Ahithophel: Hung Up On An Anointing

Posted on September 19, 2012 by ez3728

There’s a guy in the days of King David that we can all learn from. Ahithophel.
He’s pretty much covered in three chapters of 2 Samuel.

BACKGROUND: David is running for his life, from his own rebellious son Absalom, all the trouble having been precipitated by David’s earlier sin – yet another sad lesson. Sin forgiven often still has ramifications:
2 Sam 12:10-12 (NKJ)
10 ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
11 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
12 ‘For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.'”

BACK TO AHITHOPHEL:
2 Sam 15:12-37
12 Then Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city– from Giloh– while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy grew strong, for the people with Absalom continually increased in number.

Absalom clearly recognized and valued the profound anointing that was upon Ahithophel – he had been David’s premier spiritual counselor. It is recounted a little later in chapter 16 – but we will sneak ahead for our purposes:
2 Sam 16:23 Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

So Absalom is rightly impressed with Ahithophel, but the bigger problem is that Ahithophel is also impressed with Ahithophel. He chose to stay in the city, with the new rebel king – Absalom, so that his gifting could flourish in the king’s courts, even if it was the wrong king.

Ahithophel chose to sacrifice righteousness for anointing. Trouble, folks.

Meanwhile, David sends a loyal man, Hushai, to remain in Jerusalem, pretending to become loyal to Absalom.

2 Sam 16:15-23 (NKJ)
15 Meanwhile Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem; and Ahithophel was with him.
16 And so it was, when Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
17 So Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your loyalty to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?”
18 And Hushai said to Absalom, “No, but whom the LORD and this people and all the men of Israel choose, his I will be, and with him I will remain.
19 “Furthermore, whom should I serve? Should I not serve in the presence of his son? As I have served in your father’s presence, so will I be in your presence.”
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give counsel as to what we should do.”
21 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.”
22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23 Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

ANOINTED MAN #1: Here we see one anointed man (David) fleeing Jerusalem, suffering consequences of his already-forgiven sin (but God has not given up on David – because David was a repentant man, and a man who loved the Lord and loved the things of the Kingdom of God).

ANOINTED MAN #2: And we see another anointed man, Ahithophel, who gets so wrapped up in his spiritual authority that his anointing takes precedence over righteousness and sound judgment. And it gets worse. Overcome by the evil he has made room for in his own life, Ahithophel (in many ways like a Judas to David) comes up with a plan to destroy David:

2 Sam 17:1-14
1 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight.
2 “I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king.
3 “Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.”
4 And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

(But here comes the intervention of God, who puts it into the heart of Absalom to ask Hushai, David’s mole, for his opinion)

5 Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he says too.”
6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken in this manner. Shall we do as he says? If not, speak up.”
7 So Hushai said to Absalom: “The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.”
8 “For,” said Hushai, “you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not camp with the people.
9 “Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’
10 “And even he who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt completely. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men.
11 “Therefore I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.
12 “So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men who are with him there shall not be left so much as one.
13 “Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city; and we will pull it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there.”
14 So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.

You can of course read the entire chapter of intrigue yourself, but here is the conclusion, of Ahithophel:
23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.

So what does this have to do with us?

Joel prophesied the following, which was repeated by Peter in Acts 2:17-20 (NKJ)
17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Peter recognized that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room was the very beginning of the last days outpouring. That was 2,000 years ago. Unlike many, I do not believe most everything (particularly the tough stuff we’d all love to avoid) was fulfilled during the first century AD. There are simply way too many prophecies clearly STILL unfulfilled for anyone to soberly come to that conclusion. You can wander around this website and read my thoughts on this important matter.

Joel was speaking of the LAST DAYS. Peter was recognizing the birthing of the last days anointing, via Holy Spirit infilling.

And what we have ahead of us, for certain, is an increase in the intensity of events here on earth, and a very definite, promised increase in the anointing upon the saints, for the purposes of ministry and evangelism and expansion of the Kingdom of God.

And with that increase will surely come the allure and temptation for any one of us to become so enthralled with our bona fide anointings, that we could begin prioritizing those anointings, callings, giftings – even over righteousness and obedience and holiness. Remember Jesus in the desert, with Satan. “If You are the son of God….”

And giving in to those temptations, and acting upon them, like Ahithophel, we can and will get hung up as well.

Prov 16:18 (NKJ)
18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Simple, clear, and timeless.

We must determine to keep our eyes on the only Perfect One – Jesus. Our great God desires for His people to walk in power and authority, accomplishing great things for the Kingdom. Anointings will increase. Light will shine brighter as days get darker. But our anointings and our callings must never become the issue. There is one issue: Jesus.

Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God…….

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Zechariah – how old was this kid?

Posted on September 14, 2012 by ez3728

I’ve always loved these verses in 1 Samuel, where this young boy (Hebrew word is “na-ar” – Strong’s number H5288) gets introduced to hearing the voice of the Lord during a time when things were pretty bleak, the priest being lazy, without discernment (thought Hannah praying quietly was a drunk) and functionally worthless, with his sons being despicable. In other words the people who had been called to the OT office of hearing the Lord, weren’t hearing, and God who loves to speak was wanting to speak. And He chose a young man. Na-ar:

1 Sam 3:1-5
1 Then the boy (na-ar) Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.
2 And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see,
3 and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down,
4 that the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, “Here I am!”
5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” And he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
(NKJ)

Wildly, the first thing the Lord tells to this young boy are some heavy words of judgment against Eli, and his sons. You can finish that chapter for yourself. God speaks what God speaks. Point made.

But now let’s come to Zechariah, one of the most eschatological (dealing with end times) books of the bible, and what do we come across, but another na-ar. Sadly, most American bible translations (NKJV, NIV, ESV) take the liberty to call Zechariah a “young man” while in 1 Samual na-ar is translated as “boy”. Go figure. Did the translators figure a “boy” would be too young for this heavy stuff? Part of the glory of the expressed revelations of Zechariah is that God determined to entrust some incredible yet-to-occur truth to a BOY, someone not yet a teenager, and maybe even way younger than that. Who says you are too young or too old? Old saint John, on Patmos, had another powerful revelation. Age obviously is not the issue.

Zech 2:3-8
3 And there was the angel who talked with me, going out; and another angel was coming out to meet him,
4 who said to him, “Run, speak to this young man (Strong’s number H5288 – na-ar) , saying: ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.
5 ’For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”
6 ”Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,” says the LORD; “for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,” says the LORD.
7 ”Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.”
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
(NKJ)

Whoa, now! Here we have some seriously profound expressions of the Father God, the Lord of heaven and earth, beginning the eight revelatory experiences that came to young Zechariah (perhaps in one night) – and we’re discovering this was revealed to a kid under the age of 13? Na-ar? So much for requiring a bar-mitzvah before you can function as a man of God.

Nehemiah 12 lists heads of households (12:16) in this order: of Iddo, Zechariah. No Berechiah. Ezra 6:14 introduces Zechariah as the son of Iddo. No Berechiah.

But the book of Zechariah begins with this way:
Zech 1:1-7
1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
2 ”The LORD has been very angry with your fathers.
3 ”Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts.
4 ”Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.”‘ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says the LORD.
5 ”Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 Yet surely My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?” “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’”
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet:
(NKJ)

Verses 1 and 8 clearly include Berechiah between Iddo and Zechariah.

Is it possible that Berechiah, the actual father of Zerechiah, somehow was not in place in the office of prophet? Deceased, disqualified in some manner? Might he even have been one of the fathers about which the Lord was angry? I don’t know. Meanwhile, Berechiah’s young son, just a boy, finds himself called and chosen by God to receive some powerful revelation, revelation that we are beginning to understand we are living in.

