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God's Word Five

A website for those who wish to digest the "strong [solid] meat,"
not just "the milk or meat," of the Word of God.

Certain Christian intelligentsia of the present dispensation, even though saved and in a position to understand the Word of God, too often seek spiritual discernment in the light of worldly wisdom rather than through comparing “scripture with scripture” and looking to the indwelling Spirit to lead them “into all truth”.
(John 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

(For a more complete picture of the latter, refer to the author’s book, in this site, God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK.)

Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.

Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;

and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 16:28-17:5)

(Ref. Chapter 1, “Genesis and John,” in the author’s book, Moses and John BOOK, showing why John must be seen as the gospel beginning the New Testament, not Matthew.)

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15 NASB20).”

(These seven festivals form the prophetic calendar of Israel, having to do with events that will transpire following Christ’s return at the end of the Tribulation, leading into the Messianic Era.

Refer to The Seven Jewish Festivals in this site.)

(Why will these two particular men be with Christ at the time of His return?  Aside from the simple fact that this is the way biblical revelation presents the matter, there are evident, inseparably related reasons why they will be present [ref. Chapters 3, 4 in this book].)

For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,

knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty [Greek: superlative; lit., “His greatest (regal) magnificence”].

For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. (2 Peter 1:12-18)

(Both, an individual’s calling and out-calling, have to do with the same thing.  His calling can’t pertain to the Christian’s presently possessed salvation, for he cannot make that anymore “sure” than it already exists.  Salvation by grace through faith has already been made “sure,” based on Christ’s finished work at Calvary.

An individual has been saved for a purpose; and that “purpose” would equate to his calling, just as “realizing that purpose” would equate to his out-calling.  Both have to do with a future salvation, the salvation of the soul; and both have to do with Christians one day being called out of the called and realizing positions as co-heirs with Christ in His kingdom.)

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (2 Peter 1:17)

(The redemptive terms for man are set forth early in Genesis — death and shed blood — pointing to Christ’s finished work at Calvary.

The redemptive terms for the forfeited domain [the earth] though are set forth in Revelation 5:1ff, a passage drawing principally from two Old Testament types that deal with the subject [Ruth 4:1ff; Jeremiah 32:1ff].

For information on the preceding, refer to the author’s books, both in this site, Salvation by Grace through Faith BOOK and The Time of the End BOOK, Chapters 8, 9).

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16)

(In reality, these are the only two spheres from which a person’s actions can emanate.  A person, in his actions, can either be brought forth “from above” or “from below.”  There is no middle ground [Luke 11:23].)

Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:4-6)

(For information on the preceding, refer to Two Men at the Empty Tomb in this site.)

(These two prophets are “the two anointed ones” in Zechariah’s fifth vision [Zechariah 4:1-14].

Because of the importance of Elijah’s future ministry to Israel, as seen in Malachi 4:5-6, it would appear strange indeed if he were not mentioned someplace in Revelation 6-19 {19a} [that section of the book covering the Tribulation].  And, in the light of other Scripture, it would appear equally strange if Elijah appeared unaccompanied by Moses.

And Revelation 11:3-12 is the only place throughout these fourteen chapters of the book where we have two men of this nature appearing to Israel during this time.  Also, signs associated with their ministry reflect back on signs performed by Moses and Elijah [Revelation 11:6].)

(For additional information on “signs” in the preceding respect, refer to the author’s three pamphlets, “Signs, Wonders, Miracles 1.pdf, 2.pdf, 3.pdf.”)

(Scripture sometimes has near and far fulfillments of events in the preceding respect.  Note Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:15 for example — “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.”  The prophecy in Hosea is clearly about Israel, God’s firstborn son, at the time of the Exodus.  In Matthew though, the prophecy was fulfilled by God’s other firstborn Son, at the time He was removed from Egypt as a child.)

(For information concerning when the Day of the Lord begins, which will follow the Tribulation and Christ’s return, refer to Chapters 4, 5 in the author’s book, in this site, The Time of the End BOOK.

“The great and dreadful day of the Lord” would refer more specifically to that time when Gentile world power is destroyed following Christ’s return [Joel 2:1-11, 30-32; 3:1-16].)

(At the end of their ministry during the Tribulation, Moses and Elijah will be slain.  And this may very well be the time when Antichrist breaks his covenant with Israel and turns against the Jewish people in all his fury, as seen in Matthew 24:15ff  [cf. Revelation 11:13].  Three and one-half days following their death, Moses and Elijah will be raised from the dead and will be removed into the heavens, awaiting Christ’s return three and one-half years later.)

(For additional information on Moses and Elijah, When Christ Returns, refer to Chapter 4 in this book.)

(Refer to The Seven Jewish Festivals in this site for a brief outline of these events, which, as all other events between Christ’s return and the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom will evidently occur during the seventy-five-day period mentioned at the end of the book of Daniel.)

Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:4-6)

1) The nations, under the Assyrian (the Beast, the Antichrist) ruling the world in that day.

2) Israel, scattered among these same nations.

And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.

But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:11-13)

. . . Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?  (Revelation 6:16-17).

(Note that Scripture is quite often structured in the preceding manner, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation [e.g., the first thirty-four verses of Genesis cover the whole of Scripture in a skeletal framework;  then commentary is provided, adding the sinews, flesh, and skin; or, in the book of Revelation, note that Revelation 1:10-11 and Revelation 4:1-2 describe exactly the same scene;  or that Revelation 10:1-7 and Revelation 16:17-21 describe exactly the same end].

Refer to the author’s book, The Time of the End BOOK, in this site, where this structure of Scripture, as seen particularly in the book of Revelation, is discussed different places.)

(God’s power, of course, could easily have overridden the Assyrian’s power in history, as will be the case with the Assyrian’s power in prophecy as well [that is, God could have simply removed His people/can one day simply remove His people through divine power, regardless of the Assyrian’s attitude, with that being the end of the matter].

But that is all beside the point.  God has chosen to exhibit His power after another fashion entirely.  God has chosen to bring matters to pass His way, through His means, resulting in an even greater manifestation of divine power [cf. Exodus 9:15-16; Revelation 17:16-17].)

. . . Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” (Exodus 4:22-23)

(Ref. the author’s book, in this site, The Time of the End BOOK, Chapters 16-19 for information on the completion of God’s judgment upon the kingdom of the future Assyrian after the preceding fashion.)

Numbers in Bible Defined
By Bible Study Organization

• The Number One

There can be no doubt as to the significance of this primary number. In all languages it is the symbol of unity. As a cardinal number it denotes unity; as an ordinal it denotes primacy. Unity being indivisible, and not made up of other numbers, is therefore independent of all others, and is the source of all others. So with the Deity. The great First Cause is independent of all. All stand in need of Him, and He needs no assistance from any. "One" excludes all difference, for there is no second with which it can either harmonize or conflict.

• The Number Two

We now come to the spiritual significance of the number Two. We have seen that One excludes all difference, and denotes that which is sovereign. But Two affirms that there is a difference -- there is another; while One affirms that there is not another!

This difference may be for good or for evil. A thing may differ from evil, and be good; or it may differ from good, and be evil. Hence, the number Two takes a Two-fold coloring, according to the context.

It is the first number by which we can divide another, and therefore in all its uses we may trace this fundamental idea of division or difference.

The Two may be, though different in character, yet one as to testimony and friendship. The Second that comes in may be for help and deliverance. But, alas, where man is concerned, this number testifies of his fall, for it more often denotes that difference which implies opposition, enmity, and oppression.*

* Like many other words; e.g., the verb "prevent" meant originally for one to get before another. But because whenever one man got before another it was always to the hindrance and hurt of that other, the word gradually took on the meaning to hinder, and thus testifies of man's fall. So with the word simple: it meant originally sincere, open, honest. But in man's judgment, anyone who so acts is a fool. Hence, man soon came to use the word simple as denoting a very foolish person! So in the French with the word chef, which means "chief." But as man makes "a god of his belly" he who can best gratify its lusts has a unique claim to this word.

• The Number Three

In this number we have quite a new set of phenomena. We come to the first geometrical figure. Two straight lines cannot possibly enclose any space, or form a plane figure; neither can two plan surfaces form a solid. Three lines are necessary to form a plan figure; and three dimensions of length, breadth, and height, are necessary to form a solid. Hence three is the symbol of the cube -- the simplest form of a solid figure. As two is the symbol of the square, or plane contents (x2), so three is the symbol of the cube, or solid contents (x3).

Three, therefore, stands for that which is solid, real, substantial, complete, and entire.

Three kingdoms embrace our ideas of matter -- mineral, vegetable, and animal.

When we turn to the Scriptures, this completion becomes Divine, and marks Divine perfection or completeness.

Three is the first of four perfect numbers.

• Three denotes divine perfection;

• Seven denotes spiritual perfection;

• Ten denotes ordinal perfection; and

• Twelve denotes governmental perfection.

Four is the number of the great elements—earth, air, fire, and water.

Four are the regions of the earth—north, south, east, and west.

Four are the divisions of the day—morning, noon, evening, and midnight. Or in our Lord's words, when He speaks of His coming at evening, midnight, cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35). We are never to put off His coming in our minds beyond tomorrow morning.

Four are the seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

Four are the great variations of the lunar phases.

1. Father 

2. Son 

3. Spirit 

4. Creation

5. Redemption favor

Seven occurs 287 times, or 7 x 41.

"Seventh," the fractional part, occurs 98 times, or 7 x 14.

"Seven-fold," occurs 7 times.

"Seventy" occurs 56 times, or 7 x 8.

"Seventy," in combination with other numbers, occurs 35 times, or 7 x 5.

God’s Word is true, which confirms that upon faith in Christ,
He, by means of the Holy Spirit, permanently indwells us
and will most assuredly use us,
as we become increasingly under His control
(also known as being “filled with the Spirit”
[Ephesians 5:18], comparable to letting the “word of Christ”
dwell in us [Colossians 3:16]
as we “walk in Him” by faith [Colossians 2:6]). 
This is a position given to us by the grace of God
and is to be simply believed, apart from any emotion. 
We indeed are emotional beings, but as for what God has said,
we must simply believe and proceed on that basis;
not on how we feel about the matter. ~ Charles Strong

This site author believes the first judgment, of all saved, dead and alive, occurs at the end of the rapture at the Judgment seat of Christ, where Christ determines who of the saved receive the soul aspect of salvation as opposed to who of the saved suffer loss.  The second is the sheep and goat judgment, which is another judgment of the saved.  Never are saved and unsaved judged together.  The third is the Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved at the end of the millennium.

Great White Throne Judgment
By Got Questions

The great white throne judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15 and is the final judgment prior to the lost being cast into the lake of fire. We know from Revelation 20:7-15 that this judgment will take place after the millennium and after Satan, the beast, and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-10). The books that are opened (Revelation 20:12) contain records of everyone’s deeds, whether they are good or evil, because God knows everything that has ever been said, done, or even thought, and He will reward or punish each one accordingly (Psalm 28:4; 62:12; Romans 2:6; Revelation 2:23; 18:6; 22:12).

Also at this time, another book is opened, called the “book of life” (Revelation 20:12). It is this book that determines whether a person will inherit eternal life with God or receive everlasting punishment in the lake of fire. Although Christians are held accountable for their actions, they are forgiven in Christ and their names were written in the “book of life from the creation of the world” (Revelation 17:8). We also know from Scripture that it is at this judgment when the dead will be “judged according to what they had done”
(Revelation 20:12) and that “anyone’s name” that is not “found written in the book of life” will be “thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).

