Worshipping God – Messiah For All

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

August 22, 2015July 10, 2019Christadelphians13 Comments

The law of Moses was delivered to the Israelites and not to the Gentiles, who were therefore “without the law”. “What things soever the law saith, it says it to them who are under the law”; consequently the nations were not amenable to it; and though they obtained not the blessings of Mount Gerizim (unless they became faithful Jews by adoption), neither were they obnoxious to the curses of Mount Ebal.

Deu 27:9-26 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) And Mosheh and the priests, the Lĕwites, spoke to all Yisra’ĕl, saying, “Be silent and hear, O Yisra’ĕl: This day you have become the people of יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim, (10) and you shall obey the voice of יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim, and do His commands and His laws which I command you today.” (11) And Mosheh commanded the people on that day, saying, (12) “These are to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have passed over the Yardĕn: Shimʽon, and Lĕwi, and Yehuḏah, and Yissasḵar, and Yosĕph, and Binyamin. (13) “And these are to stand on Mount Ěyḇal to curse: Re’uḇĕn, Gaḏ, and Ashĕr, and Zeḇulun, Dan, and Naphtali. (14) “And the Lĕwites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Yisra’ĕl: (15) ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved or moulded image, an abomination to יהוה {Jehovah}, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amĕn!’ (16) ‘Cursed is he who makes light of his father or his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (17) ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbour’s boundary.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (18) ‘Cursed is he who misleads the blind in the way.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (19) ‘Cursed is he who twists the right-ruling of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (20) ‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s bed.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (21) ‘Cursed is he who lies with any beast.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (22) ‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (23) ‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (24) ‘Cursed is he who smites his neighbour secretly.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (25) ‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to slay an innocent being.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’ (26) ‘Cursed is he who does not establish the Words of this Torah.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amĕn!’

The faithless Jews and Gentiles are equally aliens from the precepts of Christ and his apostles. What these prescribe is enjoined upon the disciples of Jesus. They only are “under law to Christ”.

“What have I”

says Paul,

“to do to judge them that are without? God judgeth them.” (1 Corinthians 5:12, 13.)

He has caused the gospel of the kingdom to be preached to sinners “for the obedience of faith”. When they are judged, it will be for “not obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ”, (Thessalonians 1:7–10.) and not because they do not “go to church”, or do not keep a sabbath instituted by a semi-pagan emperor of the fourth century.

2Th 1:7-10 The Scriptures 1998+ (7) and to give you who are afflicted rest with us when the Master יהושע {Jehsua} is revealed from heaven with His mighty messengers, (8) in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know Elohim, and on those who do not obey the Good News of our Master יהושע {Jehsua} Messiah, (9) who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Master and from the esteem of His strength, (10) when He comes to be esteemed in His set-apart ones and to be admired among all those who believe in that Day, because our witness to you was believed.

The sabbath God requires sinful men to observe is to cease from the works of the flesh, as completely as He rested from the work of creation on the seventh day, that they may enter into the millennial rest that remaineth for the people of God.

Heb 4:9-11 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) So there remains a Sabbath-keeping for the people of Elohim. (10) For the one, having entered into His rest, has himself also rested from his works, as Elohim rested from His own. (11) Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.1 Footnote: 1See 3:18.

Men frequently err in their speculations from inattention to the marked distinction which subsists in the scriptures between those classes of mankind termed “saints” and “sinners”. They confound what is said to, or concerning, the one, with what is said in relation to the other. Relatively to the institutions of God they are as near or afar off as are “citizens” and “foreigners” to the laws and constitution of the United States.

“What the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.”

This is a principle laid down by Paul concerning the law of Moses, which is equally true of the codes of all nations. “Citizens” are the saints, or separated ones, of the particular code by which they are insulated from all other people; while “foreigners” or “aliens” from their commonwealth are sinners in relation to it; for they live in other countries in total disregard of its institutions, and doing contrary to its laws, and yet are blameless: so that if they were to visit the country of that commonwealth, they would not be punished for their former course, because they were not under law to it. Let them, however, while sojourning there continue their native customs, and they would become guilty and worthy of the punishment made and provided for such offenders.

