THE BOOK OF JOB REVISITED

What is the song of Moses found in Ex 15, but rejoicing over deliverance from the oppressive slavery, the guilt, power and presence of revealed sin.  And the song of the LAMB found in Rev 15 but that which the victorious over-comers, the Israel of God (1 Cor 10:18; Ro 9:6-8; Gal 3:28,29; 6:14-16) will sing Rev 15:3, in the celebration of the final victorious elimination of selfishness which had raised it’s ugly head in this universe of selfless love.   The book of Job is the Master Artist’s canvas upon which He emblematized the controversy in which and from which these victorious songs took, and will take root.

The influential Christian writings of Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century, Martin Luther in the 16th century and Carl Barth in the 20th century on the book of Job, all took as truth the arguments of those in the book of Job that God rejected as truth. Specifically the three friends of Job touting that prosperity represents divine approval and life’s challenges divine punishment.  Concepts Christ was still battling when He came, as noted in His illustrative parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Lk 16.  Worse, their writings also elevated the arguments of the two interlopers who had further developed these concepts into divine transcendence (beyond human comprehension therefore the necessity of blind, unquestioning faith), divine inscrutability ( meaning incapable of being investigated), and divine sovereignty ( described as freedom from all external concepts of justice ). Thus fostering in humans ambivalence or love-hate emotions for God, and often outright appropriate rejection of such a God.  

THE BOOK OF JOB REVISITED  Why? For a deeper and clearer picture of our wonderful Creator, Redeemer and Friend.

The Biblical book of Job is the oldest written book of the Bible with its authorship generally attributed to Moses, written in the desert of Midian.  Yet it is one of the most under-esteemed pieces of literature mankind is privileged to possess.  The book’s body of poetry is bookended or framed in brief prose with seven interlocutors or speakers.  Three main interlocutors: God, Job, and the group of three friends, then three mostly hidden voices: a narrator, and two interloping accusers:  the Adversary and Elihu, then the shortest contribution by Job’s wife for the total of seven.  Here we read a likely real event used as a parable {as Christ commonly used realities as the basis of metaphorical parables in Mt 13:3-9; Lk 10:30-36; 24-30; 31,32; 33},  and here an event used as a metaphorical overview of the great controversy between one who wants to be a god and rule by selfishness and accusations, versus the true God who rules by selflessness and affirmations.   

Though Job is the name of the book he is not the actual subject of the book.  Job himself becomes a metaphor for humans, specifically humans that appreciate and follow, to the best of their understanding, the selflessness and affirmation governing pattern of their Creator God (Rev. 12:17) trusting Him in that which they don’t understand.  The name Job means “hated, unloved or actively hostile against,” see 1 Pe 5:8.  Yet the alpha frame story reveals Job was well admired by God (Job 1:8; 2:3).  Job who had been responding to God in affirming and trusting admiration as revealed in Job’s compassion to his fellow humans 29:11-17, thus found him also well approved by them (see  Job 29:11-25; Lk 2:52) even though they ‘all’ later revealed themselves as fickle Job 19:19.  Job is again affirmed by God in the ending frame story.  So it was not God nor his compatriots by whom Job was hated. It was the Adversary we’ll find who hated Job and although Job is the central and metaphorical human figure, God is the towering subject and laser focus of the book.  Introduced in the beginning frame story with His character both in question and in full display.  God’s character is also the focus of the entire poetic body of the book, both in Job’s discussions and in the discussion of his three religious, though more spiritually deceived friends as well as Elihu’s self-elevating angry diatribe.  A fuller revealing of God’s knowledge, goodness and authority is seen again in both the ending body of poetry and the ending frame prose.  Yes, God, not Job, is the subject and plentitude of the book.  As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Jn 5:39 “these are they that testify of Me,”  the One who is truely God (see Gen 1:1,18; 1 Jn 1:2). 

In the book of Job the character, especially the PATIENT CHARACTER OF GOD is what is on full display.  Job is a book revealing the patient gracious character, capability and compassion of God, as of unnumbered orders of magnitude above that of the man named Job.  Showing a Creator God’s loving respect for the committed, patiently questioning, real yet metaphorical man as well as his three real yet metaphorical friends –  and His grace for all.  Read though prayerfully and carefully since the book’s contents demonstrate humans variable lack of full knowledge as well as being immersed in copious deceit, so evil is mixed with good like the tree in the middle of the Genesis’ garden Gen 2: 17.

Job 1:1-3 speaks of a man who is blameless and upright and richly blessed.  Just as we, not only before the fall but truly after, with all the unearned benefits revealed in Genesis chapters one and two.  A man concerned for others as he mediated for his children, “if perhaps my sons have sinned while blessing God in their hearts”  translation mine (see Young’s Literal Translation and Strong”s Concordance word #1280 used here which is translated greater than 300 times as “to bless, give thanks, give praise, extol).  

The substance of the beginning frame story begins with the Accuser interloping or invading  uninvited into a divine administrative meeting.  As the authoritative chairman, the LORD remarkably, graciously recognized, then respectfully asked the interloper about his activities, and when answered, asked with congenial affection if the interloping accuser in his journeyings had noticed a person of interest to Him – Job.  Job whom the LORD then declared as blameless, yet who, like the LORD will shortly be revealed as unloved hated and experiencing active hostility against him, thus the name Job.  Active hostility against him by the interloping accuser/Adversary/Satan.  This vendettist, the fallen angel introduced here in the first two chapters, will then be further disclosed by God in chapters 40 and 41.

Not responding to God’s grace with grace, the adversary, Satan immediately attacked, accusing the LORD of making a rice Christian of Job by over-protection 1:10; 2:4; 3:23; Ps 5:12, then over blessing him, so of course Job would superficially/empty headedly/empty heartedly follow Him merely for benefits .  Satan then, via attempted authority and action transference, directed the LORD to do evil ( ie. meaning to or causing harm: thoughts and actions intrinsic only to the Adversary; see Jms 1:16), yes, evil to Job, and then in an attempted prophetic role had Job cursing God to His face.  Thus impugning by imputation God’s character, attacking His person, and the integrity of the divine-human relationship!  This is the first (Job 1:6-12) of two nearly identical interactions with the accusers repeat intrusion again into a second divine administrative meeting as recorded in 2:3-6.  Each revealing unbelievable unveilings of God’s unrelenting, respectful kindness even to one who had and has chosen to be His archenemy ( see back story in Isa 14:4-20 and Ez 28:1-19; Lk 22:31; Jm 1:13 ).  God graciously allows Satan’s request each time (as He did in Mk 5:7) yet each time, with grace redirecting the origin of the proposed actions back to Satan, while giving permission to the accuser to carry out his proposed test. The LORD did this having full faith in Job’s commitment to the divine governing and government of selfless, other centered love, while authoritatively drawing a line beyond which permission to the adversary was not granted ( as again noted in places such as Dt 23:5; Dan 3,6).  You can read the accusers nefarious actions in the rest of the beginning short frame story.  Through it all God gave no railing accusations, recriminations, condemnations, nasty innuendos, judgements or threats – giving a glimpse of the unbelievable, the unimaginable, the unmatchable, respectful, cheerful, kind patience of the Creator God.  A God of just kindness Job, in the poetic body of the book fully believed in.  Yet that poetic body also revealing Job’s confusion due to a lack of knowledge that created an incomplete and thus confusing understanding of God’s character of compassionate, faithful, selfless love.  The book is then also of Job, who becomes a metaphor for fallen, yet potentially trusting humans, working through the myriad of obfuscations and duplicities introduced into this life by the Adversary. 

The trickery, deceit and action transfers that Satan had unsuccessfully tried on God we note had been working for him on earth, as Job, unaware of the Adversary and the interactions of chapters 1 and 2, reflexively stated incorrectly, though innocently,  “The Lord gave the Lord has taken away, praise be the name of the Lord” Job 1:21.  A phrase many have blindly used as truth, denigrating thus misunderstanding the character of God.

Then in the shortest contribution Job’s wife weighs in 2:9.  In obvious deep distress as all her world crumbles around her, in tears she encourages Job to throw in the towel.  Listen up men.  A woman primarily wants security and her greatest security comes when she is her husband’s second love!  Yes, second, with his greatest love and loyalty being with his Creator God thus in reality solidifying her security in the relationship ( Gen 2:22-25 defines this relationship by definitive, singular, articles).  Though a wife’s advice is often well to be heeded, it should always take second place to one’s divine instruction and loyalty.  ( Unlike Adam who rejected his appropriate vertical first love and loyalty, and took the horizontal relationship; or Abraham who in self-centeredness told Pharaoh and later Abimelech that Sara was his sister, then rejected the vertical instructions for his wife’s instructions and took Hagar as a partner necessitating his fourth and more severe test involving Isaac on Mt Moriah, which he passed, thus allowing him to be inducted into the Hebrews 11 hall of faith; or even Jacob who took his mothers advice above being loyal to his vertical relationship.)  Job here quietly, respectfully not saying she was, but that she was talking like a foolish woman, maintained and grew his and her commitment, loyalty and love horizontally because of his putting the vertical commitment, loyalty, faith and love first.  Yes, true trust in and love for God, first begets, and gives the best option for begetting in the horizontal relationship, a renewing of love and courage.  Then they, (“we” 2:10) later produced three of the most beautiful daughters this world has ever seen as attested to in the omega prose plus seven sons.   Still Job did not know of the adversary/God interactions of Job chapters 1 and 2 making it plain that it is not God who takes away your mother, father, son or daughter, or is the agent of earthly challenges!  

Yet as Job thought, he questioned in growing confusion as he again remembered  the reasonableness of the Creator God.  The evidence all around him “since the creation of the world” Ro 1:20,  revealing that God is a God of sense, communication, wisdom and kindness.  Remembering this along with God’s forgiveness and justice, Job’s central question, the human chiastic apex in the book of Job arose: “If not He then who?” 9:24b.  Yes, the sovereignty of God, He himself limits, granting freedom in full transparency, and supreme completely sensible wisdom for the ultimate good and freedom of each in all His communications and actions.  Throughout the poetic body of the book of Job we see the real and now metaphoric person Job developing a deepening  belief in a God of sense, reason and compassion, and a developing belief that God will reveal answers to his questions in satisfactory knowledge and justice.  Yet, with the burning question “If not He then who?”  

Job does this while his three friends become more settled and strident in each of their three rounds of judgmental accusations (Mt 7:1; Jms 4:12).  Accusations based on the theology that temporal prosperity means God approves, and temporal trouble that God disapproves, which opens to the theology, that is more fully developed along with more strident judgmental accusations in the poetic body by the temporal interloper, Elihu.  The theology that God is transcendent, unapproachable, incomprehensible, capricious, thus an incoherent tyrant, an autocrat void of mercy, grace, compassion and kindness that needs not, and will not interact with mankind.  

The first friend to speak was Eliphaz with his elevation ofextra biblical revelation Job 4:13-16 to accuse Job.  (one can see how God views extra biblical revelations in Deut 12:32; Isa 8:20; Rev 22:17)  [an example today is seen in spiritualism or any Christian or non-Christian who raises any authority including so called science above that of the divine knowledge given through the Bible].  Then it was Bildad accusing through religious traditionJob 8:8-10, (One can review how God views religious tradition in Mk 7:8,9; Col 2:3)  [a current example can be seen in one of the major decisions coming from the Diet of Worms – January to May 1521 – conference convened by the major Christian denomination of the time: a decision to continue to follow tradition in their day of worship instead of the day delineated in the Bible – a tradition still followed by many Christians today].  Then Zophar spoke accusing through the use of reason and logic Job 20:3,4 (one can see how God views human supposed reason and logic in Isa 55:8)  [an example can be seen today in the wide acceptance, even in Christianity, of the theory of evolution which treats nature as a volitional creator via the concept of natural selection].  After the third round of their same formulaic picture of God from these three different angles, which in essence are the same as the accuser’s in the beginning frame story, that of piety resulting in prosperity from God, and impiety in wrath, but with increasing stridency and accusations, Job then turned their arguments inside out in his ending speech of Job chapters 26 – 31.

What was Job’s supreme fault in the eyes of his friends?  Knowing that:  1) he was innocent via divine justification (forgiveness) and  2) he was sanctified (the heart changed to the character image of God reproduced by the Holy Spirit) as attested by his actions to and for his fellow beings and  3) God is an approachable God of sense and justice.  Yet he was steeped to a degree in the same formulaic religion common on earth and could only see through a fog a God who invites, “Come now and let us reason together” Isa 1:18, as He did with Nicodemus in Jn 3:1-21, besides not knowing of the Adversary / Accuser on the prowl.  

Elihu, the earthly interloper, the temporal intruder into these conversations, like the accuser Satan who invaded the heavenly meetings in the beginning frame story, then steps into the poetic body of the book (chapters 32 – 37) and he, like the divine meeting interloper, in pugnacious anger (affirmed immediately three times in Job 32:3-5) against Job and Job’s three friends while implying a God of anger, accused them all with many words 32:18; 34:8.  Repeating the same formulaic theology, though with much self-centered bluster, and logically developing the given theology to then describe God as transcendent (beyond human comprehension therefore the necessity of blind, unquestioning faith), with divine inscrutability (meaning incapable of being investigated), and divine sovereignty (described as freedom from all external concepts of justice), a capricious, autocratic, uncaring God.  He then expresses great fear of God, Job 37:20, and emphatically denies that God will give a hearing to a mere mortal, especially an obvious sinner, in his view, as attested to by Job’s world collapsing around him 37:23  (see Lk 6:37; Ro 3:3,10; 1Co 4:5; Col 2:16).

Elihu’s long speech ending, God directly steps in and gives, what Elihu just denied God would –  an audience to Job.  God revealing Himself as an attentive listener, a relational friend and a willing communicator with patient trust Ps 119:26b.  Then God proceeded to give in chapters 38 & 39 a brilliant poetic display of His knowledge and capability encompassing  geology, astronomy, meteorology, zoology as well as continuing care for and of each, implying by and through it all, yes, He’s not too self involved or to busy to know and care about you, Job.   

Job bows 42:1-6 saying I’m sorry for my unbelief of your compassionate care for me regardless of my lack of full knowledge, and of that I now need no further answer.  

In the ending frame story God affirms Job as He had in the alpha frame story.  Affirms him as blameless, even in his searching  – “If not he then who?” Job 9:24 – which had not involved doubting nor judgmental accusing.   Not so for his accusing and judgmental three friends to whom God had also given a listening audience 42:7.  He calls them to repentance from extra Biblical revelations, traditions, human reasoning, logic and judgmental accusations.  God, still in knowing trust that Job has a heart like His, affirmed in grace (yes grace was part of God’s character from the beginning) to the three friends that He will answer Job’s future prayer for their forgiveness when they would come to Job in confession and repentance  [No hopping over the fence like Formalist and Hypocrisy in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim Progress thus by-passing the wicket-gate of repentance.]  Yes “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth” (by God’s attentive listening, grace and mercy and power) “much” Jm 5:16

God by totally ignoring the interloper Elihu’s speech and presence in the ending frame story reduces Elihu’s angry, verbose five chapter accusatory self-elevating contribution and prophetic attempts to less than an asterisk.  Yet this is especially where many writers, influential in Christian circles since the fifth century, have in their writings misused the book of Job by elevating as truth the arguments of the alpha prose Accuser that were then echoed by each of the three friends, then of Elihu’s logical developing of them, and yes even in anger, thus wrongly implying a God of anger, as well as capricious, inscrutable and of unquestionable choices.  Arguments and attitudes denying the foundation stones in God’s government of selfless love, autonomy, liberty, self-government, non-judgmental affirmations, sense and willingness, even to the inviting of communication in close relational loving friendships (see Ge 2:1-3; 3:8 Isa 1:18).   Writers presenting and elevating as bedrock truth what God is revealing as a lie: “the LORD takes away,”1:20 and again, “Shall we approvingly accept good from God and not trouble?” 2:10 ( please note again trouble comes not from the Lord Job 1:6-12; 2:3-6 “Very well he is in your hands,” as re-affirmed again in Ps 37: 7-11).  These words Job innocently though wrongly said from his admitted lack of knowledge in, “If not He then who?”  Writers thus implying that Christians should be content not to know from, about or why from a supposed capricious autocratic God, thus legitimizing human coercion in the past and in the present and future darkening of spurious Christianity and of all humanity, having put a SPIN ON JOB THAT IS NOT THERE.   Yes, many traditional and current interpretations of Job, thus of God’s character, need to be turned on their heads! 

In reality the book of Job is all about God – His  patience, His concern, His kindness, His care, His knowledge, His desire for communication and fellowship with His creation ( like  Nicodemus who found Christ to be more than willing to give an audience, or David who found Him to be a “well proved help in time of trouble Ps 46:1 ESV margin) , His compassion, His faithfulness, His grace, His forgiveness, His character of other-centered, other supportive, selfless faithful love even for fallen human ‘Jobs,’ and his ( in our post Calvary era) Christian friends each working through the slew of duplicitous deceits strewn everywhere by the Adversary of all good Jms 1:17.  

Since Job stated he would trust even without full knowledge ( 1:20; 2:10; 6:10; 13:15; 16:19,20; 23:10 ) God chose to answer his pivotal question “If not He then who?” through His response recorded in chapters 40 and 41. There revealing poetically the often missed identity of the Accuser in the great controversy between faithless self-love and faithful selfless-love. The Accuser and adversary introduced by the narrator in the beginning frame story is here revealed further through at least these 15 clues:

40:15  “look at the behemoth which I have made”.  Behemoth means “the ultimate creature” who is defined in Isa 14:3-17 and Ezekiel 28:1-19 (vs.12 “the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty”.

40:19  “he ranks first among the works of God”.  see Ez 28:12,15 (“thou wast perfect in all thy ways” KJV) 

“yet his maker can approach him with His sword”.  see Gen 3:15; Eph 6:17(“take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God”); Rev 1:16 ( “out of His mouth came a two- edged sword”); 2:12; 19:15; 20:10; Mt 4:4,7,10; Ex 19:8; Eph 9:17; Lk 1:37 (“nothing is    impossible with Christ”) Rev 5.

40:21  “he lies hidden..concealed ”.  see Job 1:11; 2:4; or Elijah in 1Kings 17:20 ( “O LORD my God, why have you brought tragedy…”); and Job 9:24 (“if not He then who?”).

40:23  “he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth”.  see Job 41:23

……………..

41:1    “can you pull in the Leviathan with a fishhook”.  see the leviathan identified in Isa 27:1 (“the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, leviathan the coiling serpent, he will slay the monster of the sea”) ;  Dan 7:11,12; Gen 3:1-4,14; Rev 12:9; 20:2; 1:16; 19:15; Ps 74:14; 104:26.

41:4   “will he speak gentle words?”.  see Mt 24:4 (“For many will come in my name, claiming,”I am the Christ”), Ro 16:18 (“by smooth talk and flattery they deceive…) –  gentle spoken but fiery false words.

41:9   “any hope of subduing him is false.”  see Ex 19:8  “Everything the Lord says we will do” – immediately followed by the golden calf of Ex 32 – in Jn 5:30 Jesus, as a human said, “I by myself can do nothing”  and in John 17:23 and 14:10 He asks the Father that He may be in those who choose to be His children, His brothers, metaphorical Jobs, as His Father was in him.

41:19  “ firebrands stream from his mouth”.   see Jm 3:6 (“the tongue is a fire”); Jn 8:44 (“the devil…is a liar”)

41:21  “His breath sets coals ablaze…destruction”.  see Jn 8:44 (“the father of lies”)

41:22  “strength resides in his neck”  see Jer 17:23 & 19:15 they were  (“stiff-necked” repeated 19 times in scripture). Jn 8:44 (“you are like your father the devil”);

41:24  “His chest was hard…”  see Ez 11:19 (“the sovereign LORD says, ‘I will remove their heart of stone”).  2 Ch 36:13 (“stiff-necked and heard of heart”).

41:31  “He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron.”  The depths, seas, prophetically commonly represents people as in Rev 17:1.  “Churn” see Mt 24:5,11,24; Mk 13:6 ( “many will come in my name claiming ‘I am he’”), verse12 (…”children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death”) : Mt 24:6,7 (“wars and rumors of wars”)  – churning. 

41:32  “one would think the deep had white hair” see Isa 14:14 (“I will make myself like the most high”); Dan 7:9; Rev 1:14 (“ His …hair was white like wool, as white as snow”)

41:33  “nothing on earth is his equal” ( Yes, only by Christ’s forgiveness and “Christ in us” is there any hope Col 1:27.)

41:34  “He is king over all that are proud”  see Ez 28:2; 2Ch 26:16 (“ his pride was his downfall”); Ez 28:17 (“In the pride of your heart you say, “I am god”); Jm 4:6; Gen 3:5.

The book of Job: revealing the care, kindness, grace and patience of God: with the Adversary, yes, and with ignorant, yet trusting Jobs, and yes, even with more completely deceived and judgmental humans (the three friends), as well as Elihus given all the blessings of creation plus the freedom of choice.  Its also about the Adversary who was first introduced in Gen chapters 2&3, and is here further revealed in Job chapters 1&2, 40&41, his past history to be revealed in Isa 14 and Ezekiel 28, his actions opened up in Dan 7 & 8, illustrated in Zech 3, then succinctly unveiled by Christ in Jn 8:44 Lk 10:18; 11:14-25 who identified him as “the father of lies,” and who then is then fully exposed in the book Revelation chapters 5-20, then removed in Rev 20:10.

The real man Job becomes a metaphor for earthly fallen humans who have trusted Christ here on this earth by asking Christ both to forgive and to be in them as described in Jn 14:10; 17:23 &1 Col 1:27.  Bringing them back, here on this earth Job 29:12-17, into the image and likeness of God in which they were originally created in Gen 1:26,27 – His kindness, mercy, goodness, gentleness grace, purity and patience bound together by His other-centered love.  Thus making them of greater value to their fellow mankind and all creation.   Yes, “this calls for patience endurance” Rev 13:10 in our battle with evil and evil’s deceits and even in the daily challenges of earthly life converting emotions such as Rebekah and Isaac’s of distress and bitterness to the behaviors of Judith, their daughter in law, Gen 26:34,35,  to emotions more akin to Abraham’s patient response seen in Gen 26:19 -21.  God will work in us, if we ask creating the “cheerful patient endurance on the part of the saints”14:12.  [“Saints” being sinners who have focused their eyes upon Jesus and placed their feet on the upward path thus allowing Him to work in them both to will and to do His good pleasure Phip 2:13.  His good pleasure which is forever and always for our best good  Lev 25:18; Dt 4:40; 5:33; 6:24; 10:13.]  He is attentively listening and responding, and He is just, with deep, unrelenting, unbroken, faithful respect for each individual, yes in graciousness even to the Accuser, and giving individual freedom to all.  Eventually graciously giving each and all their final freely chosen, and just, rewards.  The rewards of our individually freely earned wages, or our freely chosen acceptance of His gift here of Eternal Life in us Ro 6:23 ; Jn 10:28; 1Jn 5:11,12,20, thus life eternal Jn 6:54 with Him forever!

Some may ask about the final end of Elihu.  All humans are given more than adequate chance to make right choices and are held accountable only for what has been their opportunity to know.   Elihu not only accused, as Job’s friends did, but with much self focus and exaltation ( I, me, my, mine x 49 in the first 209 verses),  and like the adversarial Accuser in the alpha frame story expressed his anger (4 x in 32:2-5);  condemned Job (32:3; 34:7,8);  falsely claiming God moves away from man (32:13, see Ps 23:6);  claiming God to be angry** (35:15; 36:33);  accused Job of sinning (34:35,36);  claimed that it’s God who takes life ( 32:22, see Job 1: 11,12;  2: 5,6;  Jn 10:10);  along with asking “God to have no patience with a man so perverse” (34:36 Knox);  that humans “can not understand” (Bas), “is beyond our minds” (Mof), “can not comprehend God”, “He doth not answer” (YLT) 34:36 (again note Isa 1:18)!   It would appear God will allow metaphorical Elihus’ to collect their wages earned from the Adversary’s service in sharing, as the Adversary desires, in the Adversary’s fate (Rev 20:15) “prepared for the devil and his angels”(Mt 25:41; Rev 19:11-16).   Yes, “His Maker can approach him” (behemoth/leviathan) “with His sword”  Job 40:19 (capitalization and bold mine)!   

The book of Job revealing the unparalleled patience of our Creator God, which was illustrated again by Christ in Lk 15;11 in the parable of the patient, loving father with the two erring sons.  Then the unspeakable, unmatchable reality of patient, cheerful endurance of the Christ durning His mock trial, on the cross suffering abuse and insult at the hands of the beings He had created and sustained and for whom He was making an infinite sacrifice to be able to offer them, – you and I –  past, present and future, a second chance.  A patience He calls and enables us too, “Here is the patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints” Rev 14:12. 

