And behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

John 3:3 NHEBJE  Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

With that rabbi who came to declare his heavenly Father, a new generation could start. A new seed be fertile. By the 1° Adam death had entered the world, now by the 2° Adam life could once again enter the world. Consequently, God’s promise,

“I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore,”

has a spiritual fulfilment and means that others, who “belong to Christ,” are added as part of Abraham’s seed and shall also be able to enter the Kingdom of God to enjoy a non-ending life.

Genesis 22:17 NHEBJE  that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your seed greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.

Mark 9:41 NHEBJE  For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to the Messiah, truly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

1 Corinthians 15:22-24 NHEBJE  (22)  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  (23)  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.  (24)  Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

Authority was given by the heavenly Father to Jesus, who was to be called King of the Jews. He was not like and brought animosity at the time of the Romans in Jerusalem. The ill feeling against him and his followers continued after his death. We can see that in this way the great serpent satan the devil produced “seed” that has manifested the bitterest enmity toward those who have served God with faith like Abraham, as the Bible record abundantly testifies. Continueously adversaries of God or satans tried to block or hinder the development of the woman’s seed. Jesus also had already warned his listeners about what man can produce or which seed man can saw.

Matthew 13:24-30 NHEBJE  (24)  He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,  (25)  but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.  (26)  But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the tares appeared also.  (27)  So the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did these tares come from?’  (28)  “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’  (29)  “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the tares, you root up the wheat with them.  (30)  Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

We all shall have to bring forth seed, people who sincerely love God and want to step in the footsteps of master Jeshua. The real followers of rabbi Jeshua shall try to be stronger than the temptations those adversaries of God bring. They shall try to proof they are worthy the sacrifice that man brought and by whom blessings have come all over them who have faith in him and who love his heavenly Father the Only One True God.

At the times of the apostles it was not easy. The enmity reached its height, however, in the persecution of the spiritual seed, particularly in that displayed toward Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:3-15 NHEBJE  Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy.  (4)  Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.”  (5)  He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.  (6)  But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”  (7)  He took him by the right hand, and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.  (8)  Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.  (9)  All the people saw him walking and praising God.  (10)  They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.  (11)  And as he held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.  (12)  When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?  (13)  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.  (14)  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a man who was a murderer to be granted to you,  (15)  and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

Paul refers to the prophetic drama to illustrate, saying:

“Just as then the one born in the manner of flesh [Ishmael] began persecuting the one born in the manner of spirit [Isaac], so also now.” (Galatians 4:29)

And a later report, in reality a prophecy, describes the Kingdom’s establishment in heaven and the devil’s being hurled out of heaven down to the earth, with only a short time to continue his enmity. It concludes:

“And the dragon grew wrathful at the woman, and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.” (Revelation 12:7-13, 17)

For sure the world shall have to face a terrible war, bigger and more fearful than the Great War. It shall be a war between people who claim to be fighting in the name of Allah/God, but they will be deceivers. Children and parents shall have many discussions with each other. Their internal, war between families shall be just part of the bigger picture where nation shall fight against nation and many shall ridicule religion and spit on the God of gods. Then we may see a war against the remnant of the woman’s seed which shall end when ‘Satan is crushed under their feet.’

Romans 16:20 NHEBJE  And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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Preceding

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

Means of creations

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

First mention of a solution against death 6 Authority given to the send one from God coming out of the woman

First mention of a solution against death 7 Human sacrifice

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Additional reading

  1. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
  2. The Existence of Evil
  3. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
  4. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
  5. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality
  6. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
  7. A fact of History or just a fancy Story
  8. Lord in place of the divine name
  9. OT prophesies and the NT fulfillment of them
  10. Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
  11. Matthew 2:1-6 – Astrologers and Priests in a Satanic Plot
  12. Nazarene Commentary Matthew 3:7-12 – Opposition and Two Baptisms
  13. Nazarene Commentary Luke 2:39-40 – The Young Child Grows
  14. Nazarene Commentary Luke 3:3-6 – John Preaches Baptism of Repentance
  15. Nazarene Commentary Mark 1:1-8 – The Beginning of the Good News
  16. What is the truth asked also Pontius Pilate
  17. Imprisonment and execution of Jesus Christ
  18. Hebraic Roots Bible Matthew Chapter 27
  19. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
  20. Truth, doubt or blindness
  21. The Seed Of The Woman Bruised
  22. Authority given to him To give eternal life
  23. Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh
  24. Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
  25. The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
  26. Satan the evil within
  27. Autumn traditions for 2014 – 2 Summersend and mansend
  28. Autumn traditions for 2014 – 3 Black Mass, Horror spectacles and pure puritans
  29. Autumn traditions for 2014 – 4 Blasphemy and ridiculing faith in God
  30. A New Year and a New Person
  31. Christ having glory
  32. Hotbed of Satanism or the Satanic capital of Britain
  33. Christians at War? Christians using violence?
  34. 2015 the year of ISIS

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Further related articles

  1. When God Has Spoken!
  2. Hearing God’s Voice
  3. Is God Speaking?!
  4. The hidden message that was in front of me
  5. Small Voices
  6. Wisdom for the Day
  7. 1 Samuel 3:10 Are You Listening?
  8. Courageous Communications
  9. Blessings
  10. The 90 Day Challenge, Day 28 -“Recognizing God’s Voice”
  11. Focused!
  12. Significant in Christ

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Creation of the earth and man #23 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #7 Corporeal and spiritual change

In the previous chapters we have looked at the corporeal change of those, who have first been morally renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that had created them from “sinful flesh” into spirit, which is an absolute necessity, before they can inherit the Kingdom of God. After people get to know God’s Word and come to understand Who created the earth and Who had sent His son for the good of man they shall have to come to see that even when we still have to face death in this system of things we may live by the hope of something better to come.

Though we have the sleep in death and shall perhaps have to face very difficult times, even facing persecution we should be convinced not to sorrow as the others. We should not react like the unbelievers, who may react heavily because they do not have such a hope the followers of Jeshua have.
For if we have given ourselves to become disciples of the sent one from God believe that this son of God, Jesus, died and rose again, we do have our hope in him because knowing that God can not die, but the son of man Jesus really died, we have hope in this example God has given the world. This man of flesh and blood is really take out of the dead and taken up in the skies to sit next to God, not on God’s throne, but at His right hand.

These who take Jesus to be their god and think no man is capable to be sinless and doing God’s Will, make from God a cruel God Who created beings who were not capable to follow His commandments. They deny the resurrection of the dead and are refuting God’s Power to have man following His commandments. Those gainsayers are as such believing that man can only do his own will and not believing that man is capable to transform and to become changed into spirit, or immortalized, by the Son of Man, doing God’s Will.

The believers in Jeshua, him being the son of God and not making him into a god son, may comfort one another with the words which are given to us in the Bible.