The fact that there is going to be a final judgment for all men, both believers and unbelievers, is clearly confirmed in many passages of Scripture. Every person will one day stand before Christ and be judged for his or her deeds. While it is very clear that the great white throne judgment is the final judgment, Christians disagree on how it relates to the other judgments mentioned in the Bible, specifically, who will be judged at the great white throne judgment.

[Note:  The author of this website believes the first judgment, of all saved, dead and alive, occurs at the end of the rapture, at the Judgment seat of Christ, where Christ determines who of the saved receive the soul aspect of salvation as opposed to who of the saved suffer loss.  The second is the sheep and goat judgment, which is another judgment of the saved.  Never are saved and unsaved judged together.  The third is the Great White Throne Judgment of the unsaved at the end of the millennium.]

Some Christians believe that the Scriptures reveal three different judgments to come. The first is the judgment of the sheep and the goats* or a judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31-36). This takes place after the tribulation period but prior to the millennium; its purpose is to determine who will enter the millennial kingdom. The second is a judgment of believers’ works, often referred to as the “judgment seat [bema] of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). At this judgment, Christians will receive degrees of reward for their works or service to God. The third is the great white throne judgment at the end of the millennium (Revelation 20:11-15). This is the judgment of unbelievers in which they are judged according to their works and sentenced to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire.

Other Christians believe that all three of these judgments speak of the same final judgment, not of three separate judgments. In other words, the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 will be the time that believers and unbelievers alike are judged. Those whose names are found in the book of life will be judged for their deeds in order to determine the rewards they will receive or lose. Those whose names are not in the book of life will be judged according to their deeds to determine the degree of punishment they will receive in the lake of fire. Those who hold this view believe that Matthew 25:31-46 is another description of what takes place at the great white throne judgment. They point to the fact that the result of this judgment is the same as what is seen after the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11-15. The sheep (believers) enter into eternal life, while the goats (unbelievers) are cast into “eternal punishment”
(Matthew 25:46).

Whichever view one holds of the great white throne judgment, it is important to never lose sight of the facts concerning the coming judgment(s). First, Jesus Christ will be the judge, all unbelievers will be judged by Christ, and they will be punished according to the works they have done. The Bible is very clear that unbelievers are storing up wrath against themselves (Romans 2:5) and that God will “give to each person according to what he has done” (Romans 2:6). Believers will also be judged by Christ, but since Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us and our names are written in the book of life, we will be rewarded, but not punished, according to our deeds. Romans 14:10-12 says that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and that each one of us will give an account to God.

Got Questions - Great White Throne Judgment

• Three denotes divine perfection;
• Seven denotes spiritual perfection;
• Ten denotes ordinal perfection; and
• Twelve denotes governmental perfection.

Every person's life, including all of his ministry, is going to pass through the fire. There's a lot of public ministry that's going to go down in flames on that day, my brothers. The fire is going to take the big showy life of every man and burn it until only a bunch of ashes is left.

The following is a suggested reading by Carol Miller, The Trickster's Lovely Consort Queen.

The Judgment Seat of Christ
By Leonard Ravenhill of Ravenhill Org.

"..for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ."  (Romans 14:10)

I want to tell you a story about when I was a young boy going to school. You know, I didn't mind school too much, but in those days I was very envious of the school Captain. His name was Renton, and he sat just across the aisle from me. He was the best soccer player in the school and that's what I wanted to be. He was the best at cricket, and I liked cricket. He was the best runner we had, and I liked running. He was not only an excellent athlete, but a very good artist as well. And on top of all that, he was the smartest guy in the whole school.

If I could ever save up my stomachaches, I'd save them until the day before the final exam. But my mother was smart. She knew I was saving them up. I don't know how she knew, but she always did. I'd get up that morning and say, "Oh mother, I don't feel good at all. I think I should stay home today." But she'd always say, "You can stay home tomorrow - but not today." But staying home tomorrow wouldn't do me any good because today was the day of the final exam. Today was the day of judgment!

I know Renton never felt like that because whenever we had a test, as soon as the questions were put down on the board, he would get his paper and dash through them. He was through the first two or three subjects before I'd even gotten the thing read. He and another fellow used to say, "Oh boy, exams!" They knew they'd be first and second in the class when the grades came out, and so they were excited about taking the test. Final exams didn't scare them. These boys were always at the top. They were not afraid of the Day of Judgment. They were not afraid - because they were prepared for it.

QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.  According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it.  For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.  (1 Corinthians 3:9-13)

The above scripture is talking about the day all believers will stand before the Lord. When every follower of Jesus will account for his life and his deeds before all of heaven itself. Notice what it says very carefully, "...the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." Not how much work, but rather what kind of work. Not the quantity but the quality. This scripture is speaking of your whole life's work. In other words, your life's work can be wood or hay or straw -- or it can be silver, gold, or costly stones. And on that day, the fire will put it to the final test. What fire? The Bible tells that God is love, but it also tells us that He is a consuming fire as well. (Hebrews 12:29)

Paul continues by saying, "If any man's work which he had built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:14-15) This illustration would be extremely significant to the people of Corinth that Paul was speaking to, because not too long before this was written, their whole city was devastated by fire. They all knew firsthand what damage fire could do. When the fire swept through Corinth, every house that was built out of wood, hay, or straw, was devastated and left in ashes. But the more wealthy people there had houses built with beautiful pillars of granite, and some even had houses built totally out of marble. These houses made of costly stones were still standing after the fire swept through, though they were obviously very badly scorched.

YOUR LIFE INVESTMENT

Let's visualize it another way. One man is given $10,000 and he invests it in wood - maybe some lovely mahogany. So this man's entire life work is made out of wood. It's very beautiful, but when the fire goes through it, what do you have? All you have is ashes, maybe up to your ankles, and that's all there is left. The next man is given $10,000 and he invests it in hay. Another man given the same amount invests all of it in straw. Does that sound foolish? Well, people do it every day. Why? Because if you put $10,000 into hay or straw, it looks like you are getting a lot for your money. You could probably buy half the straw in Texas for $10,000, but, boy, you're going to have a mess when the fire gets to it. Instead of ashes to your ankles, or ashes to your knees, it'll be up to your nose maybe. But that's what some lives are going to be like: wood, hay, stubble - then ashes.

Now let's look at a few people who made much wiser investments. There's a man over here who has $10,000, and he invests it in gold. (He won't get much at $400 an ounce, will he?) The next man invests $10,000 in silver, and another man invests the same amount in costly stones. Each of the six men I've just spoken of had the same amount of money, but they all chose different things to invest it in. Now, we are talking about your life's work. Do you get the picture? Our whole life, from the very moment we begin to witness for Christ, including all of our service and our labor for Him, is going to be tested by fire. We must be very careful to make wise investments, or in the end, all that will be left is ashes.

ETERNAL VALUE

Will our life's work stand the test of the fire when we come before the Lord? Will it have lasting eternal value - or will it end up in ashes? There's an interesting difference between wood, hay, straw - and gold, silver, and costly stones. Wood, hay, and stubble are found above the ground. They catch the eye, just like many people's ministries do. They are quite plentiful and easy to find. On the other hand, silver, gold, and precious stones are found below the ground. Nobody sees them - again, like many people's ministries. They're not just lying around in a field somewhere for anyone to pick up. They are much harder to come by; in fact, it takes a lot of hard work to get them. That's why they are so expensive. They are of much higher quality than many other things, and much more rare too. Again, it's the quality, not the quantity that sets their value. Many things are difficult in the Christian life, but we should desire to acquire those things which will hold their value, not only on earth, but in heaven as well.

MINISTRY AND MONEY

Every person's life, including all of his ministry, is going to pass through the fire. There's a lot of public ministry that's going to go down in flames on that day, my brothers. The fire is going to take the big showy life of every man and burn it until only a bunch of ashes is left. I'm tired of seeing these fellows begging for money on television. I believe every dime that comes into any ministry will need to be answered for before the Judgment Seat of Christ one day. Jesus talked about these men who'd go and take widows' houses. (Luke 20:46-47) Well, that's what many are doing now. And they're not satisfied that you give while you're living, they ask you to hand over your house and all the rest to them in your will. They're going to give an account to God in that day, but I believe we're also going to give an account.

A brother was telling me this week that when he got baptized and went down into the water, he suddenly realized that he had his wallet in his pocket. Not many wallets get baptized! We kind of say, "Lord, You look after my sins. I'll look after the rest." You'll give an account to God for every penny you've earned since you became the property of Jesus Christ. He doesn't just take your sins - He takes all of you.

Oh yes, many may want to get filled with the Holy Ghost and get a bank balance, but how many of you are big enough to say, "Lord, in this crucial hour in human history, let me fill up with the sufferings of Christ"? Can He share His sorrow with you? Are you prepared to challenge demon power and say, "Listen, I've moved into the place where the Apostle Paul was when he said, I glory in tribulations and necessities and reproaches'"? Watch out though, because if you're going to get mature in God, all the dwarfs around you will criticize you and sneer at you and say, "Trying to be holier than the rest of us, huh? So you don't have time for basketball or going to see a baseball game?" No, maybe you don't, but that's nobody's business but yours and God's.

Do you get so near to the heart of God that you share His grief over the world and over the backslidden church that we have today? One of the most famous preachers in the country recently called at nearly midnight and said, "I've come to this conclusion: God Almighty has already taken His hand off America - for the simple reason that we've had so much light and we've rejected it!" It's not only true that we live in a world of bankrupt politics, we live in a world (this is the most tragic part of all) of a bankrupt church.

WILL CHRISTIANS BE JUDGED?

I heard a woman say not long ago, "Well, praise the Lord. I'm glad I don't have to account for anything when I go to heaven. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Wait a minute, you can never isolate a scripture by itself. There's no condemnation for our past sins, and I'm sure we are all mighty glad of that. But God was always saying to Israel, "Remember when thou wast a bondsman in Egypt...remember your sin...remember your iniquity."

You might say, "It doesn't say the Christians are going to be judged out of the books." Yes, I think it does. Where? In Malachi (Malachi 3:16). It says that God has a Book of Remembrance, and I think it would do you good before you go to bed every night this week to ask God, "What did You put in Your book today for my life?" It doesn't have to be some outward act. You can worship God on a tractor. It may not be the best way, but you can do it.

The Bible says that "we shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ" (Romans 14:10 KJV). I think that scripture means just what it says.

THE HOLY DEAD

A hymn writer says,

"From earth's wide bounds and ocean's farthest coast, through gates of pearl, stream in a countless host, singing Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Hallelujah."

All the saints of all the ages are going to be there. There's another old hymn and probably not very many of you could recite it, but I'll bet most of you know the chorus: "Oh, when the saints go marching in." You know, they dance to that every night down in New Orleans. They shuffle their feet along Bourbon Street and have a great time, but that song is not for them, it's for the REDEEMED. It says, "When the saints go marching in." The saints will march into heaven in a multitude which no man can number.

I can't wait to see all the saints of all the ages. Man, I'll be thrilled to look at Isaiah and Jeremiah and those major and minor prophets. We'll be looking around and saying, "Hey, there's Abraham. I didn't think he'd look quite like that." But he's going to be there, all right. And just think of seeing Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and everybody in Acts. Won't it be wonderful to see those men who walked with Jesus!

Let's think about Paul for a moment. He gave his intellect to God. He wrote about 14 epistles and traveled all over Asia Minor. He was lashed at the post 195 times. He was in weariness, and fastings, and pain, and tribulation, and distress, and famine, and nakedness. He was subjected to false brethren and to perils of the deep. What do you think his reward is going to be for living a life like that?

GRACE is free, but REWARDS are not free.