Job, the most ancient book of the Bible, a book, about the character of God and His grace and mercy and freedom to a real yet metaphorical man, and real yet metaphorical men, and even to ones who have chosen to be His enemies.  Also a revelation of the Adversary, Accuser, Satan the enemy of all good, and exhibiting the mixed knowledge of the proscribed tree.  A call to admire, trust, desire  and adopt the character of our Creator God the LORD which would be more fully revealed in Jesus the Christ.  If you hang in there like Job, better times are coming.  God will, even if not in this first life, make up for the years the locust have stolen! Joel 2:25.

“All scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable…” 2 Timothy 3:16 – even it’s first book written. 

[ Interesting side notes:  

1)  In English, by far the most widely used language this world has had since before the tower of Babel (Gen 11:6,7), the transliteration from Hebrew of the name of the land in which Job lived, Uz, Job 1:1 is pronounced  –  Us, as in we. 

 2)  “The people of the East” (1:3), implies fallen humans –  those who were sent east from the garden of Eden Gen 3:20; and those sent further East like Cain 4:16;  Solomon was wiser than all the sons of the east 1Ki 4:30;  and to the new born King, wise men came (not from His people) but from the East Mt 2:1,2;  falsity and evil reside in the east in Isa 11:13,14;  and soon Jesus comes from the East as theevil conquering; past, present and future –  Son of Man as well as Son of God.    

 3)    Job’s question of “If not He then who?” is a predecessor and close relative to the Son of God’s, “ My God, MY God, why have you forsaken me” of Mt 27;46.  Both grew out of observing and experiencing an Adversary originated deceitful apparent reality picture that appeared to be the obvious, yet they held unto and trusted what and who they knew to be the true One who is compassionate, and out of who’s heart originates and flows selfless love –  a trustworthy Divine Parent.  They, Job and Jesus endured and held onto trust that was grounded in evidence, where Eve and Adam and multitudes after them did not, have-not, and do not.  Keeping in mind that winners, even in secular matters, are often not the initial fastest or smartest, but the ones who have endured.  Realizing to question, as did Peter, “What shall be the end of them that obey (believe/trust) not”  (Strong”s) 1 Pe 4:17 see also Isa 41:22?   King Solomon revealed the end Peter alluded too, “The ends thereof are the ways of death,” Pr 14:12.    Christ while on earth made it plain that, “he that endures to the end shall be saved” Mt 16:22.  Yes, believe in the LORD Jesus Christ.  Endure in the knowledge of His: revealed concern, His compassion, His grace, His kindness, His mercy, His faithfulness, His goodness, His truthfulness, His perseverance, His knowledge, His self-control, His humility, His selfless love and yet His justice – to the end!   Stand like a Job, like a Daniel, like a Caleb or a Joshua, and like the man of Ephesians 6: 10 – 26  who,“having done all to stand firm.”   Here is the patience of the saints…that keep the instructions of God and faith in/of Jesus, see Rev 14:12 {translation mine] 

>Quoted Biblical texts taken from the common NIV unless otherwise noted.

**Further thoughts on God’s anger at: excogitations.net at  “Thoughts on Christianity”: scroll down to “God’s Anger/Wrath is:”  and again further to “Another short look at the ancient question of what is the anger/wrath/vengeance of God?   A reality, yes, but one that possesses emotions that are 180 degrees from the human emotion of anger Jm 1:20!

Three Rescue Efforts

Biblically things are established by at least 2 or 3 witnesses (repeated 7x’s in scripture) and God has designed 3 major rescue efforts using willing, smaller humanity groups, to be witnesses of His unfailing love to the larger, yet ignorant or still rebellious humanity.  Witnessing began after mankind’s turn from God recorded in Ge 3:1-6, as noted in 4:26 when men began “to call” (or “publicly declare”) “the name (character) of the Lord” .  Like a boy’s pond skipping stone, God made many end adjustment attempts to save each rescue effort as they individually faded.  Each rescue effort occupies an approximate one-third of this earth’s history.  God first encouraged family churches to keep alive and spread the knowledge of His character of unfailing love – to be His ambassadors.   Human families failed to enter, to represent and/or the more openly rebellious groups to respond to, His unfailing love.  So God rebooted with a worldwide deluge of water leaving now eight to restart the human race.  The family church  was given a second chance but soon nearly all humanity was again hellbent on a path away from God and His unfailing love.  God hit the reset button again, this time for a different witnessing approach (Ge 32:28; Ex 33:5) and began preparing the way through Abram>Abraham for a nation church to be His new ambassador to the rest of humanity.  The promise would be fulfilled through the descendants of his son of promise, Isaac. The new ambassadors were biblically and secularly called the Hebrew race Ge 14:13. Hebrew meaning “from beyond the river.”  In the culture, implying the Euphrates River – the fourth river coming-out of the garden of Eden (Ge 2:14) with its name meaning, “Good I declare,”  thus grace.  The people were, as a group given unmerited favor – grace – repeated undeserved favors and multiple opportunities, but because of their rebellious stiff-necks (Ex. 32:9; 33:5; 34:9; Ez.36:16-21 repeated 19 times) they were also given many episodes of redemptive discipline. The Hebrew race (because the majority returning from their God designed Babylonian redemptive discipline came from the tribe of Judah) became known as the Jewish nation. They also had become known by the name of victors/overcomers – Israelites [not the continuation of the deceased Israelite nation taken away by the Assyrians],  the divine title that was given to their progenitor, Isaac’s son Jacob  (Ge 32:28) by God.  A reality God had desired/envisioned each Hebrew/Jew to be. (Some define the new name from the first part of God’s renaming, ignoring the reality that “wrestling with God” started with Lucifer and subsequently has been integral in each our experiences. But God’s joy was that Jacob was a “victor, an overcomer”). Israelite/Israel were the terms God graciously used, and they euphemistically called themselves while they continued with stiff necks failing to be victors, to overcome, to enter onto, to represent and disseminate the deep everlasting love of the God who watched longingly for each human to return Lk. 15:11-32.  Eventually God through Daniel, gave the Hebrew race/Jewish nation/God’s desired Israelites, a final ultimatum to finish their rebellion and become His envisioned over-comers by AD 70  in Dan. 9:24.  A line drawn in time  (see The Anointed One). They would not and did not finish their rebellion, even with the Son of God in their midst, and then sealed their recalcitrant rebellious decision by hanging their God and everyone’s Creator God on a wooden cross. The Creator of all, who had come in a divine/human attempt to make salvation available to all.  Their God, who on the cross said,  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing” Lk. 23:34.  This Son of God had prophetically informed them that their “house is left to you desolate” (“now I leave you to yourself” Goodsped) Mt. 23:38; Lk. 23:28-31.  So God then (Ex..33:5; Acts 1:8), through His Apostles set up a third opportunity for humans to represent and pass on the experiential knowledge of His unfailing love to their human brothers and sisters as a worldwide church composed of all nationalities.   Ambassadors now with no race or land definitions to hopefully minimize pride and exclusiveness.  Christ warned them of dangers to come from false prophets Mt. 24:24; 1 Jn.4:1, false messiahs Mt. 24:24 and false teachers 2 Pe. 2:1.  But the larger part of the “Israel of promise” through Abraham (Gal. chapters 3,4), victors/over-comers through Jacob (Gen. 32:28), or the new “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16) headed for, not the old, but the New Jerusalem ( Rev chapters 21,22) — like the God envisioned nation of over-comers at the foot of Mt Sinai when only one out of 12 tribes actually stepped out for the Lord Ex.32:26  —  did not take heed of the warnings.  Christ again described this history prophetically in the book of Revelation through/as the seven Churches of Asia Minor (Rev. chaps. 2,3), and again as false/deceitful horsemen taking the majority of the worldwide church/ Israel of God down the path from purity to death (Rev. 6:1-8), eventually becoming what the Bible describes as the beast, the little horn speaking blasphemy, a harlot, and a part of spiritual Babylon (spiritual confusion/chaos).  So God again attempted a series of reformation attempts within, (as He had with the family church via evangelism Gen 4:26 then with Noah inviting them to repent before a worldwide flood, and then the Jewish nation via prophets and redemptive disciplines) to turn at least some of the worldwide church people back to purity and ambassadors of His love.  But though some progress was made with each attempt, it would stop with the reformer and begin a retrograde.  So God kept touching the reset button like the final skips of a boy’s stone, eventually putting together a people movement as an attempted means to pull together the remaining scattered and incomplete truths to their rightful position in a continuing attempt to more fully reveal of His faithful love to the greater of humanity Rev. 14:6-12.  This now multi-denomination track record, though stellar, repeated many of the failures common of His previous human witness/ambassador groups as noted in Rev. chaps 2 & 3 – with especially current historical pertinent last church of 3: 14-21.  Witnesses in any of these above worldwide scenarios did not and do not equate with their future salvation, but to a calling, to a duty, and to blessings given for greater responsibilities, which brings to them a higher standard upon which they will be judged. God is still longing, calling, rejoicing over each one (Lk. 15:11-31) who chooses to become a true part of the Israel of God -victors/overcomers – as He envisioned and so desires each to be as repeated seven times in Revelation chapters 2 and 3  with “to him that overcomes….just as I overcame” Rev. 3:21.  He, as His own witness, is standing at each hearts door knocking Rev. 3:20.  Read and contemplate John chapter 17 verses 20-25.

the ANOINTED ONE

Ascending mountain peaks takes purpose, time and effort but the fruit is more than compensatory. Let’s join together as we ascend this fascinating, soaring four verse passage in the book of Daniel that ties together the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 20.  It includes God’s promise to Abraham in Ge. 12 and fulfills His test with Isaac in Ge. 22:1-18, His promise to Judah in Ge 49:10 and the escape from Egypt (representing oppressive sin) of Ex. 12. It includes the plan of salvation’s ‘book’ for the Hebrew people — the sanctuary and its services – as well as His promise to David in 2 Sam 7:13.  It’s the trumpet announcing the coming Gospel’s temporal time reality [Amos 3:7 “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to (“unto,” “through” KJV, Knox) His servants the prophets”] supplying the reason the “elder” was able to comfort John saying, ” Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered” Rev 5:5. It does all this by delineating the exact timing of God’s promise, covenant, pledge of love to the fallen human race given first in Ge 3:15, to be exhibited by the unfathomable reality of His becoming a human, His life of compassionate service and purity ratified by His death. And includes Isaiah’s messianic prophecies of chapter 53. In classic Hebrew chiastic structure and alternating parallels Daniel 9:24-27 announces the timing of Divinity’s other centered self-sacrificing love personified in full display.  This reality being the answer to the lies spread throughout the universe by Lucifer as outlined in places such as Isa. 14, Ez. 28 and Jn. 8:44. Yes, the “father of lies” Jn 8:44.  It is the final and key piece, the culmination of a larger time prophecy puzzle begun in Daniel 8 with details being filled in – like an artist – going on through Daniel chapter 12 and fits like hand in glove with the latter historic unrolling of the Revelation to John “which must soon find their due accomplishment” Rev. 1:1 Knox.  Together revealing near too far future history in the great conflict evil has with good. A conflict that repeatedly left Daniel reeling and awestruck and at times flat on his face.   Here we will look at these four verses of Daniel 9 with their translation based on the common NIV.  The divine information coming in answer to Daniel’s prayer confessing seven times the sins of those with the given encouraging name of victors/over-comers Gen. 32:28, the same often unrealized desire divinity had for Eve and Adam in Ge 2:16, 3:16 and all of Jacobs descendants, but each often “refusing to obey” God (vs.11), – yes, even all Israel.   Daniel had been cogitating and praying about the finish of Jeremiah’s prophesied 70 weeks of the encouragingly appellate over-comers captivity that God had allowed and called Babylon to apply as Israel’s redemptive discipliner.  God had begun expanding the prophetic picture in Daniel 8 and 9 beyond Daniel’s comprehension, then sealed/stamped it with this four verse announcement of the universe’s greatest love event.  The explainer Gabriel began with Daniel’s consideration of Jeremiah’s familiar number 70 in years of the current Babylonian discipline,  but placed his considered 70 years into an entirely new context.

Daniel 9:24-27: after each phrase will come an abbreviated explanation followed by the Biblical documentation. Don’t skip them. Don’t let the the adversary blur this greatest of all events!

verse 24:

  “Seventy ‘sevens’ (weeks)”  Prophetically meaning seventy weeks of years (70 x 7)= 490. The only Biblical and logical, way of interpreting time prophecy – and its simple and complete Biblical accuracy bears it out.  See God’s words in Numbers 14;33,34a and Ez. 24:6.  Contextually note Daniel in 9:1-19 confessing rebellion & sin & turning away…x20 then asking forgiveness. Christ told Peter in Matt.18:21,22 to forgive 70 x 7 again 490! Here we see God, due to Daniel’s confusion and request, extending another 490 years of forgiveness to Abraham’s “stiff-necked” descendants (repeated 19 times in scriptures along with “obstinate and stubborn” Ez 2:4.

“are decreed”  ( chatak – Mishnah, Strong’s, Vulgate,  Septuagint, meaning ‘cut off’) or (“marked out” NEB) of the larger visionary time period of Daniel 8 that had left him “appalled” Dan. 8:27. Jeremiah 18:9,10 points out that prophecies that involve human volition are conditional. [other major examples: Ge 6:3,7; Rev 3:16]

  1. “for your people and  your holy city to finish (restrain – marginal reading) transgression,” God had worked with this ‘stiff necked ‘ (Ex. 33:3,5; Isa. 48:1,2,8) Hebrew people —  a divine description of them repeated 19 times over their 1400 years of being, as a nation – His purposed representatives on earth.  Now a line in time is being laid down for them to shape up or be shipped out.

And

2. “to put an end to sin,”    The crux move that will guarantee the universal end of selfishness. Ge 3:15

How?

3. “to atone for wickedness,”  The Atoning Sacrifice will occur within that 70 weeks of years (Gal.4:4). Represented in the yearly cleansing of their sins from the earthly sanctuary via the Day of Atonement.

4. “to bring in everlasting righteousness”.  Yes, He would verify, in temporal time, the gifts of forgiveness and of His character He had (Ps 51:10; Rev 13:8; 1Cor 2:7; Eph 1:3-6; 3:11; 1Pe 1:20), and would continue to give/offer freely to the human race.   

5. “to seal up the vision and prophecy”  Affirm the ‘vision.’ The authentication affirming indisputably. like that of a signet or seal ring warn by royalty. The royalty – Genesis 1:1, Jn 1:1-3. The vision – Daniel 7 & 8. The prophecy – Genesis 3:15, Isa. 53, and of each symbolic sacrifice for sin since the fall of mankind.

6. “ and to anoint the ‘Most Holy One’”  (margin).  See vs.25 and Ex.40:12-15 on anointing to begin a priestly ministry Heb 3:1; 4:14,15. Priests were to be chosen and anointed by divinity, not by human desire Mt 3:16,17. “The Most Holy One” being “Jesus, Son of the Most Holy God” Mk 5:7

verse 25

“Know and understand this:”  Meaning this is important!  KNOW AND UNDERSTAND! 

“From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem”  A date well delineated in both secular archeology and biblical writings as King Artaxerxes’ decree of 457 BC giving the post Babylon exilic nation full independent national rights  Ezra 7:1-26.   

“until the 1.Anointed One”  Note the last phrase of vs. 24 and the anointing of Jesus the Messiah in Mathew 3: 16,17 and Lk.3:21.  Also Andrew’s affirmation in Jn. 1:41 “we found the Messiah” (which means, in Hebrew “Anointed One”);  or John the Baptist’s testimony in Jn. 3:28; or the 4 time repeated testimony of Mathew in chapter 1 stating the Anointed One (“Christ” in Greek) had arrived vs.1, 16,17,18; or the angels in Lk. 2:11 (margin) or Christ’s own words of Lk.4:18 which are a repeat of Isa. 61:1,2; or David’s Anointed One of Ps. 2:2; or Peter’s identification of the Anointed One in Acts 4:26 and 10:38; or more powerfully, the affirmation of greater than 540 NT references to “Christ” (again, the Greek word meaning the “Anointed One”)  found in the New Testament (and often blindly trumpeted from pulpits). Or more powerfully yet with Christ Mt 24:15 relating His time in history to Daniel’s prophecy along with the statement of the Samaritan woman and Christ’s answer in John 4:25,26: “The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias commeth, which is called the Christ; when He is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto thee am he ” KJV(italics mine).

2. “the Ruler” (capitalization mine) or 3. “Prince” (KJV,Jerus, Ber). The Hebrew has this dual meaning. First, “the Ruler” (sovereign, undisputed ascendancy, acknowledged leader) called the “only Ruler” in 1 Tim. 6:15 and “the Ruler of God’s creation” in Rev. 3:14. (note Lucifer had stolen the dominion from Adam and was ruler only of “the air” Eph.2:2. Earths rulership still belonged to it’s Creator. Second, “the Prince” (king or son of the king), attested to in Daniel as the “Prince of the host” and as the Prince of princes Dan. 8:11,25 and in Acts 5:31 as Prince and Savior.”

“comes”  (to move toward, to advance, to move to a vicinity with a specified purpose) God’s apex move in the great controversy in the conflict of evil and good — Lucifer (Satan) against God in the person of His Son revealed here in full transparency!  The primary prophetic action verb of the “Anointed One” named or indicated six times within these four verses.  The apex of the battle, the temporal reality of the promise of Genesis 3:15.    Yes, “These are they that testify of Me” Jn 5:39!!!!          

“there will be seven sevens”  That these would be 7 weeks of years, thus 49 years (again Num.14:33,34a; Ez.24:6). 

“and sixty -two sevens”   Or 434 years.  Totaling for both (49+434) = 483 years or 69 weeks of years. The 70th yet to come.

“it will be rebuilt with streets and a trench,”  It being Jerusalem. After the decree of 457 it took, with cupbearer Nehemiah’s help, along with Ezra’s encouragement, the seven sevens or 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem.

“but in times of trouble”.  Given by the Samaritan Sanballat and Tobiah the Ammonite (Nehemiah 4) and the Hebrew people’s stiff-necks (Ezra 9).

verse 26

“After the sixty- two sevens,”  After the 434 years that had been added to the 49 years thus equalling 69 weeks of years.

“the Anointed One will be cut off”  In the 70th week of years the Anointed One will be destroyed in this “place of cessation” Isa. 38:11 margin NIV, Gen. 2:17 & 3:15 by “the last enemy” -death- in its first ( Biblically related to sleep > 50 times in 17 books) and the second (permeant, eternal) forms. Both “to be destroyed”, terminated 1 Co 15:26, 54-56, Rev 2:4; 20:6,14; 21:8.

“and will have nothing”  this phrase has triple meanings as noted in the marginal reading NIV).  First, “and will have nothing.” He “had not a place to lay His head” Mt. 8:20  and at the cross, only the clothes He had on.  Second of equal meaning and reality, the marginal reading of “will have no one.” This was realized at the cross with no apparent results from His incarnation ministry. An apparent failure!  Third, “not for himself.” An affirmation of His selfless self-sacrificing love for us, having not sinned but taking on our guilt, opening a way for those who choose to return to the purity and freedom of other-centered love Rom. 8:3,4; 1 Co 15:22,23. 

“The people of the Ruler (ruler) who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary”  (capitalization mine but in line with KJV, Rotherham, Jerusalem & Berkeley’s translations).  Like the prior phrase, it has a triple meaning:   First meaning, the Ruler, (the Prince, the Anointed One) of vs.25, thus “the people” being the Israelites – the desired overcomers of Ge 32:28.  Yes, it was the stiff-necked behavior of the people Daniel had just been praying about and for in 9:4-19, that were and would be the real cause of the destruction of “the city” (Hosea chap. 4 & 7:3; 9:12,17; 13:9;12:14; Jer. 4:18; 17:4; 18:5-10; 32:33; 50:7)   and “the sanctuary” (Ez.8:23; Mt. 21:13;  24:2; 23:35-38;25:26; Ge 3:12,13).   Second meaning was the whip “ruler”(one who exercises authority Isa. 7: 17-20; 10:26), the Roman general Titus, whom God used along with Titus’ soldiers (“the people of“) to bring to the temporal end.  His soldiers who were instructed by Titus not to wantonly kill or needlessly tear down walls and instructed specifically not to harm the sanctuary could not, would not be stopped in their frenzied destruction.  Third meaning, the “people of the Ruler” being the Ruler’s (God’s) divine angels aiding Titus. Titus who via secular history stated that he, Titus, could not have reached the level of devastation on this fortress except that Israel’s God, he felt, must have been helping him (as in Jeremiah. 40:2,3). 

“The end will come”  or (“it’s end” Berkely verson).  The city and the sanctuary in its second desolation.  The first desolation was by Babylon and was assured to be rebuilt- of Daniel’s current 70 years concern, and next time, in the future destroyed by Rome!   And not just it’s destruction but “it’s end” Mt 27:51! The end for his people, the historical Israelites! Hear Christ’s words of Mt.23:38, “Behold your house is left to you desolate”.

“like a flood”  The end, not just of the literal city Jerusalem and it’s sanctuary as central to the spreading of the reality of God’s love to the then world as they had been intended too Ex. 19:5, but the loss of the sanctuary’s spiritual meaning – a Noahitic flood of totality:  it’s then place, it’s services, it’s sacrifices, old Jerusalem, the special place in history of the Hebrew people, all negated by the reality of their too long continued transgression culminating now in their functional elimination of their Creator. All being replaced with the Christian church (a term used >110 times in the NT) and the New Jerusalem of John 14:1-3, Rev.3:12; 21:2. New wine would be placed in new wine skins Mk. 2:22.

“War will continue until the end, and desolations (utter waste – Strong’s)  have been decreed.”  See Revelation 12:12,17.  Lucifer introduced conflict into the universe by elevating grasping as the means to happiness in place of giving. Thus there have been, due to our forebears tacit agreement, only 268 years on earth without armed conflict durning the past 3442 years.

verse 27

“He”  The Anointed One, the Prince, the Ruler – who has been repeatedly and immediately identified.

“will confirm the (KJV) covenant”  “The covenant” of everlasting love, given by Jesus, as the Creator in His divinity in Genesis 3:15; Rev 13:8; 1Cor 2:7; Eph 1:3-6; 3:11; 1Pe 1:20  —“he will” — here being fulfilled by the Creator, Son of God, as the Son of Man Mt 27,28; Mk 15:16; Lk 23; Jn 19 – with the universes’ greatest love event –“He will confirm”.

“with many”  Romans 5:15.19; Hebrews 9:28 —by their opening “the door” of their heart  Rev. 3 :20. His incarnation effort would be efficacious! This reveals Christ’s faith in us!

“for one seven”  The seventieth week first spoken of in verse 24 and further details added in each succeeding verse , now making it clear that the Anointed One’s ministry began with His cousin John baptizing Him in the fall of AD 27 – the exact timing realized here on earth of the Holy Spirit’s anointing of Christ’s earthly priestly ministry Lk. 3:1-3; Mt.3:16,17.

“but”  “except that” (Merriam Webster’s new Ninth Collegiate Dictionary)

“in the middle of that seven”  thus at three and one half years – the spring of AD 31

“He will put an end to sacrifice and offering”  He was the Sacrifice that all prior people, and sacrificers and their symbolic sacrifices had looked/pointed forward to by faith and we by faith look back with a “sacrifice of praise,” gratitude and thanksgiving Heb. 13:15; Col.3:16.  That happened right on time at the Passover celebrated in the spring of AD 31 – the passover Lamb – and He rose on cue as the first fruit wave sheath.

“And one”   Satan, the one, Lucifer, who caused devastation throughout all heaven and brought and sold his governmental plan of self-centeredness that brought and brings devastation, desolation and cessation to earth’s inhabitants Gen. 3:1-6.  

“who causes desolation”  Utter waste, spiritually, mentally, morally, and physically. “Devoid of inhabitants, joyless” (S), “brings devastation”(S) meaning “reduced to chaos by violent action” (MW) see Jer 51:25. ” A man reaps what he sows” Gal 6:7 so Satan reaps the “abyss” of Rev 20:3, meaning “no persons alive” (S) so he cannot deceive the “nations” meaning also “peoples” (S) see Isa 24:21,22. Satans form of government brings total aloneness and disappearance.

“will come” Revelation chapter 12, “woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!… the dragon was enraged at the woman (God’s people by their choice) and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring….” or in 1 Peter 5:8 “like a roaring lion”. Christ referred to this verse of Daniel 9:17 in Mt 24:15, applying it as a double prophecy involving the destruction of the old Jerusalem and to the future of His people (Christians) post Calvary Mt 24:3.