It is a fact, that “God blessed and sanctified” or set apart, “the seventh day”; and doubtless, Adam and his wife rested, or intermitted, their horticultural tendance upon that day. Yea, we may go further and say, that it is extremely probable that “the sons of God” before the flood, worshipped God according to “His way” upon that day; but in all the history of that long period, which intervened from the sanctification of the seventh day to the raining down bread from heaven for the Israelites in the wilderness, (Exodus 16) there is not the least hint of any punishment for breaking the Sabbath day. Guiltiness before God cannot therefore be argued against the Gentiles so as to entitle them to death or reprobation, predicated on the threatenings of the patriarchal code. Whatever the appointment might be, it was no doubt significative of the blessings to be obtained through observing it; not alone, but in connexion with the other matters which made up “the way of God”.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 20–21). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding articles:

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

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

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

Additional reading:

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Further related writings:

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

May 5, 2015Christadelphians43 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preceding articles:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures

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

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

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

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

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

April 8, 2015October 12, 2015Christadelphians32 Comments

Book of Genesis, Jianning (Jian'ou) Bible. — Book of Genesis, Jianning (Jian’ou) Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Offering, sacrifice and worship are only mentioned casually in the book of Genesis. The stories of those who continued to populate the earth are also offered in the Book of books, the Bible, which we consider as the infallible Word of God. There is no reason to give a historical detail and the person who wrote down the Words of God had also no such intention. We are also reminded that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but that man has the task to find God and to search all things, making it possible to receive glory by searching matters out.

Pro 25:2 NSB It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.

In our life we shall have to search for God and should come to know what God’s expectations are and why God listens to some one and does not come to help to others. In Genesis 6 we can see how God was patient and gave enough time to people to come to other ideas and to stop our egoistic life, giving us opportunities to come to live the way God wants us to live.

The Bible assumes and asserts the existence of God,

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”;

and is itself the most illustrious proof of his existence, as well as our chief instructor as to his nature and will. It puts a voice into the mute lips of creation; and not only reveals God in His works, but illustrates his ways in providence, displays the glories of His character, His law, and His grace, and brings man into true and saving communion with him. The Book of books reveals Him to us as a Spirit, the only being from everlasting and to everlasting by nature, underived, infinite, perfect, and unchangeable in power, wisdom, omniscience, omnipresence, justice, holiness, truth, goodness, and mercy. He is but One God, Who gave His Name to the world to be known all over the world. The proper Hebrew name for God is Jehovah, which signifies that “He is the Being” or that “He is the Essence of Being” or “Essence of life”. As time passed by the Jews, from a feeling of reverence, started avoiding pronouncing this holy name, substituting for it, wherever it occurs in the sacred test, the word Adonai (Lord); except in the expression, Adonai Jehovah, Lord Jehovah, for which they put, Adonai Elohim, Lord God.

Tetragrammaton YHWH Je-Ho-Vah, God's Name illuminating — Tetragrammaton YHWH Je-Ho-Vah, God’s Name illuminating

This usage, which is not without an element of superstition, is very ancient, dating its origin some centuries before Christ; but there is no good ground for assuming its existence in the days of the inspired Old Testament writers. The proper word for god or God is elohim or Elohim, which is plural in its form, being thus used to signify it is a higher or important person (a god) and in this case even the Most High God of gods, signifying the manifold perfections of God, or, as some wrongly think, the Trinity in the godhead. In Exodus 3:14, God replies to Moses, when he asks Him His name,

“I AM THAT I AM”;

which means either, “I am He who I am”, or, “I am what I am”. In either case the expression implies the eternal self-existence of Jehovah Who is Only One God “Who Is”. He “Who is Who He is” is the Source, Owner, and Ruler of all beings, foreknows and predetermines all events, and is the eternal Judge and Arbiter of the destiny of all. True religion has its foundation in the right knowledge of God, and consists in supremely loving and faithfully obeying him.

In the early times that holy Name and what this Only One God wanted from His creation was told from one generation to the next. But after the situation had become so bad that God had made the choice to destroy that ungodly population we can see a sufficient reason why the sons of Noah renewed the tradition of presenting the stories and name and titles of God and godly people in their families, as they were naturally disposed to perpetuate the memory of their distinguished ancestors.

The Flood came that God’s purpose might be fulfilled. The course of nature was interrupted, the arrangements of social and domestic life were overturned, all the works of men were swept away that this purpose might be fulfilled. It was expedient that one generation should die for all generations; and this generation having been taken out of the way, fresh provision was made for the co-operation of man with God. On man’s part there is art emphatic acknowledgement of God by sacrifice; on God’s part there is a renewed grant to man of the world and its fullness, a renewed assurance of His favour. There was made a covenant with Noah on the plane of nature. It is man’s natural life in the world which is the subject of it. The sacredness of life is its great lesson.