What can we conclude?

1. God speaks, and He is looking for willing people with ears to hear. It’s always been that way.

2. Hearing God is not issue of office or title, it is an issue of humility and availability.

3. God will say what God will say, and what He says is to be embraced in its truth.

I love the fact that young, humble Zechariah consistently inquires of the supernatural cast of characters he encounters: “What does this mean?” – and because he was humble enough to inquire, we are blessed to be able to read the explanations. Just like a kid. Not as hung up as us mature folks.

Oh Lord, speak and Your servant will listen.

I do plan to be discussing Zechariah in much greater depth. We’re living in some of it, and more is surely upcoming. Israel being the apple of the eye of God has profound impact upon the praying church, and the world, and even the timing of His soon-coming return. He is returning, you know. The Pharisees were labeled by Jesus as hypocrites (actors) for not discerning the times of the first coming. More is written about the second coming than the first. Sort of makes you think it is a priority of heaven, that the people of God would be able to of course not know the day or hour, but at least be able to recognize the signs of the times.

1948 began a time-sequence that, up until then (when that nation was literally born in a day – Isa 66:8), was considered by many of the most astute bible scholars as being hyperbolic. Imagery. Pre-1948 there was no Israel. Get over it. It’s not about the LAND. Picture it spiritually.

Well, surprise, surprise. We would do well to picture it in reality. There really is an Israel. God named it, and the people. God still sees that nation, and its people, AND that land, those mountains and valleys, rocks and trees (says Ezekiel 36:6-10) as being quite special, because His promises remain His promises. And God is acutely sensitive to being poked in the apple (the iris) of His eye. And He is getting poked right now, by the nations raging (Ps 2).

There will come a time, because it is spoken of in Scripture, when Jerusalem will be without walls. Israel will be at peace. There will be no more enemies threatening. And the Jewish people will look on the One whom they pierced (Zech 12:10), and will invite Him into His special city:

Luke 13:34-35
34 ”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
35 ”See! Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
(NKJ)

God will no longer be poked in the eye. And we will understand what all the raging is about. EZ3728 is a scripture reference to a day of profound revelation, when all the world will finally get it:

Ezek 37:28
28 ”The nations also will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”‘”
(NKJ)

The nations won’t fully know – nor should we actually be surprised that they don’t know – the sanctification and trustworthy calling of Israel until God’s sanctuary is in their (Israel’s) midst forevermore, never to be removed again. HHY. Hasn’t Happened Yet. But it will. Bet your life on that. You are, in fact.

Young Zechariah, as our Lord testified, eventually lost his life to martyrdom, slain between the porch and the altar of the temple. The religious folks didn’t want to hear the truth, and they would stop at nothing to shut it down. Nothing new.

I want to meet Zechariah some day. He is one of my heroes.
And I want to hear the voice of the Lord. I want visions. Angelic encounters. I’ve had a few. I am hungry, Lord.

And you?

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Israel: THE Big Deal

Posted on September 12, 2012 by ez3728

God is all about numbers – 1, 3, 7, 12, etc. They show up all the time in scripture, both in primary as well as multiple form (144,000, etc,) Because God is the God of all things, He creatively chooses to speak to those who will hear, through all things. Jehovah-Amazing.

So what does God say in the FIRST book of the bible, where He basically lays out the game plan for all mankind? What would He anoint and appoint to become 12:3? After all, 12 is the number of governmental perfection, and 3 has its own divine significance:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_significance_does_the_number_12_have_in_the_Bible
“Twelve is a perfect number, signifying perfection of government, or of governmental perfection. It is found as a multiple in all that has to do with rule. The sun which “rules” the day, and the moon and stars which “govern” the night, do so by their passage through the twelve signs of the Zodiac which completes the great circle of the heavens of 360 (12 x 30) degrees or divisions, and thus govern the year.
Twelve is the product of 3 (the perfectly Divine and heavenly number) and 4 (the earthly, the number of what is material and organic).
While seven is composed of 3 added to 4, twelve is 3 multiplied by 4, and hence denotes that which can scarcely be explained in words, but which the spiritual perception can at once appreciate, viz., organization, the products denoting production and multiplication and increase of all that is contained in the two numbers separately. The 4 is generally prominently seen in the twelve.”

That’s interesting. 12 is the number of Governmental Perfection, and 3 is the number of Divinity.

Genesis 12: 3 (NKJ) pointedly tells us:
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God Himself, dialoguing with Abraham, the father of Israel, is declaring something all people in all nations and at all times would do well to heed.

“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Pretty straightforward, wouldn’t you agree? But it gets straighter-forward than that.
Let’s capitalize several words for our purpose.

“I will BLESS those (plural, because blessings spread out and down) who BLESS you, and I will CURSE him (identifying down to the very individual) who CURSES you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The word BLESS, both times, is best phonetically pronounced BARUCH. God will BARUCH those who BARUCH Abraham, his descendants, and the land granted to him as a permanent inheritance, Israel.

The word for CURSE is where it gets interesting. CURSE #1 definitely and accurately means CURSE (ARAR – meaning to curse, put under a curse, lay a curse on. By the way, Ararat – the mountain where those protected in the ark landed, means “Curse Reversed”). It is the second “CURSE” of Gen 12:3 that deserves our keen attention.

“I will ARAR those who QALAL you”. God specifically does NOT use the same word for both CURSE words. One is ARAR – to curse. The second is QALAL – and that means bring into contempt, take lightly, lightly esteem.

What Genesis 12:3 is telling all of mankind is that jealous/zealous (same Hebrew word) God has made an oath that He will proactively respond to the any and all people who choose to either BLESS, or TAKE LIGHTLY, Israel and the Jewish people.

THAT is something to ponder and pray about. Israel, and the plans of God for Israel, will all come to pass. Truly, assuredly, verily verily says our Lord in Matthew 5:18. Pick your translation, it’s all the same.

The GET-START BOOK (Genesis), at the scripture number of GOVERNMENTAL PERFECTION and DIVINITY (12:3) clearly reveals how every man ought to regard Israel. It is that simple and that serious.

During the horrendous and definitely discouraging 70 years of Babylonian captivity, our constant and great God speaks to the prophet and declares:

Ezek 28:25-26 (NKJ)
25 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob.
26 “And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD their God.”‘”

Hasn’t happened yet. Mark it in your bibles. HHY. It will happen. You can bet on it. You are betting on it. Then they shall know. Like this website address – EZ3728. Ezekiel 37:28 tells us that only when God’s sanctuary is in Israel FOREVERMORE the nations will clearly understand the glorious eternal destiny of Israel. But in the meantime, all the world is accountable to know what is available, by God, to know.

America has one ally in the Middle East. Israel. Israel does not express a national plan to destroy Western culture, society, and governments. Israel does not bomb our embassies, or kill our soldiers, or civilians. Israel does not cut off the hands of thieves in their own land, or behead partygoers of their own people.

And our one ally, who the Democratic National Party finally decided to recognize (thanks, folks, God must have been on pins and needles pending that platform shift) is mighty close to war right now – but our President is too busy on the campaign trail to meet with the visiting Prime Minister of Israel. Careful now. One meeting does not a curse alleviate. But it might help by not further provoking God to anger. He is definitely provoke-able (2 Chr 65:3, Jer 7:19, Jer 44:3, Eze 8:17, etc).

God is jealous/zealous (qana) over what is His. Israel is His. It is the apple of His eye (Zech 2:8). That means His eye is on it, and it is a sensitive matter. Note to self: Do not poke God in the eye.

