The only degrees of which we read in the Bible are "THE Degrees" (steps) on the sundial of Ahaz by which the shadow of the sun went backwards in the days of his son Hezekiah, as a sign from Jehovah that he should recover from his sickness while Jerusalem was surrounded by the armies of the King of Assyria, and Hezekiah was under the sentence of death from the King of Terrors
On his recovery from his sickness, Hezekiah said ( Isa. 38:20) The LORD was gracious to save me: therefore we will sing my
songs [of the Degrees ] to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
Hello Patrick, What you are identifying is "dispensationalism", and yes, it has not been taught throughout church history. You can search online one the subject. You can find on the site testallthingsDOTcom articles concerning this viewpoint that introduced the pre-tribulation rapture into Christian thought in the 1800's by Irwin and Darby in Ireland. Irwin learned of it from the writings of a Jesuit priest from Spain.
This site mentioned has several articles that explain many things about dispensationalism and what are the pros and cons of this viewpoint. I do not think that this KJV forum is the best place to study and discuss this since there are sites readily available that will give articles that address both sides. This forum tends to get heated up with topics such as this with people attempting to prove their viewpoint in this discussion format. I don't think that would be as helpful as you studying from online sites on your own. That is my recommendation.
To answer your question, the teaching of the Christian faith throughout history has been that Jesus will come back "on the Last Day" and that is when we all will be resurrected or translated. This last day is the Final Day in the History of the earth as it is now. Jesus' return will be the culmination of redemptive history and the plan of salvation in Him since before creation. There are several names that identify a couple differing viewpoints on this topic. post-millenialism, pre-millenialism, amillenialsim. These viewpoint address the coming of the Kingdom of God and the reign of Jesus over all the nations.
Regarding v5 of this reading: cup used by Joseph for divination.
Absent absolute proof, my contention is Joseph gave instruction to his steward in order to keep up his image as an Egyptian.
Through out his time of walking with the LORD and hearing from GOD:
-He never ever used heathen practices; the Bible never alluded nor made mention of it.
-He always gave glory to the LORD for every time he was used by the LORD or made a declaration in HIS Name.
-He did not need the cup to discern where it was because he put it in Benjamin's bag
-If he did need it to divine its where about, it would have been impossible because he did not have have it. Or he could have called on the magicians and priest of the land.
In which case he would not have, because of his trust and obedience unto his LORD GOD JEHOVAH.
Praise the LORD for HIS goodness and love for us. Praying for our nation and leadership. God to shine HIS face on all who are on this platform.
There are those in the Post Mil camp who insist the events of the end of this chapter are the same as that of Armageddon; or the Second Coming of Christ (i.e. there is no literal millennium period). This is excused by explaining that the church has been in the "Millennium" since the church age began at the Resurrection; and somehow it has extended almost 2000 years. The fact that the Beast and False Prophet are thrown into the lake of fire first and Satan is cast where they ARE at the end of the period should be clear enough. We also could look at the rule of Christ as the "day of rest" which would be the last thousand of a seven thousand year time frame allotted for man much like the pattern of 7 days of creation with the last day of rest. We see differences too in the type of invasion at the end of the Millennium (no weapons are mentioned and instead of being centered in a small valley it is a widespread mass from the whole earth.) There is some argument about the Gog and Magog war being in both time frames (Trib and at the end of the 1000 years) or one or another. That can be covered elsewhere. With Christ reigning He won't allow the years of famine; war and pestilence once again to occur (remember He said it would be a worse time than ever before OR again). The next chapter shows a new heavens and new earth where heavenly Jerusalem comes DOWN to earth.
We have the literal fulfillment of prophecies about Israel as to it's territory; and national repentance such as Zechariah 12:12 which simply hasn't happened yet. There are covenantal promises; which as far as I can tell don't have to be a mutually exclusive thing from dispensational time periods. The church is a new covenant which Christ fulfilled the law and made the perfect sacrifice once and for all. Or; more simply put with Christ ruling the THEOCRACY of Israel will return; and it will finally achieve the glory destined for it.