You might say, "But you're talking about works." Sure I am - because God did. Jesus did!

COSTLY STONES

Silver, gold, precious stones. What are the precious stones? When I read that, I think of the breastplate that was on the priests in the Old Testament. It was divided by four rows of stones - three stones in each row. Each stone was different. Each stone stood for the name of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. The priest wore the breastplate over his heart as he went into the Holy Place to pray for the sins of the people. How do you handle this? Do you enter the holiest place of all to make intercession for the sins of the people? Do you enter into intercession at all? This is only possible through the blood of Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Intercession is our job now. We don't need to send a priest into the Holy of Holies. We can go ourselves! The New Testament tells us that we are all priests - that we are a part of the Royal Priesthood (I Peter 2:9). Do you wonder why the world is poor and sick outside? Because we really don't know how to pray, that's why! Because we're satisfied that we've left our lousy living and we don't drink or lust or damn ourselves every day. We're Christians now...and we're so content and so happy and so satisfied.

SILVER

The silver ... what is the silver? I guess you can interpret it in different ways. But I like to think of the scripture in the book of Proverbs that says,

"The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver" (Proverbs 10:20). I believe that the silver may signify the words that we speak. I believe that God has an eternal record of every word we have spoken since we've been saved. That may be embarrassing. Oh, we won't be ashamed of the good things we've said, but what about our idle words? You know, the gossip, the slander, the criticism, the prejudice. What about the time when somebody upset you and instead of being quiet, you just spilled out everything that was on your heart at that moment? And can you think of all the awesome words we've preached to thousands of people over the years? We're going to answer for every word - and the fire is going to be put to them. Will they be wood, hay, or stubble - or will they abide the fire?

GOLD

What is gold a sign of? I believe it's a sign of our devotion to God. If I could have a small melting pot here, I'd put your $10,000 worth of gold in it and melt it down. What happens when you burn gold? Nothing! It just changes from solid to liquid, but you don't reduce it. Can you see all the saints standing in heaven? And there's Leonard Ravenhill - standing before Christ whose eyes are filled with holiness. The whole place is breathing holiness. There in the presence and the majesty of an awesome God, the record of my poor life is read before all the saints of all the ages. And He puts the fire to my devotional life. Am I just a good showman? I sure like to preach because God called me to preach. I don't care how I preach, and I don't care whether you believe me either. I'm not responsible for that. I preach out of my heart all I believe, and I'd die for it. But say, am I just a showman? What's my secret life like?

I've said it many times and I'll say it again - no man is greater than his prayer life. I don't care how big his organization is. Let me live with a man awhile and share his prayer life, and I'll tell you how tall I think he is, or how majestic I think he is in God. What's your devotional life like right now? Would you like Gabriel to hand down the book of your devotional life for the last month so it could be read out loud at church this Sunday? The gold is going to be tried through our devotional life.

GREAT MEN OF PRAYER

You'll discover this: The men that have been the most heroic for God have been the men with the greatest devotional life. America has produced some of the greatest prayer warriors in the world. John Hyde was one of them. I knew someone who had prayed with him, and they said it was just awesome when this man went into prayer. There's a little book out on him called "Praying Hyde" that would be well worth your reading.

Edward Payson, better known as praying Payson of Portland, was another great prayer warrior. He used to kneel at the side of his bed and pray, and pray, and pray. When they washed his body for burial, they found great big pads on his knees like a camel has. Tradition says that James had camel's knees, but it's a living fact that Payson had them. When they were washing him, somebody said, "What abnormal knees. They're heavy with callouses." That's because he used to pray at the side of his bed with energy - and he wore two grooves about six or seven inches long into that hard floor where he used to pray and make intercession.

One day I was in the Bible School of Wales and there was dear Mrs. Rees Howells. (Her husband was dead now.) We stood on the terrace and she turned and said, "Do you see the room there?" I said, "Yes, I see that room." "That door?" "Yes." "Daddy (meaning her husband) went through that door at six o'clock in the morning and he stayed there until six o'clock at night every day for 11 months except the one day that his mother died."

Let's preview eternity and look at all the apostles and all the saints of all the ages. Look, there's Charles Finney with his amazing revivals. There's William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. There's John Wesley. Here are all the great heroic figures we've all read about, and they are all watching while the book is handed down and somebody's going to read the record. Would you volunteer and say, "Well, I'll be happy to read my record to this multitude"?

Suppose I say, "Gabriel, hand me the record for the year of 1724." When I open the book to that year and go to the "B's," I find the name, David Brainerd. He was a young American who died at the age of 28. All he possessed was a cowhide that he wore with a rope tied around it. He used to ride over the Susquehanna River to follow the Indians. David had a severe case of tuberculosis and only weighed about 95 pounds. I remember reading his diary once. He said, "I got up this morning and the Indians were still committing adultery and drinking and beating their tom-toms and shouting like hell itself. I prayed from a half hour after sunrise to a half hour before sunset. There was nowhere to pray in the Indian camp. I went into the woods and knelt in the snow. It was up to my chin." No, he didn't have a heater with him or anything else. He was just there in the frigid snow, tuberculosis and all. He continued, "I wrestled in prayer until a half hour before sunset, and I could only touch the snow with the tips of my fingers. The heat of my body had melted the snow." What amazing intercessory prayer!

Well, God pity us. We can't even get people into our churches to pray, and we have velvet cushions on the seats and nice stuff on the floor so our darling little knees won't get hurt. David Brainerd, Praying Payson of Portland, John Hyde, and Rees Howells - when God puts the fire to their devotional life, I don't think there will be anything lost. It won't be wood, it won't be hay, and it won't be stubble.

TRUE JOY

I'm embarrassed to be part of the Church today because I believe it's an embarrassment to a holy God. Most of our joy is clapping our hands and having a good time and then afterwards we talk all the nonsense of the world. We're overboard on laughter and happiness. There's an old saying in the world, "Laugh and the world laughs with you." I change it and say, "Laugh and the Church laughs with you, but weep and you weep alone." Because there isn't enough real joy in the house of God, we need entertainment. Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. Because there isn't enough power in the house of God, people are always looking for something to take its place. We point the finger at the world, but we need to turn to the Church and say we'd better all get sackcloth and ashes and humble ourselves and say "Almighty God!" When I see the Church in the New Testament, they didn't have stately buildings or paid evangelists or a lot of money. (They couldn't get on television and beg!) But I'll tell you what they did - they turned the world upside-down!

Have you ever seen the little plaque that reads, "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last?" Well, that's not what the poet wrote. The poet wrote this: "Only one life, 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last. And when I am dying, how happy I'll be, if the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee." Do you think all Christians die happy? Not on your life! Some of them die as miserable as sinners. Why? Because they've misused their time and wasted their lives. Many of you have laid dying on a hospital bed and prayed, "Lord, if You would only spare me, I'll do this, that, or the other." Well, have you done it?

I discovered this poem the other day and I want to share it with you.

His Plan For Me
When I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ 
And He shows His plan for me, 
The plan of my life as it might have been 
Had He had His way - and I see 
How I blocked Him here, and checked Him there, 
And I would not yield my will, 
Will there be grief in my Savior's eyes, 
Grief though He loves me still? 
Would He have me rich and I stand there poor, 
Stripped of all but His grace, 
While memory runs like a hunted thing, 
Down the paths I cannot retrace. 
Lord, of the years that are left to me 
I give them to Thy hand 
Take me and break me and mold me, 
To the pattern that Thou hast planned! 

       ~Author known only to God

The only thing that will tie me in victory continually, through the blood of Christ, is that I give Him my adoration and my tribute every day. It's more than my service. It's more than giving money. But I need to love Him, magnify Him, and adore Him. I need to take Him, as it were, by the feet and worship Him. If we will do this, then we will experience real joy and lasting happiness.

CROWNS, CROWNS, CROWNS!

I don't believe there will be any envy in heaven, but I could remind you that there are at least five crowns to be given in reward. Paul says the Lord will give him a crown of righteousness, which he says the Lord will not only give to him, but to all those who love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). There's a crown for the martyrs - those who have died and those yet to die. Crowns, crowns, crowns! We won't all be the same in heaven. There will be great distinctions there. When you see a political convention, you see people holding up signs from California or somewhere. Well, maybe there will be signs in heaven. "These are the Prayer Warriors." "These are the Great Sufferers." "These are the Travailers." "These are the Missionaries." "These are the Failures." All kinds of people are going to be listed in that Great Day. There will be great distinctions between people in heaven.

There was a little woman in Ireland who had two shops. She paid all the family expenses with what she made from one shop and she saved all the money that came in from the other shop for missions. She ended up sending four of her children to the mission field and she financed each one of them. Man, she's going to have a reward some day, isn't she? Because she was doing it as unto Him!

Take a look at the dying thief. Oh, he'll be in heaven all right because Jesus said he would - but he wasted his life. Then look at John Wesley for example. He was saved soundly when he was 35 years of age, and he served the Lord for the next 53 years. You couldn't think that the dying thief, a man who got in at the last tick of the clock, is going to have the same reward as John Wesley, could you? Wesley made an awful lot of money. Do you know what he did with it? He built orphanages and churches. He printed Bibles and hymn books. There was no time wasted in his life. He was methodical and systematic. He went to dinner with the greatest man in English literature and the man said, "Now you've finished dinner, let's fold our legs under the table and have a nice time of conversation." Wesley said, "I'm sorry, I have to go." "But it's not yet nine o'clock, why are you going?" Wesley said, "I have an appointment in the morning at four o'clock." "At four o'clock tomorrow morning?" "Every morning of my life," he said. "With whom?" "With God." He disciplined his life. He disciplined his body in eating. He disciplined his hand in his pocket. He'll stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ...an awesome prospect for any of us. "We ought to live every day as though we've come out of another world into this world - but with the power of that world still upon us. We should live and speak and move in that power, and have our whole being in Jesus Christ!"

THE FRAGRANCE OF WORSHIP

I heard the story for years, about the woman who came to Jesus with an alabaster box of ointment, before I understood it - before I realized that she came for one reason only. She came to worship Jesus. How do I know? Because she brought the most sacrificial gift she had and because she never said a word while she was there. How do I know? Because she didn't wash His feet with water, but with her tears. She didn't dry His feet with a towel, but she dried His feet with the hair of her head. And she poured out that costly fragrance and then wiped His feet. So what happened? The fragrance she poured out on Him came back on her.

Do you wonder why your life isn't more fragrant? It's because you don't take time to be holy. You don't take time to be with Jesus. Because you think all the knowledge you get at Bible school is enough. Oh no, God isn't going to measure your intellect. He's going to try your life with His fire. Did you get up this morning and thank God you were pure? Did you thank Him that He broke that devilish fever you used to have for sniffing cocaine or something? Are you really glad you're not a prostitute anymore, but now you're a part of the Bride of the Lamb instead? Are you glad He removed your bad temper and all those creepy horrible things that used to master you?

I think again of a statement A. W. Tozer made to me once. He said, "Len, you know, we'll hardly get our feet out of time into eternity that we'll bow our heads in shame and humiliation. We'll gaze on eternity and say, 'Look at all the riches there were in Jesus Christ, and I've come to the Judgment Seat almost a pauper.'" For God had not only given us Jesus Christ - He has with Him freely given us all things (Romans 8:32).