Lev 25:23 (NKJ)
23 ‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

What else is “MINE” by declaration of God?
Rom 12:19 (NKJ)
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Praying for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122) is about as much an option to the believer as holiness is an option. It ain’t. Why not pray for Jerusalem right now?

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The Priority of the Holy Spirit

Posted on September 3, 2012 by ez3728

The Priority of the Holy Spirit.

One thing that is key to any study of the Holy Spirit is to understand the absolute PRIORITY of the Holy Spirit. I once sadly heard a good pastor refer to Holy Spirit baptism, evidenced throughout scripture by folks speaking in tongues, as “a tool in your tool-belt”. That is dangerous ground – to present what God prioritizes, as a tool in your tool-belt.

The Holy Spirit baptism is clearly a baptism of fire, which ought to be sought after and received by EVERY SAINT, in full faith. That is voluntarily, of course, but ought to be in full appreciation and understanding of its importance. In fact, it could be argued that this INFILLING-POTENTIAL is one of the key purposes for the death of Christ. In fact, I intend to argue that point right here, right now.

FIRST – one thing to clarify:
The writers of the Scriptures, both New and Old Testaments, appear to use the terms “SPIRIT OF GOD”, “SPIRIT OF CHRIST” and “HOLY SPIRIT”, interchangeably.
That makes sense, as we shall see, and Jesus points to this conclusion in John 17:22-23 (NKJ)
22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

God is Spirit. That oneness is One Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God.

It should be noted that the Holy Spirit is not a new thing offered by God to mankind after Jesus (although there was indeed a huge shift in heavenly strategies by the coming of Christ – so that the Holy Spirit could finally fill ALL believers). The Holy Spirit, being the Spirit of God, is eternal.

Here’s the Holy Spirit, clearly mentioned in the OT:
Ps 51:10-11 (NKJ)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Isa 63:9-10 (NKJ)
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.
10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them.

1 Pet 1:10-11 (NKJ) – NT writings – speaking of OT prophets:
10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,
11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

And here’s NT reference to the different terminology freely used to describe the Spirit of God:
Eph 4:30 (NKJ)
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

1 Cor 3:16 (NKJ)
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Cor 12:3 (NKJ)
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Gen 1:2 (NKJ)
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

1 Cor 2:13-16 (NKJ)
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
There’s a glorious statement of revelation-availability awaiting the Spirit-filled saint. No wonder there’s so much religious resistance to this.

2 Cor 3:2-3 (NKJ)
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men;
3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

This gets interesting. Here’s Paul, writing to the brethren (that’s folks who are already Christians, brethren), and he’s apparently drawing somewhat of a line in the sand, putting forth a conditional (IF) statement:
Rom 8:9 (NKJ)
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

That sounds to me like a forgiven believer, now qualified, by the blood of Jesus to walk into the Holy Spirit baptism, still needs to make a choice of faith to walk into the Holy Spirit baptism. Like those folks in Acts 19:2-6 – they didn’t even know, but we should.

Unless we are owned, and possessed by the Holy Spirit, is Paul telling us we are not God’s? Or not FULLY God’s? Forgiven, but not walking in fullness? “Fill me again Lord” remains my personal cry. I cry out for the power I clearly see in Scripture, but not in most the church. I am by no means walking on eggshells of salvation, but I want and need daily infilling. There’s no condemnation in that, rather a good revelation of need. Like water, like food, like sleep. Daily bread. In fact, a private study (by you – of Hebrews 6:2) will clearly prove that the word “baptisms” is indeed plural (“baptismos”), meaning multiple baptisms – at very least clearly distinguishing between (1.) water and (2.) fire baptisms, and I would go further to regard it as pointing to ongoing multiple fire baptisms in one’s own life. Daily bread. Fresh. Baked in the refining fire of God.

And while we’re here – I do not think it would do well to describe that verse in Hebrews, like some translations, as meaning anything less than immersive baptism (some bibles say “washings”), otherwise we would be dutifully required to translate that same Greek word (used in the singular, and personalized) for John the Baptist, to describe John the Washer.

BACK TO THE HOLY SPIRIT not being a new thing coming after Christ: here’s an example of the Holy Spirit revealing to a man in the NT prior to the birth of our Lord: Luke 2:25-27 (NKJ)
25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,

So THE ISSUE is not about the HOLY SPIRIT being some kind of NEW THING following the ministry of Jesus.

The NEW THING, and THE ISSUE is that the revelation that God’s plan, through the fullness of the ATONEMENT accomplished by Jesus, is that believing mankind, en masse, could now come into such a place of complete forgiveness, that FINALLY, an ARMY of WARRIORS could be raised up by God who would/could then be EQUIPPED and EMPOWERED by the HOLY SPIRIT not simply MOVING UPON THEM, but actually LIVING IN THEM – a nation of warrior-kings and wholly (i.e. fully) holy priests in whom God would dwell by means of His Holy Spirit, to lead us and the guide us victoriously into His will. THAT IS NEW to the NT!!!! Yea God! Yea NT!

John 14:25-26 (NKJ)
25 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.
26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
(There was and remains an ongoing work of revelation for the sons of God to be effective upon the earth, prior to the Lord’s return).

Remember Rom 8:11-22 (NKJ)
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors– not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs– heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;
21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

God’s PURPOSE was and is for the WHOLE CREATION to be groaning in anticipation of the revelation of the Spirit-led sons of God. He set that up – v20 – “the creation was SUBJECTED to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it IN HOPE”.

And here is the clearly expressed PRIORITY of Holy Spirit Infilling – per Jesus….
John 16:7-14 (NKJ)
7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 “of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 “of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more;
11 “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

This is why our enemy so actively wars against any accurate teachings of Holy Spirit anointing, and baptisms, because Holy Spirit-filled saints are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. WE are HIS worst nightmare….folks filled with the mind and spirit of Christ, who know the ACTIVE and DAILY will of the FATHER. And this had to come through the ministry of the only One Who could be perfect, and who could fulfill the true and holy requirements of perfect sacrifice, offering His own body, for our sins. THAT is atonement, and atonement for a purpose. It is not possible that the blood of lambs or goats could take away sins (Heb 10:4).

Here’s John the Baptist prophesying about Jesus’ ministry of Holy Spirit baptism:
Matt 3:11 (NKJ)
11 “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Meanwhile the church, for the most part, remains content with the Baptism of John. Water will do it, they’d say. Not according to Scripture. Jesus’ desire, in fulfilling the will of the Father, is to baptize all the saints with fire, so that we might know the will of the Father via ongoing revelation (John 16:12).

The devil, knowing the potential of a Holy Spirit-led church, has and will do all he can to undermine this divine purpose of God. And sadly much has been accomplished by our enemy WITHIN the church itself, even though there is the sternest of warnings from our own Lord’s lips:

Luke 12:8-10 (NKJ)
8 “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
9 “But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
10 “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

The WORLD will mock and criticize our Lord. They mostly do that in ignorance. THAT is forgivable.

But sadly it is the CHURCH that would be inclined to look at works accomplished by the Spirit of God and declare them as unholy, in both ignorance and religiosity. And that is intolerable to God, because each member of the church has personal accountability to know and understand and receive the Holy Spirit into their own life.

The VERY LAST THING Jesus told His disciples was to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit before they went about to do ANYTHING. How’s that for PRIORITY?

Since this blog is ONE MAN’S THOUGHTS – let me go so far as to speculate that when they drew lots to replace Judas and chose Matthias, they (my opinion, here) might have done that without Spirit leading. It was done with good intention, but in somewhat a hurry after the ascension. Never again, after the Holy Spirit baptism of the Upper Room, do we ever hear accounts of an anointed casting of lots. More notably, we never again ever hear, in Scripture, about Matthias. Nice guy, but wrong guy? Maybe. Maybe that position was waiting for Saul/Paul, in God’s time. Whatever. Point is – Holy Spirit baptism and leading trumps lot-casting. Out with the old and in with the new. Total upgrade of intimacy for the saints, and revelation of God’s will.