It will be seen from this, that survivors of the dead were not consoled in the first age of Christianity for the loss of their friends as they are now by those who “improve the death” of the influential among them. In “funeral sermons”, the “immortal souls” of the deceased are transported “on angels’ wings to heaven”, and the living are consoled with the assurance that they are singing the praises of God around the throne; feasting with Abraham, and the prophets, with the saints and martyrs, and with Jesus and his apostles in the Kingdom of God; and they are themselves persuaded, that the souls of their relations, now become angels, are watching over them, and praying for them; and that when they die their own souls will be re-united with them in the realms of bliss.

Need I say to the man enlightened in the word, that there is no such comfort, or consolation, as this in the law and the testimony of God?

A Goblin or legendary evil or mischievous grotesque dwarf-like daemon or monster that appeared in European stories and accounts during the Middle Ages. – Goblin from Warhammer

Such traditions are purely mythological; and come of the Nicolaitan dogma of saved “ghosts, and goblins damn’d” which has cancerously extirpated “the truth as it is in Jesus”.
No, the apostles did not point men to the day of their death, and its immediate consequents, for comfort; nor did they administer the consolations of the gospel to any who had not obeyed it. They offered comfort only to the disciples; for they only are the heirs with Jesus of the Kingdom of God. They taught these to look to the coming of Christ, and to the resurrection, as the time of a re-union with their brethren in the faith. At death, they should

“rest from their labours, and their works should follow them”;

and

“to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. {a Heb. 9:28.}

Such were the practical and intelligible “words” with which the apostles comforted their brethren; but words which have become sealed and cabalistic, both to the unlearned and “the wise”.

The Unisphere, attributed to “uribe”/Uri Baruchin

In conclusion, then, as far as power is concerned, God could have created all things upon a spiritual or incorruptible basis at once. The globe could have been filled with men and women, equal to the angels in nature, power, and intellect, on the sixth day; but the world would have been without a history, and its population characterless. This, however, would not have been according to the plan. The animal must precede the spiritual as the acorn goes before the oak. This will explain many difficulties which are created by systems; and which will for ever remain inexplicable upon the hypotheses they invent. The Bible has to do with things, not imaginations; with bodies, not phantasmata; with “living souls” of every species; with corporeal beings of other worlds; and with incorruptible and undying men; but it is as mute as death, and silent as the grave, having nothing at all to say about such “souls” as men pretend to “cure”; except to repudiate them as a part of that “philosophy and vain deceit”, {b. Col. 2:8} “which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” {c  1 Tim. 6:21}

– Thomas, D. J.; Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 45–46). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Notes & quotes

a Hebrews 9:28 (ESV): 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

b Colossians 2:8 (ESV): See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

c 1 Timothy 6:21 (ESV): 21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
Grace be with you.

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Preceding article:

Creation of the earth and man #22 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #6 Spirits, spiritual bodies and illusory perception

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

Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correction

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Additional readings

  1. Bible, sword of the Spirit to come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man
  2. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
  3. The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
  4. God won’t ask
  5. Kingdom of God, a journey
  6. The one who set the standard
  7. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
  8. Signs of the the last days when difficult times will come
  9. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
  10. Jesus is risen
  11. Outflow of foundational relationship based on acceptance of Jesus
  12. Exceeding Great and Precious Promise
  13. Invitation to all who believe
  14. Dying or not
  15. Immortality, eternality – onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
  16. God’s wrath and sanctification
  17. With God All Things Are Possible
  18. The world is but a great inn
  19. A concrete picture of what is to come in the future
  20. Empire with Jesus the emperor
  21. The builder of the Kingdom
  22. Not all will inherit the Kingdom
  23. Receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken
  24. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  25. Elul Observances
  26. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  27. Salvation and Righteousness
  28. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
  29. Failing Man to make free choice
  30. Knowing where to go to
  31. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
  32. Faith and trial
  33. Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
  34. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
  35. A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
  36. First man’s task still counting today
  37. He who knows himself, is kind to others
  38. Luther’s misunderstanding
  39. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  40. Our life depending on faith
  41. Romans 4 and the Sacraments
  42. Is Justification a process?
  43. Letter to the Romans, chapter 3
  44. Letter to the Romans, chapter 4
  45. Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
  46. Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4
  47. Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
  48. Be holy
  49. Those who make peace should plant peace like a seed
  50. Times of the Gentiles
  51. How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
  52. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
  53. Bringing Good News into the world
  54. United people under Christ
  55. The work of the angels in guiding national affairs

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Further related articles

  1. You believe in one God? Good, so do the other gods.
  2. Weeping and gnashing of teeth
  3. Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correctionSatan in the New Testament (2)
  4. Satan in the New Testament (3): The Devil and his angels
  5. Angels and Princes in Daniel 10
  6. Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correctionWas David “a man after God’s own heart”?
  7. Jesus on hell (1)
  8. Waiting
  9. Kingdom Timing
  10. …as is Israel’s eternal duty…
  11. …as is Israel’s eternal duty. part 2.
  12. On the Joy Train I Go!
  13. Kingdom of God – river of lifeThe Kingdom of God and Non-Violence (Part 2)
  14. The kingdom of heaven is the Christian disciple’s true home
  15. The Kingdom’s Authority
  16. Why We Shouldn’t Call Ourselves Born-Again Christians
  17. New Creation: Here, But Not Yet
  18. The Return of The Native
  19. Next Scheduled Stop: The Judgment Seat of Christ (Part 3)
  20. The faithful remnant
  21. Unseen Servants
  22. You’re not a Slave, You’re a Son
  23. Have Courage!
  24. Jesus’ First Sermon (Mark 1. 14-15)
  25. Politics, Christianity, and the End of the World
  26. Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  27. Rhymer of God series (#3)
  28. Not a Christian Bubble
  29. The Poor in Spirit (Matt. 5:3)
  30. (In)justice and (in)action
  31. Kingdom of the Son
  32. Go with the Flow
  33. A Bus Called Heaven. Bob Graham
  34. Stand Up For Jesus
  35. Third Friday in Ordinary Time
  36. Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Are you Working to Fulfill Scripture?
  37. Going Home
  38. Quaker Faith & Practice for the 21st Century: IIj
  39. God is Jehovah Jireh – The LORD Will Provide
  40. Lay Your Burden Down And Let God Be God And Just Be Yourself
  41. Michael Horton Differentiates Law and Gospel
  42. The Subnormal Christian Life
  43. 14 How to Work Your Way to Hell

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Creation of the earth and man #22 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #6 Spirits, spiritual bodies and illusory perception

When the Lord Jesus said,

“A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have”,

he did not mean to say that a spiritual body had not; but a spirit such as they thought they saw.

“They supposed they had seen a spirit.”