“on the wings” (marginal reading)  Wings indicating fast – as antichrists did, noted in 1Jn. 2:18 along with false prophets, messiahs and teachers Mt 24:24; 2 Pet. 2:1, and again in Rev. 6 as religious horsemen on horses and Rev.12:12 (see REBELLION 2021: Of Horses and their Riders).  (note some translations place a phrase here indicating the temple – a structure destroyed – but replaced with the church 1 Peter 2:5, meaning at least, the coming abominations would be spiritual/religious – in “Christian” worship.    

“of abominations” The Greek word meaning “vile” (intellectually dishonest, tending to degrade), “vile goddess” (see Rev. 17:1-6 ), idols – (Strong’s concordance) — read of and note the historical invasion of Greek and Roman mythology, philosophy and political culture into the new Christianity. (see also Dan 11:31, 12:11. The book of Daniel was written 400 years before Christ, and Christ in Matthew 24:15 placed the this “abomination of desolation” in history future to His time. Thus denying the common misinterpretation implied in the book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha [syn.’ fictitious’ MW] of the minor Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanies reigning approximately 200 years prior [175 – 164 BC]. An interpretation that guts the power of what divinity is trying to communicate. Jesus tried in John 5:39 to clear away such misunderstandings with the reality that “these are they that testify of Me.”)

“until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” –Satan, former Lucifer – See Revelation 20:9,10,14; Lam. 3:33, Gen 3:15; Mt 25:41.

“KNOW AND UNDERSTAND!”

ROLES

(letter)      

You asked if I’d write down my thoughts.  Much has taken my time but now I will outline my understanding of the recent issue.  ( I awoke at  2:30am with this on my mind so will take this time to write. )

I believe we both recognize that God loves His wayward children, of which I am a prime example.  Yet when trustingly obedient we bring greater happiness into both sides of the relationship.  It is from this foundation that I approach this request. 

Because the written word of God is His attempt to communicate to humans through humans— their languages, thoughts, idioms and forms, it becomes exposed to many interpretations – ie.  worship days – the first, the seventh, or any will do; soul vs. conditional immortality; second chance, third, or multiple chances; punishing or punishment; fire that destroys or destroying fire; improving apostolic succession or deteriorating Christianity; eat what God created to be eaten Genesis 1:29, or anything will do Gen. 9:3, or eat clean meats Lev. 11, or foods created to be eaten 1 Tim. 4:3; or your body is a throw-away vs. the temple of the Holy Spirit; alcohol use or abstinence; “go to Bethel and sin, go to Gilgal and sin yet more” Amos 4:4 vs. Christ’s instruction to  “sin no more”;  assemble yourselves together Heb. 10:25 or “I can not stand your assemblies” Amos 5:21;  salvation by works, by grace, or faith; is prophecy about His history or or more about humans story and future.  When one overlooks God’s foundational love/freedom in our milieu of reality, texts can easily be put together to “prove” a capricious, angry, violent OT or NT God; or when one ignores the foundational perpetuity of God’s beneficial laws  (instructions revealed in the OT and NT — Romans 2, James 2 along with Christ’s teachings), texts from Paul  (like Romans chaps. 1, 3) can be misused to promote antinomianism — the government of the man of lawlessness.    The list goes on…

Then we create what we term “moral” concepts, concepts not found in the scriptures such as tolerance vs. true Biblical other-centered love;  “egalitarianism”— when paired with human desire and logic paves the way for the anatomic, metabolic role lie of unisex and loss of shame;  self-esteem — when we should see self truly, despise, die to self and humbly accept God’s valuation which is infinitely bigger than the pitiful prop of self-esteem for the poor man of self; and twisting love from other-centered to self-centered.      

As  a scientist I look at the spread of data on a subject, then draw a line that best fits, realizing data variation may originate from many sources, so the outliers are not what you draw conclusions from.  That line might be a straight line, a bell curve or others but rarely a tightly packed point or line. From that line, that vantage point, you may look at and attempt to interpret the outliers.  The same applies to scriptures.  Read widely, obtain the main point, then from that vantage point interpret the real or supposed variations.  In Luke 10: 26 Christ asked “What is written – How do you read it?”  The Bible is to be understood as coming from one source, consistent throughout (2 Tim. 3:16, 2Pe 1:21).  Look for the obvious, the main point, the plain, the repetitive teaching on a subject. Problems arise in interpretation primarily when an obvious teaching is wanted to be changed by humans so new teachings are made from outliers or by taking a little here and a little there and we fall back.…  Isa. 28:13.  Thus the 5 to 39 thousand different Christian denominations depending on how you cut the cheese.

Concerning the topic at hand of women in spiritual headship, to focus on the action of “ordination”—  the laying on of hands  — confuses, since it was used for different religious purposes, blessings and ministries (of which there are many) or even political offices, so a second question should arise as to/for what purpose?  Reasonably persuasive as well as strange downstream arguments from outliers abound on either side of the question but let us look for the main point—the “foundation… which was laid” (1 Cor. 3:11) for this question.               

Twelve foundational points first to consider:

One: The Hebrew word ( “adam” ) used commonly in Genesis chapters 1-9 can mean generic mankind or gender man so meaning is determined by the context of each specific use.

Genesis 1:26 means ( generic ) mankind – affirmed in vs. 27 as male and female.

Then in the expanded version of mankind’s creation of chap 2 we find:

vs. 5 God recorded, “ there was no ( gender ) man to work the ground”( woman not yet created).

vs.7 God formed ( gender ) man from the ground (woman not yet created).

vs.15 God put ( gender ) man into the garden to work it (woman not yet created).

vs.16,17 God commanded ( gender ) man (no woman yet created) not to eat of the tree… with the obvious expected responsibility to pass it on, which by implication was.  That necessitating submissive trust in the hearer.  

vs. 18 God said, “it is not good for ( gender ) man to be alone, I will make a helper”  A helper implies a leader ( see Strong’s or Webster )— the beginning of the concept of servant leader (Lk 22:26).

vs. 19 God brought the animals to ( gender ) man to name.  A head names (woman not yet created).

vs. 20 ( gender ) man named the animals.

vs 20 not found a helper for ( gender ) man.

vs. 21-23 Woman was made from ( gender ) man. Contexually Genesis 2:1-23 is all gender man since it was prior to woman’s creation.

vs.23 &3:20 ( gender ) man in his headship role named “woman” without prompting.— An address of deep respect, pointing back to creation, given by the second ( gender) Adam to His mother in John 19:26.

vs. 25 ( gender )  man and his wife, in that order. 

Chapter 3 —post fall. vs 8 ( gender ) man and his wife, in that order.

vs 9 God called to ( gender ) man to answer for the absence of the couple.

vs. 10 ( gender ) man answered.

vs. 22,23 God said ( gender ) man has become one like us…so God banished ( gender ) man from the garden to work the ground from which he ( gender man ) was taken (woman was not given the task to work the garden nor was taken from the ground).  Implied here is that woman followed.

These 16 acts of God and descriptions before and immediately after the fall, and before all culture, strongly imply, if not establish, a God given headship role of ( gender ) man as a servant leader ( Mark 10:42-44 ).

To look at these verses a different way we see in Genesis chapter one God is mentioned 4 times in the record of each of the first five creation days. Then 16 (4×4) times on the sixth day in which he created man and woman. In chapter two (prefall) we find God spoke of/about/to gender man 24 times and woman six times (4:1). Or if we look at pre-fall communication pathways God spoke to gender man four times and to gender woman none (4:0). Then post-fall in chapter three, God communicated with gender man four verses and gender woman one (4:1). Then God placed hard but beneficial curses on gender woman one verse/one curse and to gender man four verses/four curses (4:1). What we have, whether we modernly like it or not is an obvious, God designated preferable headship role/responsibility in the spiritual and family realms. But remember God did not and does not always have the privilege of willing/capable subjects for His work, yet needed outliers do not make the preferred, nor does the preferred negate a needed outlier.

Two:

Then God (not culture) began delineating the first approximately 1656 years of earth’s history by (gender) man’s family and spiritual headship role. Each name revealing an orderly step in the plan of salvation Genesis 5.   A leadership/headship plan where all were to be treated  justly with one law (Gen. 18:19; 26:5) and with compassion.  Gender man in general botched that opportunity both spiritually and relationally so God pushed a reset/reboot button with a world-wide flood. Then Abraham followed that wise arrangement that God himself had made, while God through him was beginning to set up a new arrangement.  That of a nation (Hebrew race, Jewish nationality, ideally to be Israelites -spiritual victors/over-comers Genesis 32:28) to represent Him, His love to the world. 

Three:

In Numbers 11:16,24 the Lord designated spiritual headship in the new order to seventy (gender) male elders.

Four:

The God appointed the (gender) male spiritual headship of the Aaronic priesthood. Ex. 28

Five:

God first desired first born gender males to be priests but after the Israelite worship failure at the foot of Mount Sinai God appointed (gender) male spiritual headship from the Levite tribe Num. 3:5-39. There were no female priestess in the Hebrew culture. Women were treated with great respect but had different/special roles in family and religion.  

Six:

While elevating and honoring woman, the gender male role of Christ’s appointed spiritual headship permeates the New Testament as Apostles Luke 6:13, Titus 1:6. While women were treated with great respect and served in other ministries . 

Seven:

The New Testament servant-headship  (LK. 22:26) of the gender male in the family – “as Christ is the head of the church”  repeated twice   Eph. 5:23 and 1 Cor. 11:3.

Eight:

When I began the practice of medicine I was the only one in a medical community of thirty plus physicians who would see patients coming from the state university’s teaching hospital with their external anatomic gender changed via surgery.  I became friends with them — external anatomical transgenders.  (In reality there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of unseen anatomical and biochemical gender differences especially in the brain).  I also had a number of patients of the lesbian/gay persuasion, one partner commonly taking on the opposite gender role of the pair —functional transgenders.   God indicates that New Testament church’s spiritual headship should be a “(gender) man of one woman” in 1 Timothy 3:2 then emphasizing it by repeating the male gender 10 times in the first 7 verses. Then again giving it full double emphasis by repeating it all in Titus 1:16. 

To ignore this in the family or the church is to practice at least functional transgenderism. 

Nine:

Some have said God had ok’ed a king though it was not His first choice.  Thus making it “ok” to add women to a spiritual/family male assigned leading function.  They ignore that the same God told Samual ‘the church’ people were “rejecting me (God) from being king over them”  twice, 1 Sam. 8:7, 10:19,  and that “I (God) gave you a king in my anger” Hosea 13:11 and in Isa 1:26a gives His continuing desire as , “I (the Lord) will restore your judges as in days of old”. The fact that Jesus became the son of (king) David (Mt 1:1; 22:45; Rev 22:16) speaks to the exceeding graciousness of God, not to His approbation of the human action.

Ten:

Some have used Gal.3:28 for egalitarianism, ignoring that there continues in subsequent Biblical writing  Jews, Greeks and nations clear into the last chapters of Revelation, as well as recognizing in Philemon a Christian response to ongoing secular slavery Philemon 15,16.   Biblical equality is in value, not form or function, status or role. 

Commenting on a totally different subject, Elijah Mvundura noted well in the magazine Liberty July/August 2018 that:  “winning the cultural wars is not enough – humanity itself must be deconstructed.  Biological markers of gender must be obliterated and identities defused into Dionysian formlessness.” That’s the culture we are in!

Eleven:

The Bible does not negate women in ministry especially under ministry’s definition “to give aid or service”. As one spiritual writer noted, in some areas of ministry women are better than men.  Their ministry speciality is in her understanding, to be in the homes with wives, mothers and children.  This still does not negate outliers or special cases in other fields of ministry – but outliers never become the desired norm. 

Twelve:

A “helper” in Gen. 2:18 implies a leader plus one of value, and valued function, but varied function from headship. 

Conclusion:

The wisdom of having a known leader (not a competitive position) is understood by all secular nations, businesses, sports teams, musical groups and mammals.  And there’s exceptional rest in each when there is a known servant leader – which can be in most role spheres. Each of which involves both following and leading – and a good leader is always a good follower – even an older child leads the younger and follows another older.   

Numbers 35:30 &  2 Cor. 13:1 share the principle that a concept must be established by two or three witnesses (actually repeated 7 times in scriptures).  The Bible is not silent on this subject of roles as some purport, but shares at least twelve powerful internal & external repetitive illustrative witnesses.    

The servant-headship-helper-submission concept for family and spiritual, is Biblically used in five other non-gender major relationship illustrations ( God – each one,  God – angels,  Christ – church,  each other – to each other,   mankind – animals )  thus leading to a further understanding of this current paradigm shift of our culture in which we are considering imbibing.  With God designed, following and servant-headship there is the freedom for, freedom of, and freedom in submission ( trust-trustworthiness ).  

As in an orchestra, true individual expression, joy and music comes when a piccolo does not try to be or play the part of a bassoon, all the while realizing the composer and the conductor cherishes them both equally, yet each rejoices in their well done unique roles. In our body, 20 out of 92 naturally occurring elements exist in millions of known organic molecule forms. Some function as substrates, hormones or catalysts such as enzymes, small in quantity but invaluable by causing a reaction to speed up, maybe up to 1000 times. Each chemical form in the human cell playing widely different but pivotal roles in the final outcome of life. Life that runs on the average of 37 billion billion purposeful chemical reactions inside an active human cell each second! Are you willing, satisfied and excited to play the role, and the role on time, you, like they, have been created for?  

Equality is in value – value in God’s sight and in our’s – not in anatomy, function or role —each of the three independently determined, designed and blessed by God.  And when we gladly function when and as designed, there arises beautiful harmony.

Always be assured you stand on a foundation already divinely laid and revealed while interpreting other texts.  Nor that you reject or run away from foundational truths because they and others were or are woefully, twistedly used/abused or looked down upon by your culture- but restore them to their intended beneficial beauty. 

Do we, will we, believe and trust the obvious divine instructions or do we, will we, like Balaam or King Saul keep looking for other options?

REBELLION and the LIE

2021     

The lie: The first lie told on earth and it’s silent follow-up. Think well. The great difference between the truth and a falsehood, on any level, resides in its long-term outcome.  Earth’s first open lie was a direct contradiction of the Creator God’s warning of death if one partook of the deceptive fruit in Genesis 2:17, subsequently termed “the law of sin and death,” Ro 8:2.  The contradiction/lie/attempted character assassination was foisted by the angel Lucifer turned Satan meaning (adversary) with, “ You shall not surely die” Ge 3:4.  Death has reigned on this earth since.  A place which Isa 38:11 terms “the place of cessation” (margin NIV).   That lie’s silent followup negates again the veracity of The Anointed One’s ( Greek “Christ,” Hebrew “Messiah”) word at the very end of His earthly successful attempt to blaze a return path to truth, trust and selfless love, thus life for humans.  This time by a silent ongoing lie, again accusing Christ, the active agent of the Godhood (Elohim) in Creation (John 1:1), of lying!  This time on the cross, yes, without words:  through a punctuation mark!   Note Luke 23:43:  “I say to you today,”  “today” referring to when the saying was given—here at the apparent nadir of His incarnational effort — no friends, no followers, none who understood—an apparent failure, thus revealing a pinnacle of His faith.  As opposed to, “I say to you, today you shall be with Me…,”  “today” referring here to when an event would take place.  This later punctuation, placed and maintained there by later translators, makes Christ into a liar when three days later He states plainly in John 20:17, “I am not yet to ascended to My Father”! Thus repeating and perpetuating the adversary’s direct implication that God is a liar!  If the latter common comma placement is true, there is no gospel (Mk 1:1) — Greek euaggelion,  eu=good, aggelion=messenger/message — since “good” then would not describe Him — and we Christians should be ashamed Rom 1:16!  Christ while on earth, did not call the adversary the “father of lies” (John 8:14) without reason and the warning is given that he (the adversary) would deceive even the very elect if possible (Mark 13:22).  What comes from your church’s pulpit?


DEATH: The scriptural weight of evidence with no single outlier or out of context data spin. The compassionate justice of God’s logical and supremely kind and organized plan of dealing with human’s free choice to turn away from the only source of life is literally stunning. We’ll here look at one aspect, bringing clarity through demonically muddied waters. Mankind was created each to be a unified being – body, mind and spirit – with life given through the Creator’s breath so each would become a living being. The full temporal and eternal results of Eve’s choice of distrust and Adams turning away were divinely restrained, put on hold, while they and each of their progeny were given a second chance to choose life, a continuing life that exists only in the milieu of trusting selfless other-centered loving service. Since that original fall from trusting our Creator each were/are born rebellious via the epigenetic code (software of the cell) and have each made rebellious, self-centered choices and repeated rejections of God’s forgiveness and invitations of power to do better. We suffer the temporal results of our bad choices which are often divinely softened and/or delayed even if we so choose eternal death. The first or temporal death being, according to the weight of scriptural evidence, likened unto a sleep. In God’s supremely kind plan, no children in heaven would be watching a bereaved mother. No mother in heaven watching her child suffering the sorrow of separation or from future unwise choices, no spouse in heaven suffering while watching of the grief of their spouse left behind — no torturing after death in any form — just peaceful sleep. No pre-judgement heaven, purgatory or “hell” with domiciles possibly switched at the judgement. Yes, the scriptures make plain there is a judgement. The judgement is split — a pre-advent judgement determining who have sincerely asked forgiveness and chosen the selfless life of love through the freely given power of Christ, thus ready to be taken (raptured if you will) to heaven at His Second Coming (1 Thes 4:16.17; 5:10). The second judgement will be at the end of a 1000 year peaceful sleep of the chosen rebellious — no living, no torturing. Then all who have, in their second chance, been offered forgiveness and power to become other-centered lovers but refused, are resurrected and individually judged with a clarity that causes each individual to declare that God has been more than fair in His loving kindness and respect. God, and now they, knowing they would not live happily in His other-centered heaven motivated by selfless love, with a divine heart heavy of sorrow (Ez 33:11;18:31; Hosea 11:8; 2Sam 18:33; 19:4; Jn 3:16; Ps 28:20; Gen 2:17; 1Cor 15:26), allows the fullness of the wages they have chosen and they transiently suffer the change to eternal non-existence as selfishness, greed and all it’s earthly and universal demonic existence and results are removed by the eternal results of a destroying non-extinguishable fire that consumes to ashes Mt 3:12; Lk3:17; Jude 7; Mal 4:3; 2 Pe 2:6. To be as if they/it had never been except for the scars in our Redeemer’s hands, feet and side. God in respect, allowing the full wages of eternal separation, which had for millenniums been, in love, divinely restrained. Separation from the source of life which they had, in freedom chosen to be, and remain separated from. The biblical weight of evidence is solid, negating the necessity of an abundant love/hate attitude non-Christians and Christians alike have toward their loving Creator/Redeemer/Savior. A deep ambivalence promulgated in falsehoods by the enemy of all good. Study God’s word well for yourself, avoiding the emotionalisms of narrow and confused misinterpretations to more and more fully appreciate HIS LOVING KINDNESS TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN.

Texts considered: Genesis chapters 2,3; Ec 9:5,10; Isa 38:17-19; 40:9,10; Num 6:6; Ez 18:20; Mt 10:28; Ge 18:28; 2Pet 3:9; Dan 7:22; 1Tim 6:15,16; Rev 22:12; Amos 5:6; Mal 4:1; 1Sam 15:23,26; 16:1; 28:6; Jn 11:12-14 (temporal death is compared to sleep in scriptures >64 times in 15 Biblical books by 12 authors and being spoken as such by Jesus Himself). The common attempt to use the parable of Lk 16:19-31, (whether one want to admit it or not) as a basis for a character assassination of God that makes Him into an ogre, is outrageous. Read the scriptures for yourself. You can see also: http://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com – A Biblical Defense of Conditional Immortality, and The Consensus of Current Scholarship.

Like loving dedicated parents, God’s purposeful desires for His children’s best good doesn’t ever change.1 Like them, His methods of communication, urgency, and actions might vary in attempts to break through the child’s/person’s/nation’s ignorance, intra and interpersonal barriers, narrow self-focus or rebelliousness, so as to curb, known or unknown to them, destructive thoughts or actions, or better, due to their affirmative response to the communication. And yes, there are some who, like a child (nothing is new under the sun Eccl.1:9) try to re-spin reality in attempts to make themselves look innocent and parents/others/God appear capricious or vindictive, yet in the end it’s to their confusion of face and detriment. Read the gracious beauty of Genesis chapters 1&2, John 3:16,17, and Revelation 22:20,21 as foundational understandings and hold the known dedicated selfless love for the whole of your scriptural reading.

  1. “For I am the Lord, I change not…” Malachi 3:6, “in whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” James 1:17

The law of sin and death is as natural, un-artificial and veritable as the laws of gravity, polarity and centrifugal force are inherent in and to reality.  Sin, by reality, is anything that contributes to the process of degeneration thus death. This is the sole reason God, out of love for us, directs us away from it.  Directs us away while grace defers, holds off, postpones sins inevitable result of eternal non-existence.  Deferred so as to give each individual, through winsome invitations, a second chance for a heart change.  

Sin (all that destroys life that comes from God – Gen.1:30; Jn. 10:10) and all who have chosen to cling irreversibly to their sins, will be destroyed by the full unveiling, the brilliance (outshining glory) of God’s character of loving kindness at His second coming 2 Thes 2:8. The final coup de gra^ce (the finishing stroke) for sin and thus death 1 Co 15:26,54-56.  The divine respectful granting of the guilty one’s chosen path that pays the wages. Wages that come not from God (He offers eternal life Ro 6:23) but earned by their sin, the fullness of the wages that had been held off by His divine grace.  An event that is the fire of eternal results.   Jude 7; Ps 21:9; Mt 3:12; Lk 3:17, 2 Thess 1:8-10; 2 Pe 2:6; Rev 20:9,14; 21:4.   Divine wrath, spoken of in scripture, is the condensation into the English language of 19 Hebrew and Greek words.  Their meanings are best described as “a strong feeling of displeasure aroused by injustice,” resulting in granting the guilty their chosen wage of eternal extinction.  An event described variously and over 15 times as “gave up,” “gave over,” “turned over,” or a divine turning away with a heart of sorrow. 