A DIFFERENT PEOPLE

I remember crossing a square in the city of Bath in the 1940s. I saw two very fine young ladies - well, one was a young lady and the other was only a girl. They were beautifully dressed and as they marched across that square I thought, "There's something different about those girls." Then I discovered that they were princesses. It was our present Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, and her sister, Margaret. They were part of English royalty, and you know, there was a dignity about them very different from anybody else who walked there. Well, as Christians, we are part of GOD'S Royal Family, and it should be evident to all that we meet that we are a different type of people. If we can't live as a different people on this earth, we've no right to live here. We shouldn't be affected by changing customs or changing styles or changing opinions, or whether the stock market goes up or down, or whether the clouds are gathering for war. Those things don't make any difference. We ought to live every day as though we've come out of another world into this world - but with the power of that world still upon us. We should live and speak and move in that power, and have our whole being in Jesus Christ!

BAPTISM OF OBEDIENCE

That final day is going to be awesome. Have you figured how you'll get on when you stand there? You and I will stand there alone on that day and be judged for every aspect of our lives - for our praying, our giving, our talking, and our doing. I still believe in the majesty of that eternal court, with the King of kings and the Lord of lords and the Judge of judges. You see, there's no possibility of any rehearsal, and what's more, there's no possibility of any repetition. Because, again, this is the Final Judgment, and to some God will say, "Come, ye blessed," but to others He'll say, "Depart from Me." No, it's not so simple to be a Christian after all. It's a majestic thing.

We ought to live our lives conscious of eternity - ready to be cut off at any moment. If you were to stand before the Lord at this very moment, would you like your life story read by all the millions in eternity? None of the outcasts of hell are going to be there. Won't it be wonderful - or will it? Or do you think you might shrink a bit when you hear now God used David Brainerd or John Wesley or some little washerwoman that had a life of intercession?

There's no burden too heavy, or no situation too hard for the one that you love. If we are love-controlled, love-motivated, and love- energized, it will be all right when we stand up there, because if there's anything about love - it's obedient. We need to become a people who are baptized with obedience. We need to be submissive to the total will of God, not concerned about human opinion, and not asking for more to spend on ourselves. We need to say, "Oh God, I want this life of mine to glorify You, so that when I stand in Your awesome presence," as John says, "I shall not be ashamed at Your appearing" (1 John 2:28).

Copyright (C) 1994 by Leonard Ravenhill, Lindale, Texas - Ravenhill Org.

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The Judgment Seat of Christ by Leonard Ravenhill

The following Word Document is SAFE to open and print:  The Judgment Seat of Christ by Leonard Ravenhill.docx

Also ref. the author’s book, Judgment Seat of Christ BOOK, an exegetical presentation, in this site.

To website CONTENTS Page.

Our biggest problem is not external but internal; all of us have a heart problem.

What is the Heart?
By Got Questions

First, we’ll state the obvious: this article is not about the heart as a vital organ, a muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Neither is this article concerned with romantic, philosophical, or literary definitions.

Instead, we’ll focus on what the Bible has to say about the heart. The Bible mentions the human heart almost 300 times. In essence, this is what it says:

The heart is that spiritual part of us where our emotions and desires dwell.

Before we look at the human heart, we’ll mention that, since God has emotions and desires, He, too, can be said to have a “heart.” We have a heart because God does. David was a man “after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). And God blesses His people with leaders who know and follow His heart (1 Samuel 2:35; Jeremiah 3:15).

The human heart, in its natural condition, is evil, treacherous and deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” In other words, the Fall has affected us at the deepest level; our mind, emotions and desires* have been tainted by sin—and we are blind to just how pervasive the problem is.

*[Editor's Note:  Mind, emotions and desires make up our soul, which is still in darkness.  See in this site Key of Three / Hope of Glory Class Documents LINK,  Make-Up of Man and Hope of Glory by Mark and Carol Miller.]  

 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:10).

Jesus pointed out the fallen condition of our hearts in Mark 7:21-23:

“From within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.”

Our biggest problem is not external but internal; all of us have a heart problem.

In order for a person to be saved, then, the heart must be changed. This only happens by the power of God in response to faith. “With the heart one believes unto righteousness” (Romans 10:10). In His grace, God can create a new heart within us (Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26). He promises to “revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).

God’s work of creating a new heart within us involves testing our hearts (Psalm 17:3; Deuteronomy 8:2) and filling our hearts with new ideas, new wisdom, and new desires (Nehemiah 7:5; 1 Kings 10:24; 2 Corinthians 8:16).

The heart is the core of our being, and the Bible sets high importance on keeping our hearts pure:

 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Got Questions - The Heart

To website CONTENTS Page.

Almost five hundred years ago the Reformers generally [incorrectly] saw everything as “Roman” in these three chapters — a Roman political power and a Roman Catholic religious power, often viewing the Pope as the Antichrist.

The Identity of Both the Political Power and the Harlot in Revelation Chapters/Verses 17:1-19:6
By Arlen Chitwood of Lamp Broadcast

The identity of both the political power and the harlot in Revelation 17:1-19:6 is, more often than not, associated with “Rome” --- viewing matters as “a revived Roman Empire” forming the political power, and “the Roman Catholic Church” forming a religious power within the political. However, neither identity-view is correct.

The Church has never departed from ideology coming out of the Reformation concerning the interpretation of this part of the book of Revelation. Almost five hundred years ago the Reformers generally saw everything as “Roman” in these three chapters — a Roman political power and a Roman Catholic religious power, often viewing the Pope as the Antichrist.

And, aside from viewing the Papacy in this manner (though some Christians still do today), this whole interpretative ideology has remained essentially unchanged since the time of the Reformation.

Suffice it to say, ideology associating either the political power or the harlot with “Rome” was wrong at the time of the Reformation, and it remains just as wrong today. In short, that part of Christendom following either or both parts of this interpretation has been wrong for almost five hundred years concerning that which is taught in these three chapters in the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation, as any other part of Scripture, must be understood and interpreted in the light of Scripture. Material in this book must be understood and interpreted contextually, and the entire book rests upon that which is previously revealed in the Old Testament.

Seeking to identify the political power as a revived Roman Empire has absolutely no basis in Scripture. The book of Daniel is usually referenced, but this book identifies this final form of Gentile world power as other than Roman.

And seeking to associate the harlot with the Church of Rome, as well, has absolutely no basis in these three chapters, or elsewhere in the book, or in other Scripture. In fact, the book of Revelation clearly identifies the harlot, and this identification is completely in line with and rests upon that which is previously revealed in the Old Testament.

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Bible One - Arlen Chitwood's The Time of Jacob's Trouble, Back Cover and/or The Time of Jacob's Trouble by Arlen Chitwood

Also ref. the author’s book, The Time of Jacob’s Trouble BOOK, an exegetical presentation, in this site.

The following Word Document is SAFE to open and print:  The Identity of Both the Political Power and the Harlot in Revelation by Arlen Chitwood.docx

To website CONTENTS Page.

What is an unrepentant and unconverted Israeli nation doing back in the land? And what are the ramifications of the Jewish people being back in the land under existing conditions?  Until repentance is forthcoming, God will not act.

Middle East Peace
How? When?
By Arlen L. Chitwood of Lamp Broadcast

An intractable Middle East problem faces man today, one that can only become worse and worse with the passage of time, Until…

The reason for the problem is the existence of an Israeli nation in the midst of mainly Moslem nations — a nation presently comprised of some 6,000,000 Jews who have returned to the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before it is time for the Jewish people to return.

The “Jewish people” have returned to the land in unbelief, prior to repentance, prior to their conversion, and while the house still lies desolate (Exodus 12:1ff; Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 23:37-39).

The “manslayer” (KJV: slayer) has returned to the land of her possession before Christ completes His high priestly ministry, apart from availing herself of the ransom (Numbers 35:1ff).

God, in time past, because of the Jewish people’s continued disobedience, extending over centuries of time, uprooted His people from their land and drove them out among the nations to effect repentance through persecution at the hands of the Gentiles.

And, out among the nations, the Jewish people possess a promise (seen numerous places in Scripture) that when repentance is forthcoming, God will hear from heaven and act in complete accord with His promise (cf. Exodus 1:8; 2:23-25; 3:1ff; Leviticus 26:14-42; Deuteronomy 30:1-3; 2 Chronicles 6:24-27; 7:12-14).

Until repentance is forthcoming, God will not act. God will act with respect to a deliverance of His people only after His purpose for uprooting them from their land and driving them out among the nations has been realized. God’s Word is crystal clear on the matter.

In this respect, what is an unrepentant and unconverted Israeli nation doing back in the land? And what are the ramifications of the Jewish people being back in the land under existing conditions?

The preceding is what this book is all about — not what man may think, but what Scripture has to say. Numerous facets of the matter are covered from different passages of Scripture, with a particular emphasis on the beast and the harlot in Revelation 17:1-19:6.

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The Time of Jacob's Trouble by Arlen Chitwood

Also ref. the author’s book, The Time of Jacob’s Trouble BOOK, an exegetical presentation, in this site.

Word Document:  Middle East Peace by Arlen Chitwood.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

The comparison between the companion passages of Ephesians 5:18-20 and Colossians 3:16 confirms that a Christian is “filled [controlled] with the Spirit” when “the Word of Christ dwells in him richly.”

Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
By Charles Strong of Bible One

Although the mandate of Scripture for every Christian is to be “filled with the Holy Spirit,” as seen in Ephesians 5:18b (“. . . be filled with the [Holy] Spirit”), it is a process and goal often misunderstood by Christians, both laity and clergy or student and professor alike.

There are those who believe it is a “second act” of God bestowed upon His children, much like that of being “born again [from above]” (John 3:3), the grace-gift of salvation that God bestows on any person who will “believes on the Lord Jesus Christ”(Acts 16:31) — which is to say anyone who by faith alone accepts the payment for sin that only Jesus Christ could and did pay at Calvary — and is thereby instantly and permanently “passed from [spiritual] death into [spiritual] life” (John 5:24). And once this “second act” occurs, the Christian is empowered to speak in an unknown spiritual language and/or enabled to perform miraculous healings, both unsupported by correct interpretation of Scripture.

Then there are those who believe the “filling with the Holy Spirit” is bestowed on the believer the moment he “believes on the Lord Jesus Christ,” but which can be taken from him when there is unconfessed sin in his life, also unsupported by correct interpretation of Scripture.

So the question remains, “What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?” And to properly understand the answer, one should first properly understand God’s complete plan of redemption for man, a brief outlay of such follows.

(For a comprehensive study of God’s complete plan of redemption for man [spirit, soul, and body], see Charles Strong's Bible Facts Little Understood by Christians in this site.)

The Christian life and all that pertains to it is a product of God’s grace (His unmerited favor toward mankind). God’s plan of salvation for man, unlike what many in Christendom teach, is actually a three-fold prospect, i.e., salvation of the spirit, salvation of the soul, and salvation of the body (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12).

In brief:

1. Salvation of the spirit is the one-time and never to be retracted gift of eternal life to an individual. It is totally based on the Person (Deity) and work — atoning sacrifice on the cross of Calvary — of Jesus Christ. It cannot be associated with any merit or self-effort by man. And it can only be apprehended (entered into through a “birth from above”) by faith (a genuine willful act of trust) alone. To put it succinctly, salvation of the spirit, which is normally referred to by fundamental Christianity by the general term “salvation,” is by faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 16:30-31; Ephesians 2:8-9).

2. Salvation of the soul, at times addressed insufficiently as “sanctification” within theological presentations within Christendom, and although is based on the person and work of Jesus Christ, is that part of man’s composition that represents his life lived as a Christian, which connects him to the material world, and which is adjudicated at the Judgment Seat of Christ with only millennial varieties in view (James 1:21; Hebrews 10:39; 1 Peter 1:8-9; Matthew 16:24-27; 24:13).