In the received reading the same word, πνευ̂μα, is used here as in the text which speaks of Jesus as “the Lord the Spirit”; but evidently, not in the same sense. Indeed, the reading in Griesbach’s edition of the original text is clearly the correct one. The word rendered spirit is properly φάντασμα, a phantom or mere optical illusion; and not πνευ̂μα, spirit.* When Jesus walked upon the sea both Matthew {a Matthew 14:26} and Mark {b Mark 6:49} make use of the same phrase as Luke, and say that the disciples when they saw him, “supposed they had seen a spirit, and they cried out for fear”. In both these places the word is phantasma, and not pneuma.

File:Christ Walking on the Waters, Julius Sergius Von Klever.jpg

Having affirmed that man stands related to two kinds of body, the apostle gives us to understand, that in the arrangements of God the spiritual system of things is elaborated out of the animal, and not the animal out of the spiritual. The natural world is the raw material, as it were, of the spiritual; the bricks and mortar, so to speak, of the mansion which is to endure for ever. In relation to human nature, two men are presented as its types in the two phases it is to assume. These Paul styles “the First Adam”, and “the Last Adam”, or “the first man”, and “the second man”. The former, he terms “earthy”; because he came from the ground, and goes thither again: and, the latter, “the Lord from heaven”; because, being “known no more after the flesh”, he is expected from heaven as the place of his final manifestation in “the body of his glory”. Then, says John, “we shall be like him”. If, therefore, we have been successful in depicting the Lord as he is now, while seated at the right hand of God; namely, an incorruptible, honourable, powerful, living person, substantial and tangible, shining as the sun, and able to eat and drink, and to display all mental and other phenomena in perfection: if the reader be able to comprehend such an “Image of the invisible God”, he can understand what they are to be, who are accounted worthy to inherit His kingdom. Therefore, says Paul,

“As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly”, {c  1 Corinthians 15:49}

or, Lord from heaven.

This corporeal change of those, who have first been morally

“renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that hath created them” {d Colossians 3:10}

from “sinful flesh” into spirit, is an absolute necessity, before they can inherit the Kingdom of God. When we come to understand the nature of this Kingdom, which has to be exhibited in these pages, we shall see that it is a necessity which cannot be dispensed with.

“That which is corruptible cannot inherit incorruptibility”,

says the apostle. This is the reason why animal men must die, or be transformed. Our animal nature is corruptible; but the Kingdom of God is indestructible, as the prophet testifies, saying,

“It shall never be destroyed, nor left to other people; but shall stand for ever”. {e Daniel 2:44}

Because, therefore, of the nature of this Kingdom, “flesh and blood cannot inherit it”; and hence the necessity of a man being “born of the spirit”, or “he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God”. {f  John 3:5, 6; 1 Corinthians 15:50}He must be “changed into spirit”, put on incorruptibility and immortality of body, or he will be physically incapable of retaining the honour, glory, and power of the Kingdom for ever, or even for a thousand years.

But, before the apostle concludes his interesting exposition of

“the kind of body for which the dead come”,

he makes known a secret which was previously concealed from the disciples at Corinth. It would probably have occurred to them, that if flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of God, then those who were living at the epoch of its establishment, being men in the flesh, could have no part in it. But to remove this difficulty, the apostle wrote, saying,

“Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep (χοιμηθησόμεθα, met. to die, be dead), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for it (the seventh trumpet) {g Revelation 11:15, 18; 15:8; 20:4} shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible (ἱσάγγελοι, equal to the angels) {h Luke 20:36}, and we shall be changed (ἐς πνευ̂μα, into spirit). {i  1 Corinthians 15:45}For this corruptible (body) must put on incorruptibility (ἀφθορσίαν), and this mortal (body) must put on immortality (ἀθανασίαν). Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory”. {j Isaiah 25:8}

But, that the saints might not misapprehend the matter, especially those of them who may be contemporary with the seventh trumpet-period, he gave further particulars of the secret in another letter.
The disciples at Thessalonica were deeply sorrowing for the loss of some of their body who had fallen asleep in death; probably victims to persecution. The apostle wrote to comfort them, and exhorted them

“not to sorrow as the others (οἱ λοιποί, i.e., the unbelievers), who have no hope. For if we (the disciples) believe that Jesus died and rose again”;and be not like those, who, by saying, “There is no resurrection of the dead”, in effect deny it; “even so”, as he rose, “them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring forth (ἄξει, lead out, or produce), with him.” {k  2 Corinthians 4:14}

He then proceeds to show the “order” {l 1 Corinthians 15:23} in which the saints are changed into spirit, or immortalized, by the Son of Man. {m  John 5:21, 25, 26, 28, 29}.

“For”

says he,

“this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain at the Lord’s coming, shall not anticipate them who are asleep. For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise FIRST: after that we, the living, who remain, shall be snatched away together with them in clouds to a meeting of the Lord in the air: and thus we shall be with the Lord at all times. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” {n 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.}

– Thomas, D. J. ; Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 43–45). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

*

Notes & quotes

* The R.V. retains pneuma, spirit; but in Matthew and Mark renders phantasma, apparition.

a Matthew 14:26 (ESV): 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.

b Mark 6:49 (ESV): 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out,

c 1 Corinthians 15:49 (ESV): 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

d Colossians 3:10 (ESV): 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

e Daniel 2:44 (ESV) : 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

f1 John 3:5 (ESV): Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

f2 John 3:6 (ESV): That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

f3 1 Corinthians 15:50 (ESV): Mystery and Victory  50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

g. Rev. 11:15, 18; 15:8; 20:4.

g1 Revelation 11:15 (ESV): The Seventh Trumpet 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

g2 Revelation 11:18 (ESV): 18  The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

g3 Revelation 15:8 (ESV): and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

g4 Revelation 20:4 (ESV): Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

h Luke 20:36 (ESV): 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

i 1 Corinthians 15:45 (ESV): 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

j Isaiah 25:8 (ESV): He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

k 2 Corinthians 4:14 (ESV): 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

l 1 Corinthians 15:23 (ESV): 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

m John 5:21, 25-29 (ESV): 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. … 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

n 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (ESV): The Coming of the Lord 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

 

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Preceding

Creation of the earth and man #21 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #5 Spiritual and animal body

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Further reading

  1. Which Life?
  2. Thousand Deaths
  3. Bible study: Was the resurrection body of Jesus spiritual or physical?
  4. The Filling Of The Holy Spirit
  5. Life Series Part I
  6. John 3:5-8 (Spirit Wind)
  7. Sermon: Pentecost 2015
  8. Was Jesus a Yogi?
  9. The Spirit speaks from the depths to the deep…
  10. This same Breath
  11. The Breath of God
  12. That’s the Spirit!
  13. What if God Were One of Us?
  14. Pneumosophy: The Breathing Blog
  15. Pneuma: Breath of Life, Sigorta+Akbil Tam Zamanlı Tanrı

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Messiah for all 2015 in review

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

Messiah for all 2015 Feb 11For 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!}

Dissociative identity disorder.jpg
Being one or more, not feeling at ease in the body others can see

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!}

File:7088jfSaint Peter Church Leaders Quezon Cityfvf 22.JPG
Saint Peter Parish: Shrine of Leaders

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.