Luke 24:46-53 (NKJ)
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47 “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 “And you are witnesses of these things.
49 “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

And then we get to Acts, also written by Dr. Luke, who reminds us all of Jesus’ words in Luke 24 and then goes on to recount the ascension of our Lord and the statement of the angels:
Acts 1:1-9 (NKJ)
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen,
3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

Bingo. HOLY SPIRIT baptism – made possible by the perfect atonement work of the Cross – now to empower each and every believer, so that we might willingly become the army of God on earth, Spirit-led people who can hasten the coming of the Day of the Lord.

Please fill me right now, Lord.
Will you pray that? Will you surrender to that infilling work of possession, and be fully His?

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Immediately After The Tribulation

Posted on August 28, 2012 by ez3728

Matt 24:29-35 (NKJ)
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
33 “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near– at the doors!
34 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.
35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Those verses are in red. They are words of our Lord, from His mouth. Everything our Lord spoke has purpose and meaning, and is true. He not only spoke Truth. He IS Truth. He not only SPOKE the word of God, He IS the word of God:

Rev 19:13 (NKJ)
13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

When our Lord spoke the word “immediately” (v29, above) it meant exactly what immediately means. The Greek word is “eutheos” – defined as “at once, or soon, forthwith, straightway, shortly”. You get the picture.

And please don’t get tripped up by this truth:
34 “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.

The word “generation” is used throughout Scripture to describe any and all of the following:
A. The folks all alive at the same time. (Gen 15:16)
B. Folks of the same age group (Ps 73:15, Acts 13:36)
C. People living within the same epoch of time (Luke 11:30)
D. Folks of the same belief structure or leaning, regardless of time period (Ps 14:5)

Jesus went so far as to refer to the next epoch of time, once He returns to earth, to reign, as the RE-generation.

Matt 19:28 (NKJ)
28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed

All that is to say that Jesus discussing the destruction of the temple, of Jerusalem, and then many events that obviously still have yet to occur, was not off in His timing or inaccurate in His bundling of prophetic declaration. He was referring to the generation of people who would live between His first and second Advent. That would be us, folks.

The disciples in the days of our Lord’s earthly ministry did not have the same luxury of scripture that we have. The NT hadn’t been written yet, Paul was still a Pharisee and years away from his salvation, and the divine revelations that would fill the NT with timeless and glorious epistles, the Holy Spirit (who Jesus pointed to as the ongoing Revealer of the mysteries of God’s plan – John 16:12,13) had not yet infilled the followers (in fact Jesus told them to do nothing but wait until their Holy Spirit baptism). So there was a lot of questions.

One thing the disciples DID know was that the OT spoke of numerous events that simply had to get fulfilled. They knew it from reading the OT. Adamant God would sometimes even say things like: “I raise My hand in an oath” that something would happen! Ezek 36:7).

Jesus Himself expressed a careful warning NOT to think that ANYTHING was NOT going to be fulfilled:

Matt 5:17-18 (NKJ)
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

When He was crucified and died, many of the disciples’ hopes must have been dashed, and they must have been terribly confused. Their Deliverer was dead, so how could all those unfulfilled promises and prophecies of the OT ever come to pass? After three days, the apparent solution came to them – His resurrection from the dead.

Those original disciples, still full of questions, gazing at their now-resurrected Messiah, were realizing that SOME things had surely been fulfilled during His earthly ministry (Isa 53:5, Ps 22:18, etc.), but/and MANY things needed to still be fulfilled. So they were now of the mind that Jesus, again in their midst, was finally going to fulfill all of the still-to-be-fulfilled prophecies.

They were overjoyed, and couldn’t help but ask the same big question again, just prior to His ascension (because the OT evidently spoke about the restoration of the glory of the Kingdom of Israel, in Jerusalem):

Acts 1:6 (NKJ)
6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

This was THE huge question to the Jews (actually, still is). Those who knew their bibles knew that a Deliverer would come out of Zion, that He would restore Israel, would cleanse the entire world of sin, would thoroughly judge the wicked and reward the righteous. The believing Jews therefore logically assumed it had to be NOW (after His return and before His ascension), while He was with them.

But God had, and has, other plans. His ways and thoughts differ from ours. His timing is perfect.

The disciples wanted to know WHEN certain things would occur, and Jesus told them what He wanted to tell them (and told us, by way of canonized scripture). Let’s dig deeper into Matthew 24:

Matt 24:1-31 (NKJ)
1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, (a) when will these things be? And (b) what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Two questions – THE SIGN being of two events)
4 And Jesus answered and said to them (One brilliant, purposely complex response): “Take heed that no one deceives you.
5 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
8 “All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 “Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
18 “And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
20 “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.
24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
25 “See, I have told you beforehand.
26 “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it.
27 “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28 “For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

One thing the disciples were asking about was the prediction of the destruction of the temple. That of course occurred in 70AD, and the devastation that took place during the invasion was horrific. Blood literally flowed through the streets of Jerusalem. But all of Matthew 24 was definitely not fulfilled in 70AD. It couldn’t be. 70AD was a “half-fillment”, to create a new and convenient word.

21 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

“Nor ever shall be?” Those are pretty clear words from our Lord. So IF the destruction of Jerusalem, in which the historian Josephus estimates 1,100,000 Jews died would never get trumped by other periods of extreme violence and genocide, what do we do with Hitler who killed 11-17 million people between 1939 and 1945, or Mao Tse Tung, who is blamed with the annihilation of 49 million people between 1958 and 1961? And if “tribulation” was referring to physical destruction of property, territory and structures, one would venture to say that Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered quite a bit more physical destruction than the small city of Jerusalem.

Point to all this is that much remains to be fulfilled. FULLY-filled. Certain things have been filled-in-part. Just as God used the OT to foreshadow the NT, and the Law to foreshadow the righteousness of Christ, God – consistently and throughout history, God – Who Himself declares that He never changes (Malachi 3:6) continues to operate in similar fashion, sovereignly partially fulfilling (“half-filling”) certain words and then FULL-filling them when it is time for their fulfillment.

It WOULD NOT do us well to adjust doctrine to fit world history. That is dangerous, no matter how close we can get to making it work. God’s will is what He wants to occur. It is His WILL. And we’re told to pray for His will to be done, not to be adjusted for us to understand with our lens.

Theologians who want to check off all or even most of the “tough times” as being behind us have a difficult time with many scriptures, a small sampling being:

Isa 63:1-4 (NKJ)
1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?–” I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” (sounds like Jesus’ return to me)
2 Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? (sounds like He’s coming as the Lion, not as the Lamb)
3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes. (sounds like He’s upset)
4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.

Verse 4: DAY OF VENGEANCE?
Jesus, in the temple at the outset of His ministry, purposely bisected a portion of the book of Isaiah, because it contained that phrase:

Luke 4:17-21 (NKJ)
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Our Lord was READING Isa 61:1-2 – and here’s what that scripture states:
Isa 61:1-2 (NKJ)
1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

QUES: Where did the DAY OF VENGEANCE go, Jesus? How come You didn’t recite THAT part of verse 2 when you read in the temple?

ANS: It wasn’t time yet for the Day of vengeance of the Lord. That was not His earthly mission 2,000 years ago. Jesus wasn’t modifying or updating the Scriptures. He was declaring what was coming to pass during His Jerusalem ministry, and reserving, for the appropriate and appointed time, the Day of vengeance of the Lord. Not one jot or tittle will pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. He knew that. Still does.