3. Salvation of the body, which any Christian can easily understand, takes place subsequent to his placement of faith in Christ’s finished work on the cross for his eternal (spirit) salvation. The body continues to exist in a state of degradation (i.e., death), only to be redeemed (saved) at its resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:48-54).

• The believer is baptized (immersed) into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit, which is in fact his unification with Jesus Christ. (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Acts 1:5; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27)

• The believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, i.e., the Holy Spirit in whole takes up residence within the believer. (John 14:7; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 2:27; 3:24)

• The believer is sealed with and by the Holy Spirit. This is the believer’s assurance (“guarantee”) of eternal security.** (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)

• The believer is granted one or more spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, which is/are to be used in God’s service. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

**(Aside by Pat:  The seal and the earnest [guarantee] can be likened to a real estate transaction.  The seal is similar to being qualified [opportunity] to purchase the property.  The earnest guarantees that the property is set aside waiting for your completion [closing] of the transaction! [Ephesians 1:13-14])

• Filled with/of the Spirit (Luke 1:15; 4:1; Acts 2:4; 6:3; 7:55; 11:24; 13:9, 52, Ephesians 5:18)

• Led by/of the Spirit (Luke 4:1; Galatians 5:18)

• Walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16; 5:25)

• Moved by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21)

• Walk in Christ (Colossians 2:6)

• Christ dwell [be at home or “full residence”] in your heart (Ephesians 3:17)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,

as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:1-3)

In our universe time is basically linear. We go forward at a fairly steady rate, give or take allowances for velocity and gravity. We cannot go back in time, and we cannot experience more than one instant at a time.

God and Time
By Compelling Truth - An Outreach of Got Questions

The Bible describes God's relationship to time in several places. Psalm 90:4 says, "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night." 2 Peter 3:8 says, "…with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Isaiah 57:15 says that God "inhabits eternity."

When we say things like "God is timeless" or "God has no beginning or end," we are trying to explain God in terms of a dimension by which He is not constrained. God created time.

In our universe time is basically linear. We go forward at a fairly steady rate, give or take allowances for velocity and gravity. We cannot go back in time, and we cannot experience more than one instant at a time.

God does not have this limitation. He does not live within the semi-linear timeline of our universe. He experiences every moment of time all at once. It is similar to the creator of an animated film. While the film is running, the characters experience life one cel (the sheet on which animations are drawn) at a time as it flickers past the light. But the animator lives in a dimension where all the cels exist at once, and he can view them all at will.

(Editor's note: Another similarity might be DVDs created for each and every person showing one's life from birth to eternity.  The creator can run the DVD backwards, forward, pause, etc.)

Understanding this gives us a better understanding of God's power in our lives. He was able to create the world in six days because days do not confine Him or His work (Genesis 1). He was able to choose who to save before the ages began (2 Timothy 1:9) because He created the ages. And He is able to select good works for us to do ahead of time (Ephesians 2:10) because He can see everything that will ever happen in human history and exactly how we can be the most effective to use that history to bring people to Him. When He says He has a "plan" for us (Jeremiah 29:11) that plan is based on His perfect knowledge of all of history, present, and future. When we don't trust His plan, it is the ultimate foolishness – like ignoring the advice of a perfect GPS because we think we know a better route.

God's timelessness is part of His perfection. He has no need of growth or development or any of the other benefits linear time gives us. He also has no temporal beginning or end. He has neither our need for time nor our time-related limitations, which is just another example of why we can trust Him with our short temporal lives.

(An appreciated commentary by Charles Strong of Bible One, one of my five mentors:  When one reviews the nature and attributes of God [e.g., omniscience, omnipotence, etc.], one soon realizes that God exists everywhere [omnipresence], in the past, present, and future.  Granted, beings with such limitations as we have are unable to truly understand and appreciate this concept; but then, we aren’t divine.  The fact is, God has always experienced what we are experiencing now.  I believe a key passage/verse is Isaiah 57:15, which states that God “inhabits eternity,” and eternity has no limits, before, now, or hereafter.  To be sure, and as you said, “everything that happens on earth has already happened in God’s time.”  God can simply NOT be surprised!

Also an appreciated commentary by another of my five mentors, Carol Miller of Key of Three - My Life Ministries by Mark and Carol Miller:  Marsha probably remembered to mention it to you, but if you want to study sovereignty of God and free will of man, study Romans 9 and Romans 10 back to back.  Just read along with e-Sword by Rick Myers or Blue Letter Bible with some of their good commentaries.  The classic book The Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink is awesome.  But it leaves us needing to have another book on The Free Will of Man, in my opinion, because some people can never get the two into a reasonable balance.

At times that subject is prominent in a chapter I am teaching, and I have that "railroad track" illustration that the Lord gave me to use many years ago when I taught it in Community Bible Study.

It is a railroad track consisting of two rails as the two truths that run parallel. At an up-close exposure, the two rails of the track look quite definitely stationed equidistantly apart from each other, each very firm, and they run side by side out into the distance, or future.  But when one looks at the two rails of the track as they come together out in the distance at the horizon, they are as one and are indistinguishable.  That's how God sees them. He exists in infinity and eternity and can see how they come together.  The railroad ties keep the rails apart at equidistance.   They are the many excerpts and parts of God's Word that speak of first one of those two concepts and then the other.  They are set firmly in between the two rails and they keep the two from coming together and colliding along the course of our lifetime.  The train is our life, and it must run on two tracks at once with the weight equally distributed in order to keep balanced and not turn over. If we try to run on the track of free will of man only, we will be caught up in the flesh and in striving and will become discouraged and give up, because it all depends on us and making the right choices or decisions.  If we try to run on sovereignty of God alone, we will devolve into inertia and will feel like something of a robot, and we will miss the leap of faith and all the excitement that comes from stepping out on what we believe to be God's indicated direction through the Spirit.  We have to understand and walk in both of those essential doctrines.  Then we can have peace that God is completely in control, but He is allowing us to partner with Him in this exciting adventure of faith. He is growing us to think as He thinks and move as He would move.  When we come to the end of our journey, we will see that He led us all the way.  He kept us from death when we were dying or from slipping into hell, because He always knew we would choose Him and really walk with Him if He saved us.  He knows the end from the beginning.  He helps us discover it, one railroad tie at a time, and travel straight into His arena where we will see it all just the way He always did. [This idea is original with me.  God gave it to me.])

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Compelling Truth – God and Time

Word Document:  God and Time by Compelling Truth.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

The crusades should not be referred to as the “Christian crusades.” Most of the people involved in the crusades were not truly Christians, even though they claimed to be. The name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many of the Crusaders.

The Truth About the Crusades
By eNews of K-House

Many people, including President Obama, has tried to make a “moral equivalence” argument that Christianity has been just as violent as Islam and he has to go back one thousand years to do it, back to the Crusades.

Carole Hillenbrand’s book The Crusades: Islamic Perspective - Amazon (Edinburgh University Press, 1999) sets out to sensitize Western readers to Muslim views about the Crusades, in the belief that this will lead to greater understanding between the West and Islam.

In the late 1990s a “Reconciliation Walk” was organized by a group of Christian organizations and individuals. It consisted of thousands of Christians who marched along the route of the First Crusade all the way to Jerusalem, apologizing as they went for the actions of those early Crusaders over nine hundred years earlier.

The reconciliation walkers reported that “in towns and villages, people spilled out of their houses and applauded the team as they passed.” One walker reported the response from people in Beirut:

If you did this in London or Sydney, you would expect a cynical response. The response from the people on the streets [of Beirut], particularly the Muslims, has been warm. The first word I have heard is “good.” If there were such a word as “uncynical” that [would] be the way to describe it.

Michael Karam, a Lebanese writer, painted this incident in a different hue in The Times article, “Let’s forget the Crusades”:

The Reconciliation Walkers are terribly sincere and terribly out of their depth. Their words tell us more about where they are from than where they are going… We Lebanese see them as dabblers concerned with something that has been overtaken by many other, worse horrors during the past millennium. Yet in the best Lebanese tradition, they will be received with honour, listened to, offered coffee and sent on their way.

In order to take an unvarnished look at the Crusades, one needs to look at several factors that precipitated these military campaigns by Christians.

What were the Christian crusades?

First of all, the crusades should not be referred to as the “Christian crusades.” Most of the people involved in the crusades were not truly Christians, even though they claimed to be. The name of Christ was abused, misused, and blasphemed by the actions of many of the Crusaders.

Second, the crusades took place from approximately A.D. 1095 to 1230 in response to specific actions taken by Muslims against Christian lands. The actions taken by many of the Crusaders were not Christian in any way and the Bible does not teach as a general principal that one needs to hate or kill non-believers.

Third, the crusades were responses to Muslim invasions on what was once land occupied primarily by Christians. From approximately A.D. 200 to 900, the lands of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey were inhabited primarily by Christians. Once Islam became powerful, Muslims invaded these lands and brutally oppressed, enslaved, deported, and even murdered the Christians living there. In response, the Roman Catholic Church and “Christian” kings/emperors from Europe ordered the crusades to reclaim the land the Muslims had taken.

Motives for the Crusades

The Saljuq Turkish victory over the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071, with subsequent territorial gains in Asia Minor, caused widespread consternation throughout the Christian world. The Byzantines, who had long followed a defensive strategy in their conflicts with their Muslim adversaries, looked for help from their fellow Christians. An urgent appeal for help was sent by the Byzantine Emperor to the Pope in Rome. It should be noted that relations between the Eastern and Western Christian empires had long been strained, so such an appeal points to the sense of panic felt within Christian ranks.

But there were other factors that contributed to the emergence of the Crusades. The loss of the holy sites in Jerusalem centuries earlier had been a bitter pill for Christian authorities to swallow, and they had never given up hope of recapturing the city where Jesus was crucified. Indeed, despite the loss of Jerusalem to Muslims, Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land had developed.

However, in the middle of the eleventh century, Muslim harassment of, and attacks upon, Christian pilgrims had increased in frequency. Lambert, a chronicler of the German pilgrimage of seven thousand people in 1064–65, recorded the following account:

When the pilgrims were just a short distance from Rama … they were attacked by marauding Arabs… Many of the Christians, thinking they might rely on their religion for assistance and salvation, had trusted in God’s protection rather than in weapons. They were, as a result of the first attack, brought down by many wounds and robbed.… The other Christians did their best by throwing stones … not so much to drive away danger as a desperate measure to escape imminent death.

So piety was a motivating force for such pilgrimages, as well as for certain participants in the ensuing Crusades. A belief in eternal reward justified a concept of holy war, and this proved to be a powerful attraction for many who joined the Crusades. The twelfth-century writer Guibert of Nogent clearly believed the crusading motive was primarily a quest for eternal salvation:

“What has driven our knights thither is not ambition for fame, for money, for extending the boundaries of their lands … God has instituted in our time holy wars, so that the order of knights and the crowd running in their wake … might find a new way of gaining salvation.”

Some other motives had less of a spiritual dimension. Military campaigns always brought with them promises of wealth and plunder. Motives of personal ambition also came into play, as did hopes for trading opportunities. Once again, Hallam expresses both the complexity and diversity of motives according to different groups who participated in the campaigns:

Complex though their motives were, it is easier to understand why knights joined the First Crusade than to explain the participation of hordes of peasant … The theme of Jerusalem was all-important to them. They undertook the expedition not as a military campaign but as a pilgrimage, an important feature of 11th century life.