Please look into Psalm 48 on the fear of the earth's rulers seeing the literal heavenly city; as well as Psalm 68 to see that indeed mortal man capable of sin still will exist on earth. Even the 10 kings are said to live for a while after the Tribulation in Daniel 7:12.
The only idea that works in this chapter is mortal men existing along with the church (kings and priests); and those who survived the Tribulation (those beheaded for not taking the mark). We shall rule and reign with Christ in a unique way; but certainly there will be many who survived the Tribulation who will rejoice as well and perhaps in eternity will rule and reign in similar fashion.
The concept of not being anything but a final Resurrection is pretty well eliminated in this chapter as well. The first resurrection it bears repeating consists of all saints; but in 1 Cor. 15:23 clearly there is an order and a procession of the firstfruits from Christ until the 144,000 in the Tribulation and then of course the Resurrection of those saints who were beheaded in the Tribulation. The concept of descendants born in that time; some of which rebel as seen in Rev. 21 and some of which will no doubt live out the whole time and hence WILL be translated need to be considered. It is possible some who die could be written in the Book of Life and not be cast into hell who rebel at this time; but since Christ will be clearly known they will be held to a higher standard so we can't say that for sure.
The second death involves the resurrecction of the damned cast into the lake of fire. Isaiah 66 talks of those dwelling on the earth looking in disgust to those in an opening of hell (this could be those killed in Armageddon who took the mark of the beast who would be the goats possibly thrown in beforehand; or this could refer to something viewed in the new eternal earth. I would think the former as these things likely would be hidden from us in eternity.
Philippians 2:11 starts out by saying, "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,"
That last phrase "Jesus Christ is Lord," in the Greek text, it's literally Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a statement. It's the expression of someone who has a personal relationship with Him. Even after everything is over, people are going to say Lord Jesus Christ. But for some it will be for destruction because they rejected Him in this earthly life.
"And this is all going to be done to the glory of God the Father."
This verse of the day from Philippians 4 is another of my favorite verses. When my mind wanders off into thing it should not, this verse reminds me that we are to have the mind of Christ, so I can ask the Holy Spirit to renew my mind again to be more like our Lord's mind.
Hi Jennifer. The superscription of 'Song of Degrees' is found in Psalms 120-134, and translated from the Hebrew, it is 'a Song of Ascents'. There are various interpretations given to this phrase, but it seems most likely that these were specific Psalms (or, Pilgrim songs) that were sung by Israel as they traveled to Jerusalem to attend their feasts. The meaning may have coincided with the steps, or paces, they took in their walk or climb towards Jerusalem. Why these particular Psalms & not others were sung, I cannot explain.
This chapter; like all scriptures should be taken as a literal prophetic event unless certain things are clearly symbolic. In this case everything is given a literal time frame and sequence; with supporting details not only in this chapter and the rest of Revelation; but other books including the Old Testament in scripture.
We can argue what we may about a Post Millennium mindset and agree to disagree if we have a basic belief in Christ's PHYSICAL return to earth in the future (something which FULL preterists seem to think has already occurred but in some mystical fashion). That would be the only case where we should disfellowship; and I and another brother in the Lord were forced to do that a few years ago. Something else which I consider very dangerous is the mindset that Satan is already bound in the bottomless pit. This is notwithstanding all the promises of the church that the powers of darkness will have no affect on us. There is certainly no limitation on killing the saints of God which Satan will do and continue to do until his punishment is enacted (at the end of the Tribulation and the end of the battle after he is released after the 1000 years). The general statement that a time worse than any that has ever happened or will ever exist again ( Matt. 24:21) with all the percentages of deaths listed in Revelation certainly has not occurred yet. We need to examine other scriptures such as Isaiah 14:17; Isaiah 41:5-13 on the coastlands burning; Isaiah 13:12 on man being rarer than the "gold of Ophir"; Isaiah 30:28 about the nations being put into the seive of destruction; Zechariah 12:9 on all nations gathered and half of Jerusalem taken and numerous other prophetic passages to see that indeed Armageddon must occur. Other verses talk of clear descriptions of mortal man still capable of sinning on the earth in the Millennium such as Zechariah 14:17-18; and Isaiah 65:20-25 being two of the clearest examples.