Here’s a few more verses that easy-theology embracers would prefer to avoid – let’s mark the ones that Haven’t Happened Yet with an HHY, OK?

Zech 12:8-11
8 “In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. HHY.
9 “It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. HHY.
10 “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. DEFINITELY HHY – to this day Israel still denies Jesus is their Messiah.
11 “In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. HHY

Zech 14:1-7 (NKJ)
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. HHY – ALL the nations haven’t been gathered against Jerusalem, although we see it brewing, right now, in our time.
3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. HHY
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. HHY – and take note of the reference to split valleys and some serious earth movement……
5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You.
6 It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day which is known to the LORD– neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light.

Ezek 38:14-23 (NKJ)
14 “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
15 “Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
16 “You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
17 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?
18 “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face. HHY
19 “For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, HHY – sounds like the earth movement we just read in Zech, above.
20 ‘so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
21 “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
22 “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. HHY
23 “Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”‘ HHY. To this day, the world is in more of a Psalm 2 rebellion-and-defiance posture rather than knowing that YHWH is Lord of the whole earth. Therefore: HHY

Our Great God has a plan that will be fulfilled. Fully and completely. We can choose to believe otherwise, although it’s a faulty choice. If you’re reading this website, you have access to the word of God. It is our personal responsibility to read it, and embrace it, and believe it. “I was taught” will not really matter when we stand before our Wonderful Lord. We are accountable to press in to Him, to His Word, and to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us as we press in.

Like all scripture, the book of Revelation was written for all to read. We are told there’s a blessing simply to READING and HEARING the book of Revelation. It is a book to PREPARE us, not to SCARE us. It is important so that we do not get offended when our Lord returns and behaves as we are already told He will behave – the Lion of the tribe of Judah, warring in righteousness, vindicating the just, judging the wicked with righteous judgment.

Does this offend you? Better offended now than later. I personally am not hunkering down, in a shelter, waiting for the end to come. That would be foolish. The Lord clearly told us to be about His business, warning every man, making disciples of all nations. I do not need to adjust my end-times doctrine in order to be motivated to go out and shine like a light in the world, advancing the Kingdom. But I cannot adjust my doctrine to motivate me to go get converts by diminishing the truth of tough prophecies yet to be fulfilled. Hananiah (Jer 28:10-17) did not fare well by trying to smooth out some rough words of Jeremiah.

The word “tribulation” comes from a Latin word: “tribulum”. Google that. It is a threshing instrument, used to effectively separate the wheat from the tares. Its purpose is to forcefully separate the good and useful stuff from the rubble that is useless and only good for burning. The period of tribulation that our Lord spoke about will be precisely the same. And what happens IMMEDIATELY after THAT? (back to Matthew, where we began):

Matt 24:29-35 (NKJ)
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

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The Great Patent Holder

Posted on August 26, 2012 by ez3728

The U.S. Patent Office is a fine institution. Overworked, inundated with applications from too many people for too many inventions, the poor examiners are required to wade through often purposely cloudy technical descriptions, and then try to sort through countless already-issued patents (even from other countries) and do their best to (1.) understand what the inventor is claiming as his invention; and then (2.) determine whether there is sufficient novelty and originality to grant the inventor patent ownership over all or some elements of his application. What the inventor ends up owning and controlling, by virtue of his originality and creativity, are referred to as the Claims. Once a patent has been issued, it is typically alive for the longer of 17 years from the date of issuance, or 20 years from the date of filing. During that period, the inventor can determine the complete destiny of his patent. After that, the patent and its described invention are in the public domain, and no one owes the inventor anything should they decide to copy and commercialize the once-patented invention after the patent has expired. Not so with Creation.

Our great God makes it perfectly clear that He created all things, and as such is the case, He holds all rights, forever. YHWH is the Inventor of inventors, as well as King of kings. He holds all patent rights to that which He created, forever. An eternal patent on Creation.

Without even referring to the Genesis account (which in and of itself provides complete documentation of the creation process – told in part by the Only Being Who was there to know, God Himself), we can see throughout His entire Word how clearly His ownership (and therefore complete control) over all things ought to be inarguable and uncontestable, and particularly ought to be honored, understood, and appreciated by His saints.

Ps 89:8-12 (NKJ)
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You.
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, as one who is slain; you have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all its fullness, You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon rejoice in Your name.

Ps 24:1-2 (NKJ)
1 The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.
(There’s original invention for you. He founded, He established, therefore it is all His)

Ps 95:4-6 (NKJ) – (Once again, it is His because He made it. He is the Inventor)
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also.
5 The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Ps 124:8 (NKJ) – (Because of His ownership and sovereignty, He remains our best help – He also best knows how everything ought to work. He made it).
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Col 1:16-17 (NKJ)
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

This small sampling of OT and NT scripture render more than sufficient biblical evidence that our Great God, being the Creator, holds the never-ending patent rights to all things. It is all His.

As might be expected, the arrogance and pride of man would go out of its way to try to wrest ownership and control from God. Even the Church, in its desire for “social relevance”, has some times gotten get caught up in the embrace of warped and compromised pseudo-creationism, even to the point of evolution – which defies the biblical text, and even defies scientific findings – hence the “theory” of evolution and not the law of evolution. Nonetheless, trying to steal His ownership will never diminish our accountability to the One Who controls all things.

Rom 1:20-21 (NKJ)
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

What does the elder John proclaim during his Patmos revelation?
Rev 4:11 (NKJ)
11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”

The question that might be asked, therefore, is why is the world so screwed up if God created it and controls all things, if He can make light and darkness, and create both peace and calamity……..

Isa 45:7-10 (NKJ)
7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
8 “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it.
9 “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?'”

The answer, in part, lies in several places in Scripture, one key text being Ps 115:
Ps 115:15-16 (NKJ)
15 May you be blessed by the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S; but the earth He has given to the children of men.

God, in His desire to raise up responsible, loving sons and daughters of God who will eventually rule and reign with Him, has given the earth to the children of men. What we are seeing today is the sad state of affairs that will continue to erode until He comes back to set things straight. Man trying to rule and reign in any ungodly manner is a guaranteed tragedy (Ps 2).

It will get better eventually. When He returns. And He will. And soon.
The very creation is groaning, like a woman in childbirth (Rom 8).

Ps 98 tells us that the upcoming judgment is a good thing, not a bad thing:
(NKJ)
7 Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it;
8 Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills be joyful together before the LORD,
9 For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity.

We’re to be hastening the coming of the Lord, not freaking out over it. We’re to be fixed upon Him, busy about His business, warning every man. Rejoicing that the day of judgment will be a day of fairness. Great and dreadful. And perfectly fair. The Eternal Patent Holder over all Creation, the Owner of it all, is coming back. Glory.

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Psalm 34 – Learning The Fear Of The Lord

Posted on August 21, 2012 by ez3728

Our adversary the devil, being a pervert and a liar, has an agenda to pervert virtually everything that God has established for good. One of those perversions is Fear.

God is truly awesome. The Hebrew word for awesome is “ya-re” – it contains huge components of dread, fear, terror and reverence. 2012 American English vernacular has us describing hot dogs, surfing, new movies and touchdown catches as “awesome” – but biblically, that would be inaccurate. God alone is awesome, and in that awesomeness should be our comprehension that our great God is mighty, and worthy of reverential fear.