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Please do find additional reading:

  1. Looking for Free Blogs and blogging
  2. February 2015 got new little lights shining on internet
  3. Crisis man needed in this world
  4. Wanting to live in Christ’s city
  5. Blindness in the Christian world
  6. A voice and a Word given for wisdom
  7. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
  8. Not words of any organisation should bind you, but the Word of God
  9. Who are Christadelphians
  10. What are Brothers in Christ
  11. Christadelphian people
  12. Old orthodox Dissenters and Unitarians in 19° Century London
  13. Christadelphians or Messianic Christians or Messianic Jews
  14. United people under Christ
  15. Guelph a center of Christadelphia now in database
  16. The Toronto East Ecclesia
  17. Reasons why you may not miss the opportunity to go to a Small Church

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Also of interest

  1. Nothingness
  2. Blackness, nothingness, something, void
  3. Accommodation of the Void
  4. “Before” and “after” the Big Bang
  5. Different principle about the origin and beginning of everything
  6. Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
  7. Other stories about the beginning of times
  8. Genesis Among the Creation Myths
  9. Why believing the Bible
  10. The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods
  11. The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
  12. The Word being a quality or aspect of God Himself
  13. Why think there’s a God? (1): Something from Nothing
  14. Why think there is a God? (2) Goldilocks Effect
  15. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1:1-7 Help from God our Maker
  16. Creation of the earth and man #9 Formation of man #1 Cure of souls
  17. Creation of the earth and man #10 Formation of man #2 Mortal bodies and Tartarian habitation
  18. Creation of the earth and man #11 Formation of man #3 Infant salvation and non-elect infant damnation
  19. Creation of the earth and man #12 Formation of man #4 Constitution of man
  20. People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers
  21. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
  22. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
  23. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
  24. Being Religious and Spiritual 2 Religiosity and spiritual life
  25. Being Religious and Spiritual 3 Philosophers, Avicennism and the spiritual
  26. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
  27. Being Religious and Spiritual 6 Romantici, utopists and transcendentalists
  28. Of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something
  29. Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us
  30. Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
  31. A Church without Faith!
  32. Faith antithesis of rationality
  33. God’s word…is a comfort to the one who yields to God’s will
  34. Holiness and expression of worship coming from inside
  35. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
  36. Commit your self to the trustworthy creator
  37. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
  38. Science and Religion Harmonized (Once and For All…)
  39. How to falsify a religion using scientific or historical evidence
  40. Something Most False Christians Have In Common
  41. Bible containing scientific information
  42. Do you believe in One god
  43. God does not change
  44. Misleading Pictures
  45. A Triple God or simply a rather simple One God
  46. History of the acceptance of a three-in-one God
  47. Altered to fit a Trinity
  48. Does there have to be a Holy Trinity Mystery
  49. Preexistence in the Divine purpose and Trinity
  50. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
  51. God demonstrates his own love
  52. Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
  53. God has visited His people
  54. God’s Special Gift
  55. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
  56. Do not be afraid. Good news because a Saviour has been born
  57. Christ begotten through the power of the Holy Spirit
  58. Apple of Gods eye
  59. No Other Name (But Jesus)
  60. The Real Christ
  61. About a man who changed history of humankind
  62. Which man is mentioned most often in the Bible? Jesus, Moses, Abraham or David?
  63. Yahushua, Yehoshua, Yeshua, Jehoshua of Jeshua
  64. Lord or Yahuwah, Yeshua or Yahushua
  65. Who was Jesus?
  66. Jezus, Yeshua, Yahushua
  67. Jesus spitting image of his father
  68. The meek one riding on an ass
  69. What did Jesus sing?
  70. What Jesus sang
  71. Christ’s ethical teaching
  72. Believing what Jesus says
  73. Was Jesus Religious
  74. Jesus and His God
  75. Yeshua a man with a special personality
  76. A man with an outstanding personality
  77. How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?
  78. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
  79. Impaled until death overtook him
  80. Jesus three days in hell
  81. Jesus is risen
  82. Risen With Him
  83. The redemption of man by Christ Jesus
  84. Christ’s coming
  85. Revelation 1:8 – Who is Speaking?
  86. Americans really thinking the Messiah Christ had an English name
  87. Some Christians do have problems with the Christian connection with Jews
  88. Others that hinder the message
  89. Have you also been deceived
  90. Can we not do what Jesus did?
  91. Let us become nothing, and Christ everything
  92. A rebellious movement founded on a fake?
  93. Seeing the world through the lens of his own experience
  94. Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus
  95. A Living Faith #12 The Love for Jesus
  96. Together tasting a great promise
  97. The one who set the standard
  98. A Jewish Theocracy
  99. Writers needed to preach to non-believers
  100. Worship God only
  101. Life and attitude of a Christian
  102. A Living Faith #9 Our Manner of Life
  103. Let me keep to “first importance” things
  104. Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
  105. The Belgian Christadelphian ecclesia sites 2015 in review
  106. Broeders in Christus 2015 in review
  107. From Guestwriters 2015 in review
  108. Stepping Toes 2015 in review
  109. Belgian Bible Students review of 2015
  110. Bijbelvorsers Blogging annual report and 2015 in review

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Further related articles

  1. Truth recovered?
  2. Who are the Christadelphians? are Christadelphians a cult?
  3. The #Christadelphians – YouTube
  4. God’s Roadmap To Peace!
  5. Development or Deviation?
  6. Major Life Influence #1: Being Raised Christadelphian
  7. A Vital time for Christadelphians to watch
  8. “God is faithful and He will not let … ” Thoughts from today’s Bible readings – August 28th
  9. ‘Christ’s warning to Christianity‘ Come out from the Apostate Church! The Time Is At Hand
  10. Enfield Ecclesia
  11. behind the name
  12. Worship of Jesus, relative or absolute?
  13. Duties of a child missionary in Guatemala
  14. Thoughts from dwayne0531
  15. I Peter 5:14: Lovely Talk
  16. I died for beauty
  17. Jesus at your door knocking, and whoever heard him and open shall have life.
  18. Admonition
  19. Nation of Deception: Part Two
  20. Restore The Fallen, Don’t Kill Them Off
  21. Daily bible passage – 10/26/15
  22. …And the Broad Way to Destruction Widens

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

Of the Sabbath day

On the seventh day, which was neither longer nor shorter than the days which preceded it, “God ended his work which he had made”; and because of this notable event, “he blessed and sanctified it”.

A day is blessed, because of what is or will be imparted to those who are commanded to observe it. The sanctification of the day implies the setting of it apart that it might be kept in some way different from other days. The manner of its original observance may be inferred from the law concerning it when it was enjoined upon the Israelites. To them it was said,

“Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”.