The young man realized he had received another Jesus !
It's why Christ would say ! Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
A great falling away occurs!
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the 2nd advent) shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasy) first. No fly by's
When in my early years I served under a pastor attended a small seminary. This minister has since passed. I was blessed with his preaching. He spoke with expository of the scripture verse by verse. The holy spirit finds its way through fellowship with one another. I would spend the week with him working as a plumber and would learn from asking questions! The church we served was small .he and I worked together. On Sunday I would hear the holy spirit as it moved freely without hesitation. I cherish your reply it will give me more insight of who we are while learning from one another!, thank you for your words.
If satan succeds in making people make fun of and mock a God's minister and ridicule him so that people place him low in their mind and direspect him then they will not listen to him, he will be preaching (or prophesying) in vain. Elijah realized that trap and reacted accordingly.
It was a hard punishment but that was in the Old Testament. In the New Testament this is not allowed. But still God iservants must be respectful persons.
Forgiveness and love are not easily and fast aquired. It is very easy for God to make us perfect at once, but He never does this. He guides us through paths to make us realize our boundaries and to try to increase in love bit by bit, day by day, year by year as long as we follow Him. It a whole lifetime's struggle to make our love boundaries wider and wider every time.
You asked for experiences with the Holly Spirit in your other post, so I combine an experience of mine with love. Once I got to meet a new brother in the church. For no reason at all I disliked him. The way he talked, the way he moved around ... produced a dislike for him in my heart. One day at the end of the church service the pastor asked for those who want to be healed to come forward and the elders of the church lay hands on them and annoint them with oil just as the scriptures direct us to do in such cases. So that guy went forward. When I saw him my dislike for him was raised up to the sky. But at the same time I felt very sad and guilty about that. Being a christian and dislike my brother (who as well did nothing bad to me ) was not something I was feeling nice for. I paniced and didn't know what to do. So in my panic I decided to start ordering in the name of Jesus that dislike to go away from me. After saying it in my mind for 4-5 times I suddenly felt that something like a dark cloud went away from the scene and everything now looked very bright. At the same time I felt so much love for my brother (yes the one that a second earlier I disliked so much) that I wanted to go and hug him. I was taught a lesson. We don't love smb because we want to love them and succeed in doing it with our own ability. It is something that is given by God Himself. It is one of the elements of the fruit of the Holly Spirit. But God doesn't give it to us just like that. He expects us to strive for it. Stay in prayers, filling outselves with the HS, etc. Love is a choice, but power to do it is by God.
Continuing my comments, I should also say that since Revelation 2:5 is doctrinal in nature, then it would help you to study Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. It is rich in strength for the Christian, not only in the spiritual power it offers, (the gifts), but in the humility it promotes in using it. In fact Paul, in 3:8 coined a new Greek word to describe himself. He took the Greek superlative and attached to it the Greek comparative (Elakistoteros) to express to the Ephesians that he was "'Less than the least' of all the saints." All of our shirt tails should be popping in the breeze trying to match that.
In order to get to the heart of the meaning of Revelation 2:5, one must consider the context. Revelation 2:11 relates something extremely vital to understanding the exact meaning. Bible preservation is a vitally important doctrine of Christianity, not of the original manuscripts themselves, but of the God-inspired original text. Not just wispy bodies of thoughts and ideas, but the very words and meaning. That, God's perfect Word, is what God arbitrarily preserves through the human generations ( Mark 13:31, Psalm 12:6,7, John 12:48, and others), which God has identified as the KJV for the past four centuries. Note carefully that John becomes an amanuensis to the glorified Jesus Christ. The words John wrote were dictated by Jesus. They are His direct Words to these churches. Contextually, we can easily see that the Lord's Words are doctrinal in nature. Salvation is not by "works," so Jesus is saying that, over time, the saints of the Ephesian church had drifted into some wayward error. This isn't hard to believe, for virtually all the original churches had waned in doctrine in various degrees by the end of the first century. Therefore, it is vital to obey 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God.rightly dividing the Word of truth."