The bible writers totally got it.
Ps 66:5 Come and see the works of God; he is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. (NKJ)

Exod 18:21 “Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. (NKJ)

Deut 5:29 ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever! (NKJ)

Deut 6:13 “You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. (NKJ)

David had a revelation regarding the wicked, describing them at the outset of Ps 36:
1 An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes. (NKJ) (there’s where satan wants to lead the church – no fear of God. Welcome to wickedness)

So what’s our issue? NT vs OT? What does the New Testament tell us about the fear of the Lord – is it something brutal that “went away” because Jesus fulfilled the righteousness requirements of the Law? It doesn’t appear that way, as testified by our Lord Himself:

Luke 12
4 “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! (NKJ)

Mary, exhilarated over the visitation of the angel who spoke of the upcoming miraculous conception, then testified of God’s goodness with this proclamation:
Luke 1:50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. (NKJ)
(I want/need that mercy in my life!)

Paul, who wrote countless letters pointing people to the freedom that was ours through the blood of Christ, and who rebuked the Galatians for straying back to the do’s and don’ts of the Law, did NOT tell the Corinthians that Fear was Old-Testament-only. To the contrary:
2 Cor 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (NKJ)

The elder John, on Patmos, in the midst of his revelation of revelations, declares:
Rev 14:6-7
6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth– to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people–
7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” (NKJ)

As if that were not enough, John then sees a multitude of worshipers proclaiming
Rev 15:4 Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.” (NKJ) (Those were last-days-events judgments that were prophetically seen as having been manifested – we realize all too well that all the nations have yet to come and worship)

So what is our issue with us embracing the fullness of the concept of the fear of the Lord?

The issue is that our enemy would want to come into the congregation of the godly, deceive us with smooth words, and steal (he’s the thief and robber – John 10:10) from us the blessings purposely set aside by our amazing and AWESOME God, blessings reserved for those who would fear Him:

Ps 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; (NKJ)

Ps 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, (NKJ)

Ps 103:13 As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
(NKJ)

David, in Psalm 34 (finally we’re getting to Ps 34) is all over the fear-of-the-Lord thing:

Ps 34:1-22
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
(THAT is a vow – see Ps 66:14 and Ps 76:11)
2 My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. (a corporate invitation to worship)
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. (he was delivered from inappropriate fears – fears of anything other than the One worthy to be feared)
5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. (David was no doubt pointing to himself as the poor man)
7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. (There you go! That’s what I’m talking about – supernatural protection!)
8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
(That is the experiential gospel of God. Taste and see. Unless you’ve tasted and seen, it is a walk lacking intimacy, limited to the intellect. Sad. But once you’ve tasted and seen, you’re hooked, and you want more)
9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.
(The sanctified ones are encouraged to fear their awesome God)
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
(Verse 11 is spectacular – David understood that we all need to learn the fear of the Lord. We require a revelation as to what the fear of God is, and what the fear of God isn’t. The following few verses are then a cursory primer as to how to behave as one who fears the Lord, but it is not the completeness of the program…)
12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. (THAT alone ought to get us fearing God and departing from evil – understanding that He is against those who do evil. That has not changed over time, friends)
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20 He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.
21 Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.
(NKJ)

Wow wow wow. Suggestion: Spend all your “fear-quotient” on the One worthy to be feared, Awesome God. Then, when situations arise around you, and our enemy, the terrorist of all terrorists, wants to rage and stir up fear in you, you can simply proclaim: “Sorry, I have no fear to spend on that situation, threat or lie. I’ve spent all my fear on the One worthy to be feared”.

Jesus advised us of the following:
Luke 21:25-27
25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
26 “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken.
27 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
(NKJ)

That hasn’t happened yet, and v27 tells us this occurs just prior to the coming of the Son of Man. This is last days happenings.

It coincides with the immediacy of Jesus’ similar words in Matthew:
Matt 24:29-30
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(NKJ)

Point is – as things get shakier and tougher and as the creation groans in birth pangs and as the nations rage, our Lord tells us men’s hearts will fail them amidst the expectation of the things which are coming on the earth.

I humbly contend that verse 26 in Luke 21 includes misinformed and/or unprepared saints – the one group of people who actually are anticipating the things to come on the earth. For the most part, other folks are unaware or oblivious to the Kingdom of God, and likely will continue thinking a better hybrid car or a different person in office will fix things back to “normal”. But the saints know in advance. God has told us in His Word that there is a work to do on earth.

Saints ignoring the signs of the times, who may have bought into the buddy-God doctrines of the Western church, will sadly have an abundance of fear left in them, unspent on awesome God – and they will have failing hearts, because what is occurring on earth will not be in alignment with what they were taught and/or chose to believe, or how they chose to regard our great God.

Come little children, listen to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. That is God’s desire for us all. He wants us walking in the safety of the revelation of His fullness. Lion and Lamb. Savior and King. Lover of our souls. The Bridegroom enraptured with His bride, the Church. Great and awesome Creator. Intimate Papa and at the very same time Adonai Ts’va-oat – King of the Universe and Commander of the Armies of Heaven.

(Rev 15:4 – again) Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.” (NKJ)

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Jesus’ Faithfulness. Our Faithfulness.

Posted on August 16, 2012 by ez3728

Jesus of course is faithful. Believers are betting their eternal souls on that truth. That said, it is wise for us to consider not only THAT He is faithful, but also TO WHAT He is faithful. There is sometimes a tendency for the church to extrapolate from the truth of Jesus’ faithfulness some questionable extensions of truth, which are no truth at all – that He is faithful in continuing to approve us no matter how we might choose to act or behave. Bible history would teach us differently.

Jesus was all about the will of the Father, leaving us that impeccable example of faithfulness. It sometimes offended folks, even getting Him into trouble. When it was time to go to Jerusalem for the climax of His earthly ministry, nothing was going to deter or distract Him, not even the needs or desires of other people:

Luke 9:51-54
51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

It is obvious that Jesus not being received was because He had plans other than staying there to minister, heal, do signs and wonders, etc. “His face was set for Jerusalem”. The disappointed villagers must have acted so put out by Jesus, that the response of His disciples got pretty extreme – “Let’s order up some fire for these folks”:

54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
(NKJ)

We needn’t conclude that story – for our purposes we’re discussing Jesus being faithful, and focused.

Jesus noted His intimacy with His Father, stating the following:
John 8:29
29 “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
(NKJ)

That’s a good word. God and Jesus are intimate – it is the John 17 plumbline for His prayer for OUR intimacy with God. God has a will. Jesus, in always choosing to discover and obey the Father’s will, remained and remains in that place of intimacy. God doesn’t leave Jesus alone because of Jesus’ determination to please the Father. Point noted, for us all.

So where is this weblog going? Let’s retrace some steps to the walls of Jericho.
BACKGROUND – The angels who were rebellious had already long ago fallen from grace, reserved in chains, says Peter. Anyone up in the heavenly realms during Jericho-time was in complete concert with the Father, lock-step obedience.

Joshua is looking at a heavily fortified city, and a supernatural being shows up:

Josh 5:13-15
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?”
14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”
15 Then the Commander of the LORD’S army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
(NKJ)

Interestingly, unlike other angelic appearances in scripture, when Joshua bows before this Commander of the army of the Lord, he is NOT instructed to NOT bow down. That sort of gets us wondering as to who this being might be. An early Jesus appearance? Meanwhile, for our purposes we would do well to understand that the being was answering Joshua’s multiple-choice question (“are you for us or for them?”) with a yes-no answer. That would flunk someone from class, but here it’s an appropriate revelation.

The Commander of the Armies was saying: I am for the purposes of God. When you are in alignment with those purposes, I am for you. Implied: If you are out of alignment with those purposes, I am not for you. The history of disobedient believers throughout scripture confirm this truth. 1500+ IF’s in the Bible. Lots is conditional. That is a Kingdom truth, regardless as to how unconditionally “faithful” we might paint God (or Jesus) to be to our recklessness or disobedience. That is why God told Israel to choose life of choose death.