If it be asked, how was it to be kept holy? the answer is,

“in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor any one or thing belonging to thee”;

and the reason for this total abstinence from work is referred to the Lord’s own example in that “he rested the seventh day”. The nature of its observance in the ages and generations, and the recompense thereof, is well expressed in the words of Isaiah:

— “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” {Isaiah 58:13, 14.}

"Der Samstug (Sabbath)", Frederich C...
“Der Samstug (Sabbath)”, Frederich Campe, 1800: German Jews, wearing baretta hats, gather outside a synagogue on Sabbath. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this passage, the conditions are stated upon which faithful Israelites might inherit the blessing typified by the rest of the seventh day. They were joyfully to devote themselves to the way of the Lord. They were not simply to abstain from work, yawning and grumbling over the tediousness of the day, and wishing it were gone, that they might return to their ordinary course of life; but they were to esteem it as a delightful, holy, and honourable day. Their pleasure was to consist in doing what the Lord required, and in talking of “the exceeding great and precious promises” He had made. To do this was “not speaking their own words”, but the Lord’s words. Such an observance as this, however, of the sabbath day, implies a faithful mind and a gracious disposition as the result of knowing the truth.

Neither antediluvian nor postdiluvian could “call the sabbath a delight” who was either ignorant or faithless of the import of the promise,

“thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord, and ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed with the heritage of Jacob”.

Representation of Sabbat gatherings from the c...
Representation of Sabbat gatherings from the chronicles of Johann Jakob Wick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A man who simply looked at the seventh day as a sabbath in which he was interdicted from pleasures, and conversation agreeable to him, and from the money-making pursuits in which he delighted, would regard the day more as a weekly punishment, than as joyous and honourable. Though he might mechanically abstain from work, he did not keep it so as to be entitled to the blessing which belonged to the observance of the day of the Lord. It was irksome to him, because, being faithless, he perceived no reward in keeping it; and

“without faith it is impossible to please God”.

The reward to antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs and Israelites, for a faithful observance, or commemoration of Jehovah’s rest from His creation-work, was

“delight in the Lord, riding upon the high places of the earth, and feeding with the heritage of Jacob”.

This was neither more nor less than a promise of inheriting the Kingdom of God, which is a summary of “the things hoped for and the things unseen”, or the subject matter of the faith that pleases God. When that kingdom is established, all who are accounted worthy of it will “delight or joy in the Lord”; and occupy “the high places of the earth”, ruling over the nations as His associate kings and priests; and share in the “new heavens and earth,” in which dwells righteousness, when Jerusalem shall be made a rejoicing, and her people Israel a joy. The knowledge and belief of these things was the powerful and transforming motive which caused Abel, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc. to “call the sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, and honourable”; and to observe it as the sons of Belial cannot possibly do. But while this was the motive, even faith, which actuated the sons of God in their keeping holy the seventh day, Jehovah did not permit the faithless to transgress or desecrate it with impunity. We know not what penalty, if any, was attached to its violation before the flood; but its desecration under the Mosaic constitution was attended with signal and summary vengeance, as will appear from the following testimonies:—

1. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore: for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” { Exodus 31:12–17.}
2. “Remember (O Israel), that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” {Deut. 5:15.}
3. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day mere shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the sabbath day.” { Exodus 35:2, 3.}
4. “And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.” { Numb. 15:32–36.}
5. “Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem: neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.… And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, to do no work therein: then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and upon horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the temple of the Lord. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” {Jer. 17:21–27.}
6. “Abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” {Exodus 16:29, 30.}

From these testimonies it is clear that it was unlawful for servants in the families of Israel to light fires, cook dinners, harness horses, drive out families to the synagogues, or priests to the temple to officiate in the service of the Lord. The visiting of families on the sabbath day, the taking of excursions for health or for preaching, and conversing about worldly, or family, or any kind of secular affairs, was also illegal, and punishable with death. The law, it will be observed also, had regard to the seventh, and to no other day of the week. It was lawful to do all these things on the first or eighth day (some particular ones, however, excepted), but not on the seventh. On this day, however, it was “lawful to do good”; but then, this good was not arbitrary. Neither the priests nor the people were the judges of the good or evil, but the law only which defined it.

“On the sabbath days the priests in the temple profaned the sabbath, and were blameless”; {Matt. 12:5.}

for the law enjoined them to offer “two lambs of the first year, without spot, as the burnt-offering of every sabbath”. { Num. 28:9–10.} This was a profanation of the seventh-day law, which prohibited “any work” from being done; and had not God commanded it, they would have been “guilty of death”. It was upon this ground that Jesus was “guiltless”; for he did the work of God on that day in healing the sick as the Father had commanded him.

“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore”,

said Jesus,

“the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath Day ”. {Mark 2:27.}

It was a wise and beneficent institution. It prevented the Israelites from wearing out themselves and their dependents by incessant toil; and revived in them a weekly remembrance of the law and promises of God. It was, however, only “a Shadow of things to come”, the substance of which is found in the things which pertain to the Anointed One of God.  (Col. 2:14, 16–17)

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. {The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Kol 2:14–19). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.}

It was a part of “the rudiments of the world” inscribed on

“the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us”,

and which the Lord Jesus “took out of the way, nailing it to his cross”. When he lay entombed he rested from his labours, abiding in his place all the seventh day. Having ended his work, he arose on the eighth day, “and was refreshed”. The shadowy sabbath disappeared before the brightness of the rising of the sun of righteousness; who, having become the accursed of the law. delivered his brethren from its sentence upon all.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 13–17). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Preceding: Creation of the earth and man #2 Evil Angels and moments of creation

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Additional reading:

  1. Truth, doubt or blindness
  2. Observance of a day to Remember
  3. Anointing of Christ as Prophetic Rehearsal of the Burial rites
  4. Jesus begotten Son of God #3 Messiah or Anointed one
  5. Written to recognise the Promised One
  6. The Right One to follow and to worship
  7. Sabbath according to the scriptures

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Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

In the Garden of Eden we see that there is been spoken about the seed. In certain creation myths we also get seeds and eggs being part of the creation and do we find serpents creeping in.

Alexander Rivera writes on his blog The Aeon Eye

Orphic Egg
Glycon was considered to also be a snake god in satirical form as mentioned by the satirist Lucian, and was said to be the incarnation of Asklepios in the mysteries of Alexander of Abonutichus, a pagan philosopher of the 2nd century.