OF HORSES AND THEIR RIDERS: Observations on Revelation 6. Prophetic predictions of post calvary predicted Christian history includes Jesus the Christ predicting the appearance of many false prophets Mt 7:15; 24:11 along with false Christs 24:24; Mk 13:13,28-30. Peter predicted the appearance of false teachers and prophets 2Pe 2. Paul noted in Gal. 2:4 that false brothers had infiltrated their ranks, and the apostle John recorded that false prophets had gone out 1Jn 4:1. The book of Revelation contains several detailed post-calvary snapshot predictions of “what will soon (Gk “spacially immediately”) take place” Rev. 1:1, in the environment, via military, via secular nations, and false religion as they intersect with those humans who remain true. John wrote in Revelation 6 of horses and their riders as one of those snap-shots revealing Christianity’s post-calvary downward slide. First, the Biblical back story of horses and their riders. It begins with Jacob’s prediction Ge 49:1 for the descendants of his son Dan, predicting them to bring judgement upon His people, which they did by introducing idols to the Hebrew people (Judges 1:8), causing, “horses to stumble and their riders to fall backwards” Gen. 49:17. This behavior eliminated the tribe of Dan from Rev. 7’s list of tribes. The history of horses and riders surfaced again in Ex. 15:1,21 with Egyptian horses and their riders, who, pursuing God’s people, were hurdled into the sea. Their history continued with God reminding Job that the “ostrich laughs at the horse and rider” Job 39:18. Jeremiah noted in his book 51:21 that, “With thee I (the Lord of Hosts vs 19) will smite every horse with astonishment and its rider with madness”. Again Haggai 2:22 recorded that, “I (the Lord) will overthrow horses and their riders will fall.” In Rev. 9:14,17-21 John describes a loosening of God’s protection of previously restrained horsemen who were then allowed to destroy 1/3 of earth’s inhabitants in an attempted redemptive discipline of His earthly disobedient non-Israelite children noted by “yet they repented not.” It is against this background of less than noble horsemen put to shame that Rev. 6 opens with a thunderous “Come” to the writer John. There was a white horse, the church Christ had begun. It’s rider, with no mention of a name or a covering, held a bow (not a net found with fishers of men) for warfare, (unlike Christ, who will speak and it happens Rev 19:15). The rider was “given” (Gk. “endothe” meaning “allowed”), “a crown” symbolizing authority, power, dignity. Just what Lucifer desired in Isa.14:1-17 and Ez.28:1-19 (see Job 1:12; 2:6). A horse stolen and being ridden “out as a conqueror bent on conquest” vs. 2. Rev. 12:12, 13 “the devil has gone down to you and is filled with fury” and he “pursued the (pure) woman… for a time, times and a half of time” (a period variously mentioned in scriptures as “42 months”, or “1260 days” seven times). Then came the second, a fiery red horse vs. 4 intimating the destruction of the pure truths about God which Christ had revealed. This horse again with a different, unidentified, nondescript rider who once more was “given” (Gk “endothe” meaning “allowed”) “power,” something only Christ was worthy of as noted in the preceding chapter 5 of Revelation. Different riders implying different religious leaders, on His deteriorating church, “distorting the truth” Acts 20:29,30. This correlates with Luke 18:8 where Christ mused that when He comes “ will He find faith on the earth?”. In vs 5 comes a black horse. Black indicating an absence of light (truth, love). “It’s rider…holding a pair of scales”. Scales here are symbolic of non-divine (ie human) judgements by a deteriorating church since God does not judge by balances but by the heart. Next a quart of wheat and three quarts of barley in vs 6, representing less than a third of a normal days wages, predicts a near absence of the Bread of Life. A time in history during which the Holy Scriptures were removed from the public and literally chained to monastery desks. Verse 6 goes on, “do not damage the oil and the wine,” indicating the Holy Spirit would still convict and infill, lifting the blood of Christ for the salvation of the honest in heart even to those with minimal access to spiritual knowledge. In vs 7 is the fourth, a pale horse, the color of death and the rider is death. The opposite of Christ who came “to give life and life more abundantly” Jn 10:10. Again the rider on the horse (the church) “given” (endothe = allowed), not something intrinsic to, or being stated worthy of, “power over 1/4 of the earth to kill”. This foretold the destruction of between 50 – 100 million persons who had the courage to follow truths found in any snippet of scriptures they were privileged to find or hear. Verses 9-11 speaks of those slain by the riders on the horses and because they had Christ dwelling in them via the maintained Holy Spirit, they were symbolically part of the sacrificial blood splattered at the base of the altar of burnt offering. A reality repeated seven times in Exodus and Leviticus. That blood, symbolic here of those of His forgiven children, crying out “how long”— as did Daniel after hearing these astonishing future happenings – Daniel 12:6. They were given God’s quiet assurance of “rest a little while longer.” This marks the end of scripture’s shady riders on their horses of power, and the 1260 day/year time alluded to above. The next horse comes in Revelation 19. Another white horse, this one coming from heaven, and the One sitting on it is named, yes named, “Faithful and True.” Then the description goes on using two and a half verses to describe the rider with a robe of pure righteousness (right doing from right being) dipped in blood – His blood vs. 10b,11,12. He is not “allowed” a weapon, the sharp sword of His natural word is His weapon. He speaks and it is Ps 33:9. That’s natural power. He has a crown not given or allowed, He is worthy! He is the owner by divine parentage at Creation and only One worthy via repurchase of the soon to be retrieved stolen goods. Then as Ez. 39:17-20 predicted, there is a call to every feathered fowl and beast to come and feed…. on the horses and mighty men of Rev 6 and 9 and all (Rev.19:17,18) as foretold by Haggai 2:22 in “I the Lord will overthrow the horses and their riders which will fall.” Fall this time from the “sharp sword out of His mouth” Rev.19:15. Biblical pictures/observations/predictions of false Christs, false prophets, false teachers and violent/shameful/deceitful false riders messing with His post sacrifice ambassadors (church), and their demise by The One worthy Rider on His pure white horse. A horse that remains pure!

Why do we, like Eve, not believe God when God said, “when you eat of it you will surely die” in Ge 2:17, but trusted another when he said, “you will not surely die” 3: 6 – not believe/trust  God when He says ‘The soul that sins, it shall die’ Ez 18:20,  but again add one word to say “the soul that sins, it shall not die”.  Life is life, whether it is in pain or happiness.  Death is sans pain or joy.  Death is the cessation of thoughts and praise, knowledge, remembrance, communication  Ps 146:3,4; 115:17,  Eccl  9:5,6,10, Job 14:12,14, 21, Jn 11:11-14.  Christ invites us to “choose life”  Dt 30:19.  But if there is no death there is then no choice to make, thus no need of a Savior, and Jesus did not need to come if we already have life  Jn 1:4;10:10, nor do we need the Bread of Life Jn 6:35.  Neither do we need the tree of life in Rev 22:14, nor the water of life Rev 22:17.  When will we trust Him and not another Rev 22:18? The only one/spirit immortal is God 1 Timothy 6:16!

Debt…Debtor…Death and Eternity In Mt 6:16, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” Jesus is instructing us to request our Father in heaven to forgive our guilt – one of the Greek meanings of the words “debt/debtor” as illustrated again in His Mt 18:23-35 parable.  Death is a reality of sin, not what is owed.  It is the intrinsic wages of sin, set in motion by the sin.  That’s why it is called sin.  When one sins, guilt is the obligation we are bound by, the state of one (guilty) who has committed an offense i.e. the debt.  Death is not an obligation owed but the reality initiated by the sin.  Said another way, debt is guilt and the payment is death i.e. we will only pay the debt of guilt with the reality of death.  It’s like the going over the lip of a 3000 foot waterfall, or as I watched two winter alpine climbers I had just conversed with, slip and drop off a 5000 foot mountain face.  Death is not an obligation but a reality that will occur.  A debtor is guilty and death, outside of an external saving event, is the inevitable result.  In that external saving event Christ took the guilt of the entire human race, suffered the inevitable result of eternal death yet the eternal element had no hold on Him since He, through a life of trusting dependence on God, had lived a pure, faithful, productive life of selfless other centered love, thus guiltless.  Then by gifting humans internally – if we individually accept that victorious selfless love, literally Christ in us Jn 14:17; 1Jn 1:2; 3:15; 5:11,20; Col 1:27; Gal 5:22, He guarantees, if we allow Him to “remain” (bespeaking of continual freedom) in us,  Jn 15:1-17 – life eternal.

Some Christians get hung up on the “shall” of Ex 35:2, “Whoever does any work on it, the Sabbath, shall ( or “shall surely” as Gk “mut” is translated 56 times in the KJV) be put to death” ESV.   God given information, the when of “shall,” was at the time properly understood as per Merriam Webster’s definition in the 9th Collegiate Dictionary “to express what is inevitable to happen in the future” –here eternal future.  This immediate understanding by all parties is affirmed as revealed in Numbers 15:34.  At that time a question arose in the whole congregation as to what to do with a man found out gathering wood on the Sabbath day.  They didn’t know, nor did Moses, so they approached God.  God then condescended to allow the man’s future reality, knowing as God did, not only His current action but more importantly his heart, to become a current community lesson.  Again Lev 10:1-3 records that the deaths of the disrespectful priests Nadab and Abihu at the onset of the temple services at which all Israel was present, was because “in the sight of all the people I will be honored.”  This immediate Sabbath dishonoring punishment was not recorded as being done or desired to be temporally done again, implying again their proper interpretation of Exodus 35:2 as a future eternal verdict. (and inappropriate ministers/priests have likewise not been temporally disposed of).  See also Christ’s parable in Luke 14:16-24 of the Great Supper of which the Sabbath is a foretaste and promise of.   In Scripture the Sabbath supersedes in importance, as first in place, above the tabernacle or sanctuary as noted by Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; 35:1-3.  And as the “LORD’S Sabbath” it is for Him to care for.  The desecration of “My Sabbath” prompted loss of the man’s temporal time. God instructively allowed/countenanced destruction of the desecrating life.  This relationship of the Sabbath and the Sanctuary is well noted in Jewish thought as recorded in Judaism 101; Shabbat: What is Shabbat? Encyclopedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group.  

THE REMNANT

Might the term “remnant” when used of His people ( Romans 11:4,5;  Revelation 12:17) be as descriptive the effulgent splendor of His character as it is of those who remain?  And in reality be the purpose of those who remain?  The description behind the description?  

God is light and in Him there in no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).  Lucifer obfuscated that light – the light of God’s character of other-centered love, necessitating his removal from heaven ( Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28; Revelation 12 ).  That light was again obscured by falsehood as Lucifer, now Satan, perpetrated it on this planet (Genesis 3).  It deepened so quickly that by Genesis 4:26 some began to publicly proclaim the light (margin KJV “to proclaim” means also to “publicly proclaim”) the effulgent splendor of the true character of God to those in deepening darkness.  Yet the darkness of self-centered love continued to encroach until only Noah was the remnant of that light shining in this world.  Therefore God saved only Noah and his family and eventually afterward rearranging communication to slow the spread of darkness.  Though slowed, darkness continued it’s encroachment so God Himself, the Son of God became also the Son of Man to save at least a remnant of this fallen race, demonstrating with crystal clarity the unlimited breadth, depth, and height of His Father’s other-centered love, devoid only for our sake of it’s brilliant out shining. A love with it’s powers of gentleness, kindness, compassion, faithfulness, mercy, patience, forgiveness, grace, goodness, self-denying purity, meekness, humility and yes, reluctantly with a heavy heart, justice. Justice tailored to and used as a calling to repentance or more sadly just letting humans reap the results of their choices in and of the darkening unjust self-absorbed world.  His entry changing the downward slope of history to a lesser decline, revealing with greater clarity, brilliant hope and direction to a dying world.

Darkness continued its encroachment on this earth’s population as people continued to turn away from the light ( Jn 3:9, Rev.6:1-8, Mt. 13:24-30, Mt 24 ).  In part by the institutionalization of Christianity and it’s hiding of the Bible which reveals His glorious character, allowing paganism to creep in.  Light was again being rapidly expunged from this earth.  Yet again God intervened and preserved a remnant of people with progressive reformation (Rev. 12:17) to shed abroad a remnant of light, the divine glory of His true character (see Ex 33:18,19: 34:6, Gal 5:22, Col 3:12-14, 2 Peter1:5 ) to shine into the darkness.  

People of this earth have, are and will be saved not by the degree of truth they have, but in turning from wherever they are in the darkness, to light.  Being immediately covered externally, as light does, termed justification (total forgiveness) – the external part of Christ’s robe of righteousness.  People then, with-in that protective, healing, encouraging, covering of God’s grace reveal their sincerity, the genuineness of their turning by the willing, delightfull internalization of that light, the righteousness of Christ, His character (Gal 5:22)  via the Holy Spirit.  This revitalizes them by reestablishing in each His character virtues, the image of God (Gen 1:26,27), emanating from other-centered love (thus eliminating the need for external prescriptive “law” Gal 3:19-25), termed sanctification.  Thus each becoming a center of that light (Gal 2:20) His light within, shining willingly and brilliantly into their sphere of influence.  

This remnant people of God are pregnant with responsibility (2 Cor. 5:20) to let that remnant of divine light be transmitted through them.  That light when fully developed within, uncovered and placed on a lamp stand will light the whole world with the last brilliant display of God’s character of true, other-centered love, a love that brings with it life eternal (Col 1:27), gratitude and joy.  That effulgent splendor is the purpose, the reality, the mission, the authenticity of the remnant of all ages.  Then in a bittersweet moment with a heavy heart He both lets go, to disappear into eternal nonexistence  those who have irrevocably chosen to turn from light (Hosea 11:8, Ez 33:11, Isa 16:11 ) and welcomes home forever those who have turned to the light and washed selfishness and distrust out of their character by the blood of the Lamb and been willingly filled with His character of other-centered love — made again into His image ( Gen. 1: 26 )!        

Choose now to be a part of His remnant.  You are never too old to begin to become what you were meant to be – a remnant of His light to a dying world.     

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Religious liberty — arguably the kingpin of America’s greatness — though unique in the stream of world history, did not originate with our nation’s founding fathers.  Religious liberty is a concept that gives freedom of belief, and practice of that belief, to each individual and groups thereof, while allowing the belief’s value to be demonstrated in the free marketplace is, yes, older than the hills.  Religious liberty originated from the misty past of eternity with a God who created beings capable of free independent thought, choice and behaviors.  Religious liberty is a foundational reality of God’s government, carrying with it the responsibility of value judgments and the experiencing of the interim results and eventually end results of each belief, choice, behavior.  While most of the world governances have and do officially promote or socially encourage a specific belief system, America’s religious liberty allows it’s citizens to individually choose, practice and civilly promulgate the belief system of their choice while keeping the government and society from aiding or abetting as long as the liberty is conducted within the bounds of respect and respecting the same in others.  One belief system no trying to dominate over another. Though religious liberty carries with it no value judgments, the individual’s value judgments are demanded by the nature of reality.  Given its origin and uniqueness in the world, and human’s propensity to track selfish, domineering paths, it comes as no surprise that religious liberty continues to be hammered both without and within America.  Its continued viability in America rests in the vigilance of those who see its value.  Religious liberty is of divine origin and though it may not survive in America, thus this world, let us not be the ones to historically be counted slack in its promulgation and support or worse in its destruction.   

WHO DETERMINES WHEN AND WHEN DETERMINES WHO

Have you ever wondered why?

– Because He loves you –

Pick up a Bible.  Hold it in both hands above your lap and repeat the sentence:  “This book (is) the most valuable thing that this world affords.  Here is wisdom; this is the Royal law; there are the lively oracles of God.”  With these words the Moderator of the Church of Scotland  hands a Bible to the new monarch in Britain’s coronation service.  These words echo the King James Bible translators, who wrote in 1611:  “God’s sacred word…. Is that inestimable treasure that excelleth all the riches of the earth” – preface ESV. 

What does it tell us?  All human right and wrong are based in this Book.  All knowledge of constructive moral or destructive immoral parameters are described here. It has given us the weekly cycle of seven days.  It lays the foundation of all sanitation, the knowledge and ability of forgiveness, of selfless love, the worldwide social stability through human families and reveals the great respect the Author and Sustainer of life has for women, children, the weak, the downtrodden, the animals, the flora, our freedom and our future.

Why was it written? Out of love’s desire for the best good of mankind and all His creation ( Jn. 3:16; Deut. 4:6,40;5:29,33; 6:24; 7:12; 10: 13; Jonah 4:11; the seven losses from sin noted in Gen 2,3 restored in Rev 2,3 ).

Who or what is the subject of the Book?:   Matthew, mentioned five times?  Adam mentioned 30 times?   Peter mentioned 176 times?  Abram/Abraham 301 times? David mentioned 1085 times?  Or maybe Israel/Israelites 2600 times?  Each important, yes, but mentioned only in regard to how God choose to and was able to deal with and through them for the good of mankind in a specific time of history.  This “most valuable thing that this world affords,” was written mid-earth’s history beginning towards the end of the patriarchal time. Patriarchs who had began to the spread the gospel early in their history (Genesis 4:26) but failed.  Written mostly just prior to and during the Nation system for the spread of the gospel and in the beginning of the Worldwide Church, as the house of the Nation church was being to be “left to them desolate” (Mt.12:25, Lk. 13:35).   Written to tell us about Elohim the plural- triune God, collectively or singularly mentioned by name, or by personal pronoun greater than 33,000 times.  This is not counting the 50 or so character descriptions such as the Bright and Morning Star, the Captain of the Lord’s hosts, the Good Shepherd…etc.  It might be noted here that there are only 31,102 verses in the whole common Bible text!   This “inestimable treasure” was without question written to tell us about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The scripture begins with “in the beginning God ( Elohim – plural in form, singular in meaning ).   John. 1:1-3  reveals that the pre-incarnate Jesus was the active agent in this Creation and was working through the Holy Spirit (Gen.1:2).  Then the Book ends with “I, Jesus…” Rev.22:16,   “…the Spirit of Elohim…”  Rev. 22:17,  then Greek “theos,” the One True God  Rev.22:18,19— in typical chiastic form —just before John’s closing remark.  The scripture is, God’s Story from beginning to end,  the Good Message about The Good Messenger ( Anglo-Saxon and Greek meanings of “euangelion” ).

Back to the beginning.  It has been well noted that the entire Bible’s message is contained in Genesis chapters 1, 2, and 3, and the remainder the Book is but commentary.  Some will say chapters one through three tell of the creation and fall of man.  That’s one story line, but another story line is that these chapters tell us about God!  He is mentioned 42 times in the first 35 verses of Genesis.

We will look at just one aspect – one reality – originating here. To begin with we see that God formed, then filled our earth with things/material substances inanimate and animate over six evenings and mornings ( “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made… He spoke and it was done” Ps. 33;6,9 ).  God claims Godhood in that He created –– our place for us, and us.  He uses, is designated or described directly by, that claim as Creator at least 66 times in 24 books of the Bible:  “He who created the heavens, He is God”  Isa. 45:18,  or “I worship the Lord, the God who made.” Jonah 1:9, ( look up Jer. 10:10-12).  This sets Him apart from all would be, or false gods Job 38-41. This is why the adversary pedals evolution to obfuscate our topic for today, to undermine His Godhood, human’s divine parenthood (Mt.6:9, Lk. 3:38), and His Father’s loving parental character – which was Christ’s favorite leitmotiv/theme while on earth. 

God is mentioned 4 times on each creation day one through five, via noun or personal pronoun.  Finishing each day noting “it was good.”  Then in the crowning creational act of His six workdays – Gen.1:26-32 — the creation of mankind in His character and physique  ( His “image” ), He, GOD, is designated sixteen times, thats 2.6 times per verse.  God then said it was “very good (complete)” in 1:32.  That work completion was affirmed and reaffirmed in Genesis 2 verses 1-3, five times with “finished”x2, “by,” “had,” and “from”- all past tense. Leaving no room for gradual theistic change.

Verse two of chapter 2 also begins our topic which is continued in verse 3. Verse two introduces us to the seventh day of creation week at its onset, thus not like the beginning 6 days of creation introduced at their ends, after forming and filling each day by “And there was evening and morning the..x..day”.  This day though, the 7th, God introduced and formed a space in time filling it at it’s beginning not with material things inanimate or animate but with Himself.  He rested –– simple, real — He blessed, meaning richly with multitudinous blessings, bestowing divine favor and happiness.  He made it holy – dedicated, set apart – by God’s pure presence (the foundational meaning of Holy).

How many have birthdays? Birthdays, when truly celebrated, involve thanking and celebrating primarily the ones and with the ones who brought us unto the world, graciously nourished, protected, sheltered and blessed us? A day when we invite others to be thankful and rejoice with us.  But what if no one comes?  Too busy, just bought a car, had tickets to a concert, a game, so you celebrated by your self… it’s your day!  And this seventh day is the crown of God’s 6 day work week. Remember God was mentioned four times each creation day one through five, then 16 times on day six as He created humans with the concentration of the latter at 2.6 references per verse.  But here in the crowning day of creation, the birthday celebration of the creation of the earth and us. A time for relationship with our Creator, this seventh day, there are 10 references to divinity in just two verses –– That’s 5 references per verse. When a scientist sees a concentration of a specific factor he recognizes something important is going on.  This day, this Seventh day was set apart with a concentration of divine presence, “MADE HOLY”, by relationship with Him.  I find only 9 other similar concentrations of divine presence in scripture:  Gen. 1:26-32 at the creation of mankind. Gen. 2:23 with the creation of woman.  Ex. 15:2 with Moses’ ode of deliverance from the slavery of Egypt.  Mt. 27:46 when on the cross Christ cried out “Eloi, Eloi lama sabacthani?…My God, My God….”  And Jn. 1:1,2 defining the Creator with, “in the beginning was the Word….”   These six are within the first 65 books. Then in the book of Revelation, the 66th book, the revelation of the divinity Jesus the Christ, resides the remaining four concentrations of divinity.   Rev. 1:1 with “the revealing of Jesus, the Anointed One ( the Greek meaning of “Christ” )…”   Rev. 1:8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega…”.   Rev. 21:6,7 “It is done…”, and Rev. 22:12,13 “I am coming …”  Each of these total 10 are significant historical or understanding mileposts in the history of God and mankind, and each filled with references to His presence. 

God, ( who became the Son of God and Son of Man in a Bethlehem stable  Heb. 1:5, 5:5 ) — the Word of God Jn 1:1-3 – here in Gen. 2:2,3 formed a space in time,  gave it His blessing and make holy the Seventh day with His presence.  Resting to take time for relationships with us, His created. And we joined Him in our first hours of existence!   “The plans I have for you are of peace”  Jer. 29;11 and “rest” Ps 116:7; Mt 11:28,29; Heb 4:9.  And “I the Lord do not change” Mal. 3:6.  We might change, our day of worship, but His approbation, His gift, His blessing and and presence on His day has not and does not change.  This is the day – the one and only – that David speaks of in Psalms 118: 24  “this is the day that JEHOVAH made”—the space in time His presence made and makes (Jehovah means “MAKER’S and is used 6850 times in scripture’s Old and New Testaments ).  Two thousand years later it was still “JEHOVAH’S (the Maker’s) Sabbath” x 4 in Exodus 16:23- 29.  We say” you made my day.” Here Jesus made His day (Ge 2:2,3), made by Jesus Christ himself, the Living Word ( Jn. 1:1-3, Eph. 3:9, Heb. 1:1,2 ). It is” JEHOVAH’S  Sabbath” of Lev. 23:25, 38, and  Ex. 20:10.  Defined in the original language at least 20 times in 11 books as  “JEHOVAH’S (the LORD’s, theMAKER’S) Sabbath.”   Also referred to 12 times as “My Sabbath” in scripture.  God through Isaiah literally states, “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own business on the holy day of the LORD and call the Jehovah’s [ the Maker’s] Day a delight, I will…” Isa 58:13 [my literal translation].   This being set in the powerful context of God’s re-statement, Isa 58 verses 6-12, of His interest in our participation in true social justice – relating it to “My holy day…the Sabbath … the LORD’s holy day”. Jesus Himself said while on earth that He is “LORD (MAKER)of the Sabbath” Lk. 6:5, Mk. 2:28.  Lord of the Seventh day Sabbath relational time, a time of reveling in the reality of salvation from  ( Ex.20:2, Deut. 5:6, Mt. 18:21-26 — the word for salvation in Hebrew, Greek, and English all have their foundation in the past and Christ illustrated that in Mt. 18:23-35 ). Yes, salvation from sin (Israel from the slavery of Egypt) – if one dosen’t deeply appreciate their salvation from their sin they’ll never experience full salvation.  The seventh day Sabbath is a time symbolic of, and conducive to not just justification (from the past) but sanctification which is present ( Heb. 4:10, Lev. 20:8, Eze. 20:1, if one does not grow daily he recedes), and the 7th day sabbath is a taste of eternity’s rest – future Rev. 21:3.  Paul encourages us to enter into, with our Creator — God’s, My, His — rest, repeated 12 times in Hebrews chapters three and four written around 65 years after Christ’s death. No Christ did not change the Sabbath –equating this Sabbath rest in Hebrews as an ongoing foretaste of eternal rest.

It’s not only speaks of the past, the present ,and the future by it’s perpetual – it’s weekly Gen 3:8, Lev. 23:38 reveals along with Jesus in Lk. 4:16 and Paul in Acts 13:14 & 18:4,  His presence made and still makes the day.  The  Hebrew word “made” is action past, present and future.  Revel in the inherent symbology and His Presence filling the 7th day.  Leviticus 24:8 reveals the Old Testament sanctuary is symbolic of the plan of salvation Ps. 77:13.  The Bread of His Presence on the north or right as one entered the holy place — The New Testament Bread of Life of Hebrews 6— was there renewed weekly on Jehovah’s Day with us.  Today a mostly unrealized opportunity in the greater Christian community.  Looking back in celebration of a completed creation, identifying, meeting with and being nourished by the Artist, the Scientist, the Author and the True Parent, yes, the Creator. And our Redeemer [Gen 3:15, Jn 19:30, 20:9]. Looking around then and now to the Truth, the Way, the Light – the One who will / has / and is saving ‘from’ by forgiving then re-creating — Eze. 20:12 — us back into His image according to my/your choice and willing submission. Looking forward to the One who is returning with a deep longing to take each home, yes to live with Him in His home forever (Jn. 14: 1-4) .   A time Isaiah the gospel prophet stated in chapter 58 is the foundation for all generations and in chapter 56 as the foundation for all nations.

We are instructed to “Remember the Sabbath day” Ex. 20:8, to meet with Him, to rest with Him on His day, “made for man”  Mark 2:27, as was all of Creation, “for our own good” Deut. 10:13 — as were all His instructions, (commandments and statutes, prescriptions).  Instructions that were in place and recorded as known via oral history at least 430 years prior (Gen. 18:19, 26:5) to the mana test in the desert in Ge 19 prior to the writing of them on stone at Sinai.  And since Paul says without law there is no sin, Cain Gen 4:7, the antediluvians Gen 6:5, or the Sodomites could not have been judged sinful if there had not been known direction, instruction, code, law. ( Merriam- Webster’s dictionary appropriates the same understanding by recording the first date a word was in print, yet noting that it’s use could have been occurring for an unknown extended time prior to being in print – Ninth New Collegiate 1988 edition p 17 ).  Here the seventh day invitation for all to celebrate with our Creator was since the creation of the world.  No where in scripture is it termed the Hebrew or Jewish Sabbath – a people group that didn’t appear on the world scene till ~2500 years after creation!