Deut 30:19-20
19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 “that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
(NKJ)

Lots changed with the coming of Jesus. Kingdom truth has not changed.
Check off two of the 1500+ IF’s:
I Jn 1:9-10
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
(NKJ)

Here are some scriptures I have been considering recently – unquestionably pointing to the faithfulness of our Lord:
2 Tim 2:11-13
11 This is a faithful saying: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, he also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful; he cannot deny Himself.
(NKJ)

If we die (of self) with Him (by our choice), we are assured to live with Him.
If we lay hold of the grace that is available to us, all the time, to endure, we get to reign with Him.
If we deny Him, He also will deny us. That’s pretty clear. I didn’t write it. Paul wrote it, who also wrote 1 Cor 10:12.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Verse 13 speaks to me that He will continue to be in the perfect will of the Father, faithful as He’s always been to the King and the Kingdom. I do not see that verse as even hinting to Jesus being faithful to anyone’s ongoing and deliberate rebellion and faithlessness. That contradicts scripture, even if it does not contradict some popular church doctrines.

The writer of Hebrews, drafting a long letter to encourage the Jewish believers (he calls them brethren, and mentions they are walking with Christ) who were getting discouraged, made some serious, and clear points on this topic:

Heb 3:12-19
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
(NKJ)

Later, continuing with his exhortation for steadfastness and faithfulness (which comes with warnings earlier in chapter 6) he states positively:
Heb 6:9
9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner.
(NKJ)

All this said, there is sufficient glorious and even abundant grace to remain secure in God, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, to receive our full reward, and to reign with our Lord. He is faithful. It has never been a question about HIS faithfulness.

I love that the ball is in our court. Whosoever will, let him come. Anyone. Any time. Anywhere. Good God. Open plan of salvation for all peoples, tribes and tongues. Not willing that ANY perish. That is the will of God, and the will of man is the only thing that can get in the way. No one was designed and created for the purpose of perishing. Yea God. He is faithful.

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Verily, Verily

Posted on August 12, 2012 by ez3728

Everything Jesus said was “Verily”.

Everything Jesus ever said is true. In fact, Jesus IS Truth. That means if He said something, we can bet on it. It is accurate, it is not deceptive, and it is not an exaggeration. The fact that He spoke it, is “assuredly”. That is also true about anything God spoke through His true prophets – there being some serious warnings, and sometimes disastrous results when people represented themselves as speaking on behalf of God, when in fact they were speaking from their own hearts. It did not matter whether they were saying “good” things or “bad/tough” things – if it was not from God, and if they were misrepresenting themselves as speaking on behalf of God, there were heavy consequences. Examples can be found in Jeremiah, and in the book of Jude

BACKGROUND: Israel was destined for a 70 year captivity because of the people having provoked God to rage through their unrepentant and ongoing sinfulness, and the (false) prophet Hananiah probably had a lot of cheerleaders and supporters, because he was prophesying things getting better in hurry. But he was speaking from his own heart:
Jer 28:11-17
11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.'” And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron.”
14 ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also.”‘”
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.
16 “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.'”
17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
(NKJ)

BACKGROUND – Jude, like Peter, was warning the believers that there would be evil people in their midst, prophesying and speaking lofty words, and those speakers would bring judgment on themselves. Peter also tells the readers that saints who were not rooted and grounded in the word of God would be deceived by these false prophets:
Jude 1:10-13
10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots;
13 raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
(NKJ)

2 Pet 2:18, 20-21
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error.
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
(NKJ)

Bad stuff, with guaranteed awful outcomes. We would do well to minister in the realm of the prophetic, in the fear of God, making certain to say what He tells us to say, and only that – no more, no less.

BACK TO TRUTH:
Jesus is the truth, and the devil is presented to us, by Jesus, as the father of all lies. Pretty clear differentiation. It would therefore seem that Jesus would never need to say something like “assuredly” (or in King James bible-speak “verily”) because EVERYTHING that ever came out of His mouth was true, or veritable. So why would Jesus say “Verily”? I believe He was putting a marker of importance on the next thing that He was about to say, because He knew its critical importance to the plans and purposes of God, and He also knew that, because of that importance, the enemy would particularly try to undermine the believers’ understanding and embracing that which was going to be revealed by Jesus. This goes hand in hand with some scriptures in the Old Testament, where God does some extreme demonstrations to mark a verse or a prophesy for importance:

Isa 49:22
22 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
(NKJ)

Ezek 36:7-9
7 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame.
8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come.
9 “For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.
(NKJ)

Both the verses in Isaiah and in Ezekiel pertain to God’s faithful promises to eventually restore Israel (Ezek 37 also has an “indeed’ in it, another marker of importance – since EVERYTHING God promises is “indeed”). God revealing His taking of an oath is sort of outrageous, almost seemingly unnecessary, until you consider the madness of the satanic assault on the promises to Israel which have crept into the church in the way of “replacement theology” which proclaims that the Christian church of the NT has replaced the Jewish people. Paul gets livid over this, and builds an inarguable case for Israel’s inclusion in the eternal promises of God, in Romans chapters 9-11, and then writes the famous Romans 12:1-2 verses (I beseech you, therefore brethren, in light of the mercies of God…..) building from his example of God’s mercy to Israel (in chapters 9-11), declaring that God’s faithfulness to THEM (Israel) ought to motivate US (the church) to abandon everything else, and show up, and trust God without reservation.

ALL THAT SAID, when Jesus says VERILY, He is stating something so critical, that we would do well to listen up, dig in, recognizing that His “verily-ing” was intended as a pre-emptive strike against some yet-to-come false doctrine that would be presented to undermine a most critical truth. My favorite translation happens to be the NKJ, and “verily” is translated “assuredly”. I can live with that. Since everything Jesus said was ASSUREDLY, so when He actually says “assuredly” it’s sort of an “assuredly-assuredly”, meaning “mark this as critical”, reader.

Matt 5:13-16
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

These verses are key. We’re told we’re the salt, and without salt the earth will rot and become useless, and victimized by evil men. We’re told we’re light of the world, and that the purpose of the light is to illuminate and not be hidden. High visibility is the purpose of the light – particularly critical in dark times of trouble, wouldn’t you agree? Of critical importance to the world is the salt thing. Then immediately we’re told “do not think” – another sort of notable thing that would imply Jesus knew the enemy would work to get us to think a certain way, and He was telling us in advance, not to think that way.

Matt 5:17:21
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
19 “Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(NKJ)

How clear is THAT? Everything in the Old Testament has to be fulfilled. Everything means that. I’ve mentioned this before, but this is critical to our interpretation and understanding of the NEW Testament in light of what has yet to be fulfilled in the OLD Testament.

None of us, in the flesh, is inclined to want to address the fact that some seriously heavy things have yet to take place, but they do. And they will. And there is a charge and a warning placed upon the teachers (v19) – don’t diminish your reward by teaching otherwise, even if it is unpopular.

ALL THAT SAID, we are in obvious times of worldwide shaking, and quite frankly we’d all be delighted to be able to preach “smooth sailing with Jesus”. But that is not what the bible says, in either testament. To the contrary, Jesus warned us that many would be offended in the end times, as things heat up, and the love of many would grow cold. That implied there love would have been warmer, earlier. He is talking about saints.