In Orphic mythology, the serpent was sometimes linked with the primordial egg from which all things emerged and is shown entwined around the egg. Epiphanius in The Panarion discusses the doctrines of the Epicureans who believed that the universe was formed by chance rather than providence:

Originally the entire universe was like an egg and the spirit was then coiled snakewise round the egg, and bound nature tightly like a wreath or girdle. (3) At one time it wanted to squeeze the entire matter, or nature, of all things more forcibly, and so divided all that existed into the two hemispheres and then, as the result of this, the atoms were separated. (4) For the light, finer parts of all nature—light, aether and the finest parts of the spirit—floated up on top. But the parts which were heaviest and like dregs have sunk downwards. This means earth—that is, anything dry—and the moist substance of the waters. (5) The whole moves of itself and by its own momentum with the revolution of the pole and stars, as though all things were still being driven by the snake like spirit.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

That the world goes in circles and time repeats itself is also brought forward by the circular symbol of the serpent eating its own tail, known as the Ouroboros, the primal being who said,

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Rev. 22:13).

Rivera reminds us that the serpent is also seen in the Syriac Hymn of the Pearl as it depicts the soul’s descent into the world, forgetting his mission but eventually roused by the call on high to remind him of his original nature and duty, his glorious rising again into the Kingdom of the Father.

The Pearl, the Prince seeks in Egypt, represents the Gnosis, and the terrible Serpent that guards it, is depicted as the passion of egotism.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

It was that passion of egotism, the deep longing to have everything for oneself that made Eve testing her Creator. She had a craving to become as wise as He is. The yearning came also over the 1° Adam by listening to his wife. The female partner was much stronger than the male and could convince him that it would not heart. Their aching to possess as much wisdom and power as God made them to disobey their Maker.

In several man made stories we do find such evil thoughts of jealousy coming into the picture and destroying a relationship. Often such thoughts creep into our mind as a serpent and as such it is pictured.

Epiphanius of Salamis (church father, ca. 310–...
Epiphanius of Salamis (church father, ca. 310–20 – 403), fresco at Gracanica monastery, near Lipljan in Kosovo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Typical to Jewish and Christian tradition, another negative portrayal of serpent imagery was used by the Church Father Epiphanius in his closing comments in the Panarion to high-light the “evil nature” of Simon Magus as being like a snake, asp and a viper.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

We also find acquisitiveness coming into life of many, bringing wrong actions and evil thoughts.  The embodiment of greed brings also pictures of extra terrestial figures of angels (fallen angels) or devils. When we look at the Targum Psuedo-Jonathan we do find the Serpent with the fallen angel Samael, the “Blind One” who was a originally a great prince in heaven, descended to earth and rode upon the serpent to deceive Eve and seduce her. The fruit of his seduction, as the same text claims (like the Gospel of Philip) was Cain, being the son of the Devil.

And the woman saw Sammael, the angel of death, and she was afraid, and she knew that the tree was good for food.

Rivera tells about Rabbi Isaac who in The Treatise of the Left Emanation, also compared Samael and Lilith as husband and wife, much like Adam and Eve — an inverted, “Satanic” power, a concept which is featured later in the Zohar and Jewish myth concerning evil. Samael acts as an evil doppelganger of the first man that came into being with the first human transgression:

The first prince and accuser, the commander of Jealousy and Enmity…he is called ‘evil’ not because of his nature but because he desires to unite and intimately mingle with an emanation not of his nature… it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces. The Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

He continues:

As this passage suggests, Jewish mysticism contains a dialectic notion of “evil”; all things emanate from God, so Samael is one of God’s “severe agents,” yet he grows beyond the attenuated form God intended because he feeds upon the evils of the world. The Zohar builds upon the image of Samael found in Rabbi Isaac’s text as the demon king and consort of Lilith; together they are the evil counterparts of Adam and Eve. Samael is the tempting angel from who “copulates” with Lilith as the male and female principles of the “left side emanation”, united and achieve their full potential by spawning demons. Samael is in effect the evil left-side counterpart of Tiferet in the Sefirotic system of the Tree of Life. In the Apocryphon of John, Samael also happens to be one of the alternative names for Ialdabaoth, the Satanic creator god.  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

Also the mind, the thinking or the being of a person got out of a seed but was also like a serpent.

The Ophites connected the eternal principle, Nous, “mind”, with Naas, the Greek word for serpent—stating that the serpent in the Garden of Eden was actually Nous in serpent form. Accordingly, the Demiurge tried to prevent Adam and Eve from acquiring knowledge, and it was the serpent who persuade them to disobey the Demiurge and taste of the fruit. This was the origin of gnosis. Because the serpent frustrated Jehovah’s designs, the serpent was cursed (Gen. 3:14). The Naasenes also agreed with the sentiments expressed in the Gospel of Philip, in that the separation of sexes marked the beginning of death and evil when they claimed that sex was “…man’s fatal effort to become one without recognizing that the only real unity was spiritual.”  {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

In Church-history we find peculiar ideas about the relationship with the seed, the serpent, man and Jesus.

According to the Church Fathers, the Ophites had a peculiar ritual meal involving a snake. The Ophites made a distinction between Christ the Savior, and Jesus, the man. Christ equated the serpent with the Son of Man (John 3:14), whereas Jesus equated serpents with scorpions, and spoke of the serpent as the “enemy” (Luke 10:19). For this reason some Ophite sects vilified Jesus. Origen in Contra Celsum records that the Ophites cursed Jesus, and wanted converts to do the same. St. Paul’s reference to those who curse Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3) may point to these snake-worshipers. The Ophites also happened to believe that Adam and Eve were originally beings of light, according to Irenaeus in Against Heresies, I, 30.9:

Adam and Eve previously had light, and clear, and as it were spiritual bodies, such as they were at their creation; but when they came to this world, these changed into bodies more opaque, and gross, and sluggish. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

No surprise Rivera wants to make the link also to some titles which we can find in Christianity, like “Lord of Hosts” as a reference to יהוה YHWH  Jehovah/Yehowah/Yahuwah/Yahweh. which can be found in some translations at 1Samuel 1:3,11; 4:4; 15:2; 17:45;  2 Samuel 6:2,18; 7:8,26-27 and James 5:4 for example.

2Sa 7:26-27 NET  so you may gain lasting fame,43 as people say,44 ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty45 of your servant David will be established before you,  (27)  for you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have told46 your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’47 That is why your servant has had the courage48 to pray this prayer to you.

2Sa 7:26-27 MKJV  And let Your name be magnified forever, saying, The Jehovah of Hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of Your servant David be established before You.  (27)  For You, O Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to Your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore Your servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to You.

Several Christians do want to believe it than relies to Jesus but it is all about יהוה The Elohim Hashem Jehovah to Whom belongs the victory.

Clarke wants us even to believe:

“It having pleased God that, between the time of a Messiah being promised and the time of his coming, there should be delivered by the prophets a variety of marks by which the Messiah was to be known, and distinguished from every other man; it was impossible for any one to prove himself the Messiah, whose character did not answer to these marks; and of course it was necessary that all these criteria, thus Divinely foretold, should be fulfilled in the character of Jesus Christ.

But in those passages of the Lord of Hosts is not spoken about the Messiah but about the bringer of the messiah, Jehovah God.