We are invited, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”– sabbath — Mt. 11:28. If you’re laboring on your own for salvation and laden with guilty inability, then go to the feast you’ve been invited to—  Mt. 22:1-14, Lk. 14:15-22, Rev. 19:9. To the feast of His presence of which “everything is ready” both weekly from the beginning and eternally and “worship Him who made…” Rev 14:7.

Why?  Why keep the 7th day as a Sabbath—a day of relational rest?  So that, “ye may know that I am the LORD (the MAKER) your God” Ex. 20:20 who has been gracious to you Ex 20:1, and “that I am the LORD (the MAKER) that doth sanctity you” Ex. 31:13.  Sanctify means to separate by making holy—separate from this selfish, greedy nature and world (“in the world but not of the world”) by making you holy via His presence, internally.  Being recreated by Christ in us, His character via the fruits of the Spirit. Meeting with Him on His day reveals that you respect, admire, honor, affirm, submit and rejoice in relational enjoyment with and growth in Him, desiring to be like Him— being remade into His image.

Some misguided souls say Christ’s seven Sabbath healing miracles while He was on earth annihilated this Sabbath sanctity.   Far from desecrating that day He revealed again what the Sabbath was made for—relationship and relationship’s health, the social equalizing of all, the healing of relationships, of body’s, of minds, of souls, of families —saying: “it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day” Lk. 6:9.  Freeing it from the self focused legalistic yoke that had been placed on it. Others feel they can celebrate/worship on another day not hallowed, not blessed, not made holy with His divine presence.  Yet in what way is this sacrifice of time for worship different than that of Cain’s of Genesis 4, or Nadab and Abihu’s “unauthorized fire” of Lev.10:1-3; Ex.30:37; Jer. 6:20.  Others say the Sabbath was made for man, and it was – for our benefit — our blessing to experience relationship with Him (and others) on His day.  Just like the earth was made for man, and similarly Deut. 10:14 and Ps 24:1 reminds us that, “The earth is the Lord’s and every thing in it.”

All of the other six days God set apart for and encouraged secular work on Genesis 2, Ex. 20:8-11, and He has never changed that. The seventh day Sabbath is not legalistic, nor is it Hebrew or Jewish. It is for the victor, the over-comer, the true Israelite of Gen. 32:28, being remade into His image. The Bible reveals its initiation at Creation around 2000 years prior to the existence of even Abraham, and approximately 2500 years prior to Sinai.   It is relational time between the Creator God and man – symbolic, real and beneficial.

Others today misunderstand whose day it is as a full seven new versions of the Bible since 2000 AD have replaced “the LORD’S ( translated literally the Maker’s) Day” (the Greek is possessive, a day belonging to) in Rev. 1:10 — with the word “Sunday”— a day not His and without His special presence since there is no other day, including Sunday which scripture records as hallowed by His presence .  A day He set aside for work [“six days shalt thou labor…”Ex 20:9]. Putting in the place of the Maker’s day, a day with a long history of ancient pagan sun worship!  For mere humanity to reschedule a divine appointment on their own, a day given for their own good, no matter what their rationale – with a time of their own choosing – is at best a form of ignorance in their field of human expertise or a form of at least passive aggression. That’s a rebellion frightfully similar to Nadab and Abihu’s “unauthorized fire” of Lev. 10:1 (margin ESV) likely to lead or confirm many in a “bypass meadow” as noted in John Bunyon’s Pilgrims progress. [ try changing the time of your next physicians visit or airline flight by just showing up a day late!] Consider also Dt. 4:2 and Rev. 22:18,19 which give strong words for those who add or subtract from the Holy Word, or Jer. 7: 31 which speaks to activities “which I did not command, nor did it come to my mind”.

Also some Christian friends seem quite confused by their interpretation of Romans 6:14; Gal. 4:5 and 5:18’s “not under.” Interpreting “not under” as meaning we are free of/from “the law” by using “under” as per one of Strong’s definitions of the original Greek word #5679 and one of Merriam Webster’s 9th Collegiate Dictionary’s definitions: “authority, subject to”. If that is so, we are antinomians and thus followers of the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thes. 2:3-9; 1Jn. 3:4). Yet no nation, kingdom, club, sport, business or pilot – whether ship or plane – operates long without law, human or natural. If this definition is right, as Christians we do not need to esteem God, our parents, nor others, nor their goods. Nor could the kingdom of heaven/God exist since He is the “Lawgiver” (OT Isa. 33:22; NT Jas. 4:12). This understanding is only repudiated by all of Scripture and all continuing reality. However if you understand “not under” as “not short of some quality” or “not falling short of a standard” as per another of Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible’s definitions of the same original Greek word #5679 and M. Webster’s New Ninth Collegiate dictionary definitions of “under” 1:2 & 2:4 meanig the same “not short of some quality or not falling short of a standard, then it’s in line with Paul’s repeated theme of being fully forgiven, justified, “not falling short of a standard”, therefore “under no condemnation” (Rom. 7:1; 8:1) because of God’s grace through faith in Christ’s death for us on the cross.

Some others are confused on Col. 2:16 where Paul’s true emphasis is not on diet, religious festivals, New Moons or the Sabbath day but on we humans “not judging”! Yes, there are both beneficial and destructive things to eat or drink or which day to rest on in our Circaseptan (7 day) Rhythms known and scientifically recognized since the eairly 1990’s and observed and documented not only in multiple human body systems but also in multiple living organisms including other mammals,fish, birds, insects and in the geomagnetic activity of earth. Paul is not saying that there isn’t better or less than best, but that no one is to judge another – God is their judge, we are to love.

Confusion comes again on Col. 2:14 in “having canceled the written code….that was against us” when interpreted as the 10 Rules/Commandments/Instructions (equal interpretations of the Greek) given verbally and inscribed on stone by God’s own finger in whom “there is no shadow of turning” Jas.1:17, which are elevated in Ps 119, referred to over 170 times in scripture, and their earthly keeping in the last years of earthly time reaffirmed in Rev. 12:17 and 14:12. Since when is the esteem of our Creator/Divine parent against us, or honoring our earthly parents and not stealing, killing or coveting (note Deut 4:6,40; 5:29,33; 6:2)? They are for us, to keep us from destroying all that could be precious and beneficial to us. Paul without question is speaking, in immediate context, to the “gentile” Colossian believers as he had to the “gentile” Ephesian believers in Eph. 2:14, that the temple wall separating the “gentiles” from closeness to God was broken down. And embraces the preceding “He forgave us (Colossian gentiles)” in verse 13 thus “canceling the written code (guilt) against us” of vs. 14 ( “us” meaning in Christ’s words “all nations” Isa.56:7; Mk 11:17). Another key to this verse’s understanding is found in Joshua 24:22-27 and the succeeding verse of Col. 2:15 when related to Eph. 6:11,12, speaking of our rebellion, the “kosmokrators”, the cross’ triumph and forgiveness. As truth is truth when viewed from any angle we may look at Paul’s instruction here as to all Christians ie. we all have sinned and are sinners (1 Jn. 1:8-10; 2:1-5) as well as saints (sinners with their eyes on Jesus and their feet on the upward path) and the Law is a mirror (James 1:23-25) pointing out sin (our relationship fractures and behaviors that begin the process of death) and He, Jesus the Christ ” canceled the written code against us so that we are not, and do not need to be, under the law (“not short of some quality”) by purchasing and offering forgiveness. Then via the Holy Spirit placing the law into our hearts (sanctification, being recreated/transformed into His image Gal 5:22, 2Pe 1:3-11, 2Co 3:18) we live, so “sin has no more dominion over” us, Ro 6:14. Thus we are not under the law’s condemnation (“not falling short of a standard”). This understanding is a parallel to Galatians 3:23-29;4:1-7; and Deut. 31:26’s description of the law as a schoolmaster (supervisor) until by faith we accept His forgiveness and the law is replaced by the implanting of His character in our hearts and we grow out of probation’s need of supervision. Again there’s confussion on Romans 14:5 which say’s “one man considers one day more than another….each one should be fully convinced in their own minds”. Here Paul is encouraging each again, not to judge another on the day they keep but to study the scriptures for themselves, like the Bereans of Acts 17, to be fully convinced in their own minds of what is right.

The apostle’s post resurrection Sabbath observance on the seventh day was recorded with the same frequency in post resurrection scriptural record (1 ref. per 12 pages) as were all recorded references to the Sabbath in the OT. And when the author of Hebrews chose a rest day that remains it was the Seventh day Sabbath not dies Solis. Yet one must remember though that one can be there with Him -‘keeping’- the right day, but if approached with the wrong attitude (a reality based on one’s picture of and submission to, or lack of it to God) as many did in the times of Isaiah and Hosea, (“I cannot bear your evil assemblies” Isa. 1:13, Hosea 6:6), or as in Christ’s time when the Seventh-day keeping Jews delivered the Christ -the Anointed One- up to be crucified — you have not/are not/and cannot benefit fully from the relational opportunity afforded!  Christ illustrated this in his Luke 15:11-32 parable of the loving Father and 2 lost sons.  One who originally chose his own way, yet came humbly back and the other older son who abided by his Father’s days and directions but with a wrong understanding of, and thus chosen attitude about his Father.  Yes, one may “do” His will not from an internal sense of relational appreciation, thankfulness and delight even today.

Christ again illustrated both of the above possibilities with the man who came to a wedding feast with his own righteousness, not Christ’s, which was freely available Mt. 22:1-14.

In Luke 14:16-24 Christ told a parable of himself inviting the people whom resided in his land, to a banquet – a banquet with and of his presence – and many choose not to come. They appreciated his governance to the degree of being in His land, but did not come to relate and respond in love with and to Him on the day of His banquet of love, His Day, and thus obtain all He desired to offer. The reality of entering into that rest fully  –mentally, morally, physically, and spiritually ”remains” (Heb. chapters 3&4 tell us)  for us.

The LORD’S day, Jehovah’s day, the crowning invitational repeating reality of relational love, made by Jesus the Creator Jn. 1:1-3 & Gen 2:2,3, the Anointed One of Daniel 9:25,26 & Mt 1:1 & Acts 5:42.  (This latter being confirmed as such more than 565 time in the New Testament via the Greek word “Christ” or the Hebrew word Messiah both meaning “the Anointed One”).  A day for divine-human interactive friendship / fellowship.

If one wants more evidence consider this.  Genesis 2:2,3 initiating the LORD’S Day, the day Elohim rested, blessed, and made holy, the Makers day, is a template, a pattern, for Revelation 1:10 (when John was in vision on the LORD’S {MAKER”S] day.  And Rev. 1:10 is a reflection, an overlay, a mirror image of Genesis 2:2,3.  This becomes clearly apparent when you recognize Genesis 2 verses 2 and 3 occupy a spot 2% into the book of Genesis.  Revelation 1 verse 10 occupies the spot 2% into the book of Revelation.  Chiastically ( a literary structure device) revealing the two are speaking of the same day!  The day the LORD has made and continues to make holy with His presence.  The day belonging to the LORD, His day, our Creator’s day, our Redeemer’s day.  “Let us rejoice and be glad in it” Ps. 118:24!  And further, one of the intricately woven themes of the Bible”s last book the Revelations, the Bibles last book, is found in another of it’s structure realities: a prologue ch.1,  then 7 messages to those choosing to be or be with His people down the ensuing ages, represented by the churches in Asia Minor of chapters 2,3.  This is followed by a roll of 7 historic/prophetic visions ending with a vision of heaven’s New Jerusalem – both patterned after the 7 day Creation week.  Yet further still, in the exact middle of the roll of the 7 visions is Revelation 14:7 ( 7×2:7 ).  With 164 verses before and 164 verses after! A call to “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water,” – a reminder of Genesis 2:2,3 and Exodus 20: 11 — plus.  A repeating and final call for an intimate relationship with our Creator. 

Do we choose to worship in reality self, through the acquirement of things, power, pleasures, accomplishments, amusements, recognition, just going our own way on His day, or maybe we’ll just arrive on another day of our choosing ?   As a previously practicing physician, if a patient came a day late to his appointment attention to his concerns would be due, to time constraints, at best truncated.  No matter how self justified our passive aggression ( I need to…, I just…., well but…., it’s only…., I want…., well I think…, it’s a little thing…don’t be so picky) or plain rebellion, it falls short. It’s like trying to visit England’s Prime Minister.  One can stop at 1 through 8 or 14 through 20 on Downing Street and find no one there.  Or 9, 11 through 13 and find others, but only at Number 10 Downing Street will one find the Prime Minister.  

The overall question is not, will we worship (esteem, spend our time admiring),  we all worship self to a degree, also so called knowledge, hero’s, acquirements, pleasures, power and more,  but whom do we desire and truly worship?  WHO determines when – by His presence – and when determines WHO.   By our willing, delighted submission, do we choose Elohim as worthy of our honor, respect, relational admiration, esteem and in joyful submission desire to meet with Him?  Then we will do well to go when and where He is.  If we don’t meet with Him now, how will we truly know Him or He us when He comes? Might Christ be speaking to us today in Isaiah 28:12, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest’ and ‘This is the place of repose’ – but they would nor listen”.

It started as the crown of Creation week given perpetually as a weekly reoccurring available relational joy and growth opportunity, a relational meeting space in time with our Maker/Redeemer.  And it is also eternal, as on the earth made new Isaiah records in ch. 66 verse 23 that, “from Sabbath to Sabbath all flesh shall come to worship in my presence declares the LORD.” ( ESV and a translation of the “before” -Strong’s numbers 6440 +3807.1- as the phrase is translated in Genesis 4:16, Psalms 114:7 and Jonah 1:3 KJV ).

WHO determines when and when determines WHO.  Is He lovingly waiting for you?

O “Come let us worship and bow down, let us kneel ( in the presence of ) the LORD our maker” Psalms 95:6. This will take your worship to a whole new level!

2021

There is a religion spun as scientific evolution. It deify’s power, death, and purposelessness, from a mindless, body-less, matter-less ‘intelligence’ termed “natural selection.”  It is necessitated/perpetrated via a philosophical limitation placed on data interpretation, thus a religion, an interpretation limitation which has led to a 180 year fruitless ‘scientific’ search for even one transition form that stands the proof of time.  This religion also uses/abuses time, time that has come up against another impossible wall, the wall of existing soft tissue in the deepest fossil layers.  This along with the impossibility to explain the origins of highly complex interrelated, interdependent systems in physiology or biochemistry (such as the secularly estimated 37 billion, billion purposeful chemical reactions in a single human body cell per second)  and ecology has made it need to gain and continue its existence by political power.  A form of church-state alliance found in Nazi, Marxist, Communist, and now western republic forms of government.   It stands opposed to the Christian Biblical religion of “life and life more abundant” John 10:10,  based on the intelligence of an Indivisible Being in whose likeness we were made in Genesis 1:27.  A religion/being, which/who deify’s the giving of selfless love, personified by Elohim (a singular noun in pleural form).  It is a religion with a Divine Parent who created earth’s time, segmenting it into days marked by the sun, months marked by the moon, seasons determined by rotational distance from the sun.  Our Divine Parent created space then filled it with symmetrical beauty and relationships, both non-human and human, and with usefulness to fulfill needs Genesis 1:29; 2:15.  He then took another of the bite sized segments of time He had used for intelligent, purposeful artistic creation, and using it, tied a bow on the six day package.  A crown of relational time.  Relational time with our Divine Parent and with each other.  A visitation/relational time predating sin, predating the patriarchs, thus Abraham by approx. 2000 years, and the Hebrew nation by approx. 2500 years.  A time which would sweep around the earth like a wave traveling at 1000 miles an hour (the approx. speed of the earth’s rotation).  It’s forward trough beginning at each 6th sundown for a time of physical rest Mathew 11:28, then opening the fullness of creational beauty with the 7th sunrise.  All nature reveling in awe and gratitude together through the brilliant height of the wave of time as a multi-generational, now multi-national family in the richness of selfless love meet with their Maker.  Ending the day as the soft curtains of gently lighted darkness falls in it’s receding trough, leaving not only the faithful promise of another sunrise for each of the succeeding six days of active labor but of the faithful return of the next 7th day with it’s blessing of relational time to spend.  Time made holy by the presence of and the joy of relationship with our divine Parent, our Creator and each other.  A time we will also in the future spend together with Him in our earth made new again, without sin Isaiah 66:23.  Yes, His claim of being our God because He created is directly repeated/indicated more than 70 times in scriptures, besides the more than 170 direct references to this time of relational Sabbath with our Creator.  He wants to get to know each of us better both now and then in ongoing eternally deepening relationships!  This Earth came into being in either a symphony of jubilant praise and robust life through inconceivable intelligence, purpose and love (Genesis 1,2; Job 38:6,7), or through an incessant purposeless grinding of chance, suffering and death. The answer can be known and we have a choices available with different end results.  James Russell Lowell had it right when he wrote that: once, in the strife of truth with falsehood comes to every man and nation the final moment to decide.  Don’t miss the opportunity.

Sin (all that destroys life which comes only from God – Gen.1:30; Jn. 10:10) and all who have chosen to cling irreversibly to their sins, will be destroyed by the full unveiling, the brilliance (outshining glory) of God’s character of loving kindness at His second coming 2 These 2:8. The final coup de gra^ce (the finishing stroke) for sin and thus eternal death.  The divine respectful granting of the guilty one’s chosen path that pays their chosen wages. Wages that come not from God (He offers eternal life) but earned by their sin. The full wages that have been held off by His divine grace.  They are destroyed in an event that is the fire of eternal results Jude 7; Ps 21:9; Mt 3:12; Lk 3:17, 2 Thes 1:8-10; 2 Pe 2:6; Rev 20:9,14; 21:4.  The divine wrath, spoken of in scripture, is the condensation into the English language of 19 Hebrew and Greek words.  Their meanings are best described as “a strong feeling of displeasure aroused by injustice, resulting in granting the guilty their chosen wage of eternal extinction.”  An event described variously and over 15 times as “gave up,” “gave over,” “turned over,” or a divine turning away with a heart of sorrow.

“This is the resting place, let the weary rest” and “This is the place of repose” – but they would not listen” Isaiah 28:12; Genesis 2:2,3; Exodus16:23; 31:5; 35:2; Leviticus 23:32; Exodus 20:10; Ezekiel 44:24 (definition; Sabbath: “a day…a period of rest” Strong’s Concordance). Hebrews 4:9-11 tells us the rest still remains for us to enter.

The term legalism (coined in 1864 by an American revolt against formalism) is often paralleled to the then all too common motivation of circa BC/AD Jewish Pharisees.  Both properly used to describe a doing by felt necessity and show, as opposed to doing in the fullness of the Spirit (the how of the what), which would infuse the act from its foundation with the motives of mercy, grace and love.  This was illustrated by Jesus the Christ when speaking with a rich young ruler who was keeping God’s instructions out of felt necessity to which He prescribed a foundational act which would encourage the right motivation, the how of the what by concerned love Lk 18:18-30.  Again in speaking with the Pharisees He encouraged enlarging their giving from the penurious to the larger, weightier matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness — while not neglecting the seemingly insignificant  Mt 23:23.   In modern religion the term is often used to denigrate the application – the doing – of the fourth of ten “perfect” God given instructions/commands/prescriptions Ps 19:7 (no one says, ‘don’t be legalistic and refuse to steal my goods’).  The modern term ‘legalism’ then, used scripturally would more appropriately be, if not totally descriptive of how and not what. 

In God’s order a day begins with the evening as noted in each of the first six days of Creation Gen 1:5,8,13,19,23,31.  (note: God is light Ezra 9:8; Jn 8:12; 1Jn 1:5; Rev 22:5…., so the light of the first 3 days is His creational presence and Isaiah records He can create darkness in 45:7 thus the first three evenings.)  Then God added a seventh day to the previous six, designing it as a scheduled date with mankind, made holy by His presence Gen 2:2,3.  A returning presence as noted in Gen 3:8a, when in the cool of the evening ( Heb. “breath of the day”)they heard a voice [likely singing Zeph 3:17].  A voice they knew by experience as the voice of God.  Implicit is God keeping His promise of making another seventh day – not a third day nor a fifth day – holy by His presence.  He who relished and still so enjoys an ongoing and deepening relationship with us.  These were the first and second recorded dates of relational / ‘worship’ time!  This mutual interlude was needed to be redeemed from near oblivion so was reintroduced to humanity approximately 2500 years later after its use (see prescription below), and abuse (with human thoughts continually evil Gen 6:5 and later no rest time allowed in Egypt by Egyptian slave drivers (Ex 5:5 JPS “Then Pharaoh said, look…you (Moses) are making them rest,” – Hebrew shabbat = sabbath rest).  A date time reintroduced in Ex 19 with the giving og double mana on the sixth day and none on the seventh then in Ex 20:8 as the largest prescription (>1/3 of the ten) and at the chiastic apex of the then given ten short prescriptions (a meaning of the biblical Hebrew word “commandments” used over 160 times in scripture as per Strong’s Concordance word # 4687).  The word prescription is defined in Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary as “the process of making a claim to something by long use and enjoyment,” “an ancient or long continued custom,” “a claim founded upon ancient custom or long ages of continued use.”  A use, custom and enjoyment, yes, that started at Creation, and according to Isaiah 66:23 is to continue on through eternal ages, while the Bible communicates to us that, like the newly delivered Hebrews from Egyptian bondage Ex 12:12; 20:1, and like we from sin Lk 20:7, it is available to us even now in Hebrews 4:9-11.         

In the OT 700 years before Christ or Paul, God’s vision of those keeping His Sabbaths were:  “The mortal…the eunuch… the foreigner… all… and… all nations” Isaiah 56: 1-8.  “His servants (are) all who keep the Sabbath…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” Isaiah 56:1-8.  Yet walls of hostility were built by the Jewish people Eph 2:14.    In the NT God’s vision is:  “For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision (being a Jew or non Jew) avails anything but a new creation...The Israel (victor/overcomer) of God“ from “all nations, tribes and peoples”  Isa 56:1-8; Mt 11:17; Lk 19:16; Gal 6:16; Rev 5:9; 14:6.

The seventh day was and is a joyful relational commitment of the Creator of all humans to all humans, and of all creation to the Creator and all creation.  Genesis 2:2,3; 3:8; Ex 20:10

Arks –   Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines an ark as “something that affords protection and safety”.  Biblically they are symbols of God’s divine presence and protection. The Old Testament ark (the Greek also means box) of:  1)  Noah’s in Genesis chapters 6 thru 9;  2)  the ark or box of the Testimony/Covenant/Commandments in Exodus chapter 25 then mentioned over 190 times thru Jeremiah chapter 3, and each mentioned again four times in the New Testament, were symbolic like;  3)  the Creator’s time box of the seventh day of Genesis 2:1-3.  The external/temporal marking the loving, comforting presence and spiritual protection/direction afforded us when we as humans enter, as did young Moses into his ark on the Nile in Exodus 2:3-5.  Those first three arks are linked by Jesus in His Mathew chapter 24 discussion: 1)  the 7th day Sabbath 24:20 (see also Luke 6:5; Ezekiel 28:12),  2)  Noah’s ark 24:38,  3)  the ark of the Testimony/Covenant/Commandments or “words” 24:35 (see Deuteronomy 33:2,3; Exodus 34:28, “the words of the ten commandments” -literally “ten words”).  Each ark symbolically emphasizing the importance of what’s on the inside though materially/time exhibited when viewed on the outside.  Like the next chapter’s (Mathew 25) further discussion of virgins*, talents**, or sheep/goats***, or the rich young ruler’s story of Mathew 19:16-21****, each reminding us it’s what’s on the inside that makes the outside truly of value.   Then scriptures inform us there remain two arks for us in these last day as noted in the last part of the NT by  1) the heavenly temple ark of Revelation 11:19, with it’s contents (Deut 10:2)  and with Deut 10:13 delineating the reality and benefits of being fully within [“for your own good”].  This is made a reality for us  by Him being within us as noted in Jn 14:17; 17:23; 15:7; Gal 2:20; Philip 1:21; Col 1:27.  This is reinforced in Revelation 12:17 and 14:12 as they speak of the instructions inside the ark of the covenant.  Re-reminding us of  2) the seventh day time ark that was re-introduced in Heb 4:1-11 with “there remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God”.   A time ark of His presence and protection especially in these last days with that time signature of our Creator highlighted in Rev 14:7 “worship Him that made”.  His name is Jehovah – meaning Maker.  We would do well to not ignore the cautions of 2 Peter 3:17 “beware lest ye also be…led away with the error of the lawless…”  – a proper understanding of Paul does not leave us lawless –  and Revelation 22:19 not to add or “take words away from this book”.   The Bible invites our faith in and faithfulness to Jesus – the Giver of the grace of creation and the grace of a rhythmic time of relationship, of the protective reminders of the Ten Commandments, the grace of redemption and the grace of hope in our soon to be coming King – inspired and enabled by the internalized faith and faithfulness of Jesus.                                                                                                                       * Though all ten young women were virgins only five were adequately prepared.  ** All servants had talents but it was how they used them that counted.  ***All appearing similar but only the first group had allowed divine kindness to flow through them to others in need.  **** The rich young ruler took the prescription/instructions/ commandments as a duty not as an internal, passionate compassion for others. 