The First Crusade (1096–99)

The First Crusade was precipitated by a statement by Pope Urban II in September 1096:

Anyone who sets out on that journey, not out of lust for worldly advantage but only for the salvation of his soul and for the liberation of the Church, is remitted in entirety all penance for his sins, if he has made a true and perfect act of confession.

Ironically, this promise of eternal reward for participating in holy war is strongly reminiscent of a similar call in the Qur’an at Sura 3:158:

And if ye die, or are slain, Lo! It is unto Allah that ye are brought together.

There are two significant differences though. First, the Christian call for holy war was made by a human pope and as such was subject to challenge by later theologians. The Muslim call to jihad, however, is cemented within the Qur’an for all time. Second, the doctrine of holy war has now largely fallen into disuse in Christian circles, whereas jihad as a military concept is still widely practiced by some Muslim groups.

Subsequent Crusades

Many crusading campaigns followed on from the first. These crusades have many aspects in common.

The Second Crusade lasted from 1147 to 1149 and was launched in response to the loss in 1146 of the Crusader principality of Edessa to Muslim attackers. Pope Eugene III called for a new crusade to recover the lost territory:

We enjoin you in the name of the Lord and for the remission of your sins … that the faithful of God, and above all the most powerful and the nobles act vigorously to oppose the multitude of the infidel … and strive to liberate from their hands the many thousands of our brethren who are captives.… We accord them that same remission of sins that our predecessor Pope Urban instituted.

Again there is a promise of forgiveness of sins associated with the campaign. This crusade ended in a failed attempt to capture Damascus.

The Third Crusade lasted from 1189 to 1192 and was launched after the fall of Jerusalem to the Muslim warrior Salah al-Din (Saladin) on October 2, 1187. Saladin’s armies had also captured Acre, Beirut, Sidon, and other prominent Christian strongholds.

Pope Gregory VIII called for a crusade on October 29, 1187, in similar terms to the calls of his predecessors. Some land was recaptured, including Acre in July 1191 after a two-year siege, but not Jerusalem. It was to remain under Muslim control for over seven hundred years.

The loss of Jerusalem and the tentative hold the Crusaders had on the recaptured land led to an increase in the frequency of subsequent Crusades.

In 1198 Pope Innocent III issued a call for a crusade to consolidate Christian territory in the Holy Land and offered an indulgence:

All those who take the Cross and remain for one year in the service of God in the army shall obtain remission of any sins they have committed, provided they have confessed them.

The resulting Fourth Crusade lasted from 1202 to 1204. From a Christian perspective this was one of the most disastrous. Events took an unexpected turn due to political intrigue and power struggles. The crusading knights eventually directed their campaign not against Muslim adversaries but against the Byzantine Empire itself, because of Western suspicion at seeming Byzantine willingness to compromise with Muslims. Constantinople was attacked and captured by Crusader forces, and a Western ruler was put on the Byzantine throne.

Pope Innocent III was furious at the conquest of Constantinople. He bitterly rebuked the papal legate who accompanied the Crusaders:

It was your duty to attend to the business of your legation and to give careful thought not to the capture of the Empire of Constantinople, but rather to the defense of what is left of the Holy Land and, if the Lord so wills, the restoration of what has been lost.…

How can we call upon the other Western peoples for aid to the Holy Land … when the crusaders having given up the proposed pilgrimage, return absolved to their homes; when those who plundered the aforesaid empire turn back and return with their spoils, free of guilt?

After such a development, subsequent crusading campaigns were tainted. Further Crusades took place, but they were unsuccessful. Little by little the various Crusader strongholds fell to Muslim armies, often with great brutality. A chronicler described a Muslim raid on Sidon (Saida) in 1253:

When [the Saracens] heard the report (a true one) that the king had sent no more than a very small contingent of good men to fortify the city of Saida, they marched in that direction.… The Saracens poured into Saida and met with no resistance, for the town was not completely surrounded by walls. They killed more than two thousand [sic] of our people, and then went off to Damascus with the booty they had gained in the town.

The year 1291 witnessed the end of the crusading venture with the fall of Acre, followed by the loss of the last remaining coastal towns.

An Assessment

The Crusades were characterized by savagery and intolerance. But it was mutual mistreatment, following on from centuries of bloody conflict, massacre, and Muslim imperial expansion. The victims of this recurring cycle of conflict were Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Likewise, the perpetrators were both Muslims and Christians.

Ancient Criticisms

Criticism of the Crusades among Christians is not a recent phenomenon. Indeed, there was a vigorous debate during the time of the Crusades, as recorded by Humbert of Romans, who wrote a response to critics of crusading in the late thirteenth century:

“There are some … who say that it is not in accordance with the Christian religion to shed blood in this way, even that of wicked infidels. For Christ did not act thus.… [But Christianity] must be defended when necessary from its enemies by the sword.”

It should be remembered that the Crusades were a link in the chain of history. They represented the response of the Christian world to the earlier Islamic expansion and to the loss of the Byzantine territories in the Middle East and North Africa. They do, of course, raise substantial moral issues, but consideration of these should not be divorced from the historical context.

For Christians, there is much to apologize for in the Crusades, but they in no way can be used to justify the brutality and carnage that is taking place in the world today in the name of Islam.

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K-House eNews by Chuck Missler - The Truth About the Crusades

Word Document:  The Truth About the Crusades by eNews of K-House.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

These passages of Scripture reveal the eager anticipation by Christian overcomers for the return of Jesus Christ, an event that will conclude their educational (child-training) process by and through the Word of God, resulting in their adoption as firstborn sons of God, possessing the right to occupy positions of power and authority alongside Christ in His millennial kingdom, the restoration of their part in the purpose (regality) for man’s creation, thus, the salvation of their souls. (Romans 8:19, 23, 25, 1 Corinthians 1:7, Galatians 5:5, Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 9:28)

Eagerly Expecting — an Overcomer’s Trait
By Charles Strong of Bible One

This article concerning the Greek word, apekdechomai (referring to an enthusiastic expectation of a coming event) is centered on the outlook that will characterize “overcoming” Christians.  Scripture speaks of the opportunity of a Christian progressing to the status of an “overcomer” in various ways throughout the New Testament; and also, defines the benefit of this achievement, but never as direct as the following passage:

Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. (Revelation 3:11-12)

It is assumed that the reader has a biblical understanding of what is to be an “overcomer” as is depicted by the Word of God, which is a Christian living a righteous life (who indeed is “filled with” [controlled by] the Holy Spirit [Ephesians 5:18], who walks “in Jesus by faith” [Colossians 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:7]) that will result in the “salvation of his soul” at Christ’s Judgment Seat, a determination that will result in his inclusion in the “Bride of Christ,” allowing him to reign and rule alongside Christ during the Messianic Era — the thousand year millennial reign of Christ over the earth.

Should the reader not have an understanding of “soul-salvation,” it is recommended that he read Salvation of the Soul BOOK, by Arlen Chitwood, in this site, that may be also found at Bible One - Arlen Chitwood's Salvation of the Soul, a portion of the website Bible One.

(To avoid any rash misconception [jumping to an incorrect assumption]) regarding the author’s view of the doctrine of redemption of man, the author of this article affirms an unswerving belief that the foundation of salvation for mankind is anchored in the grace-gift from God, the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, which may only be obtained by faith in Christ.  Furthermore, the author of this article affirms unswervingly that once a person obtains salvation by faith in Christ, such can never be retracted or nullified by man or God.

Having stated this, the reader should also understand that Scripture presents man as a tripartite being, consisting of spirit, soul, and body [1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12], and indicates that each portion/aspect of man may ultimately achieve salvation in a different manner and/or time frame.  Such is made clear in the previous recommended book reference.)

The Greek word, apekdechomai (Strong No. 553), a composite word (575, 1551), means to “expect fully, eagerly (enthusiastically, excitedly, fervently, etc.) look or wait for (something).”  Within the New King James Version of the Bible (NKJV), and when referring to the degree of expectation that should characterize a devoted Christian regarding an important facet of Christian life, the word is translated “eagerly.”  It represents an attitude that will dominate, transfix, and fervently fascinate a person each day of his life.

There are five passages of Scripture that utilize six verses, which use the Greek word,  apekdechomai, designating one who is “eagerly waiting” for a specific event, a condition that should characterize every Christian — and most certainly will if one is to be an “overcomer.”  But what is truly exceptional regarding these various passages is that they all speak of the same unique expectation — the fruition of one’s soul-salvation.

In the following passages the translation of apekdechomai in each passage has been enlarged and highlighted by the author of this article:

Romans 8:16-25

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

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.

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.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

1 Corinthians 1:4-8

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,

that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,

even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,

so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:5

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Philippians 3:20-21

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

Hebrews 9:27-28

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

These passages of Scripture reveal the eager anticipation by Christian overcomers for the return of Jesus Christ, an event that will conclude their educational (child-training) process by and through the Word of God, resulting in their adoption as firstborn sons of God, possessing the right to occupy positions of power and authority alongside Christ in His millennial kingdom, the restoration of their part in the purpose (regality) for man’s creation, thus, the salvation of their souls.

To fully understand that which Christian overcomers now eagerly anticipate (i.e., their coming firstborn status), it is recommended that the reader access, in this website, God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK, which may be viewed in its entirety.

(God presently has two firstborn Sons — Christ [Hebrews 1:6] and Israel [Exodus 4:22-23].  Christ is God’s firstborn Son through procreation [John 3:16], and Israel is God’s firstborn son through adoption 

[Romans 9:4].  And God is about to bring into existence a third firstborn son through adoption — the Church [Romans 8:14-15, 19, 23]).

“Sonship” implies rulership.  Only “sons” hold regal positions in God’s kingdom — past, present, or future.  That’s the way God established matters in the beginning, and that which God has established in this respect never changes.

Angels alone (sons of God because of creation) have ruled throughout God’s kingdom in time past (both over this earth and elsewhere in the universe).  But, with man’s creation — an entirely new order in the universe, an individual created in God’s image, after His likeness — a change in the order of rulers within God’s government was made known.  Man was created for regal purposes (Genesis 1:26-28); and, though sin subsequently entered, resulting in a ruined creation (Genesis 3:1ff), God did not and will not change His mind concerning the reason He brought man into existence (Romans 11:29).

The whole of man’s salvation has this high end in view, whether salvation past (the spiritual birth, presently possessed by all Christians) or salvation present and future (the saving of the soul, not presently possessed by Christians but awaiting realization).  Man has been, is being, and is about to be saved for a revealed regal purpose.

A new order of “sons” is about to be brought forth (Romans 8:19; cf. Hebrews 2:5).  And only then will God’s purpose for man’s creation (in the beginning) and His reason for man’s subsequent salvation (following his ruin) be realized.  (Taken from God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK in this website.)

Christian overcomers have the most exciting and fulfilling future ahead of them.  It is no wonder that each day of their temporal existence is overflowing with a most eager anticipation of coming events.

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Bible One - Charles Strong's Eagerly Expecting — an Overcomer’s Trait

Word Document:  Eagerly Expecting — an Overcomer’s Trait by Charles Strong.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

The Way of Life Summarized
By Gary Whipple of Beyond the Rapture

The “way of life” is to enter the first gate of salvation (positional grace) through faith (in Christ).

Then, through surrender of self and by a continuous faith, enter the strait gate of “standing grace” (Christ in you).

This reciprocal indwelling produces spiritual fruit in the believer’s life and qualifies him to run the race of the narrow path that leads to life (millennial life). This race can only be finished by the one who has a Christ-controlled life and whose eye is on the “mark of the prize of the high calling” (Philippians 3:13-14).

This high calling prize demands a striving on the part of the runner to “get out of the way of himself” and let Christ win the race through him. This is made possible by continuously feeding on the meat of the Word, which automatically changes the runner inwardly.

