We get some sort of hint of this in Mark 1:41-45. Jesus had just healed a leper. In Verse 44 he commanded the man to tell no one but to go and show himself to the priest. But what would be the reason for Jesus commanding him not to tell anyone else? And by the way, this leper who was just healed, in his excitement he began telling everyone, disregarding the command Jesus gave him.
If you notice that throughout the gospels, whenever large crowds would start gathering around Jesus, He would depart from the crowd. You would think that the more the better, right? But Jesus avoided large crowds.
Jesus performed many miracles. And because of the miracles, He was attracting large crowds. People weren't coming because they wanted to hear the message. They were coming to see the miracles. This is probably why Jesus would command this leper not to tell anyone that He just healed him. Jesus was never looking for fame. He was never trying to attract a crowd. He knew why the crowds were coming. He knew that they weren't coming to hear the message, but that they were coming to see the miracles.
You see, the Lord didn't want an excitable crowd following Him. He didn't want people coming to Him for the wrong reasons, the wrong motives.
Yes, Jesus died not only for your sins but for the sins of the whole world, again given to us in 1 John 2:2. John 1:12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"
Even though Christ died for our sins, a person must still receive Him in order to be saved. I don't like to use the words "accept Christ" because to me, accept just means to mentally agree with what Jesus did for us. A person has to literally receive Jesus Christ.
The entire salvation process is designed by God, from start to finish. Man plays no part in salvation other than surrendering their life to Jesus Christ. A person cannot save his/herself. The only thing we have to contribute to salvation is the sin from which we need to be saved from.
I hope I'm not making this confusing for you? If I may ask you, have you received Christ? Have you confessed your sin to Him and called upon His name ( Romans 10:13) for Him to have mercy on you and come into your life? Have you been born of His Spirit? ( John 3:3, John 1:13, John 3:6)
Surrendering one's life to Christ is the most important decision one will ever have to make!
Verse 15 tells us that the sting of death is sin. It is because of man's sin that everyone will physically die. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. That death was not only physical death, but eternal separation from God. It finishes out by saying "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
So now instead of death (eternal separation from God), through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can now have eternal life through Jesus Christ. But if Christ did not rise from the grave, neither would we, and we would still be lost in our sins.
1 John 2:2 says "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Propitiation means satisfaction. But it is also the word for mercy seat in the Old Testament in the tabernacle area.
The bible tells us that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, everybody's sins. But its application and its effectiveness are only for those who receive Him. When the whole world stands before Christ, the only thing they will answer for is how they responded to Christ. That's it! And some will die in their sins because they have rejected Christ.
So all who receive Christ will live with Him for eternity (Eternal life). Those who reject Him will die in their sins and will be separated from Him throughout eternity.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The celebration: O death, where is your sting? This is a quote from Hosea 13:14, the victory song. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So it's a Jewish victory song that Paul is pulling from the Old Testament, and he's saying that our struggle will be over at that time. It will be God who will give us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus defeated death. He rose from the dead. And because He lives, we shall live also. And that will happen because He lives inside of me. Wherever He goes, I am going to go. He's in my spirit. Wherever He goes, I'm going to go. Wherever He is, that's where I'm going to be. However long He lives is how long I'm going to live, and He never dies. He lives forever so I will live forever.
Now if He is still in the grave, even if He died for your sins on the cross, there's no life hereafter if He's not risen from the grave, and you'll still die in your sins.
Brother Chris, Thank you for updating your testimony for us. My memory is less than wonderful and I have never gone back more than a few pages on this discussion to remember better, past discussions perhaps with you. I live below and within a mile of the dam that had issues in Northern California and was thereby interested in details. There was a man also from your city that also had lots of interests, I wonder if you might know him? Have a good day in the Lord.
Sorry we missed your original request for help, I second everything Adam has said, I would like to add God is not restricted by time, he see the ending and the beginning like a picture in front of him, we can't surprise God and the good thing about that is we can't disappoint him. He sent his son while we were yet in our sins,
God deal with us as sons, We may not know what God is doing behind the scenes but we Know God is Love and rich in mercy and he always deal with us in his attributes. I pray that it's someone here that can offer comfort and counsel.
I will be praying for you , I pray the Lord will grant you mercy and understanding
That is a heavy situation you have found yourself in. Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you haven't received a timely response from others like maybe you were hoping for.
Proverbs 27:17 - this verse comes to mind as we often need support from each other and to get other perspectives, so I'm glad you have risked to share your story in hope to get new others' input.
I have prayed about this and I'd like to share my impression.
"my wife has become a victim of my sins"
I don't believe you caused your wife's condition. My mother had the same condition as do millions and it's already hard enough to deal with, but if we attempt to blame ourselves we only worsen an already unpleasant situation. We need to be loving and nurturing to ourselves so we have love left over to give to others. Mark 12:31. So, please don't blame yourself and instead be extra gentle with yourself and give yourself a break, that way you have more love to give others a break too. We all have limited days on earth and should make the most of it and focus on the good- especially in regards to relationships, helping others, using our gifts, etc.