Men might well wonder whether God did not hold life cheap. In the old world violence had prevailed. But while Lamech’s sword may have slain its thousands, God had in the Flood slain tens of thousands. The covenant, therefore, directs that human life must be reverenced. The primal blessing is renewed. Men are to multiply and replenish the earth; and the slaughter of a man was to be reckoned a capital crime; and the maintenance of life was guaranteed by a special clause, securing the regularity of the seasons.

The sons of Noah (Sem/Shem, Cham, Japheth) continued the tradition of telling the Works of God and having to face the difference in tongue spoken with the different languages the Word of God became told in different languages as well.

You would expect the people to have more sense after the flood and after the experience of Babel but lots of people kept ignoring what God wanted from them. They did seem to have difficulty to learn from the Flood that wickedness must not be allowed to grow unchecked and attain dimensions which nothing short of a flood can cope with. It may be felt that the matters about which God spoke to Noah were barely religious, certainly not spiritual. But to take God as our-God in any one particular is to take Him as our God for all. If we can eat our daily bread as given to us by our Father in heaven, then we are heirs of the righteousness which is by faith. It is because we wait for some wonderful and out-of-the-way proofs that God is keeping faith with us that we so much lack a real and living faith.
Only a small amount tried to stay faithful to the Creator. One of them was Abraham. The consequences of Abraham’s movements and beliefs have been limitless and enduring.

With Abraham there is introduced the first step in a new method adopted by God in the training of men.

The dispersion of men and the divergence of their languages are now seen to have been the necessary preliminary to this new step in the education of the world — the fencing round of one people till they should learn to know God and understand and exemplify His government. It is true, God reveals Himself to all men and governs all; but by selecting one race with special adaptations, and by giving to it a special training, God might more securely and more rapidly reveal Himself to all. Each nation has certain characteristics, a national character which grows by seclusion from the influences which are forming other races. There is a certain mental and moral individuality stamped upon every separate people. Nothing is more certainly retained; nothing more certainly handed down from generation to generation. It would therefore be a good practical means of conserving and deepening the knowledge of God, if it were made the national interest of a people to preserve it, and if it were closely identified with the national characteristics. This was the method adopted by God. He meant to combine allegiance to Himself with national advantages, and spiritual with national character, and separation in belief with a distinctly outlined and defensible territory. {Expositor Bible}

God revealed Himself to Abraham who knew about the deities worshipped by his fathers in Chaldea, but his ears were open to the God of gods and he wanted to follow His instructions even when He asked to offer his son.

Had Abraham abandoned Charran at the command of a widely ruling monarch who promised him ample compensation, no record would have been made of so ordinary a transaction. But this was an entirely new thing and well worth recording, that a man should leave country and kindred and seek an unknown land under the impression that thus he was obeying the command of the unseen God. While others worshipped sun, moon, and stars, and recognised the Divine in their brilliance and power, in their exaltation above earth and control of earth and its life, Abraham saw that there was something greater than the order of nature and more worthy of worship, even the still small voice that spoke within his own conscience of right and wrong in human conduct, and that told him how his own life must be ordered. While all around him were bowing down to the heavenly host and sacrificing to them the highest things in human nature, he heard a voice falling from these shining ministers of God’s will, which said to him, “See thou do it not, for we are thy fellow-servants; worship thou God!” This was the triumph of the spiritual over the material; the acknowledgment that in God there is something greater than can be found in nature; that man finds his true affinity not in the things that are seen but in the unseen Spirit that is over all. It is this that gives to the figure of Abraham its simple grandeur and its permanent significance. {Expositor Bible}

Preceding articles:

The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

Genesis Among the Creation Myths

Something from nothing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 6, 2015April 6, 2015Christadelphians21 Comments

Genealogy of mankind

In the first 11 chapters of the book Genesis we can find a survey of the world before Patriarch Abraham. From chapter 12 until 50 we get more a focus on one main family line in considerable detail. In the world there have been many creation myths written down, in contrast to the patriarchal stories, however, those ancient nonbiblical stories do not in any way challenge the authority or the inspiration of Genesis. In fact, the nonbiblical stories stand in sharp contrast to the biblical account, and thus help readers appreciate the unique nature and character of the biblical accounts of creation and the flood. In other ancient literary traditions, creation is a great struggle often involving conflict between the gods who themselves also got created or came into existence by certain forces of nature.

Through these stories the people of the ancient world learned their traditions about the gods they worshipped and the way of life that people should follow. Babylonian versions of creation and flood stories were designed to show that Babylon was the centre of the religious universe and that its civilization was the highest achieved by mankind.