He was probably Mark the Evangelist himself who at that time was a teenager. It seems he followed Jesus and His apostles at the garden of Gethsemane secretly, without them knowing that, and then he run away.when Jesus was arrested.
This is symbolic for what's going to happen to rapture theorists who are, (those who are Christians that is) deceived into following the anti-christ , and worship him, when he arrives on the scene first with this fly away doctrine.
Once they realize they've worshiped the anti-christ knowing that all their good works are gone, they are naked and run away like the young man in Mark 14 did except in the end times x-christians will wish for mountains to fall on them.
The young man realized the soldiers were leading the Real Jesus, having worshiped another.
A common point to this is when Jesus walked on water: Peter asked Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water."
And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous(a huge wave), he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore(why, or for what) didst thou doubt?( waver, or hesitate)
Peter, He looked at the circumstances instead of the Lord. (took his eye's off) This was the secret of his (and of our) failure.
I so agree with what you are saying here. Jude 20 says that we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. I think that this is indeed a corporate action. We are to cooperate together to encourage one another and instruct one another from the teachings from the Scriptures. Those who think they can "do it alone" run a great risk of bit by bit falling into grave error.
We do receive the Holy Spirit individually, for we are saved individually. Yet, the Holy Spirit works to unify the believers in faith and doctrine as well as in Christ. This is done, as you say, by systematic and ongoing instruction from those God appoints as overseers of us who will preach and teach from the Scriptures the vital tenets of our faith so that we can have our understanding of God and His will for us built up "stone upon stone" being founded upon Christ and the teachings of the apostles and prophets. Upon this foundation, we grow in understanding and application of Scripture.
Thank you for you good explanation. We all need to be teachable and humble, willing to learn from one another and to utilize the wisdom God has given to those who write commentaries on Scripture as well as other tools provided over time.
I always enjoy your posts. There is an element of poetry in them which I enjoy very much. But I rarely reply because you don't bring something for discussion or something to reply for like you do now.
Well something really beautiful happened to me when I was young in faith.
One day I decided to devote myself to God with fasting and praying for a sister who she was having a really bad time (financially) with a restaurant place she owned. I was very careful that day not to allow anything bad go through my eyes and through my mind . Late at night I kneeled down to pray again. I was feeling very exhausted and sleepy. But after about an hour in prayer suddenly something came inside me, I suddenly felt like Heaven came down to earth. The word happy is not adequate to describe how I was feeling, no human word could describe my joy and peace and happiness,. It was something supernatural, not human, like nothing people can feel in this world. No words for it. It was, I believe, God's Spirit that made His presence so powerful. I have many experiences with the Holly Spirit but that was really something. Another feeling that was going through me was I wanted to be in prayer all the time. Well that feeling was inside me for about a week. It was fainting away bit by bit, day by day, until it completely went away after about a week. In my mind it was revealed (I believe) by God that He made His presence so powerful to me for two reasons. Fistly that I was not seeking for my own benefit and blessing but for somebody else who was in need and I made a sacrifice for that. (not something really big, a day fasting and praying). The second was that I was very careful to keep my sanctification and not let anything go through my mind. It was a message from God about how important is for us to pray for our sisters and brothers but at the same time to keep ourselves clean from sin.
There is a lot more about experiences with the Holly Spirit but l leave it for later on.
Admitting to ourselves can be easy to forget those things we need.That sounds wrong, but it must be right if we are going to experiance His love in the here and now. How to forgive can only come from Him.
Jesus used physical healing, when proclaiming the forgiveness of sin. He associates the burdens of sickness and disease with the forgiveness of sin. Your story has helped me realize just how quick things can happen. That we should never take for granted this love this love Jesus has died for!
I have a story that actually may help with this question. I was 9 years old, and it was Christmas eve. My father was very recently divorced from my stepmother. She had taken custody of Durendal and Emily. My other 2 half siblings from my stepmom. So, my father only had me and my older sister Ashely. He also was suffering from the 2008 recession on his business. His problem was he was more invested in worldly matters than God.