Clarke agrees that God declares himself the Father of the Son.

God declares himself the Father of the Son here meant; (see also Heb_1:5); and promises that, even amidst the sufferings of this Son, (as they would be for the sins of others, not for his own), his mercy should still attend him: nor should his favor be ever removed from this king, as it had been from Saul. And thus (as it follows) thine house (O David) and thy kingdom shall, in Messiah, be established for ever before Me: (before God): thy throne shall be established for ever. Thus the angel, delivering his message to the virgin mother, Luk_1:32, Luk_1:33, speaks as if he was quoting from this very prophecy: The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob For Ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end. In 2Sa_7:16, לפניך  lephaneycha, is rendered as לפני  lephanai, on the authority of three Hebrew MSS., with the Greek and Syriac versions; and, indeed, nothing could be established for ever in the presence of David, but in the presence of God only.

It shall be the Divine Creator Who makes everything and Who is the Father of everything and Host for all things and beings, who shall provide in His House the seed of peace and the seed for a new paradise, the Kingdom of God with the Garden of God once again here on earth. And for that Garden Jehovah God shall provide a gardener from the seed of Adam bringing the seed of Abraham, continuing the line with bringing seed to King David by which the offspring shall be the seed long awaited which shall bring the offering like the seed which formed the bush and got burning, the world shall have to see a burning light and bright morning star. to that seed Jehovah shall be a Host and He shall take him to sit at his right hand to become a mediator between God and man.

Rev 7:9-12 MKJV  After these things I looked, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands.  (10)  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb.  (11)  And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God,  (12)  saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Act 7:55-56 MKJV  But being full of the Holy Spirit, looking up intently into Heaven, he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  (56)  And he said, Behold, I see Heaven opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

Heb 10:12-17 MKJV  But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God,  (13)  from then on expecting until His enemies are made His footstool.  (14)  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified.  (15)  The Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after He had said before,  (16)  “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”  (17)  also He adds, “their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.”

1Ti 2:5-6 MKJV  For God is one, and there is one Mediator of God and of men, the Man Christ Jesus,  (6)  who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Rivera writes:

Interestingly, the Alexandrian Gnostic teacher, Basilides called the demiurge “the Seven” which could have been a reference to the seventh planet, Saturn, which rules the rest. The Hebrew name of the planet Saturn is Shabbathai, clearly transcribed in the form “Sabbataios” in Gnostic verbal play on the term “Lord of Hosts” as a reference to YHWH. Tacitus in Histories 5,4 associates the Jewish God with Saturn.  Saturn is naturally also honored on the same day by the Pagans that the Jews did with Jehovah on Sabbath. Since the Jews worshiped on Saturday, the Graeco-Roman world in which Basilides lived in tended to identify Jehovah with Saturn. Saturn is the Graeco-Roman sky-god so consumed with fear of being overthrown that he devours all his children, missing only Jupiter (Zeus), who does later overthrow him. In Rome the overthrow of the old year by the new, the hunched-up old man by the babe, was celebrated in the Saturnalia. Similarly, for Gnostics, the Christ child replaced the tribal god Jehovah. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

saturnToday we still find the majority of Christian believers not willing to accept Jesus to be a man of flesh and blood who had really enough reasons to be afraid of death. They still make Jesus into a god, because they think no human being would ever be able to keep to God His commandments. They forget that they make a very cruel Creator of this Most High God, having Him made immature imperfect beings to which He demands the impossible. For those Binarian and Trinitarian Christians the human beings where deficient from the beginning, not able to keep to God’s Wishes.

Michelangelo Bounarotti - The Fall and Expulsi...
Michelangelo Bounarotti – The Fall and Expulsion of Adam and Eve – detail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do not believe in such a cruel God, who than after the Fall would have waited so long before to intervene and Who keeps us still waiting so many years before He stops us to let us suffer. For us it is more acceptable that God created a perfect universe in which He gave the human beings a free will. They were perfect and could have stayed faultless.

To stay without fault people had to make the right choices. Eve  got tempted by her own greed, her willing to be even more like God. She had the breath of God blown in her nostrils and as such got the ‘soul‘, the ‘being’ ‘life’ in her. Those refusing that life itself was the essence given by God Himself wanted as in the different creation myths see their other gods providing that life, and as such used the figure Jesus as that bringer of life and bringer of love and eros.

As Irenaeus relates in his Against Heresies, Ialdabaoth is the eldest of seven rulers born of Lower Wisdom (See the Secret Book of John for this story). Ialdabaoth is depicted as a grotesque mutant—a lion-headed serpent which fits with Plato’s distinction of the “rational soul” part from the lion and the many headed beast portions of the soul in the Republic along with the Orphic Phanes or Eros. {Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

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Preceding articles:

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2

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Please do find the very interesting articles by Rivera:

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 1)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 2)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 3)

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 4)

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Additional reading:

  1. Because men choose to go their own way
  2. Fallen Angels
  3. Join the debate about the position of fallen angels
  4. Jesus and the fallen angels in hell
  5. Death and after
  6. Satan or the devil
  7. Sheol or the grave
  8. Doest thou well to be Angry?
  9. One mediator

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  • 11. Babylonian Talmud of the Pharisee & the Zohar (12160.info)
    the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers.
  • Gospel, 3rd Sunday in Lent, Year B (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
    Origen comments that our souls are the Temples of Christ, and he has especial solicitude for them, and here is driving from us impure thoughts and things which drag us down. Augustine sees the same symbolism. The Church, the Temple of Christ, has within in those who buy and sell holy things, and they need to be driven out too.

    All the Fathers see the reference to Jesus being the Temple and being raised on the third day. It is the Father who raised Him up after He was obedient, unto death, even death upon the Cross. Augustine and St Cyril both comment on his caution in entrusting himself fully to those not yet born again of the Spirit.

  • The Blame Game Again (supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com)
    The societal sins are merely those made individually by unique persons choosing the wrong way over and over and over and over. The sins of a culture or civilization are not some types of sins which just happen, but sins done repeatedly by those persons in that culture or civilization.
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    There would be no weak men without Adam, and the long line of couch potatoes, sports idolizing , game obsessed men who have given up all responsibility for their families and eschew commitment. Individuals sin and make movements.Just because the men are nameless, does not mean it is not yet another “movement” of weakness changing the culture one decision at a time.
    To blame a “movement” is to push blame onto nothing….some amorphous event in history. Of course, men and women decide to choose good or evil, thus creating the course of their own lives, that of their families and even nations.
  • A Life Bearing Fruit (therealdaniel.com)
    The greatest commandment that so many reject is to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, and the second commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. When self becomes god as Satan is all too familiar with then a separation from the Creator of all things good is inevitable.
  • Cleo and her asp. (barrywax.wordpress.com)
    According to Plutarch (quoted by Ussher), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and concluded that the bite of the asp (from aspis – Egyptian cobra, not European asp) was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. The asp is perhaps most famous for its alleged role in Cleopatra’s suicide

Background to look at things

The articles presented on this site shall be looking at what people say and at what is really written in the Bible. We do advice everybody coming along here to check for themselves what is really written in the Scriptures.