I’ve counted seven major recorded interactive instances of our Creator God’s presence with the human race.  Six on earth and one yet to be in heaven, with each visit either establishing or reminding us of His 7th day promised relational presence for family council/family worship/family meeting time.  To whit:

1.  Creation :

His claim to human parentage/Godhood to humans, thus in interested love, He establishes a promised – His first promise to humankind – family [Lk 3:38]relation time: Godhood/Parenthood: “He who created…he is God…and there is no other,” “the God who made the world He is the LORD,”  the angels in heaven worship saying, “You alone are Lord, You made.. and the multitudes of heaven worship you” Isa 45:18; Acts 17:24; Neh 9:6.   Family:  “son of Adam, son of God” Lk 3:38.   Time:  In the beginning God created – formed then filled –  six days and on the seventh day He formed the day by resting and filling it with His presence making it holy, blessing the day by setting it apart for continued use, implicit by the continuation, the perpetuity of each of the previous six days formings/fillings –  here His lilting relational presence with His creation  Gen 1:1; 2:1-3; Ex 20:8,11,12.   

2.  The faithful God’s first recorded relational family weekly visit: Ge 3:8

Establishing the reality of ongoing relational rhythm: 

“..Then the man and his wife heard the sound (likely singing Zeph 3:17) of the LORD (MAKER) God as he walked in the garden in the cool of the day” Gen 3:8.  The cool (Heb “breath” of the day for three reasons was likely evening since: 1] biblically evening began and begins each day, 2] “breath”: Merriam Websters first definition of breath is “air filled with a fragrance or odor, a common trait of evening air and 3] He, their Creator, was there in the garden meeting with all humanity at the beginning of a seventh day as He had promised to be.  Perpetual as the other 6 days were and continue to be! The foundation of all the meanings of “holy” is ‘the presence of God’ and if it were any other day’s beginning He would be making it holy by His special presence, yet there is not the slightest indication of such.

3. Exodus: another major divine – human interaction in which the 7th day Sabbath was intimately tied was:

At the exoditic salvation of the Hebrew people from Egypt [Ex 15:1-3] we note 25 references to the desired re-establishment of Hebrew worship/sacrifice/rest recorded in the God/Moses/Pharaoh interchanges of Ex ch 3-12. Then we note the re-establishment of that worship as the 7th day Sabbath rest in 7 references in Exodus 16:22-26 durning their first days in the wilderness prior to Sinai.

4.  Sinai:

It’s major, central, covenantal/testimonial point being a reminder of His relational rhythmic 7th day, pan-creational value/social leveling, family meeting and freedom (Ex19:4; 20:2), celebration time:

“Remember the Sabbath day by cherishing our time together.  Six days shall you labor…but the seventh day is the LORD’S (the Maker’s)sabbath…The LORD (the Maker) blessed the day of Yahweh (the Maker) making it holy via His presence”. (italicized my condensed translation from the Hebrew of Ex 20:8-11 & Isaiah 58:13).

5.  Tabernacle: To dwell among them.

The building of the first earthly tabernacle in Exodus 35 for God to tabernacle with man, was immediately preceded and introduced (verses 1-3) by the cheerful buoyant cadence of the 7th day rest with the Lord.  A day for rest, unparalleled in any recorded ancient civilization where gods created humans so they could rest .  A sanctuary in time, to be an integral then Hebraically solidified part of an intentional invitation for the people of all nations to join Ex 35:1-3.  A time in which “all nations on earth will be blessed” Gen 18:18;  Deut 4:6, via the temple, or synagogue becoming  “…a house of prayer for all nations” Isa 56:7; Mk 11:17; Micah 4:1.5.  As Karl Barth put it,  “The characteristic of God that is revealed in the rest of the 7th day is his love.”  He desires to be with His creation.  And the apostle John revealed our appropriate response in 1John 4:16, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”   

6.  With us (Mt 1:23) becoming our Redeemer  (through His birth, life, death, resurrection HERE ON THIS EARTH):

Throughout His stay on earth the Son of God/Son of Man kept the rhythmic 7th day family relational time:

“On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was His custom” Lk 4:16, encouraging us “to walk in His ways” Deut 5:33, “even as He walked” 1Jn 2:6.  

And His disciples, here Paul, followed suit, “as was his custom” Acts 17:2;  (14:15 – 18:4). 

7: With Him as our King:

“I am going to prepare a place for you…I will come back and take you to be with Me that you may also be where I am” Jn 14:3:  

And there in heaven, “…from one sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down (worship KJV) before Me” says Jehovah (meaning “Maker”)” Isa 66:23 ASV, DYB,YLT . 

Can His permanent, repeating, visitation/family get together time be made more clear?   Yet God emphasized it six further times saying, “regard as holy the/my Sabbath” (literal translation of the Hebrew) in Ne 13:22; Jer 17:22,24,27; Eze 20:20; 44:24.  The promise (“epangelia” translated “message” in 1Jn1:5 KJV) of entering His rest still stands”  Heb 4:1.  “Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me” Rev 3:20.  

The seal of the living God will be placed upon those who have sincerely and enthusiastically invited and welcomed Christ into their hearts (Rev 3:20) to dwell, so that they have become so settled into the truth intellectually, motivationally – fruits of the Spirit Gal 5 :22, ie. Christ in them –  and thus experientially keep His prescriptions [commandments] from the heart Rev 12:17; 14:12 so that they cannot be moved.  Their allegiance will in part be publicly demonstrated by their insistence to meet with HIM on HIS day, as noted here in scripture.   “He (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith” Ro 4:11 [ an external sign of the internal relationship that brings righteousness].   Now, “the seal” today is not circumcision but:  ‘The Lord hath (YLT) come to know (Strong’s) who are His” 2Timothy 2:19.  When did He come to know them,? – from meeting with them on HIS weekly day of visitation, and living in them via the Holy Spirit Col 1:2.   “Do not harm…until we have sealed the servants of our God” Rev 7:3 KJV.  So  “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples….to the Law and to the (sealed Isa 8:16) testimony (Ex 25:16; 30:26; Rev 15:5) if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them” KJV Isa 8:20.  A seal according to Merriam Webster 9th Collegiate: “confirms, authenticates, determines indisputably.”  

The seal of the Testimony, the Law of God, was stored in the Ark of the Testimony that was placed in the sanctuary of the Testimony and later viewed by John in his vision of heaven  Rev 11:19 and 15:5.   All seals reveal a mark of authority, thus the right to rule, so involve 1. Name  2. Office / Title, thus right to rule  3. Territory / Domain / Jurisdiction.  The seal of the Testimony is then in the Testimony, which is often termed the Ten Commandments, and includes those three items: “THE LORD….MADE……HEAVEN AND EARTH”.  Yes, His pan-scriptural claim for Godhood is that He made. Exodus 20:11.  The seal then spoken of here in the new testament is, thus unmistakably, the fourth commandment inviting all willing to meet with HIM on HIS DAY, Gen 2:2,3, similar to Job’s ten children meeting in joy together on each of “their days,” deepening and rejoicing in their relationships with each other Job 1:4.  A day of Joy as noted and defended in AD 1054 by Patriarch Michael Cerularius of the Eastern Catholic (Orthodox) Church.  A day still awaiting our enjoyment.

2023

Portions of Exodus 20: 2-11 from Hebrew to basic English

…I AM The Maker your God who brought you out…of the house of slavery….Remember the Day of Rest and worship and cherish the presence of God. …the seventh day is the Maker’s Day of Rest…For in six days the Maker made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Maker filled the day of YAHWEH (Maker) with multitudinous blessings endowing it with a heightened state of happiness in an atmosphere of good fellowship making it holy with His presence.  

Eight Verbs

A verb is the grammatical center, the act / the occurrence / the mode of being that expresses what is being said of a subject.  Here we’ll look at eight verbs the Bible uses with the seventh-day Sabbath. 

  1. Shabbat = physical rest – after six days of work.  Genesis 2:2
  2. Nachi     = tranquility, intellectual / mental rest.    Ex 20:11; Dt 5:14
  3. Naphash= emotional rest / refreshed.                    Ex 31:17 ; 23:12
  4. Asa       =  to make –  by doing loving things to / for and with others, going from 6 days of garnering to giving, bringing joy both to the receiver and the giver (Jms 1:27; Mt 12:12)     Ex 31:16
  5. Kalah  = finished or the reseting of a relationship, consummation, a weekly expression of His grace once again, making the 7th day Sabbath not merely an informational, duty or giving day, but an intimate transformational interactional day.  Genesis 2:2
  6. barak = richly, multitudinously blessed, blessed with the life, and character of Christ, being reproduced in us by the Holy Spirit [Gal 5:22, Col 3:12, 2 Peter 1]  Christ in us (being recreated back into His image [Ge 1:26,27]  Col 1:27) There can be no greater blessing.  Genesis 2:3 
  7. Qadash = holy / hallowed = set apart because of /by His presence  Genesis 2:3
  8. katapausis = a calming of the winds (implying ‘of strife’) Hebrews 4:9,10  “for the people of God.”

A true cathedral in and of time for non-material interrelationships, and a fountain of divine influences.  A time first created for deepening relations then used additionally for re-becoming internally a child of the King, refit for the kingdom of heaven and for spreading the great news of HIS LOVE.

A refreshed AND REFRESHING look at Isaiah 58 – in an original Hebrew denotation and in contextual Hebrew connotation. 

Isaiah 56: 2-7 introduces the Sabbath of the “MAKER” (the meaning of YAHWEH translated as  LORD ) as does verse 2 of EX 20.  Chapter 57 covers the nation of Israel ignoring nine of the ten instructions / prescriptions for life found in Exodus 20:2-11.  The largest, most basic, most detailed prescription breach and remedy is given a full chapter coverage in chapter 58.  These observations and prescriptions were written 1000 years after the instructions were given at Mt Sinai and 800 years before Christ.   Vs 1a  compare with Rev 14:6,7 as to what to cry aloud.  The Israelites’ rebellion (Heb. singular) 1b defined again by Isaiah’s successor in Ezekiel 20:12,13, and their “sin”  (in Heb – singular).   Vs 2 the phrase “day after day” is literally “an era with certain characteristics”x 2.  The phrase is appropriately translated in another place as “Sabbath after Sabbath”.  In the week there is only one day with certain characteristics and that’s the seventh (see Ge 3:2,3).  “Nation” is the Hebrew word “people,” thus including also those following Israel’s example since the Day was for “all nations” Isa 56:7.   Commandments in Hebrew is singular: “command”.  In fact all plurals in this chapter are singular in the original!  This chapter from beginning to end is in singularity about the 4th commandment / instruction / prescription of Ex 20:8-11!   The one instruction for life not covered in chapter 57.   Vs 3 “Fasting,” afflicting, denying the body was the religious practice of all cultures surrounding Israel.  It was used to assuage / pacify / appease their angry gods.  Of course the Creator God had not approved this behavior because He has always been, is, and always will be a God of love.  “Doing as they please,” and “demanding labor of their workers” (note God’s social justice of Ex 20:10) on The Day (and some of His expanded social justice in the ensuing three chapters of Genesis.  In Vs 4  God points out that the way they were using the Sabbath led them away from God-like behavior.   In Vs 5 God uses Israel’s word / action of “fasting” to communicate better with their current thinking pattern – (He is always trying new ways to get through to us).  The word “only,” used twice here is not in the Hebrew.  Fasting / affliction has a place on the Day of Atonement only.  Not as appeasement but for a time of individual self denial to be used in self evaluation and soul purification Lev 16:29-31.  Vs 6 reveals God’s type of fasting for the seventh-day Sabbath as loosening the “bands of lawlessness” ( ie. lawlessness is what happens without Ex 20:2-11 and entails following of the man of lawlessness1 Jn 3:4),  relieving “the oppression of subjected people” from that lawlessness. (see Ps 72:4; Jer 21:12; Zech 9:8, Ge 3:15 Lk 4:18; Isa 42:7).  Vs 7 feeding (see Ge 4:26 where “to call upon” comes from “to publicly declare” and “the name”means character or reputation, see Mt 28:19,20; Rev 14:6 Mt 5:6), clothing (Job 29, Neh 9:20,21).  Vs 8 we know immune systems improve significantly with gratuitous thinking and giving,  and the “Righteous One” (margin NIV), as with Israel of old, will go before and aft (Ex :13:21; Job 1:10; Lk 13:34).  Vs 9  denies the common interpretation (misinterpretation) of verse one while John 3:17 affirms that, “He came not into the world to condemn.”  “Stop pointing the finger” see Jms: 4:11; 1Pe 3:8,9.  Vs 10 reinforces vs 6,7 (Lk 4:18; Isa 61:1;Mt 12:12; Mk 3:4) and prefigured Mt 5:46.  Vs 11 Blessings promised when the instruction of Ex 20: 8-11 is willingly, gratefully, joyfully followed.  [See the above Eight Verbs].  Vs12 “re-store / reestablish the everlasting desolate place…  the foundation of all generations” (Ge 3:2,3 ; Isa 66:23.  “Repairer of the broken stone (Hebrew “precious stone, gem, jewel” Mt 13:46) “wall,” Ez 22:30  “Wall” meaning “a structure that holds back pressure, a barrier, to provide cover (Merriam Webster 9th New Collegiate Dictionary).  “Restorer of Street with Dwelling” (both singular in Hebrew), Street meaning “the way, the behavior” and Dwelling meaning “a place for a married couple to inhabit” see in light of Eph 5:31,32.  Vs 13  meaning “not plying your own trade, interests, affairs” but “reckoning it” – the seventh-day Sabbath – “a [relational] delight”.  Vs 14 Then joy, not fasting but feasting – food and drink – the Bread of Life and the Water of Life, and the “inheritance of your father Jacob.” [Jacob in wrestling with and holding on to God became, by God’s declaration, the victor, the overcomer of/in Ge 32:28 via the God defined meaning of the name “Israel”).  This was God’s burning desire for his descendants, and now of the Overcomers (the Israelites if you will) of God, those who have wrestled with and held on to God for His blessing (Galatians 6:16; Rev 12:11; Ge 5:22; Col 1:27).   The inheritance:  The New Jerusalem.   

May 2023

A FRESH LOOK AT GENESIS 3: 8  –  THE PRIVILEGE, THE HONOR, THE LOVE 

“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done…Genesis 2:3” NIV. 

In Genesis, the book of beginnings, the Creator God in Genesis 2:3 conferred “prosperity and happiness,” (the meaning of ) “blessed,” on a Creation crowning unit of time, setting it apart by making  “it holy,” “sanctified” (S) thus bringing meaning and honor to time and life.  This was  His signature on His demonstrated love in His creation of this magnificent orb of life.  Making the fourth of six divisions in human time (evening, morning, day and now week with yet to be revealed month and year).  A signature, a sign, a symbol, a witness, and an expressed desire for relationship as “made it holy” implies, assumes, necessitates, if not demands His divine presence.  What the seventh day in Ge 2:3 reveals about God looms large.  His presence on that day will be as real as the creational realities of the preceding six days and will prove as faithful, as will each individual item and of creation on each succeeding or following day of earth’s history.  

The intent of including all humanity in relational reciprocity in this rest is implicit in Ge 1:27 – 2:3 and made explicit in our text for consideration, Ge 3:8  –  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God [likely singing Zeph 3:17] as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….”   In “the cool, the wind, the breath” (S), [evening (MW)],  “of the” [ a definite article also meaning “theo” or “God’s” since it is used in combined form (MW)], with Hebrew “yom” or “day” [thus a specified or established time (MW)], “the day”  meaning “no other like it” MW.   A phrase denoting a unique day belonging to the Lord. This understanding is repeated in places such as Ex 16:25; 20:10,11; Lev 23:38; Isa 58:13; Neh 9:14; Mk 2:28; and Rev 1:10.  He is here recorded as faithfully coming to the Garden of Eden on His faithfully revolving seventh day, to be with, to relate.  Reiterating and swelling the message of His creational love via relationship reciprocity.  This revealed reciprocity [a shared or felt mutual exchange], on each seventh day is exceedingly more powerfully and loudly expressed by this demonstration via His presence than by any vocalization, and is here explicit with all existing willing humanity. 

Later in earths history by exigent [very important, requiring immediate action] illustration in Ex 16:4-30 followed by the imperative vocalization of Ex 20:8-11 and a divinely handwritten epigraph Ex 24:12; 32:16, He powerfully reminded us of human’s mutuality in this unsurpassed opportunity.  This creational crowning unit of time was divinely desired to become, through this newly forming nation, inclusive of all willing humanity as it had been meant to be in the patriarchal times, as the patriarchs in Ge 4:26 “called,”  (“to proclaim or declare publicly the name” ESV margin)  meaning the character of God, in pre-Noahitic flood witness of God’s love.  This was again the assignment for the emerging nation (“You are my witnesses” Isa 43:10,12, and “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” Isa 56:6,7), and later our future witnessing assignment (Acts 1:8; Gal 6:16), for all who will say ‘yes Lord’, to His good will, to His loving way.  [The name “Israel” foundationally means “overcomer,” thus an expression of encouragement and desire for the then nation coming on the world scene halfway through revealed time; and later for us “the Israel (overcomers) of God,” (see Gal 6:16; Jn 16:33; Rev 3:21; 1Jn 5:4; Rev 2:7; 3:21; 21:7)  as we, peoples of all nationalities, took up and take up the twice fallen torch.  

To put it another way, the reciprocity (mutual exchange) that is implicit (unexpressed but capable of being understood) in Genesis 1:26 – 2:3 is made explicit (leaving no question as to intent) in Genesis 3:8,9,  exigent (requiring immediate action) in Ex 4:22; 5:5, 17; 7:16; 8:8,20; 9:13; 10:3,24; 12:16,31; 16:4-30 as the the forming nation of Israel was coming out of slavery,  then imperative [expressive of a command (MW), instruction, prescription (S) ] in Exodus 20:8-11.   An example carried on through the lives of the Son of Man and his disciples, as referenced 84 times in the NT, and on through James 1:22; 2:10; 1Jn 2:3-6 informing us “to conduct ones life as He conducted His” (my translation from the Gk) to Rev 12:17 for those “who keep the commandments” [instructions/prescriptions (S)] “of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” [that foundational testimony was and is that “God is love” 1Jn 4:8,16].  A relational love which was first demonstrated by and at creation  (denied by the serpent in Ge 3:1-5,  by the Hebrew people in Dt 1:27 “He hates us”NIV),  then on to Rev 14:7 “Worship him who made heaven and earth…” NKJ, then eternalized in Isaiah 66:23, “from one Sabbath to another all flesh shall come to worship before Me” says the LORD” NKJ.  

This blessing, this spiritual prosperity (Mt 11:28,29 “Come unto Me all ye that labor [six days shalt thou labor” Ex 20:9] “and I will refresh you at a resting place” (my translation from the Gk), then temporal prosperity was conferred  (Ps 37:25 “I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread”KJV), and happiness  (Ps 144:15, “happy is the people whose God is  the LORD [“the MAKER” – the one who exists and causes existence” (S)], along with the promise of His presence,  “made holy,” has never been withdrawn from “the day” nor applied to any other unit of time.  Yes, it is true portions of Peter’s, Paul’s and John’s writings have been isolated out of immediate and or full context to confuse.   2 Peter 3:16  states, “Some things are hard to be understood… by which they that are without full knowledge and timid …. twist to their own destruction,” (my translation from the Gk).  

But the gospel prophet forewarned, thus forearmed: “To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word they have no light of dawn” NKJV Isaiah 8:20.  The law in this regard we know: Ex 20:8-11 “ Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, six days shall you labor and do all your work but the seventh day is ‘the LORD”S Sabbath’” (literal Hebrew).  A testimony is “an open acknowledgment of a fact, a public profession of religious experience, a first hand authentication of a fact” (MW)].  The verifying testimony of the Son of Man, a partner in creation Jn 1:1 in this regard was to meet with His God on His reoccurring co-creational day of rest.  Here to rest is “to be free from anxiety or disturbance,” of spiritual “prosperity,” and relational “happiness,” (MW).  A testimony of God’s love.   And that iterating testimony of co-creator relational reciprocity is recorded fifty times in the four gospel.  We are “to conduct our lives even as He conducted His life” 1 Jn 2:6 (my translation from the Gk).  Thus “there remains” Heb 4:9, a reiterating human opportunity, unexcelled in privilege and honor.  A faithfully repeating, revolving cathedral of mutual time with our Creator, now our Redeemer and our soon coming King.  It began and was made explicit in the Garden. A rhythmic, reoccurring shared time of ever enlarging, eternally expanding relational love.  Yes, “There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God for anyone (see 1 Tim 2:4) who enters God’s rest (see Ge 2:3) also rests from his own work (see Ex 20:8) just as God did from His.  Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest.”  

Articles: “affixes used with nouns to limit and give definitions to the application” (MW).  They are significant, as are possessive pronouns. Though they were rarely considered by the original KJV translators thus others following (see Young’s Literal Translation preface to the revised edition).  Articles whether from word or thought inspiration and personal pronouns are truely of import.   Is the call for a wife or your wife, a bike or your bike, my husband or your husband.  Here under consideration is a day or the day.  Throughout Christian scriptures men of God moved by the Holy Spirit repeatedly used the specific article “the” or personal pronoun My to identify the day God set aside for relationship.  to whit:  the Seventh day x2 Gen 2: 2,3;  the holy day of the LORD Isa 58:13;  the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2:29;  the LORD’s Sabbath x3 Lev 23:38, Ex 20: 10, 11;  My rest x3 Heb 3:11, 4:3,5;  a certain day Heb 4:7 (certain meaning: specific, fixed, settled, reliable [MW]);  God’s rest Heb 4:10;  His rest x2 Heb 3:18; 4:1, the LORD’s [the Maker’s (S)] day Rev 1:10.  

Did the holy men of old write as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Pe 1:21?  Is it true that all scripture is profitable 2 Tim 3:16?  Did God really mean what He said in Dt 4:2; Prov 22:18 and Rev 22:18 as He warned not to add to or take away from the words of this book?

As the Sabbath was the sign that distinguished the nation of ancient Israel when they came out of Egypt to enter their earthly Canaan, so it will be the sign that will distinguish God’s people as they come out from the world to enter the eternal heavenly rest.  See Christ in it!   The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’  (meaning to advance, rise, improve in condition MW) Rev 22 :17, that’s exigent!.  “Do not delay…”  Psalms 119:60 ESV, that’s imperative!  It’s time to come out of hiding with Adam and Eve (Ge 3:8) and step into His presence humbly yet with courage.

A FRESH LOOK AT GENESIS 3: 8  along with 2: 2-3—  THE PRIVILEGE, THE  HONOR, THE LOVE 

 “And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work of creating he had done…Genesis 2:3” NIV.  In Genesis, the book of beginnings, the Creator God in chapter 2 verse 3 conferred “prosperity and happiness,” [the meaning of “blessed,”] on a Creation crowning unit of time, setting it apart by making  “it holy,” [“sanctified” (S)] thus bringing meaning and honor to time and life.  This was His signature on His demonstrated love in His creation of this magnificent orb of life.  Making the fourth of six divisions in human time (evening, morning, day and now week with yet to be revealed month and year).  A signature, a sign, a symbol, a witness, and an expressed desire for relationship as “made it holy” implies, assumes, necessitates, if not demands His divine presence.  What the seventh day in Ge 2:3 reveals about God looms large.  His presence on that day will be as real as the creational realities of the preceding six days and will prove as faithful, as will each individual item of creation on each succeeding day of earth’s history.  