So, to make a long story short, my father was an alcoholic. That night he decided to teach my sister Ashley and I how to use guns. Well, he was drunk and tried to unload a .45 caliber revolver in point blank direction of my sister. Seconds later she is on the ground with a wound in her left cheek. My father then puts her on the dining table and brings some towels. I call 911 while he does so. Then after I return to my sisters' side, my father goes to his bedroom.
In those moments I came extremely close to God. I was 9 years old. I prayed like I never did before for my sister to not suffer. I asked that she was just in shock. That she wouldn't be tortured in her last moments. I wept immensely until i knew she was no longer with me.
Even with such a horrible event and testament to my father's character. I forgave him. We both had just lost someone who we both truly loved. I never had the thought that my father deserved punishment until i listened to my mother months later. even then it didn't feel right to feel or think that way.
I always think of a Matthew Chapter 6, verse 12: Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
The key is love and empathy. Jesus is the omnipotent example of such things. He has given us those keys, but it is up to us to use those keys to open the shut doors in our hearts. To unlock the garden of love with Gods' splendor.
I hope this helps, and if you unsure of my story, you can just search my name and the case will show.
Who was the "certain young man" mentioned in Luke 14:51? Why was he differentiated from the other young men? Why did he run away? Is it possible that he is mentioned again in the scriptures?
On his recovery from his sickness, Hezekiah said ( Isa. 38:20) The LORD was gracious to save me: therefore we will sing my
songs [of the Degrees ] to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
2 Kings 20
Isaiah 38
That makes sense since Jerusalem, especially the Temple, was built on a hill, a southern extension of a mountain.
This site mentioned has several articles that explain many things about dispensationalism and what are the pros and cons of this viewpoint. I do not think that this KJV forum is the best place to study and discuss this since there are sites readily available that will give articles that address both sides. This forum tends to get heated up with topics such as this with people attempting to prove their viewpoint in this discussion format. I don't think that would be as helpful as you studying from online sites on your own. That is my recommendation.
To answer your question, the teaching of the Christian faith throughout history has been that Jesus will come back "on the Last Day" and that is when we all will be resurrected or translated. This last day is the Final Day in the History of the earth as it is now. Jesus' return will be the culmination of redemptive history and the plan of salvation in Him since before creation. There are several names that identify a couple differing viewpoints on this topic. post-millenialism, pre-millenialism, amillenialsim. These viewpoint address the coming of the Kingdom of God and the reign of Jesus over all the nations.
Absent absolute proof, my contention is Joseph gave instruction to his steward in order to keep up his image as an Egyptian.
Through out his time of walking with the LORD and hearing from GOD:
-He never ever used heathen practices; the Bible never alluded nor made mention of it.
-He always gave glory to the LORD for every time he was used by the LORD or made a declaration in HIS Name.
-He did not need the cup to discern where it was because he put it in Benjamin's bag
-If he did need it to divine its where about, it would have been impossible because he did not have have it. Or he could have called on the magicians and priest of the land.
In which case he would not have, because of his trust and obedience unto his LORD GOD JEHOVAH.
Praise the LORD for HIS goodness and love for us. Praying for our nation and leadership. God to shine HIS face on all who are on this platform.
September 10, 2022
There are those in the Post Mil camp who insist the events of the end of this chapter are the same as that of Armageddon; or the Second Coming of Christ (i.e. there is no literal millennium period). This is excused by explaining that the church has been in the "Millennium" since the church age began at the Resurrection; and somehow it has extended almost 2000 years. The fact that the Beast and False Prophet are thrown into the lake of fire first and Satan is cast where they ARE at the end of the period should be clear enough. We also could look at the rule of Christ as the "day of rest" which would be the last thousand of a seven thousand year time frame allotted for man much like the pattern of 7 days of creation with the last day of rest. We see differences too in the type of invasion at the end of the Millennium (no weapons are mentioned and instead of being centered in a small valley it is a widespread mass from the whole earth.) There is some argument about the Gog and Magog war being in both time frames (Trib and at the end of the 1000 years) or one or another. That can be covered elsewhere. With Christ reigning He won't allow the years of famine; war and pestilence once again to occur (remember He said it would be a worse time than ever before OR again). The next chapter shows a new heavens and new earth where heavenly Jerusalem comes DOWN to earth.