Quadruple combination opened to the Book of Is...
Quadruple combination opened to the Book of Isaiah – note the cross references between Biblical and Latter-day Saint scripture in the footnotes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are many Bible translations of which some may be translated in a confusing way, paraphrasing more what was in the original writing and often letting out the names, replacing them with words like ‘lord‘ not keeping it clear any more about which lord is spoken in the verse. This way a lot of people got confused about Jesus and God and did not come to see clearly who said what.

We advise you therefore not necessarily to stick to one Bible translation and to compare sayings in your Bible on one place with sayings at another place in the same translation.

For us the Book of books, a library of 66 works written by men God has chosen to write down His Words, we consider the most valuable guide to give us insight in the Works of God and in the Wants of God. We prefer to stick to what is written in those 66 books and do not have any need to stick to human doctrines. God is a God of clarity and order, not of confusion. He shall give in His Word what we do need to know, and that what He finds not relevant and did not let notate it down shall also be of no relevance for having something to take as a belief matter. This means that we allow people to have different opinions about matters which are not clearly indicated in the Bible.  Each individual has received brains and can use them in different ways. How a person want to say things is the freedom of each. We as followers of Christ want to speak in accordance of Jesus’ will, asking us to be like brothers and sisters united in his body. that union does not have to mean we all are and say exactly the same. That is a big misunderstanding of what unity means.

Our background and Guide is the Word of God and our wish to do the Will of God. Believing in Only One God, like our forefathers in the lineage of the patriarch Abraham did, we also do take Abraham as our patriarch or father, and like Christ Jesus did worship this God of Abraham we worship that God of Abraham. In believing in the words of Jesus and the other prophets we find unity, following the commandments of God.

We would like to ask you, like we do ourselves, not to keep to the human teachings and human doctrines, but to take as main guide the Bible itself, the words like they are printed black on white.

Put away your old you and everything you might have learned in your previous life, and dare to look at the Bible as a fresh newborn baby. Getting from the start, learning more and more, little bit by little bit, giving your self time to absorb and to learn what is really written in the Bible and not taking the footnotes as divine words but concentrating on the Bible text itself.

We want to take Jesus as our master teacher and belief what he himself believed.  We may come form all different backgrounds, be from all different cultures, but as main background we want to consider us as descendants from the same first Adam, wanting to become the same descendants from the second Adam (Jesus).  Together we want to go for the same believes Jesus had and appeal to the Lord Messiah for guidance in identifying the true God.

Happily we have a clear record of Jesus’ belief about who God is. Not only that — his creed is doubly confirmed by the fact that the Jew Jesus is in perfect agreement with a Jewish scribe, as together they discuss the greatest of all questions we humans must face. Who is God? So prepare now to hear what Jesus commands us in terms of our definition of God.

“One of the scribes [professional Bible teachers]… seeing that Jesus had answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is this: “Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart…

”’ And the scribe said to him, ‘Well said, teacher; in truth you have said that He is one and there is no other besides Him” (Mark 12:28-32).

That Nazarene teacher which told many parables and did many miracles not only astonished many people in his time, he still can surprise us. Standing in wonder for him, we want to share with others the acts of this wonderful, special man, who was called ‘son of man‘ and ‘son of God‘.

Our and your background to come to the faith should be the willingness to study the Word of God and the will to look for what is really written there and to  understand what God wants to bring in His Message, His Word which has stand the wear and tear and sustained all adversary by human beings. whatever man did to destroy the book of books, they did not succeed and it still stands strong and can be found in many hands all over the world.

Jesus asked his followers to study that Word thoroughly and to go out in the world to preach the message, the Good News, of the coming Kingdom of God. that message is our backbone, and should also be or become yours.

Jesus is our cornerstone. On him we try to build our community and want to unite as brothers and sisters in him, all over the world.

With our eyes directed in the Book of books, the infallible Word of God, we want to build our lives according to the guidelines of that precious book. The knowledge we receive from it we want to share, not as being it our own, but as being Words given freely to us, to share with others in love and peace, for becoming children of the One and Only One True God.

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Additional reading:

  1. “Who is The Most High” ? Who is thee Eternal? Who is Yehovah? Who is God?
  2. Words to push and pull
  3. Being Religious and Spiritual 7 Transcendence to become one
  4. Being Religious and Spiritual 8 Spiritual, Mystic and not or well religious
  5. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
  6. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
  7. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
  8. Caricaturing and disapproving sceptics, religious critics and figured out ethics
  9. Building up the spirit of the soul
  10. You do not belong to yourselves,for you were bought with a price
  11. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
  12. To mean, to think, outing your opinion, conviction, belief – Menen, mening, overtuiging, opinie, geloof
  13. Religions and Mainliners
  14. Jerusalem and a son’s kingdom
  15. The Bride New Jerusalem
  16. A participation in the body of Christ
  17. Marriage of Jesus 6 Jesus said to them “My wife”
  18. Marriage of Jesus 9 Reason for a new marriage
  19. Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant
  20. Reply to questions concerning The Bride of Christ
  21. Congregate, to gather, to meet
  22. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
  23. Integrity of the fellowship
  24. Fellowship
  25. Atonement And Fellowship 3/8
  26. Atonement And Fellowship 4/8
  27. Atonement And Fellowship 7/8
  28. Atonement And Fellowship 8/8
  29. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
  30. Philippians 1 – 2
  31. Synagogue, Church or Ecclesia for the Christian
  32. Those who call the Christadelphians a cult
  33. Vision blurred by cumulative burden of divisions
  34. Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church
  35. Priority to form a loving brotherhood
  36. A small company of Jesus’ footstep follower
  37. Intentions of an Ecclesia
  38. One Mind, One Accord
  39. Manifests for believers #5 Christian Union
  40. United people under Christ
  41. Major points of belief
  42. Christadelphian people
  43. About Brothers in Christ
  44. What are Brothers in Christ
  45. Who are the Christadelphians
  46. What Christadelphians believe
  47. Christadelphian people
  48. Often asked questions: faq – English
  49. Our Christadelphian faith
  50. Our Creed and Practice
  51. What Christadelphians teach
  52. Our openness to being approachable
  53. Equal?
  54. Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
  55. Those who love Jesus
  56. The Law of Christ: Law of Love
  57. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
  58. Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit
  59. The task given to us to love each other
  60. Christianity is a love affair
  61. The Greatest of These is Love
  62. Unarmed truth and unconditional love
  63. Unconditional love
  64. Compassion and Discipline
  65. Good or bad preacher
  66. Writers needed to preach to non-believers
  67. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom

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