(See in this site The Metamorphosis about changing within.)

The obstacles of this race are tribulation, and temptation. They are allowed by God in order to strengthen the faith of the runner, which in turn gives patience, experience, and hope. Through this striving, it is Christ that crosses this finish line through us, and enters into the strait gate of the “bridal chamber and wedding feast.”

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Bible One - Gary Whipple's Beyond the Rapture 

Word Document:  The Way of Life Summarized by Gary Whipple.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

See God's Path to Glory Diagram, Gates and Paths, LEGAL SIZE.docx in this site.

To website CONTENTS Page.

Note: This document, which stems from specific enquiries by Christians regarding the salvation of Jews [Part 2], is presented primarily to offer a concise reply [Part 3] concerning that issue.  Nevertheless, a comprehensive understanding of the matter will largely depend on one’s acceptance and adherence to the contents of Part 1.

Redemption of Man, From Creation to Now
By Charles Strong of Bible One

Part 1 of 3

Of all the areas of doctrine covered by Holy Scripture, which are interpreted and instructed diversely by the various denominations comprising Christendom, the one propagated as the “redemption or salvation of man” is most significant. Indeed, within evangelical circles, those who strongly believe in the infallibility of Scripture, both (Old and New) Testaments, the focus on how God allows man to obtain eternal security and bliss, his eternal destiny, is considered fundamental in achieving spiritual understanding and life. Furthermore, this doctrine among Christians is unquestionably the subject of controversy and division between sincere and studious individuals and groups.

The elements of this doctrine most often center on two key biblical issues, that of “faith” (belief or trust) and “works” (acts of righteousness). Whereas one body believes “faith alone” is the crucial and only component insuring one’s path to heaven, another maintains that the answer can only be found in “faith plus works.” Then again, there are multiple positions on the direction and type of faith and works comprising man’s path to heaven, not to mention the concepts of irrevocability and/or permanency pertaining to each.

But all agree that there is no other more important doctrine in all of Scripture concerning mankind. It is the foundation of all else within God’s Word. For if one doesn’t understand and act upon the doctrine of redemption/salvation as God has put it forth in His Word, nothing else will eventually matter.

It is to this “end” (or better, to this “starting point”) and its progression — the issue of God’s redemption plan for man is significantly more complex and extraordinary, indeed more amazing and marvelous, than Christendom understands and sanctions — that this website exists and continues to enlighten those who sincerely hunger for the “meat” of the Word of God.

God’s redemption plan for man is revealed at the very beginning of God’s Holy Book, within the initial verses of the first chapter of the book of Genesis. It continues to be revealed throughout the Old Testament in various types, and is fully exposed in and by the anti-types within the New Testament. There are many reasons why Christians fail to comprehend the intricacies and components of God’s redemption plan for man, not the least of which is the incessant influence by the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Peter 5:8) over those who should advance in spiritual maturity, but instead remain in their carnal state (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

Additionally, many, if not most Christians fail to realize that man is a tripartite (3-part) being composed of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12), made in the image and likeness of God 
(Genesis 1:26-27) who is also a tripartite Being (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and that redemption/salvation affects each individual part in a different way and at a different time. Indeed, man’s redemption/salvation is a past, completed act (Ephesians 2:8-9), a present, continuous work (1 Corinthians 1:18), and a future, inherited possession (Hebrews 1:14). But until this is realized by a child of God, under the leadership and tutorage of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:13), he is destined to view the matter in limited scope, seeing only conflict and discord in many passages of Scripture that deal with the redemption of man.

And out of this conflict and discord rises the varying and differing positions regarding God’s redemption plan for man that are prolific throughout Christendom. On the other hand, if one will choose to spend the time and effort to investigate the matter, utilizing the resources available on this website while depending completely upon the one and only true Teacher of Scripture, he will most certainly come to a comprehensive understanding of God’s redemption plan as it pertains to man; one that will harmonize all passages of Scripture, one that will greatly promote spiritual growth, and one that will engender deep and genuine spiritual well-being.

To this end, this goal, the following plan is suggested.

It is recommended that the reader study the following documents (books), all of which are in-depth commentaries by Arlen L. Chitwood [Arlen Chitwood's Lamp Broadcast] and which may be drawn, in this website, in total from these website links:

Salvation by Grace through Faith BOOK

Salvation of the Soul BOOK

Redeemed for a Purpose BOOK

Let Us Go On BOOK

So Great Salvation BOOK

Mysteries of the Kingdom BOOK     

There are many other excellent books/commentaries that one may take advantage of in this study, all of which may be accessed from their links, which are posted on the homepage of the website.

In brief, the above commentaries will coherently reveal that redemption/salvation of man is composed of three aspects, addressed in Scripture as salvation of the spirit, salvation of the soul, and salvation of the body, all of which emanate from the hand of God and which prepares man for the purpose for which he was created in the first place — to rule, have dominion, over God’s creation (Genesis 1:26-28) — the purpose/goal from which man spiritually fell at his beginning.

(Man was created for a purpose that had to do with regality; and fallen man has been redeemed with this same purpose in view. Salvation has been provided for fallen man in order that God might bring man back into the position for which he was created in the beginning.

Accordingly, the gospel message, the good news seen throughout Scripture, has two facets — the good news concerning the grace of God, and the good news concerning the glory of Christ:

1) The Gospel of the Grace of God is a message dealing with Christ’s past, finished work at Calvary. It is the message of the Cross; it is a message surrounding the shedding of blood; it is a message surrounding death; and it is a message that is to be proclaimed to the unsaved — to those “dead in trespasses and sins.”

The reception of this message — man believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who died in his stead — results in eternal salvation.

2) The Gospel of the Glory of Christ is a message encompassing Christ’s present work but culminating in and dealing more specifically with His future work. It is a message surrounding present Christian living, with a view to that which lies ahead. And, encompassing Christ’s present work as High Priest, the gospel of the glory of Christ [as the gospel of the grace of God] is also a message surrounding the shedding of blood [Christ’s shed blood now on the mercy seat in the heavenly sanctuary]. But now matters surround Christ’s glory and that of bringing many sons to glory with Him.

The reception of this message — redeemed man exercising faithfulness to his calling — will result in an individual being accorded the honor and privilege of ascending the throne with Christ in His kingdom when He returns in all His power and glory.

Distinctions between the preceding two messages must be clearly understood if an individual would properly understand the whole of the salvation message in Scripture.

 [Redeemed for a Purpose BOOK])

Once the above is realized by means of a proper study of Scripture, one then will realize that the preponderance of Holy Writ pertains not so much to the eternal salvation of man (spirit-salvation), which is no less foundational and critical, but mostly about the coming kingdom of Christ and how one may participate therein (soul-salvation).

So for one to truly understand and appreciate the remainder of this document, it is strongly recommended that one read the above mentioned documents (books), all of which may be viewed in their totality from the links provided.

Part 2 of 3

Recently, the following inquiry was passed on to this writer, which relates to the salvation of the Jews, then and now.

You have said before that you would be willing to research questions that we might have. :) One came up in Sunday School yesterday that we need help with:

We are wondering about salvation for the Jews, and if it may have been possible through the sacrificial system even during Jesus' day. It would seem that they WERE saved by the blood placed on the doorposts before they came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. Yet Korah and others died for disobedience in the wilderness. So they seemed to have lost their reward and not entered the Promised Land, but were eternally saved....?

But in Jesus' century, if Paul had died before his Damascus Road experience, would he have been saved?

Another thing, In John 8:24, Jesus told the Jews, "I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins." The entire chapter 8 is about Jesus and his confrontation with the Pharisees, and Jesus seems to be saying that they are damned because they do not believe He is who He is telling them He is. If they are damned, why didn't the sacrificial system they grew up following work for their salvation?

I have asked this question of several people, and so far have only come up with a blank stare. Perhaps Charles or Arlen have some input on this, if you don't already have an answer.

Thank you so much for looking into this when you have some time.

The above generated a concise reply from Arlen L. Chitwood [Arlen Chitwood's Lamp Broadcast] which follows.

Part 3 of 3

Salvation in Scripture

All the ramifications of the different issues raised in your couple of e-mails are addressed in several of my books, mainly in From Acts to the Epistles BOOK, Bible One - Arlen Chitwood's Signs in John’s Gospel, and God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK.

All three of these books have been revised, though I’m not sure that you have the revisions for all three on your website. The first two revisions are on my site (Arlen Chitwood's Lamp Broadcast); the revision for God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK has not been uploaded to the site yet. You might have the revised version on your site though.

Covenants

[Site author's note: The seven covenants are Adamic (Genesis 3:15) [some divide Adamic into Edenic (Genesis 1:26-30; 2:16-17) and Adamic],  Noahic (2 Peter 2:5), Abrahamic (Genesis 12:1-3, 6-7; 13:14-17; 15; 17:1-14; 22:15-18), Palestinian (Deuteronomy 30:1-10), Mosaic (Deuteronomy 11 ff.), Davidic (2 Samuel 7:8-16) and New (Jeremiah 31:31-34).]

On the salvation issue in Scripture, first of all it would probably be best to forget the two divisions of Scripture (Old Testament & New Testament) and simply see Scripture as one continuous book. “Testament” is simply another way of saying “covenant” (Greek: diatheke [translated both “testament” and “covenant” in the New Testament, King James Version]; Hebrew: Berith [translated almost exclusively “covenant” in the Old Testament, King James Version]), and Scripture is not a covenant per se. Rather, all Scripture is a revelation from God to man.

Aside from the preceding, beyond Genesis 12 (Abrahamic Covenant), covenants are made with Israel (Romans 9:4). No covenant has been made or ever will be made with the Church.

The Old Covenant (Mosaic, inseparably associated with the Abrahamic) was made with Israel; and the New Covenant, replacing the Old, will be made with Israel. Both have to do with the theocracy, as do all covenants made or to be made with Israel (Davidic, Palestinian, New).

None of the covenants have anything to do with eternal salvation. All are made with a people already saved. And, in reality, all could be classed as “The Magna Charta for the Kingdom,” with the Mosaic having to do with the rules and regulations governing the people of God in the theocracy.

Creations, Sonship

Nor do “creations” — the Adamic (Genesis 1:26-28), the old creation in Jacob (new at the time [Isaiah 43:1]), or the new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) — have anything to do with salvation. Nor does “sonship” have anything to do with salvation.

(“Sonship” has to do with creation. Adam was God’s son because of creation [Luke 3:38]. This status did not change following the fall. Israel is God’s son because of creation [firstborn son because of a subsequent adoption] and remains God’s son [God’s firstborn son] today, in an unsaved state. And Christians are God’s sons because of creation as well [new creations in Christ, still separate from salvation (nothing about death and shed blood in “creation”), though occurring at the same time].

To further illustrate the point in relation to salvation, note that all angels are God’s sons because of their individual creation, and that position remained unchanged in relation to Satan and his angels following their fall [Genesis. 6:2]. All angels remain God’s sons today — fallen or unfallen.)

Nor, in the first two creations (Jew and Gentile), can a person move from one creation to the other. That is, a Gentile cannot become a Jew (he can do no more than become a proselyte); nor can a Jew become a Gentile. And the reason for that is simple: Both have to do with the physical man. That which is physical simply cannot change.

The third creation, of course, is formed from the first two. A Jew or a Gentile becomes a new creation in Christ through “belief.” And a person can move from one creation to the other in this respect because the spiritual man rather than the physical man is involved.

Believing Jews or believing Gentiles remain in their respective creations physically (that cannot change; again because it is physical), but both can become new creations in Christ — Christians — spiritually.