We have the literal fulfillment of prophecies about Israel as to it's territory; and national repentance such as Zechariah 12:12 which simply hasn't happened yet. There are covenantal promises; which as far as I can tell don't have to be a mutually exclusive thing from dispensational time periods. The church is a new covenant which Christ fulfilled the law and made the perfect sacrifice once and for all. Or; more simply put with Christ ruling the THEOCRACY of Israel will return; and it will finally achieve the glory destined for it.
Please look into Psalm 48 on the fear of the earth's rulers seeing the literal heavenly city; as well as Psalm 68 to see that indeed mortal man capable of sin still will exist on earth. Even the 10 kings are said to live for a while after the Tribulation in Daniel 7:12.
The only idea that works in this chapter is mortal men existing along with the church (kings and priests); and those who survived the Tribulation (those beheaded for not taking the mark). We shall rule and reign with Christ in a unique way; but certainly there will be many who survived the Tribulation who will rejoice as well and perhaps in eternity will rule and reign in similar fashion.
The concept of not being anything but a final Resurrection is pretty well eliminated in this chapter as well. The first resurrection it bears repeating consists of all saints; but in 1 Cor. 15:23 clearly there is an order and a procession of the firstfruits from Christ until the 144,000 in the Tribulation and then of course the Resurrection of those saints who were beheaded in the Tribulation. The concept of descendants born in that time; some of which rebel as seen in Rev. 21 and some of which will no doubt live out the whole time and hence WILL be translated need to be considered. It is possible some who die could be written in the Book of Life and not be cast into hell who rebel at this time; but since Christ will be clearly known they will be held to a higher standard so we can't say that for sure.
The second death involves the resurrecction of the damned cast into the lake of fire. Isaiah 66 talks of those dwelling on the earth looking in disgust to those in an opening of hell (this could be those killed in Armageddon who took the mark of the beast who would be the goats possibly thrown in beforehand; or this could refer to something viewed in the new eternal earth. I would think the former as these things likely would be hidden from us in eternity.
Philippians 2:11 starts out by saying, "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,"
That last phrase "Jesus Christ is Lord," in the Greek text, it's literally Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a statement. It's the expression of someone who has a personal relationship with Him. Even after everything is over, people are going to say Lord Jesus Christ. But for some it will be for destruction because they rejected Him in this earthly life.
"And this is all going to be done to the glory of God the Father."
This chapter; like all scriptures should be taken as a literal prophetic event unless certain things are clearly symbolic. In this case everything is given a literal time frame and sequence; with supporting details not only in this chapter and the rest of Revelation; but other books including the Old Testament in scripture.
We can argue what we may about a Post Millennium mindset and agree to disagree if we have a basic belief in Christ's PHYSICAL return to earth in the future (something which FULL preterists seem to think has already occurred but in some mystical fashion). That would be the only case where we should disfellowship; and I and another brother in the Lord were forced to do that a few years ago. Something else which I consider very dangerous is the mindset that Satan is already bound in the bottomless pit. This is notwithstanding all the promises of the church that the powers of darkness will have no affect on us. There is certainly no limitation on killing the saints of God which Satan will do and continue to do until his punishment is enacted (at the end of the Tribulation and the end of the battle after he is released after the 1000 years). The general statement that a time worse than any that has ever happened or will ever exist again ( Matt. 24:21) with all the percentages of deaths listed in Revelation certainly has not occurred yet. We need to examine other scriptures such as Isaiah 14:17; Isaiah 41:5-13 on the coastlands burning; Isaiah 13:12 on man being rarer than the "gold of Ophir"; Isaiah 30:28 about the nations being put into the seive of destruction; Zechariah 12:9 on all nations gathered and half of Jerusalem taken and numerous other prophetic passages to see that indeed Armageddon must occur. Other verses talk of clear descriptions of mortal man still capable of sinning on the earth in the Millennium such as Zechariah 14:17-18; and Isaiah 65:20-25 being two of the clearest examples.