"Are my prayers lost?"
God hears your prayers. It does take faith/belief and genuine motives. Mark 11:24. James 1. God bless you.
Dear Adam, Yes it is true! You are welcome to visit here any time and even stay with our family if it becomes possible to figure out the details. Of course the best time of the year is spring. Fall is nice too and visiting the ocean in the fall and spring usually means less fog. Earlier I think you addressed a post to me when you meant someone else (I think).
Carleton ,what a lovely narrative ,plain and honest ,no adjectives which is always good ,i would tell you what i can see out of the windows of my flat in the middle of a deserted town centre but it wouldnt hold a candle to your lovely view and perfect description ,thanks for that .
Just returned from an hour long drive to take possession of my tax returns. Thankfully, both ways, were full of flowers, yellow, white and orange mostly. Poppies are high up against the green hills. The dark clouds further into the mountains. The fires here have brought on all kinds of new abundant life while there was rain. The drought remains and will make the news again soon. Not far away are fields of figs and olives.
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Hello Skip, No, the mention of the Gospel Tract and Bible society should have been outside of this thread. However, the thought of it at time may have been inspired by parts of this tread. I am open to reading more of your knowledge of the literal crossing of the Red Sea.
Does The Gospel Tract and Bible Society have any relevance to this discussion?
If so, I'd appreciate a reference. Thanks.
And yes, the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula is a good candidate near the Straits of Tiran, as is Nuweibaa about 70 miles northward in the Gulf of Aqaba. Recent exploration finds an approximately 60 feet deep ridge with interesting coral shapes scattered across this ridge like wreckage. The John 10:10 Project has an interesting set of videos on The Exodus that you might find interesting.
Hello Skip, My wife is the objective student (even though I was the geology student) of history, but finally she understands it spiritually. We believe objectively, that the crossing was at the south part of the peninsula west to east.
East or west? There was a crossing of the Red Sea. That's what Moses recorded. That is The Interpretation.
Do you want to spiritualize it for an application. Go ahead, but the Interpretation of the passage is a historical event. Liberals love to take The Bible out of the reality of history and make it purely spiritual, a super fable.
I dislike, for instance, the hymn chorus that ends...
You ask me why I know He lives/He lives within my heart.
I KNOW He lives, because Jesus actually historically rose from the grave on the third day. There IS evidence, really, really strong evidence. Objective evidence along with my personal subjective evidence that I know spiritually. But it is the OBJECTIVE evidence that is out there for everyone to see and test that is the most important. Same with the crossing of the Red Sea.
Hello Skip, There is only one crossing of the Red Sea. No one knows in advance how exactly that will be and how God will protect us from our enemies and feed us. Moses and his brother had never crossed through the blood ever before. It was a wilderness and remains a wilderness for all who have never crossed.
This area, I strongly suspect, Moses had explored before, had seen before, had been before. After all he escaped from Egypt 40 years earlier toward this direction and ended up in Midian for 40 years and then hiked back with his brother, who God sent to be with him.
Another translation states it this way...
"the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea"
The wilderness was NOT the Red Sea, in my opinion.
We get some sort of hint of this in Mark 1:41-45. Jesus had just healed a leper. In Verse 44 he commanded the man to tell no one but to go and show himself to the priest. But what would be the reason for Jesus commanding him not to tell anyone else? And by the way, this leper who was just healed, in his excitement he began telling everyone, disregarding the command Jesus gave him.
If you notice that throughout the gospels, whenever large crowds would start gathering around Jesus, He would depart from the crowd. You would think that the more the better, right? But Jesus avoided large crowds.
Jesus performed many miracles. And because of the miracles, He was attracting large crowds. People weren't coming because they wanted to hear the message. They were coming to see the miracles. This is probably why Jesus would command this leper not to tell anyone that He just healed him. Jesus was never looking for fame. He was never trying to attract a crowd. He knew why the crowds were coming. He knew that they weren't coming to hear the message, but that they were coming to see the miracles.
You see, the Lord didn't want an excitable crowd following Him. He didn't want people coming to Him for the wrong reasons, the wrong motives.
Yes, Jesus died not only for your sins but for the sins of the whole world, again given to us in 1 John 2:2. John 1:12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:"
Even though Christ died for our sins, a person must still receive Him in order to be saved. I don't like to use the words "accept Christ" because to me, accept just means to mentally agree with what Jesus did for us. A person has to literally receive Jesus Christ.
The entire salvation process is designed by God, from start to finish. Man plays no part in salvation other than surrendering their life to Jesus Christ. A person cannot save his/herself. The only thing we have to contribute to salvation is the sin from which we need to be saved from.