With the words that accompanied the followers of God it could be seen that though many would love to worship the sun and moon or natural phenomena, they had to hear that such ideas are non-constructive delusions, ignoring that there is Only One True God, Divine Creator of heaven and earth, Whose Word is Almighty and incorruptible.

The man called the mannin, who he got as a partner of wife “Eve“, because she was the mother of all living. Because the man had become like one of the heavenly creatures in knowing good and evil God drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:20-24). When God had cast out Adam and Eve and they got children His words accompanied them and got them to know if they pleased the Elohim Hashem Jehovah or not.

The first son of Adam and Eve (Cain) became a murderer after he came to know that Abel’s offering was more liked by God than his. Though God stayed with him and placed a sign for his protection so that he would not be killed by others. Though we can see how it went from bad to worse. Adam and Eve got again a son which they called Seth and when this son got a son, Enosh, which means ‘to call upon the name of God’ or, ‘call themselves by the name of the Lord’, the people started worshipping Jehovah, the God and later God declared the offspring to be His people.

Gen 4:25-26 NSB Adam had intercourse with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth. She said: »God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.« (26) Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on (proclaim) the name of Jehovah.

Deu 26:17-18 NSB »You declared Jehovah to be your God today. You said you would walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments and his ordinances, and listen to his voice. (18) »Jehovah declared you to be his people and a treasured possession. Obey his commandments and receive his promise.

In the 5th chapter of Genesis we are given the genealogy of the People of God up to the sons of Noah, when the earth was not any more the paradise form the first days. Whereas 5:1–32 is largely a genealogy that traces a single line of descendants from Adam to Noah, naming only one person in each generation, 6:1–8 provides a worldwide picture of increasing human wickedness. The contrast between these two elements is not simply between the particular and the universal but, more importantly, between righteousness and evil.

In the 5th chapter we see that the usual pattern of the genealogy (vv. 1–32) is altered with the substitution of the expression ‘Enoch walked with God’ but tells us also that Enoch was taken by God, he disappearing from the earth after having walked with God for 365 years in total (Genesis 5:22–24).

Gen 5:24 NSB Enoch walked with God. Then he was no more, because God took (moved) him away.

In this passage, and in certain other contexts in Genesis (e.g., 3:8; 6:9; 17:1; 24:40; 48:15), the Hebrew verb for “walked” is a distinctive form that conveys the sense of an ongoing intimacy with God. Remarkably, because of this special relationship, the words of God Enoch do not speak of dying in this instance, which we also can find by Elijah who went up to heaven in a windstorm. (2 Kings 2:1–12). The narrator’s desire to highlight this fact may explain why the present genealogy, unlike the one in Genesis11:10–26, regularly mentions that “So and so died.”

Finding the name “Noah” (Hb. noakh) in god’s Word may be also of particular reason. Strictly speaking it means “rest” (Hb. nuakh). After some turbelent years, having people going further away from God, ignoring His Word, we do find the concept of “comfort” (Hb. nakham) “Out of the ground that the Elohim has cursed, having one to “bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.” Lamech expecting that Noah will bring both rest and comfort from the painful toil of working the soil (see 3:17–19).

Gen 5:28-32 NSB When Lamech had lived one hundred and eighty-two years, he had a son. (29) He named him Noah. He said: »He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground Jehovah has cursed.« (30) After Noah was born, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years and had other sons and daughters. (31) Lamech lived a total of seven hundred seventy-seven years, and then he died. (32) After Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Preceding articles:

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

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

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

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

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

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Old Earth creationists and other conservative Christians denying any evolution (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
When we looked at North America the last ten years we could see that very conservative Christians gained terrain and could blown up the whole evolution thing in a ridiculous way.
The Lost World of Adam and Eve (christianitytoday.com)
In recent years, John Walton, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, has been both lauded and criticized for his interpretation of Genesis 1–2. In his 2009 landmark book, The Lost World of Genesis One (InterVarsity Press), he argued that to rightly understand Genesis 1—an ancient document—we need to read it within the context of the ancient world. Read alongside other ancient texts, he says, Genesis 1 is not about how God made the world, but about God assigning functions to every aspect of it. In 2013, Walton contributed a chapter in Four Views on the Historical Adam (Zondervan). There he argued that Adam was a historical person, but also that Adam’s primary function in Scripture is to represent all of humanity. For Walton, Genesis 1–2 is not concerned about human material origins, but rather about our God-given function and purpose: to be in relationship with God and work alongside him, as his image bearers, in bringing continued order to our world.
The Lost World of Adam and Eve ~ curated by Charles Kannal (UTS’96) (utsalumni.org)
Throughout history, theologians responded to the challenges of their day. Today we have different issues on the table. So it’s no surprise that I talk about things they didn’t address. Even though my exegetical conclusions are different from what many people have heard, I’m not calling into question any basic doctrines. I’m still essentially conservative theologically, and I’m firmly evangelical in my approach. I want to maintain and articulate the authority of Scripture.
Biblical Tree of Knowledge (debatepolitics.com)
God had already decided to make man in His image Before He created Adam. Therefore, the morality of God had been bestowed in man before they ate from the tree.
Great abyss upon the waters of creation (postdelugestudio.wordpress.com)
When God created the heavens and the Earth, it was made in his own image, or likeness. Basically transferring all of its glory and manipulative energy into it’s own spiritually inanimate clone. Giving it’s own form of birth, continuing on in the reaffirmation of it’s own existence through these acts of creation. However, by the time it came around to the creation of our universe, it’s own consciousness had grown weary, and old. And it became a slumbering giant, who by the sweep of a hand created the universe, only managed to trap itself within the realms of its own unconscious, the infernal dimensions, and its own vast dream world. It became a world between worlds, a spiritual halfway house, where souls would pass through into a realm of destruction, or make it back out of this dark labyrinth, reactivated with the Holy Spirit. Within the waters of God’s own creation, it came to manifest itself as a bringer of the dawn, the black, primordial soup of matter, that would become the natural world. A form of consciousness which only known to distinguish itself as apart from God, from it’s very conception
Found in the Falling (thebeggarsbakery.net)
Adam and Eve wasted no time falling away from God in the Garden of Eden, when everything was pristine and perfect. We fall away in good times and in bad.
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What kind of God rewards the art of collapsing…the majesty of falling? The kind who made us in His own likeness. The kind whose love for us manifested in the death and resurrection of perfection, so that we could serve in the highest priesthood.
Nicholas Asks About Adam And Eve (kathleenbasi.com)
No one had ever really addressed the possibility that Adam and Eve were not historical figures but representations. When my teacher (I don’t remember now if he was a TA or a professor) started tossing the word “myth” around in regard to the creation story, I had my first practice at the Mama Bear-claws-out defensive stance, thirteen years before I ever became a mama. The only meaning of the world “myth” I had ever heard was the one that meant “not true.”
I Think I Know Lot’s Wife’s Name (dianerivers.me)
Lot, the nephew of Old Testament patriarch Abraham, lived in a rotten neighborhood. In fact, the entire city, as well as the one next door, was so wicked, God ordered they both be destroyed, as a warning to future generations of His disdain for unrepentant sin. To this day, even the names of the cities – Sodom and Gomorrah – have come to epitomize evil and wickedness.
Vayikra: Cows, sheep, goats and God (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Vayikra – And God called. And so begins a lot of instructions about killing and offering up a lot of animals for all sorts of reasons, all with the purpose of getting closer to God (“korbanot”, the word for offering, comes from the word “karov” – get close to).

Placing the rules and regulations of offering animals within the context of an “am kadosh”, a holy people, beholden to God, asks us to take on the mindset of a wholly different society than the one in which we live today. But as with all Torah, there are lessons to be learned, even if the simple reading seems foreign and disturbing. One example is examining the actual animals identified for offering in this parasha.
CTP Bible Study Class – Genesis 4 – 5 (unsettledchristianity.com)
The first jealousy. The first anger. The first murder. The third baby boy.

As you can imagine, there exists several millennia of commentary on these chapters. This is a summary of some Jewish commentary. Here is a singler, modern, source. This is from the Book of Jubilees.

	Internet and practic… on Starting block
	Reason to practise t… on Gone astray, away from Go…
	A biblical answer to… on The Servant’s Prayer
	A biblical answer to… on Foretold Messiah 2 a Voice giv…
	Talks about freedom,… on First mention of a solution ag…
	Talks about freedom,… on Messianic prophesies 2 Adversa…
	Law and justice very… on Foretold Messiah 2 a Voice giv…
	Freedom In Christ \|… on Not trying to make the heathen…
	Lots to be said abou… on Not trying to make the heathen…
	4 Reasons to Pursue… on Necessity of a revelation of c…

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Genealogy of mankind

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