It's why Christ would say ! Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
A great falling away occurs!
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day (the 2nd advent) shall not come, except there come a falling away (apostasy) first. No fly by's
If satan succeds in making people make fun of and mock a God's minister and ridicule him so that people place him low in their mind and direspect him then they will not listen to him, he will be preaching (or prophesying) in vain. Elijah realized that trap and reacted accordingly.
It was a hard punishment but that was in the Old Testament. In the New Testament this is not allowed. But still God iservants must be respectful persons.
Forgiveness and love are not easily and fast aquired. It is very easy for God to make us perfect at once, but He never does this. He guides us through paths to make us realize our boundaries and to try to increase in love bit by bit, day by day, year by year as long as we follow Him. It a whole lifetime's struggle to make our love boundaries wider and wider every time.
You asked for experiences with the Holly Spirit in your other post, so I combine an experience of mine with love. Once I got to meet a new brother in the church. For no reason at all I disliked him. The way he talked, the way he moved around ... produced a dislike for him in my heart. One day at the end of the church service the pastor asked for those who want to be healed to come forward and the elders of the church lay hands on them and annoint them with oil just as the scriptures direct us to do in such cases. So that guy went forward. When I saw him my dislike for him was raised up to the sky. But at the same time I felt very sad and guilty about that. Being a christian and dislike my brother (who as well did nothing bad to me ) was not something I was feeling nice for. I paniced and didn't know what to do. So in my panic I decided to start ordering in the name of Jesus that dislike to go away from me. After saying it in my mind for 4-5 times I suddenly felt that something like a dark cloud went away from the scene and everything now looked very bright. At the same time I felt so much love for my brother (yes the one that a second earlier I disliked so much) that I wanted to go and hug him. I was taught a lesson. We don't love smb because we want to love them and succeed in doing it with our own ability. It is something that is given by God Himself. It is one of the elements of the fruit of the Holly Spirit. But God doesn't give it to us just like that. He expects us to strive for it. Stay in prayers, filling outselves with the HS, etc. Love is a choice, but power to do it is by God.
Continuing my comments, I should also say that since Revelation 2:5 is doctrinal in nature, then it would help you to study Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. It is rich in strength for the Christian, not only in the spiritual power it offers, (the gifts), but in the humility it promotes in using it. In fact Paul, in 3:8 coined a new Greek word to describe himself. He took the Greek superlative and attached to it the Greek comparative (Elakistoteros) to express to the Ephesians that he was "'Less than the least' of all the saints." All of our shirt tails should be popping in the breeze trying to match that.
In order to get to the heart of the meaning of Revelation 2:5, one must consider the context. Revelation 2:11 relates something extremely vital to understanding the exact meaning. Bible preservation is a vitally important doctrine of Christianity, not of the original manuscripts themselves, but of the God-inspired original text. Not just wispy bodies of thoughts and ideas, but the very words and meaning. That, God's perfect Word, is what God arbitrarily preserves through the human generations ( Mark 13:31, Psalm 12:6,7, John 12:48, and others), which God has identified as the KJV for the past four centuries. Note carefully that John becomes an amanuensis to the glorified Jesus Christ. The words John wrote were dictated by Jesus. They are His direct Words to these churches. Contextually, we can easily see that the Lord's Words are doctrinal in nature. Salvation is not by "works," so Jesus is saying that, over time, the saints of the Ephesian church had drifted into some wayward error. This isn't hard to believe, for virtually all the original churches had waned in doctrine in various degrees by the end of the first century. Therefore, it is vital to obey 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God.rightly dividing the Word of truth."
He was probably Mark the Evangelist himself who at that time was a teenager. It seems he followed Jesus and His apostles at the garden of Gethsemane secretly, without them knowing that, and then he run away.when Jesus was arrested.
Once they realize they've worshiped the anti-christ knowing that all their good works are gone, they are naked and run away like the young man in Mark 14 did except in the end times x-christians will wish for mountains to fall on them.
The young man realized the soldiers were leading the Real Jesus, having worshiped another.
A common point to this is when Jesus walked on water: Peter asked Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water."