Matt 24:9-14
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
(NKJ)

Matthew 24 had some small fulfillment during the destruction of the temple in 70AD, but these verses are clearly pointing to end times. The awful and complete destruction of Jerusalem was one city. The captivity of Israel to Babylon was one country. My bible speaks of a destruction across the whole earth – every nation. HHY – Hasn’t Happened Yet – that means it has to happen, otherwise Jesus THE Truth, was not speaking truth in Matthew 5:18. Impossible. Believe it. Assuredly.

Isa 28:22
22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts, a destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
(NKJ) – That says whole earth.

Matthew 24 tells us after worldwide tribulation, then the END will come – right after these things occur. In Luke, there’s an “immediately proclaimed by Jesus to help us embrace the timeframes of this prophecy of worldwide judgment.

Matt 24:9-14
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.
10 “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
11 “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.
12 “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
13 “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
(NKJ)

As far as whether the saints are present in the world at the return of Jesus, I say yes. No secret rapture. We’ll be caught up to meet Him in the air, but it never tells us we will all hang out in the air with Jesus after that. His coming across the sky has a landing plan. Jerusalem.

We are indeed to be delivered from the wrath to come (because we’re sons and daughters of God, and our accepting the payment by Jesus for the wrath awaiting us, is complete), but tribulation is not the wrath of God, it is the tribulation of God – brought upon the earth with the intent, by God, to draw the nations to Christ:

Hag 2:6-7
6 “For thus says the LORD of hosts: “Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land;
7 ‘and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
(NKJ)

“Tribulation” comes from the Greek word “tribulum” which was a heavy threshing stone (with sharp hardwood shards) pulled by a horse and used by the Greeks to separate (get this!) the wheat from the tares. Wheat and tares has some significance in Jesus’ teachings. Tribulation will, at the end, separate the good from the bad, the true from the false.

Facing the horror of crucifixion and separation from God, Jesus Himself, as a man, expressed pre-trib aspiration:

John 12:27
27 “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
(NKJ)

Matt 26:42
42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
(NKJ)

Thankfully, for all of us, Jesus – feeling the freedom to express His human feelings, expressed them, and then determined to resign Himself to embrace the perfect will of the Father, which was to not deliver Jesus out of His personal tribulation, but rather to walk Him through it, quite publicly, as a light to the world, His good deeds glorifying His Father in heaven. Phil 2 – let the same mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus….

God has an amazing plan to wrap up and culminate this theodramatic age between the two comings of Messiah. There is an age to come, but for it to come, all that was prophesied in both testaments has to and will come to pass. And we would do well to study and understand what God has revealed to us by His prophets. We are accountable to know what the Lord wants us to know.

Verily, verily, assuredly, you can bet on it, it will all happen. I do not want to be making excuses to a desperate world when the Lord starts troubling things in such a great manner as has never happened before, nor will ever happen again. He is God.

As Misty Edwards sings so prophetically in “Baptize My Heart” , I do not want to be offended when it’s all coming down. I want to be rooted and grounded in the love and faithfulness of a God Who has told us tough things so that we might have peace – knowing He has things fully under control.

Our place of security is in the place of intimacy. We are assured nothing else will work because nothing else has ever worked. Our prayer lives, our time with God, is key. No substitutes. In the Word. The Word in us.

The Spirit-led sons of God have to be manifested prior to the return of Jesus (Romans 8 and Ps 110). We are not called to simply hold the fort until He returns. We are called to be light and salt, out in the world, advancing the Kingdom. Warning every man, as Paul says – saint and sinner alike.

Verily. Verily.

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Posted in Everything, Israel, Jesus, Movement of God, New Testament, Obedience, Old Testament, Tribulation | Leave a comment

Pray Pray Pray, then Pray some more

Posted on August 9, 2012 by ez3728

Paul wrote to Timothy, whom he loved desperately, that the following was God’s will:
1Thes 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
(NKJ – as are all the verses)

“Without Ceasing” means never stopping. That’s a lot of prayer. What’s that about?
What it’s about is that God is wanting to communicate with His people all the time. And He has chosen prayer as being fundamental to that communication. Of course, being God, He can use any method He likes to communicate with us. He can use (as has used) angels, visions, dreams, earthquakes, whatever. But in His divine sovereignty, it would be wise for us to understand that God Himself, Who invented prayer, has established it as the primary means of communication between man and Himself.

Prayer is a remarkable opportunity for us. And it changes things. No wonder our enemy wants to present it to us as a burden and an obligation. There’s things that will only happen in and through prayer, and lots of prayer. It is difficult to cull down all of the examples of prayer into a few representative verses, but here goes:

Gen 20:17 (HEALING AND CHILD BEARING PRAYER) So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;

Num 21:7 (REPENTANT INTERCESSION PRAYER) Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

1 Sam 2:1 (THANKSGIVING PRAYER) And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.

II Kin 4:33 (RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD PRAYER) He (Elijah) went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.

2 Chr 32:24 (PLEADING FOR HEALING PRAYER) In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the LORD; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign.
(NKJ)

Jonah 2:1 (DELIVERANCE PRAYER) Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.

Luke 9:29 (TRANSFIGURATION PRAYER) And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.

Acts 4:31 (HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM PRAYER) And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 13:3 (ANOINTING AND MINISTRY LAUNCHING PRAYER) Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

Luke 3:21 (PRAYER THAT OPENS THE HEAVENS) When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.

James 5:17-18 (CONTROL OVER NATURE PRAYER) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

History of revival will testify to us that the saints who went before us prayed by the hour, by the day, sometimes by the week, month and year. We might be into fast foods and instant messaging, and if you are driving off a cliff, a simple and urgent “HELP ME LORD!” would be a perfectly structured, complete and wonderful prayer model.

But typically we are not driving off cliffs, and sadly we often count minutes with God as our prayer lives. And we are missing out. And a lifestyle of only five minute toss-up prayers would surely not have us walking in the footsteps of countless successful folks who have walked before us – whose examples the writer of Hebrews tells us to follow.

As Paul said to Timothy (v 4-6) regarding disciplines and structure in our walk:
2 Tim 2:7 – Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
How much and when and what for, is between you and the Lord. LOTS OF PRAYER, however, has been found to be effective. And no one has ever overdosed on prayer, so no worries there.

God loves us SPENDING our lives on Him, and with Him. It is spent minute by minute, day by day, hour by hour – spent with Him instead of spending it elsewhere, on things that don’t matter, and are not eternal. Past revivals and outpourings typically erupted after some folks determined, and often covenanted that they would pray and pray and pray until something happened. And something always did.

Have you ever noticed that there is simply something different about the persona of someone who maintains an active prayer life? Go figure. Spend time with God and you will start behaving, talking, and walking more godly.

We have to be that people today. We are invited into that kind of pressing in. This is the heart of God about prayer and petition – it has not changed with the transition to NT life:

Isa 62:6-7
6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent,
7 And give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

God telling us to give Him no rest? Does that sound right? It does if you read Luke 18:1, where the unjust judge is compared, by contrast, to a loving heavenly Father Who invites us to petition and cry out and spend time with Him, in prayer. Nothing will take its place. In fact, the Church has tried everything instead of hours of prayer, and we’ve proven that nothing takes its place. You’d think we’d be praying more.

Alone, in groups, with the understanding of outspoken words, in the Holy Spirit’s heavenly language. Daytime and Noon and at Night. Hands raised. Bodies horizontal. On the floor. In your closet. At the altar. Inside. Outside. They are all good. Like Nike told us years ago: “Just Do It”.

2 Chr 7:14
14 “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(NKJ)

That charge and promise is not to the ones who are not yet His people. That famous verse in 2 Chronicles, delivered by God to Solomon in a dream dialogue, is talking to you and me.

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Posted in Everything, Personal Relationship, Prayer, Understanding & Knowing God | 2 Comments