I hope I'm not making this confusing for you? If I may ask you, have you received Christ? Have you confessed your sin to Him and called upon His name ( Romans 10:13) for Him to have mercy on you and come into your life? Have you been born of His Spirit? ( John 3:3, John 1:13, John 3:6)
Surrendering one's life to Christ is the most important decision one will ever have to make!
Verse 15 tells us that the sting of death is sin. It is because of man's sin that everyone will physically die. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. That death was not only physical death, but eternal separation from God. It finishes out by saying "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
So now instead of death (eternal separation from God), through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can now have eternal life through Jesus Christ. But if Christ did not rise from the grave, neither would we, and we would still be lost in our sins.
1 John 2:2 says "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Propitiation means satisfaction. But it is also the word for mercy seat in the Old Testament in the tabernacle area.
The bible tells us that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, everybody's sins. But its application and its effectiveness are only for those who receive Him. When the whole world stands before Christ, the only thing they will answer for is how they responded to Christ. That's it! And some will die in their sins because they have rejected Christ.
So all who receive Christ will live with Him for eternity (Eternal life). Those who reject Him will die in their sins and will be separated from Him throughout eternity.
Hopefully, this makes more sense?
1 Corinthians 1:55-57 can be taken together.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The celebration: O death, where is your sting? This is a quote from Hosea 13:14, the victory song. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So it's a Jewish victory song that Paul is pulling from the Old Testament, and he's saying that our struggle will be over at that time. It will be God who will give us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus defeated death. He rose from the dead. And because He lives, we shall live also. And that will happen because He lives inside of me. Wherever He goes, I am going to go. He's in my spirit. Wherever He goes, I'm going to go. Wherever He is, that's where I'm going to be. However long He lives is how long I'm going to live, and He never dies. He lives forever so I will live forever.
Now if He is still in the grave, even if He died for your sins on the cross, there's no life hereafter if He's not risen from the grave, and you'll still die in your sins.
Carleton
Dear Spencer,
Dear Liz,
Thank you all very much!
I didn't expect to see any more replies to my question - What a nice surprise, and at Easter.
I pray every day for my wife and am starting to accept God's will.
Thank you
Love to you.
Sorry we missed your original request for help, I second everything Adam has said, I would like to add God is not restricted by time, he see the ending and the beginning like a picture in front of him, we can't surprise God and the good thing about that is we can't disappoint him. He sent his son while we were yet in our sins,
God deal with us as sons, We may not know what God is doing behind the scenes but we Know God is Love and rich in mercy and he always deal with us in his attributes. I pray that it's someone here that can offer comfort and counsel.
I will be praying for you , I pray the Lord will grant you mercy and understanding
That is a heavy situation you have found yourself in. Thank you for sharing and I'm sorry you haven't received a timely response from others like maybe you were hoping for.
Proverbs 27:17 - this verse comes to mind as we often need support from each other and to get other perspectives, so I'm glad you have risked to share your story in hope to get new others' input.
I have prayed about this and I'd like to share my impression.
"my wife has become a victim of my sins"
I don't believe you caused your wife's condition. My mother had the same condition as do millions and it's already hard enough to deal with, but if we attempt to blame ourselves we only worsen an already unpleasant situation. We need to be loving and nurturing to ourselves so we have love left over to give to others. Mark 12:31. So, please don't blame yourself and instead be extra gentle with yourself and give yourself a break, that way you have more love to give others a break too. We all have limited days on earth and should make the most of it and focus on the good- especially in regards to relationships, helping others, using our gifts, etc.
"Are my prayers lost?"
God hears your prayers. It does take faith/belief and genuine motives. Mark 11:24. James 1. God bless you.
Carleton
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
Thank you for your time.
Carleton
Does The Gospel Tract and Bible Society have any relevance to this discussion?
If so, I'd appreciate a reference. Thanks.
And yes, the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula is a good candidate near the Straits of Tiran, as is Nuweibaa about 70 miles northward in the Gulf of Aqaba. Recent exploration finds an approximately 60 feet deep ridge with interesting coral shapes scattered across this ridge like wreckage. The John 10:10 Project has an interesting set of videos on The Exodus that you might find interesting.
:)
:)
:)
East or west? There was a crossing of the Red Sea. That's what Moses recorded. That is The Interpretation.
Do you want to spiritualize it for an application. Go ahead, but the Interpretation of the passage is a historical event. Liberals love to take The Bible out of the reality of history and make it purely spiritual, a super fable.
I dislike, for instance, the hymn chorus that ends...
You ask me why I know He lives/He lives within my heart.
I KNOW He lives, because Jesus actually historically rose from the grave on the third day. There IS evidence, really, really strong evidence. Objective evidence along with my personal subjective evidence that I know spiritually. But it is the OBJECTIVE evidence that is out there for everyone to see and test that is the most important. Same with the crossing of the Red Sea.
Carleton
Another translation states it this way...
"the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea"
The wilderness was NOT the Red Sea, in my opinion.