And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous(a huge wave), he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore(why, or for what) didst thou doubt?( waver, or hesitate)
Peter, He looked at the circumstances instead of the Lord. (took his eye's off) This was the secret of his (and of our) failure.
I so agree with what you are saying here. Jude 20 says that we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. I think that this is indeed a corporate action. We are to cooperate together to encourage one another and instruct one another from the teachings from the Scriptures. Those who think they can "do it alone" run a great risk of bit by bit falling into grave error.
We do receive the Holy Spirit individually, for we are saved individually. Yet, the Holy Spirit works to unify the believers in faith and doctrine as well as in Christ. This is done, as you say, by systematic and ongoing instruction from those God appoints as overseers of us who will preach and teach from the Scriptures the vital tenets of our faith so that we can have our understanding of God and His will for us built up "stone upon stone" being founded upon Christ and the teachings of the apostles and prophets. Upon this foundation, we grow in understanding and application of Scripture.
Thank you for you good explanation. We all need to be teachable and humble, willing to learn from one another and to utilize the wisdom God has given to those who write commentaries on Scripture as well as other tools provided over time.
I always enjoy your posts. There is an element of poetry in them which I enjoy very much. But I rarely reply because you don't bring something for discussion or something to reply for like you do now.
Well something really beautiful happened to me when I was young in faith.
One day I decided to devote myself to God with fasting and praying for a sister who she was having a really bad time (financially) with a restaurant place she owned. I was very careful that day not to allow anything bad go through my eyes and through my mind . Late at night I kneeled down to pray again. I was feeling very exhausted and sleepy. But after about an hour in prayer suddenly something came inside me, I suddenly felt like Heaven came down to earth. The word happy is not adequate to describe how I was feeling, no human word could describe my joy and peace and happiness,. It was something supernatural, not human, like nothing people can feel in this world. No words for it. It was, I believe, God's Spirit that made His presence so powerful. I have many experiences with the Holly Spirit but that was really something. Another feeling that was going through me was I wanted to be in prayer all the time. Well that feeling was inside me for about a week. It was fainting away bit by bit, day by day, until it completely went away after about a week. In my mind it was revealed (I believe) by God that He made His presence so powerful to me for two reasons. Fistly that I was not seeking for my own benefit and blessing but for somebody else who was in need and I made a sacrifice for that. (not something really big, a day fasting and praying). The second was that I was very careful to keep my sanctification and not let anything go through my mind. It was a message from God about how important is for us to pray for our sisters and brothers but at the same time to keep ourselves clean from sin.
There is a lot more about experiences with the Holly Spirit but l leave it for later on.
GBU
I have a story that actually may help with this question. I was 9 years old, and it was Christmas eve. My father was very recently divorced from my stepmother. She had taken custody of Durendal and Emily. My other 2 half siblings from my stepmom. So, my father only had me and my older sister Ashely. He also was suffering from the 2008 recession on his business. His problem was he was more invested in worldly matters than God.
So, to make a long story short, my father was an alcoholic. That night he decided to teach my sister Ashley and I how to use guns. Well, he was drunk and tried to unload a .45 caliber revolver in point blank direction of my sister. Seconds later she is on the ground with a wound in her left cheek. My father then puts her on the dining table and brings some towels. I call 911 while he does so. Then after I return to my sisters' side, my father goes to his bedroom.
In those moments I came extremely close to God. I was 9 years old. I prayed like I never did before for my sister to not suffer. I asked that she was just in shock. That she wouldn't be tortured in her last moments. I wept immensely until i knew she was no longer with me.
Even with such a horrible event and testament to my father's character. I forgave him. We both had just lost someone who we both truly loved. I never had the thought that my father deserved punishment until i listened to my mother months later. even then it didn't feel right to feel or think that way.
I always think of a Matthew Chapter 6, verse 12: Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
The key is love and empathy. Jesus is the omnipotent example of such things. He has given us those keys, but it is up to us to use those keys to open the shut doors in our hearts. To unlock the garden of love with Gods' splendor.
I hope this helps, and if you unsure of my story, you can just search my name and the case will show.