The intent of including all humanity in relational reciprocity in this rest is implicit in Ge 1:27 – 2:3 and made explicit in our text for consideration, Ge 3: 8  –  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God [likely singing Zeph 3:17] as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….”.    In “the cool, the wind, the breath” (S), [evening (MW)],  “of the” [ a definite article also meaning “theo” or “God’s” since it is used in combined form (MW)], with Hebrew “yom” or “day” [thus a specified or established time (MW)], “the day”  meaning “no other like it” (MW).   A phrase denoting a unique day belonging to the Lord. This understanding is repeated in places such as Ex 16:25; 20:10,11; Lev 23:38; Isa 58:13; Neh 9:14; Mk 2:28; and Rev 1:10.  He is here recorded as faithfully coming to the Garden of Eden at the beginning of His faithfully revolving seventh day, to be with, to relate, making it holy with His presence.  Reiterating and swelling the message of His creational love via relationship reciprocity.  This revealed reciprocity [a shared or felt mutual exchange], on this seventh day is exceedingly more powerfully and loudly expressed in this demonstration via His presence than by any vocalization, and is here explicit with all existing willing humanity. 

Later in earth’s history by exigent [very important, requiring immediate action] illustration in Ex 16:4-30 followed by the imperative vocalization of Ex 20:8-11 and a divinely handwritten epigraph Ex 24:12; 32:16, He powerfully reminded us of human’s mutuality in this unsurpassed opportunity.  This creational crowning unit of time was divinely desired to become, through this newly forming nation, inclusive of all willing humanity as it had been meant to be in the patriarchal times, as the patriarchs in Ge 4:26 “called on the name of the LORD,” meaning  (“to proclaim or declare publicly the name” ESV margin).  Proclaiming publicly the name, the character of God, in pre-Noahitic flood witness of God’s undimmed love.  This was again the assignment for the emerging nation (“You are my witnesses” Isa 43:10,12, and “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” Isa 56:6,7), and later our future witnessing assignment (Acts 1:8; 2Co 5:2 Mt 28:19), for those of all nations who have and will say ‘yes Lord’ to His good will and His loving way.  The name Israel foundationally means “overcomer,” thus an expression of desire and encouragement for the then nation coming on the world scene halfway through revealed time; and later for us “the Israel (overcomers) of God,” (see Gal 6:16; Jn 16:33; Rev 3:21; 1Jn 5:4; Rev 2:7; 3:21; 21:7)  as we, peoples of all nationalities,  overcomers of selfishness by His willing grace and power, took up and take up a twice fallen torch.  

To put it another way, the reciprocity (mutual exchange) that is implicit (unexpressed but capable of being understood) in Genesis 1:26 – 2:3 is made explicit (leaving no question as to intent) in Genesis 3:8,9,  exigent (requiring immediate action) in Ex 4:22; 5:5, 17; 7:16; 8:8,20; 9:13; 10:3,24; 12:16,31; 16:4-30 as the the forming nation of Israel was coming out of slavery,  then imperative [expressive of a command (MW), instruction, prescription (S) ] in Exodus 20:8-11.   An example carried on through the lives of the Son of Man and his disciples, as referenced 84 times in the NT, and on through James 1:22; 2:10; to 1Jn 2:3-6 informing us “to conduct ones life as He conducted His” (my translation from the Gk) to Rev 12:17 for those “who keep the commandments” [instructions/prescriptions (S)] “of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” [that foundational testimony was and is that “God is (faithful) love” 1Jn 4:8,16].  A relational love which was first demonstrated by and at creation  (denied by the serpent in Ge 3:1-5, by the Hebrew people in Dt 1:27 “He hates us”NIV),  then on the cross He reminded us of that undeserved relational love, then re-reminded in Rev 14:7 “Worship him who made heaven and earth…” NKJ, (referring back to Ge 2:2-3; & 3:8-9).  Then eternalized in Isaiah 66:23, “from one Sabbath to another all flesh shall come to worship before Me” says the LORD” NKJ.  

This blessing in Genesis 2:2-3, this spiritual prosperity [Mt 11:28,29 “Come unto Me all ye that labor (six days shalt thou labor” Ex 20:9) “and I will refresh you at a resting place” (my translation from the Gk)], and temporal prosperity was conferred  (Ps 37:25 “I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging for bread”KJV), and happiness  (Ps 144:15, “happy is the people whose God is  the LORD [“the MAKER” – the one who exists and causes existence” (S)], along with the promise of His presence,  “made holy”  has never been withdrawn from “the day” nor applied to any other unit of time.  Yes, it is true portions of Peter’s, Paul’s and John’s writings have been isolated out of immediate and or full context to confuse.   2 Peter 3:16  states, “Some things (of Paul) are hard to be understood… by which they that are without full knowledge and timid …. twist to their own destruction,” (my translation from the Gk).  

But the gospel prophet forewarned, thus forearmed: “Tothelaw and tothe testimonyif they speak not according to this word they have no light of dawn” NKJV Isaiah 8:20.  The law in this specific we know: Ex 20:8-11, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, six days shall you labor and do all your work but the seventh day is ‘the LORD”S Sabbath’” (literal Hebrew).  A testimony is “an open acknowledgment of a fact, a public profession of religious experience, a first hand authentication of a fact” (MW)].  The implicit and explicit verifying testimony of the incarnated Son of Man, a partner in Creation Jn 1:1, in this regard was to meet with His God on His reoccurring co-creational day of rest.  Here to rest is “to be free from anxiety or disturbance,” of spiritual “prosperity,” and relational “happiness,” (MW).  A testimony of God’s love for us.   That iterating testimony of co-creator relational reciprocity is recorded fifty times in the four gospel.  We are “to conduct our lives even as He conducted His life” 1 Jn 2:6 (my translation from the Gk).  Thus “there remains” Heb 4:9, a reiterating human opportunity, unexcelled in privilege and honor.  A faithfully repeating, revolving cathedral of mutual time with our Creator, now our Redeemer and our soon coming King.  It began and was made explicit in the Garden.  A rhythmic, recurring shared time of ever enlarging, eternally expanding relational love.  Yes, “There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone (see 1 Tim 2:4) who enters God’s rest (see Ge 2:3) also rests from his own work (see Ex 20:8) just as God did from His.  Rest with Him in His completed work of creation and in His completed work of salvation.  Accept His forgiveness and invite in His character (sanctification) as “Christ in us becomes our hope” and only hope “of glory” 1 Col 1:27.   “Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest.” (Heb 4:11) 

Articles  are “affixes used with nouns to limit and give definitions to the application” (MW).  They are significant, as are possessive pronouns, though they were rarely considered by the original KJV translators  (see Young’s Literal Translation preface to the revised edition).  Articles, whether from word or thought inspiration and personal pronouns are truely of import.   Is the call for a wife or your wife, a bike or your bike, my husband or your husband.  Here under consideration is a day or the day.  Throughout Christian scriptures men of God moved by the Holy Spirit repeatedly used the specific article “the” or personal pronoun My to identify the day God set aside for relationship.  to whit:  the Seventh day x2 Gen 2: 2,3;  the holy day of the LORD Isa 58:13;  the Lord of the Sabbath Mark 2:29;  the LORD’s Sabbath x3 Lev 23:38, Ex 20: 10, 11;  My rest x3 Heb 3:11, 4:3,5;  a certain day Heb 4:7 (certain meaning: specific, fixed, settled, reliable [MW]);  God’s rest Heb 4:10;  His rest x2 Heb 3:18; 4:1, the LORD’s [the Maker’s (S)] day Rev 1:10 to note a few.  Did the holy men of old write as they were moved by the Holy Spirit 2 Pe 1:21?  Is it true that all scripture is profitable 2 Tim 3:16?  Did God really mean what He said in Dt 4:2; Prov 22:18 and Rev 22:18 as He warned not to add to or take away from the words of this book?  Since God does not coerce there is no demand in His command.  There is only a plea for your well being.  (command, commandment, commandments are equally translated “instructions or prescriptions” as noted in Strongs Concordance of both the Hebrew and Greek languages).  As the Creation week’s crowning day of and for relational growth, rest and blessing was the sign that distinguished the nation of ancient Israel when they came out of Egypt to enter their earthly Canaan, so it will be the sign of their following their Creational Redeemer that will distinguish God’s people as they come out from the world to enter the eternal heavenly rest.  See Christ in it!   Experience Christ in it!  The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’  (meaning to advance, rise, improve in condition MW) Rev 22 :17, that’s exigent!.  “Do not delay…”  Psalms 119:60 ESV, that’s imperative!  It’s time to come out of hiding with Adam and Eve (Ge 3:8) and step into His presence humbly yet with courage.

YOUR HEALTH

The greatest killers of modern mankind are positively linked to cholesterol, sugar, saturated fat intake, inactivity, tobacco, sitting time, and attitude – causing heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, dementias and cancers to name a few.  Yet topping any of the above risk factors is your aggravation/irritation/anger/impatience score and the quality of your life’s relationships, which determine much of your internal chemical/hormonal mixtures.  Each of these factors are addressed in scriptures by our Creator God of love and affirmed by modern science.  The wise will take heed.   

Though overall great benefits have occurred to mankind through modern medicine — which has been my life work for fifty years — greater benefits both in quality and length may occur through a truly healthy diet ( Genesis 1:29 ), regular activity ( Gen. 2:15, 3:19), moral, relational, family and mental peace ( “great peace have they that love Thy law/teaching/instruction” Psalm 119:165) both in healing and in more robust health.  Also to aid in healing and health is the intelligent use of internal and external water as well as inter-personal non-sensual touch.  With those in place the need for, and the great benefits of modern medicine nearly disappear with the exceptions of some surgeries and physical therapies.   

There is an interesting dietary growth point for all who believe in the Christian Bible and would like to be in it’s described after-life.  Since the sting of death is sin (1 Cor. 15;56 ) and there will be no more sin.  Since the last enemy to be destroyed is death ( 1 Cor. 15:26 ) and death will be swallowed up forever ( Isa. 25:8 ) and yes, death will be destroyed ( 2 Tim. 1:10 ).   And in heaven there will be no more hurt… ( Isa. 65:25 ) and no crying or death ( Rev. 21:5 ),  thus there will not be the foods one might have trained themselves here to lust after (“their god is their stomach” Phip 3:19).  Tastes are a training detail of our lives here which will affect our enjoyment or distaste of such a future.  Maybe we should consider retraining our tastes here.  A challenge, yes, yet with God all things are possible ( Mt. 19:26, Mk. 9:23, 10,27, Lk. 18:27 ).  “Taste and see that the Lord (both He and His instruction) is good” Ps. 34:8.

 One’s life quality and length are affected in largest measure by habits in the relational, physical, diet, mental, moral and spiritual realms.  Choose and practice wisely.

1  Rest 7-9 hours a night

2  Whole food plant based diet

3  minimal of 30 minute daily outdoor exercise

4  8 – 10 glasses of water a day

5  Develop an attitude of gratitude

6  Do your part in developing positive relationships with all in your life.

7  Daily bathing and tooth care including flossing

8  Eat two or three meals a day without snacks and the lightest meal in the evening 2-4 hours (increasing with age) before bed time.

9   Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.

10  Help someone else daily. 

11  Take time each day for thoughtful meditation with a prayer of thanksgiving. 

12 Work 6 days a week.

13  Keep the appointment with your Creator each week. 

14  Take yearly vacations 

Home disease treatment examples of benefit:

Caution: If disease signs/symptoms begin as or become worse or faster than usual, are unusual or you see no improvement over 36 – 48 hours — see your physician.   

Respiratory signs/symptoms.

1 Bed rest for 24 hours.

2  Shower with # 7 hot/cool 30 second contrasts while keeping warm before and after. Take at least once a day.

3  Wool chest wrap

If lower respiratory S/S increase add:

4  Hot/cold chest fomentations anterior/posterior changed every 3-5 minutes times four ( 15 – 20 minutes ) with hot foot bath with first fomentation session, keeping hot but being careful not to burn skin.  (Scientific Evidence based Efficacy of Hydrotherapy http://www.ncbi.nih.gov, N Am J Sci 2014 May 6. And practical — Fomentation Treatment by Carola – on You Tube, Traditional Hydrotherapy.com, Fomentation Treatment – on You Tube.)

5  Continue chest fomentations Anterior/Posterior 4-6 times a day for two days.

6  With all fomentations use cold ice water soaked wash cloth to head, renewed every minute.

7  Two glasses of oral water intake with each fomentation and a total of 12 glasses a day.

8   If viral, increase these foods with anti-viral properties.  Brassicas, legumes, tomatoes, cucumbers, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, citrus, berries, grains. 

Example two:  For early treatment of skin and just under skin infections.

Hot water applied with cloth renewed every 2-3 minutes for 15 minutes 4 times a day. 

————Use each treatment always with prayer for God’s healing touch. ————-

In the Holy Scriptures are given the paths to maintain the best of (or regain) health.  Paths that science plays around the edges of, affirming their veracity without giving credit to prior knowledge.  I’ll touch on a few.  

Activity: God worked 6 days then gave man work to do in Gen. chapter 2 and sent him out to work in chapter 3 and again in chapter 4. In the next book, Exodus, in chapter 20 God said 6 days shalt thou work. Then going on in scripture to mention work and its related words more than 500 times.  In 1 Jn. 2:6 we’re told to walk even as he walked.  Activity’s contribution to health is a forgone conclusion of science with 150 minutes of vigorous activity or 300 minutes of brisk walking per week to garner the highest benefits with least injuries. The benefits are graded with benefits weighted on the early movements and deepened with consistency.

Diet: In Genesis 1:29  God reveals the manufactures’ recommended/created fuel/diet as fruits, nuts, seeds, and grains then adds vegetables for extra protection after we fell from trust to distrust as recorded in chapter 3:18, for our extra protection from the evil introduced.  With all of man’s thoughts, thus actions including diet degenerating and becoming evil as noted in chapter 6:5, God gave in chapter 9:3 regressive permission to eat everything that moves.  Then in progressive revelations God first removed blood, then fat from the allowed diet Lev. 3:17; 7:22. Then with further progressive revelation God removed permission for animals that dine on other animals and filter feeders from humans diet in Lev. 20 & Dt.14 thus lowering toxin intake. In  Num. 11; Ps. 78:24,25; Ps. 107; 1Sam. 2:15,31-33 He revealed a heavy meat/fat diet leads to degenerative diseases and death.  Further progressive revelation is found in Prov. 24:13 & 25:16,17 where honey is recognized as good but to not eat too much.  Sweets are now recognized as being a major contributor to ill health. Then God brilliantly set an indicator that put the proverbial ball solidly into our court. Combining thought, wisdom, responsibility and integrity wrapped into practical worship as a test (James 1: 12-15) involving sanctification’s reality of Christ dwelling in the temple – as He did in the Sinai desert (Ex 25:8; 40:34,35; 1Cor 3:16,17; 6:19; 2Cor 6:16; Col 1:27; Jn 14). Yes, your body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit”. Therefore if anything benefits the unified whole (Heb. “nephesh”-“living being” Gen 2:7), the temple in which Christ dwells, what will be our choice? If anything harms the unified whole, what will be our choice? We are His workmanship and His workmen Gen 1:27; Eph 2:10; 2Co 5:20, what will be our choice?. No, the Bible doesn’t use the words tobacco, heroin, nachos, sugar, cholesterol etc. but it does both say your body is a temple and warns against Gk. “pharmakeia” – “enchantment with drugs” (Strong’s Concordance) in Rev. 9:21;18:23. Will we trust His intent Jer 29:11-13; Deut 10:13? Food was the test upon which Eve fell and part of the reason Adam followed Gen.3:1-6. Food was a major contributor to Sodom’s downfall Ez 16:49, and was the first test brought to Christ in the wilderness of temptation Mt 4:2-4. Paul noted that the enemies of the cross of Christ have their stomach as their god Philip 3:19, and Paul in Romans 12:1 tells us to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God.” The Bible implores fifty times through five books for sacrifices to be without defect. This means we are to attempt to maintain the best that we can of our health so as to honor our Creator while serving as ambassadors of His love. Then the Bible gives one last quiet reminder in 1Timothy 4:3 of “food created to be eaten” (Ge 1:11,12,29). “Do you best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed” 2Tim 2:15.  In more modern times Peter, Paul and Mary echoed the Son of God in their 1960’s song, Where have all the Flowers Gone, with, “when will they ever learn, when will they ever learn.” A paraphrase of Christ’s words in Lk. 24:25 “how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” A diet based in, if not wholly of, whole plant foods, and that, “it is best not to drink alcohol” (remember Revelations 9&18’s “pharmakeia”) is/are now recognized and recommended by science (see: A New Diet for the Planet, Eco Watch Jan. 2019), the World Health Organization’s (The WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health 29 April 2020), and the American Cancer Society’s 2020 guidelines) –note their bibliographies — as the diet protecting and healing humans, human societies, and keeping the planet in the most robust health.  Learning is individual, both in knowing and experientially applying that knowledge. If you need help, ask Him, He’s been shown to both know what is best and be willing to help.

Positive thinking:  Philippians 4 encourages us to think about what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or worthy of praise.  Thankfulness and its synonyms occur over 150 times in scriptures, and Heb. 12:28 tells us to be thankful and so worship God.  There are whole departments of universities now researching gratitude, awe and positive thinking’s relation to health.

Rest:  The body, brain and emotions all go through specific built-in, scientifically known repair chemicals, procedures and rhythms in rest. That’s one reason why the Bible starts each day with rest and specifies a day each seven day cycle for rest. 

Marriage:  Biblically it’s one man and one woman committed for life from Genesis chapters 1,2 (see the definite articles in vs. 23.24)–and was termed “very good.” The most ancient of inter human relational advice. Variations from that were one reason for a worldwide population destruction by water.  Latter, cities by fire, due in part to intersexual relational variations again. Moses latter had to recommended at least giving a woman a certificate of divorce. Christ stated He hated “breaking faith with the wife of your youth” and “divorce” Mal 2:16. Why?  Many reasons such as multiple partners is the basis of better than a third of female reproductive system problems, and that along with gender variation is the contributing factor of the greatest and longest lasting pandemic of human history — STIs (STDs)— and contributes to child, thus society instability.   Divorce, a loss of that relationship, causes a 23% increase in death rate for both partners in a summation of 32 studies of more than 6.5 million people in 11 countries. Thus another form of suicide/homicide.  Both gender statistics unchanged with remarriage.  Yes, we are our brothers/sisters keeper as well as our own! 

Self-control: The Bible speaks of self-control 19 times. A trait that is lost with alcohol, illicit drugs, aggravation, irritation, anger or impatience.  Multiple scientific studies reveal greater than a 7 year life loss with anger.  All the above are strongly discouraged in scripture (drugs under the Greek words pharmakos (Rev. 22:15), pharmakeus (Rev.21:8), pharmakeia (Rev.9:21; 18:23). Each of these open a path to early death thus is sin, leading to an early death which the Bible tells us is the last enemy of Christ that He will destroy.

Rest: The body, brain and emotions all go through specific built-in, scientifically known repair cycles, procedures and rhythms in rest. That’s one reason why the Bible starts each day with rest and specifies a specific day each seven day cycle for rest.

Mental distress— may be defined as our emotional loss reaction to real or supposed outside or inside stimuli. Outside often from the unkind and/or unjust acts of others, inside from our own behavior or misguided thoughts. If these negatives are what we dwell on, the ATF3 gene is activated causing a decreased immunity allowing tumor cells, if present, to escape (metastasize). While consistent mixed feelings – ambivalence – in couples followed for 3 years causes higher levels of coronary artery calcification. Chronic distrust, temporal or divine – one form of mental distress – has been shown to increase dementia by 300% and the stress of aggravation, irritation, anger, impatience, usually resulting from dwelling on unkind and/or unjust acts causes a 6-17 times increase in cardiac arrhythmias. The cure — forgive immediately and dwell on the tokens of love and care that surround you and do not restrain cheerfulness nor the smiling face.

These are just a sampling of what could, and can be known health-wise through the ancient writings of scripture being reaffirmed but rarely credited by modern science. Yes, the Bible can properly be viewed as a health textbook. Just as Newton, Faraday, Kelvin, Bacon, Boyle, Steno, Linnaeus, Keppler, Galileo, Hershell, or Mury viewed it as a valid text in their fields of inquiry while setting up the foundations for our modern society. Deuteronomy 10:13 encourages us to keep all His instructions for our good!

If one, in the current pandemic of covid-19 acquires the virus, while the above verifiable health practices are in usage which in its self reduces the persons likelihood of progression to moderate or severe infection by greater than 75%, at this time I would recommend as a medicinal minimum, 40 milligrams of OTC aspirin a day to minimize inflammation and blood micro clots thus reducing, if hospital admission necessary, the likelihood of progression to – ICU/Ventilator Support/Death Rate – each by essentially another 45% as noted in pooled 2020 data from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, U. of Maryland, Wake Forest, and George Washington U. Medical Schools with data reported in Anesthesia & Analgesia December 2020.  Simple and simply effective. 

2021

Though the kingdom of heaven is not a matter of food and drink Ro 14:17, nor of works Eph 2:8-10, our behavioral choices and actions in these, as in other areas, reveal our faith, or trust in His omniscience and faithful love Jm 2:26 or lack of it.  This reality has been powerfully and repeatedly demonstrated in scripture.  In food events such as Adam and Eve’s choice to eat food not given to be eaten Gen 1:12,29; 2:16,17; 3:6, or Cain’s choice to elevate his food gathering choices above God’s instructions for sacrifices (which we can deduce were given) Gen 4:3,7, we dietarily reveal our faith in God as we follow His original advice or at least His historically current dietary regressive permissions or progressive revelations.  Post flood, with man’s thoughts continually evil, He shared regressive permission in Gen 9:3, “everything that lives and moves will be food for you, just as I gave you the green plants,”  (still the herbs of the field would come to fruition sooner than adequate food animals multiply).  Then began progressive revelations starting with no eating of meat that has it’s life blood in it Gen 9:4, Lev 3:17.  Then Deut 11 progressively recommended against scavengers and bottom feeders for our best health Deut 10:13. For the Hebrews, further original specific dietary instructions were given for the Passover Ex 12, followed by the use of freely provided manna to humble and test them Deut 8:16, Ex 16:4.  After this was the Hebrew/mankind use of human dietary desire in place of trust in God’s wisdom and provision in their wilderness wanderings and its results Num 11: 4-6,31-34; Ps 105:40; 106:14,15; Num 7:22; 1Sam 2:29,33, of wasting or degenerative diseases which still are a result of the use of such foods groups today.  Again diet was the substrate upon which the initial test for the Son of God’s trust in His Father’s dietary wisdom and provision in His desert wanderings was built Mt 4:3,4.  We humans like to pick and choose which if any of God’s instructions we’d like to follow and more than likely we pick and halt upon one of God’s historical merciful regressive permissions or early serial progressive revelations that were given as people could handle them.  Thus we have a growth arrest, and its results.  Like those, say for example in marriage: original instruction:  “a man…his wife” (singular) Ge 2:24; (self-control),  or regressive permission: “to give them a certificate of divorce” Dt 24:1; MT 19:7,8  instructions given because man’s ways were evil — an example of a current secular growth arrest and its resultant greatest pandemic in world history – STD’s (STI’s) plus their associated common cancers —  and then for our benefit, a progressive revelation on marriage back to the original,  “I hate divorce” Mal 2:14-16; Mt 5:32.  Likewise we pick and choose a dietary progressive instruction such as Proverbs 24:13 “eat honey my son” and the taking of God literally in His provision of a land flowing with milk and honey while ignoring His further instructions in Proverbs 25:27 not to eat too much honey (sweets) or our use of a lifetime of milk, ignoring Peter’s and Paul’s encouragement to progress beyond milk figuratively (implying literally also) 1Co 3:2; Heb 5:12,13; 2 Pe 2:2, as an appropriate use of a step in growth back to “solid foods,”  “created to be eaten” 1 Tim 4:3.  Thus another of our growth arrests and its results.  Our bodies are to be temples of the Holy Spirit (Divinity), thus to be respectfully kept in the best condition possible Ro 12:1.  We Christians, or anyone however, are not to judge others positively or negatively, especially in areas of diet Col 2:16, marriage, or of worship days!   Romans 14’s message is to “stop passing judgment on one another,” God is the judge. His recommendations/instructions/prescriptions (Strong’s Concordances definitions of command/commandments) have been given for our best good Dt 10:13, Ge 4:6,7, and God notices and alone judges how we individually use them.  World nutritional science in the areas of disability, disease and death strongly affirm God’s wisdom in original or ending teaching/instruction/concern in the dietary area ( “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it they will be yours for food….the plants of the field” Gen 1:29;3:18 – “don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple.”1 Co 3:16), with recent research establishing dietary links to better than 90% of western human diseases.   Relational research in marriage reveals the original instructions promote a lengthening of life, as well as increased satisfaction as does world research in our circadian circaseptan rhythms.  Yet how often do we still, as did biblical Cain, choose our own ways.  Does full trust in Him still lie ahead for us Judges 21:25; 1Ki 14:8; Isa 66:3; Pr 16:25?  As a physician I must agree with the psalmist who wrote in Ps139:14 that we are amazingly, awesomely and astoundingly made, and also with Christ who, while on earth said and further illustrated that His desire and undeviating intention and attention from creation has been to bring us “life and life more abundantly” John 10:10.   If I do things that I have been made aware of from trusted sources that shortens that life or neglect to do things that I have been made aware of from trusted sources that will prolong that life and it’s efficacy, I as a human, am acting in opposition to God by removing life.  And if I, as a Christian human, whose God given privilege/opportunity/task is to bless fellow humans, do or neglect to do or instruct in things that will detract/shorten that life, I am guilty also of robbing my fellow humans beings of those blessings.  Both breaking the prescription for happiness “Thou shalt not steal” Ex 20:15.  Thoughts worth thinking and actions worth applying. 

After practicing medicine for 50 years, and reading scientific studies on how human behavior affects human disease loads for 50 years, followed by reading the Christian Holy Scriptures, I am convinced that if one follows the ancient advice contained therein, stated to be given “for our own good” (Deut 10:13; Jer 29:11; 26:13), in activity levels, original diet, psychological and individual relationships, one would see at least an 85% decrease in human psychologic and physical disease loads as well as surgeries.  Further if a society acted upon being their “brothers keeper” (Genesis 4:9; Jn 3:16,17; Rev 22:21,22), that percentage could go into the high 90’s.   Put simply, the Bible I’ve found, is a medical text revealing not only the way to physical, mental, social, emotional and spiritual health but with freely offered power to individually put into grateful and consistent practice the costless counsels.  If any or group of individuals would have trustfully applied the counsels, they would, even now, not be like the rest of self-indulgent humanity appropriately cowering like dogs with their tails between their legs but in radiant health, without fear, unhindered in their physical, emotional and relational health, as true spectacles to men and to angels.  Like the physicians at Tuft’s University have so well observed, this current fast pandemic of 2020 is but a heat seeking missile honing in on the slow moving pandemic of human metabolic and immunologic dis-health found widely in North America and around the world from poor dietary, activity, interrelation and emotional behaviors.   Might this pandemic of 2020 well be used as a wakeup call Mt. 25 :7; 26:46?  The Bible offers health counsel worth not only considering, but individually applying! 

If one is touched with pneumonia in this current epidemic, resting prone (on your stomach) increases lung oxygenation thus reducing mechanical ventilatory assistance need by 76% in covid-19 patients according to recent research.  But change to RT or LT side every 2 hours.

One eventually finds in life that their spouse [ or co-worker, boss, neighbor ]  is not and will likely not be a perfect person.   But they are still the perfect spouse/co-worker/boss/neighbor for them, both in their strengths and in their weaknesses.   Strengths to bless us with and weaknesses to strengthen us.  [ Yes, we also are not perfect and can use some improvements too ].  So “what ever you wish that others would do to you” ( smile, spoken to kindly, listened to, rub your back, be faithful, speak cheerfully, forgive….) “do also to them”  Mt 7:12 ESV.   Yes, in Christ we do not need to be even annoyed [ or any of it’s congeners ] .   As we, in Him, instantaneously give chosen preexistent forgiveness [ Eph 4:32; Lk 6:37 ], we will rejoice in our trials [ James 1:2 ]  and He will turn us into renewed spouses/co-workers/neighbors [2 Cor 5:17]  leading to ever increasing relational joys!

2023

9/11 A towering exemplification of a true physicians visit in these extreme times is found in Luke 9:11. “He welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.” This is the core of disinterested benevolence.

Human viral infections are far and away the most common infestations of the human race.  To help counteract this attack of the adversary, God made and recommended certain foods. Anti-viral foods include olives, and olive oil, garlic, yogurt (introducing commensal bacteria into the gut which are naturally there in whole plant vegetarian diet users), pumpkin, squash, zucchini, legumes and more, and there are certain condiments such as ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, elderberry lovage etc.  God also recommends certain emotions to refrain from such as aggravation, annoyance, irritation, fear, anger, all which devastate the immune system  –  while recommending forgivness – a cleaning of you own slate of toxic attachments to the past – then transacting compassion, kindness form other-centered love. Each which markedly increase humans main and powerful immunologic defense against virus – IgA.   

We in America are an interesting group of people as we put together, support and defend industries that knowingly kill humans, our grandfathers and grandmothers, our moms and dads, brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends all in the name of profit.  Heart and cancer deaths via the flesh food industry.  Diabetes, heart deaths and amputations via the refined carbohydrate industry.  Lung, lip and mouth cancers, pulmonary and heart deaths from the tobacco industry.  High blood pressure, strokes, heart and cancer deaths as well as obesity from the salt/fat/artificial flavors of the ultra processed food industry.  All are designed to hijack our dopamine pleasure centers leading to addiction thus bringing them a larger portion of humans life blood that has been converted to monies by these means available to them.   Theres the pornography industry taking advantage of the human hormonal system to now obtain greater than 58 billion plus internet hits per month just for the top three sites while knowingly breaking up relationships thus decreasing lifespans of those relationship losers by 3+ years and un-researched life-span losses of most children involved.  There are the digital and gambling industries addicting for cash all ages with gaming and social media engineered to trigger powerful consumptive urges – addiction leading to loss of physical activity, depression, suicide, thus inducing early loss of life.  This is all added to a society that’s already destroying fetus’ at the rate of 1700 per day plus financially encouraging abortions world wide for millions of pocketed monies.  We as a society then feign surprise as the pharmaceutical industry picks up the option in their attempt to capture monies by monetarily hijacking diseases, the media, politics, science and the medical disciplines as allies.  Is it much different than our culture (and others) fostering Christian churches that do similarly in knowingly dropping off or adding portions to God given instructions thus likely closing off  some temporal years as well as potentially eliminating an eternal life of peace and joy for their adherents – just for fashionable temporary feel good and monies.  If every word of God is flawless then what did He say about diet, exercise, work, rest, destructive habits, money grubbing, pharmakia, adding to or subtracting from His word or the benefits of trusting obedience, worship, purity, nobility, kindness and the beauty of the One who is our loving progenitor?   

THE GREATEST OF THESE

The Anatomy of Love – its deconstructed form and renewal

Mid Nov. 2016 I was in Greece helping coordinate a mass dental – medical – vision clinic for refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Iran.  I was stopped mid week while walking alone through the camp by a group of seven 20-30 yr. old Islamic men.  While their spokesman placed his hand over his heart, he said while beating his chest  “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Most give us things or money.  We don’t need things or money.  You’ve come and give of yourselves. We thank you from our hearts.”

The last message from heaven to this dying world will be the message of God’s true selfless love, fully displayed (to make visible, to unfold, to open out)  through His people.  Some will say what of going to church, forgiveness, the cross, the resurrection, the 10 Commandments, the Creator’s day of rest, the Laodicean message, the 3 angels messages, the second coming. —Yes, true they also are last messages.   Yet TRUTH in any form, spoken or given outside of true love is no more than a sounding gong (1 Cor. 13, Eph. 4:15).   The foundation and empowerment of all truth is God’s true selfless love made visible, unfolded, opened out – through His people.

GOD created mankind with the freedom of choice, thus giving them the capacity to love.  GOD IS LOVE, by choice, by nature and loves all with an everlasting, principled love.  That love, though tenacious, constant and forever, respects our freedom of choice, and will in deep love allow us to experience partially and eventually fully, the results of our freely arrived at choices —whether for or against that love.  He is constantly inviting, encouraging, nurturing an appreciative, willing, joyful, growing, chosen response to that love.  Trying, hoping, before it’s too late, to awaken a love response in those who have their back turned and eyes closed to His exhibited love.  Though God loves and blesses His children who ignore, or rebel against His love, He longs to give them greater blessings, yet withholds knowing they would be used only to their detriment, their harm.  He rejoices when and with those, who turning from rebellion, respond affirmatively to His love —with growing love—bringing Him the great joy of granting richer blessings.  

YET WHAT IS THAT LOVE?   A love, I’ll attempt to point out, that is 180 degrees from what we earthlings term love.   A love that Paul calls  “THE GREATEST OF THESE”.   Let’s look at THE ANATOMY OF  TRUE LOVE – It’s deconstructed form and its renewal.  Something we desperately need.

LOVE -TRUE LOVE – SELFLESS LOVE – OTHER-CENTERED LOVE  is the most valued reality in the universe and the most phenomenal and rare event on earth.  It infinitely exceeds the value of all of earth’s gold, silver, precious metals, gems and power combined.  True love is concurrently both delicate and tenacious, fragile and indefatigable as well as the most powerful force in the universe .  Composed of at least seven delicately intertwined, freely granted emotions: the emotions of Admiration, Respect, Trust, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Affection, Submission all of which can only exist in the milieu of freedom. 

The first three emotions, admiration, respect and trust can only be earned, recognized and granted freely by us, or to us.  The last four, forgiveness, gratitude, affection and submission, can not be earned— only granted, freely given— by us, or to us.

The first, Admiration-  is to regard with approval.

Respect – is to regard with esteem (great value). 

Trust – is confidence and reliance on the integrity and commitment of a person.  Integrity is the uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles.

Forgiveness – is ceasing to feel resentment while offering pardon for a real or supposed offense. 

Gratitude – is being deeply appreciative of kindnesses and benefits received.

Affection – is a fond attachment leading to tender devotion.  

True submission – is to willingly, joyfully defer to another.

The first three, admiration, respect, and trust can be earned by many, but come into being only when recognized and granted freely by you, or too you by another, which can be many.    

Forgiveness is only given, never earned – yet rejoices in an apology, in confession, in sorrow that works repentance. Repentance meaning a 180 degree turn.

Gratitude warmly recognizes that which has and is being freely given and is itself freely given.  Gratitude is not merely verbal – which is courteous and pleasant.  Nor merely enacted – which is generous and noble.  Gratitude in reality is a living attitude akin to grace.  True love cannot be without gratitude given.   

Affection, the sixth emotion of love, again is only given and can be given to many (yet a lesser many), and especially growing to those who personally, affirmatively, respond with reciprocal admiration, respect, trustworthiness, trust, forgiveness, gratitude and affection.  A growing bilateral love relationship.  Affection can be given to mothers/fathers, spouses, sons/daughters, grandfathers/grandmothers, friends, neighbors! –   Love your neighbor as yourself.  And who is your neighbor? –  any one who needs your help ( see Lk. 10 ).  Each category becoming a more general affection, but still affection. 

The seventh emotion is submission.  The love of true friendship begins with the unilateral granting of the preceding six emotions, growing to completeness in bilateral admiration, respect, trustworthiness/trust, forgiveness, gratitude and affection, followed by submission. Yes, angels submit joyfully to their given position and work in heaven.  Unreserved, joyful, ongoing submission is available only in true selfless love.  It originates vertically with the individual and his Creator God, and then to each other, yes, there is a real sense in which we submit to one another – “out of reverence for Christ”  Eph. 5:21 tells us.  Then in an earthly subset of true submission that gains further earthly depth between two in a male/female relationship.  Two in a lifetime partnership commitment, to give the deepest earthly life to these seven emotions, in a Creation designed and instituted procreative, bonding.

True love is based on selflessness, and consists in freely giving and/or being freely gifted by another of these seven emotions. This true love, steadfast, selfless, serving love produces peace and joy. 

 2 Thess. 3:16  says, “May the Lord of peace give you peace at all times.”  Peace being an end product of selfless, steadfast love.  The New Testament calls this agape love. A principle and principled love.  The only other word used for love in the NT is —phileo – which holds the denotation of — to like — and is, in this limited definition appropriately an integral part of selfless agape love. 

Evil’s forgery of love is based on self, thus selfishness.  At its best it results in the tearing out of phileo love from selfless agape love, then making it a 50-50 self-centered love – “I’ll rub your back if you’ll rub mine”.  This makes evils forgery consist of expecting, grasping, demanding and forcing the external trappings of these seven pure emotions.  This forgery always ends in pain, sorrow, loss, emptiness, and fear thus comprising the continuing de-construction of faulty earthly love to total self-centered eros.  

Attempts to obtain, in any way, one or all of the seven emotions and/or their results  from another human being, other than being earned as per the judgement of another and/or freely granted/gifted as per the others free choice, demolishes not only the one emotion but the whole, replacing these emotions individually and collectively with the emotion of fear. 

With the self centered emotion of grasping greed, and fear of loss, the perpetrator starts the illicit grasping, leading to fear of the perpetrator in the recipient. ——  Yet in “perfect/true love” – the admiration, respect and trust earned, and via another’s judgement – trust given, forgiveness, gratitude, affection and appropriate submissions bestowed – “casts out all fear,” there being no loss, thus no fear in (true) love. 1 John 4:18.  

The tenth commandment given in Holy Scriptures reveals that to find peace and happiness one cannot covet.  To covet means entertaining the desire for things that are not yours.  For true love’s forgery, that means wanting admiration, respect and trust without earning these, instead of letting them come to you only by the other’s freely given valuation.  This coveting leads to demanding trust and forgiveness, demanding gratitude, affection and submission.  This leads to the breaking also the 8th commandment in their attempts to steal/force the external results of these seven emotions. This forcing causes stress chemicals in both the perpetrator and the forced.  Thereby shortening the end caps or telomeres on their DNA’s.  The length of the end caps more closely predicts the length of life than chronologic age. Thus this stress results in shorter lifespans – breaking the 6th command not to kill – suicide/homicide.  God never asks or commands us to do anything except it be for our best good Deut. 10:13! So He has asked us to, “Love one another as I have loved you” John 15:12.

 Do you sense the delicate intertwining of these earned/granted/freely given emotions of true value in mutual love?  The earned and freely gifted realities of admiration, respect and trustworthiness?  The freely given emotions of trust, of forgiveness, of proper affections and submissions?  Each given only by free choice, to us by the other, and us to them?  Each emotion working to foster the same emotion in the other as love begets love 1John 4:19. These emotions are like an ephemeral dance of unilateral then bilateral freely given emotions that together blossom openly as a delicate yet indefatigable, fragrant lily of mutual love.

Among the multiplicity of paths that self-centeredness vainly uses to obtain any or all of these emotions of true love, the three most devastating are the paths blazed by Eve, Cain, and Lucifer.  The first is the path of distrust:  a path the Eve of Genesis 3 took, directly annihilating her self-less love as none of true love’s emotions can exist in an atmosphere of distrust.  This self-centered path commonly leads (as it did with Eve) to attempted transference of guilt – in her case – to the serpent then to God Himself.  When one denies / excuses / justifies / rationalizes their actions or blames others in any form, they give up their power to change.  It was the 13th century Persian poet Rumi who wrote:  “Yesterday I was so clever, I knew the world needed changing. Today I am wise so I’m changing myself.”   Of note here is an 8 yr. Finnish study reported in 2015 demonstrating that distrust leads to a 3x increase of dementia in its holder.   J.H. Sammis said it right —“Trust an obey for there is no other way to be happy.”

Additionally there’s the spectrum path of envy, impatience, irritation, aggravation, anger – occurring in thought, in feelings, in tone, in words, or in action.  These common defense tools of self-centered evil, batter mercilessly the delicate emotions of love. This self-centered path was blazed by the Cain of Genesis 4 and led to the physical murder of his brother Abel.  It is the spirit of Satan that is revealed in envy, impatience, irritation, accusing and anger.  Even if the other person did wrongly – in your eyes or in reality,— wrong cannot be conquered with wrong, or the pointing out of wrongs.  That’s why God shared in Eph. 4:31 to “get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger” NIV – and translated in the Jerusalem Bible, “never have grudges against others, or loose your temper or raise your voice to anybody….or allow any sort of spitefulness.”    A caution here— do not halt on the first step noted in vs . 26 of not letting “the sun go down on your anger” in conquering this pathway of loves demise,  but carry on to vs. 31 and get rid of all anger’s spectrum.  Scientifically, the aggravation, irritation, anger impatience ( AIAI ) syndrome, once started – without a miracle— continues throughout life and via the witches brew of internal chemicals it causes, shortens the life of the holder by more than 7 yrs. as attested to by numerous long term medical studies.  Yes, the AIAI syndrome gives more reliable damage to its holder than to its recipient.  Christ while on earth put it this way in Mt 5:5, “the meek will inherit the earth” translated – those who endure injury, real or supposed, with patience and without resentment will inherit the earth – they will not destroy themselves!

The third other-centered love destroying path is the all too common path of jealousy.  Mankind’s jealousy lives on coveting and distrust, magnifying doubts in the face of obvious reality to the contrary, thus becoming a madness as realized by Lucifer in heaven, wanting/coveting what he had not earned or appropriately not been given.  It was Lucifer who first blazed the path of jealousy.  Jealous first of the attention given the Son— then of the Father —  yes, wanting to be like the MOST HIGH.  And jealousy, once ensconced in a person increases with time, and as with Lucifer, leads to malice, hatred and rebellious action.  Its been well noted that with jealousy an angel, a man or woman places poison in their own banquet.  Again there’s been a twist – man’s jealousy is focused on self, God’s jealousy (Ex. 20:5) is for other’s best good.  It was the 19th English author, A. Helps who observed, “All other passions condescend at times to accept the inexorable logic of facts; but jealousy looks facts straight in the face, and ignores them utterly, and says she knows a great deal better than they can tell her.”  And 16th century Shakespeare noted, ”Trifles light as air, are to the jealous confirmations as strong as proofs of holy writ.”   

These three are the broadest and most devastating of all self-centered emotional paths that lead to the death of true love or any love.  Paths, though defined by the dominate self-centered emotion, are commingled.   Distrust, jealousy, and impatience, irritation, aggravation, anger: too dally on any of these paths is to partake deeper and deeper of the spirit of the adversary.

Since it is pride, the pride of the wanderer on these paths of self-centeredness, that blocks their own way back, refrain from putting a foot on them, or in humility before God, and with His power, return immediately from any/and or all of these paths.  God offers the invitation now, the forgiveness now, the healing grace now, and the power.  Always remember the direction to your problems solution is not horizontal … not he, not she, not they, not it.   The solution to your problem is vertical— and the distance between the problem (any problem) and its true solution, is the distance between your knees and the floor.

Earth’s disingenuous forgery of true love is based on self and self’s grasping greed – I like, I want, I demand, I desire, I expect, I need, give me, mine, you owe me and is infused and wrapped in fear.  Fear of loss and fear of the perpetrator is in this false love.  An entity given the same name —love— but the polar opposite —180 degrees— of divine selfless, other-centered love.   That’s why this world needs a demonstrated message of God’s true love, otherwise how will they know of what we speak!  This earthly, self-centered forgery of “love” is focused on demanding, grasping for the seven emotions and their results without earning and being gifted of them.  Phileo love when twistingly removed from agape love shrinks in size and transparency,  and becomes darkened with selfishness—I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine or visa versa —and you didn’t do it as long as I did! — You owe me!    Thus earthly phileo love, darkened with selfishness becomes a sister of hate.  Put another way— selfish love stares at, desires and grasps for, a face, a body— but agape love engages the mind while scanning the soul.  

—A short digression;  men— our greatest inter-gender test is to remain trustworthy—a man of integrity— uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles.  That’s what it means to be a man!    —Women: one of your greatest inter-gender tests is to be modest— not tantalizing, tempting, enticing, alluring which could lead another into loss of theirs (and your) integrity thus trustworthiness.  You are your brothers keeper! —end of digression-

Heaven’s way hold delights for us that far exceed the peevish, stunted substitutes of the transient thrills of this world.  The grasping for these illicit thrills in our crazed world most often is for the hormonally bonding subset of submission, which without the preceding six emotions, properly obtained and gifted, always ends up empty, with only transient deceptive illusions of all these other-centered, freely given selfless seven emotions.  Leaving the fear of loss and self-preservation as partners in the relationship.  

The Greek called this further perversion —  eros — An event removed from all earned and freely granted unilateral and bilateral emotions of true agape love.  Eros is a term appropriately not used in the Bible since it is not even a part of true love.

True love, selfless love, other-centered love is the motivational / attitudinal factor /  the source behind / through, and the cause of, God’s character attributes.   Attributes such as gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, compassion, hope, humility, meekness, brotherly / sisterly affection, steadfastness, mercy, patience, forgiveness…….   to a total of 21 shared throughout Holy Scripture.   All flowing out of His selfless love, and all can be, through the Holy Spirit in us motivated by His love- in total His character— bringing real peace and lasting joy.  Christ, His love, His character in us— our internal glory, verily the kingdom of heaven in us now— which / Who—is our hope of the soon to come kingdom of external glory Colossians 1:27!

True selfless love can and does exist unilaterally, and is termed in Greek, agape love (a word rarely used in their culture).  A love that looks beyond faults and actions as it deals with the unfathomable intrinsic value of each individual in the sight of God.  

God’s True agape love has Admiration because each is a phenomenal creation, unique in the universe.  

God’s True agape love has Respect because you/they are a child, a son, a daughter, a descendant of God. 

 God’s True agape love has Trust :  trusting hope, that with invitation, you/they will turn to the right, too life, and live your/their potential of trustworthiness.    

God’s True agape love has Forgiveness:  in the Eternal heart forever — yet realized in the open only when and where sin exists.

In God’s agape love there is always deep Gratitude for you and for that which has and is being freely returned.

In God’s agape love there is Affection:  fond attachment, tender regard, because all are, like you, part of God’s family and God will sacrifice anything to help.  

Though true agape, principled love, exists unilaterally,  God still looks forward to, and deeply appreciates those, who in response to His selfless love, return a growing agape love – selfless admiration and respect of Him, trust Him, accept forgiveness and return gratitude, exhibiting a selfless affection and submission to Him in the joyful realization that He is for them.  And if He be for us who can truly be against us?…Of whom do we need to be afraid Rom 8:31?    And it is by submission that God can work in us both to will and to do His good works Philippians 2:13.  Both channels of true love – the unilateral channel and the bilateral channel can function concurrently, each enhancing the other vertically and horizontally.

That love – true love – selfless, other-centered love is the foundation and totality of the government and kingdom of heaven, personified by Elohim (God – single in meaning, pleural in form).  And God wants to establish it in you on this earth.  That true love comes to it’s full beauty on earth when shared between two in an atmosphere of mutual admiration, mutual respect, mutual trustworthiness and trust, unilateral forgiveness— that nurtures sorrow, confession, repentance —and forgiveness accepted.  Mutual gratitude for who the other is and what they have done, along with mutual joyful acceptance of given affection.  Then in the most intimate one on one lifetime committed horizontal relationships – intimate submission.  And lest it go un-understood, the ultimate gift in submission is self-sacrifice, as demonstrated vertically, even to the sacrifice of all.  Though all this is rare on this earth, it is now, in you, possible because of His submissive sacrifice— of all— for you.   Submission in the purity (trustworthiness) of true selfless love is never a burden but always a continual bilateral increasing joy.

Another digression—Some say only wives are to submit — men take note — we are to love our wives as Christ loves the Church—submitting even as He —to the full sacrifice of Himself for us.

These emotions that make up true love and the character traits that compose and flow from it are the most phenomenal gift God can give and gives to each willing heart – and it’s by the Holy Spirit.  A gift beyond value, given as a foretaste, and a promise to reinstate each one who has chosen to turn from their selfish-love, and to be a part of true selfless, other-centered love – beginning on earth – back into the kingdom of total selfless love, with He who is love in the soon-coming kingdom of full glory.  A kingdom that can, yes, begin now as gratitude fills your heart, and the active virtues of selfless love makes fragrant your life.

To obtain this true love, this selfless love, one need only to come humbly, to the God of love, ——through Jesus.  Come asking for the Holy Spirit to kindle the flame and reproduce in you the fullness of this forever love.   —Turn your eyes upon Jesus.  Your ears, your nose?  No!  Your eyes.  Eyes speak louder than words and can go where words can not.   Eyes beholding His eyes.  Eyes speaking of admiration, respect, trust, forgiveness, gratitude, affection and submission. Yes He gave and gives His all for you.

 Christ’s last public prayer before the cross ended in John 17, and we’ll end with these words to His Father – in the last half of vs. 26-   “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them,” spoken twice —that’s what we’ve been looking at.  True selfless other-centered love.  A love, the inverse, the antithesis of what we and all others have been duped to know in this world. —“that the love, with which you have loved me, may be in them.”   Then Jesus, ending His prayer, speaks about what will flow out of that love— “and I (my character) in them,” vs.26. 

This is true Christianity — forgiveness yes, then God’s true selfless love reproduced in a person, with the resultant outflow of Christ’s character.  The essence which may be seen as the composition of that love,  made available to us, and in us, and through us, by the Holy Spirit.

The last message from heaven to this dying world will be a message of God’s true selfless love, unfolded, made visible.  A love this world does not know —until you, until I, until we— make it visible.