As well, since “the physical” is involved with Jews and Gentiles, the creation can be passed from father to son through procreation. But such cannot occur at all for Christians, for “the spiritual” is involved — a realm where man cannot operate, a realm that has nothing to do with natural procreation.

Salvation in One Book

Now, with all of that in mind, let’s look at the salvation issue in one Book, not two Testaments, for the salvation issue never changes throughout Scripture.

The whole of the matter is set forth and established in an unchangeable manner in the opening chapters of Genesis. The manner in which God would restore ruined man (i.e., “dead in trespasses and sins” 
[Ephesians 2:1]), a ruined creation, was set forth in these opening chapters of Genesis; and no change can ever occur. And the matter was established perfectly in the beginning.

The first thing we read relative to the restoration of a ruined creation is: the Spirit of God moved, God spoke, light came into existence, and God formed a division between the newly existing light and the remaining darkness (Genesis 1:2-5 [2b]). And the latter — the remaining darkness — would tell you that there is something more to the restoration of a ruined creation, foreshadowing man’s salvation, than that which is primarily seen by and through events on day one (something that is seen in events on days two through six, with a view to the seventh day).

Thus, the divine work seen on day one foreshadows God’s work pertaining to man’s eternal salvation (a beginning restoration of ruined man). And the divine work seen beyond this (in days two through six, a continuing restoration of ruined man) foreshadows God’s dealings with saved man in relation to the seventh day, which Scripture later reveals is related to the saving or loss of the soul, the life, of a man who has passed from death unto life.

But, let’s stay mainly with the work on day one. Note something though in passing. Once God had finished with His work on the first day, He didn’t go back and re-deal with anything from this day. Rather He began to deal with that which was remaining, as it pertained to the complete restoration of the ruined creation seen in that which is foreshadowed by God’s work during the subsequent five days.

Thus, exactly as in the type, God does not go back and re-deal with saved man relative to anything having occurred in his passing from “death into life” (John 5:24). Rather, He now deals with man on the basis of that which has occurred (but not relative to that which has occurred), having to do with dispelling the remaining darkness, with a view to the seventh day.

Now, moving from this initial information in Genesis 3; 4, we see several things pertaining to that which was initially occurring on day one in Genesis 1:2-5 [2b]. In Genesis 3, man falls. Now another ruined creation is involved. And how does God restore a ruined creation? The answer, of course, along with the purpose for restoration, is seen back in the opening thirty-four verses of Genesis (Genesis 1:1-34) — that which is foreshadowed by God’s restoration of the ruined material creation.

In Genesis 3 a man acts (Adam, typifying Christ 4,000 years later, partook of the fruit of the tree, bringing about the fall; Christ, in complete conformity to the type, became sin, to effect redemption [2 Corinthians 5:21]). Then a clear inference to death and shed blood are introduced later in the chapter by and through God clothing Adam and Eve with animal skins (by and through the fall they had lost the covering of Glory).

(Note again that man at this point is not placed completely back in the position that he had occupied before the fall [a restoration of the covering of Glory, which, in subsequent Scripture, is seen restored only on the seventh day].)

Then in Genesis 4, more information is added. Man, seen acting in the previous chapter, would be the one to die and shed his blood (Cain slaying Abel, Israel slaying Christ). And putting all of this together from these four chapters, the complete salvation picture is seen, a picture that never changes.

Eternal salvation is a divine work, performed by a Man (who has to be God), with death and shed blood involved. All fallen man can do is simply receive that which has been done on his behalf. Nothing more can enter into the matter.

And note again that once man passes from “death into life,” God’s dealings with man then move to that which lies out ahead. God never again deals with man relative to the salvation that he presently possesses.

In that respect, note the absurdity of saying that a saved man can lose his salvation. How could he lose something that he had nothing to do with obtaining, particularly since God is no longer dealing with him relative to the matter?

Now, I’ve spent a lot of time on this for the simple reason that these foundational truths pertaining to salvation are needed in order to understand the subject at hand — salvation as seen later in Scripture, particularly as it is seen in the camp of Israel on both sides of Calvary.

Events in Genesis 22 or Genesis 37 further illustrate and provide additional information for that which is seen in the opening four chapters of Genesis, but let’s move on to Exodus 12.

In this chapter we have that which is previously illustrated from several types in Genesis brought together in the institution of the Passover. A lamb from the flock was to die in a vicarious manner in the stead of the firstborn in the family. And a lamb dying in this manner, with the blood caught and properly applied, as the sacrifices or other types seen back in Genesis, pointed to the Paschal Lamb dying at Calvary, shedding His blood.

Now, the question: Did God recognize death and shed blood, in relation to man’s eternal salvation, in all these sacrifices throughout man’s 4,000-year history preceding the events of Calvary? Certainly He did! After all, He is the One having instituted them, with man only carrying out that which God had previously instituted.

All of these sacrifices were inseparably associated with the One actually slain before man even fell, or before one sacrifice was ever even offered. Christ was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), which takes matters back to the beginning of the restoration of the ruined earth, preceding man’s creation, in Genesis 1:2b (Revelation 13:8). In reality, all of the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed an event that God looked upon as having already occurred (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15; Isaiah 48:3ff).

At the time Christ was here on earth, the Jewish people were still sacrificing the passover lamb. In this respect, the Jewish people at Christ’s first coming could only have been just as saved as the Israelites during Moses’ day, or anyone else, having availed themselves of God’s provision during succeeding years or during the preceding 2,500 years of human history.

These Jews in view at Christ’s first coming would have been those who were having a part in the sacrifice of the paschal lambs year after year (which could only have been the nation at large, else Christ could not have come to this nation and dealt with them relative to spiritual values, offering to the Jewish nation the kingdom of the heavens).

Salvation on Both Sides of Calvary

Now let’s look at both sides of Calvary and the re-offer of the kingdom of the heavens to Israel after Christ’s ascension. Again, bear in mind that which is stated in Revelation 13:8.

(But first a word about events in John 8: Don’t try to read saved-unsaved issues into this chapter. Christ was dealing with saved Jews being brought forth from below rather than from above, doing the work of Satan rather than the work of God.

The issue in this chapter, as the issue in the book as a whole, is not eternal salvation. Rather, the issue has to do with the message being proclaimed to Israel at that time, which pertained to the kingdom.)

Question: Jews rejecting Christ, responsible for the events of Calvary, were they saved or unsaved? Then another question: If saved — which they, of course, were — did that status change once the Paschal Lamb had died, with God then no longer recognizing animal sacrifices as before, nullifying their salvation?

How could it change? God has previously established and recognized animal sacrifices in this respect; and, according to the original type in the opening two chapters of Genesis, or any other type, once the man had passed from “death into life,” God never again dealt with the person on that basis again. All of God’s dealings with the person, beyond availing himself of the blood sacrifice, were now focused on that which lay ahead, never on that which was lying behind.

Had not the status of these Jews remained the same (i.e., just as saved following Calvary as they had been before Calvary), there could have been no re-offer of the kingdom to Israel, as seen throughout the book of Acts. And had God continued to recognize animal sacrifices beyond Calvary, the re-offer of the kingdom could conceivably have continued indefinitely (as long as Israel remained in a position to, and continued to, sacrifice the paschal lambs year after year).

But, following Calvary, God recognized only the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb, not the sacrifices of paschal lambs as before. And, on the basis of Revelation 13:8, one might say that God, in reality, had recognized only the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb since before man fell, though seen and foreshadowed in all the other paschal lambs slain up to Calvary.

Thus, the re-offer of the kingdom could remain open as long as a saved generation of Jews remained on the scene (not Christians, but saved Jews [individuals still rejecting Christ; thus, they could not have been new creations in Christ). But once this generation had passed off the scene, there could be no continued re-offer of the kingdom.

The preceding is why the re-offer ceased after some thirty years (from 33 AD to about 62 AD). The saved generation of Jews was rapidly passing off the scene, leaving unsaved Jews to replace them. And that having spiritual values could not have been offered to individuals separated from spiritual values.

And, aside from the preceding, a new entity had been brought into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected.

(By way of summation, note the Jews saved on the day of Pentecost, or Paul saved enroute to Damascus. Neither account should be thought of with respect to eternal verities. Along with Jews reached throughout the book of Acts, both should be thought of in the sense of the conversion of individuals already saved, i.e., saving the saved [like past and present aspects of salvation, with a view to the future, seen in the lives of Christians today].

The preceding is evident from that which is stated in Acts 2:38 on the day of Pentecost. And it would be somewhat absurd to think of Paul, a zealous Pharisee, not having previously availed himself of God’s sacrificial provision.

Also, on another note, unsaved Jews today [and it has been this way for over 1,900 years] are looked upon exactly as unsaved Gentiles relative to eternal salvation. Both have to be saved exactly the same way — through faith in the Paschal Lamb who died — not through faith in some unknown coming Messiah, etc. The matter is exactly as stated in Acts 4:12:

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

In this respect, there are only two types of people in the world today — Saved [Christians] and Unsaved [Jews and Gentiles].)

Lake of Fire, Reason for Creation of

The lake of fire was not prepared for man. Rather, it was prepared “for the devil and his angels” [Matthew 25:41]. It was prepared for those who had rejected God’s supreme power and authority, as Satan sought to exalt his throne [Isaiah 14:13-14]. Thus, in this respect, the lake of fire is connected with regality.

And man, created to replace Satan and his angels, finds his connection with the lake of fire on exactly the same basis. Saved man, ignoring the very reason for his salvation [which is regal], will find himself associated with the lake of fire during the Millennium [an association connected with all that the lake of fire implies]. And unsaved man, ignoring salvation and the reason for man’s creation [which, again, is regal], will find himself associated with the lake of fire throughout the endless ages following the Millennium [an association connected with all that the lake of fire implies].

You may have heard that no one throughout history has had such an incredible impact upon mankind as Jesus Christ and His Holy Word.  And though this is indeed true, the reality is far greater.  No person, no system, no movement has ever offered answers and solutions to the myriad questions and mysteries that revolve around this earth, the universe in which it resides and mankind as a whole.

The Reality of God
By Charles Strong of Bible One

Is the concept of God a sane and intelligent idea?  Is God actually real?  If so, why does man not see, hear or have the ability to touch Him?  Could it be that man’s difficulty in seeing and understanding God is the direct result of man’s suppression of truth in and by his own unrighteous conduct?  The answer to this is in the affirmative, as seen in the book of Romans:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress [lit. “hold down”] the truth in unrighteousness,

because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

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,

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.

Professing to be wise, they became fools,

and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)

Upon man’s creation as is seen in the initial chapters of the book of Genesis, God allowed man to enjoy a relationship with his Creator that included some if not all of man’s senses.  Unfortunately, due to man’s suppression of truth by his rejection of God’s Word, i.e., God’s specific warning referring to “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17), God apparently withdrew man’s ability to routinely experience God by means of his senses.

Although God has chosen throughout history to allow exceptions to the above rule, man fundamentally is subject to a physical world with its four space-time dimensions of length, width, depth and time; while God continues to dwell in the spirit-realm, a dimension totally foreign to man’s physical laws and limitations.

For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy . . . .
(Isaiah 57:15a)

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24;
cf. 2 Corinthians 3:17)

Unlike man, God is not bound by space and time even though He took on these limitations when He expressed Himself in and through the person of Jesus Christ approximately 2,000 years ago.  Jesus [the] Christ, who was God (2nd Person of the Holy Trinity) in flesh, was voluntarily subject to the limitations of His physical body, including both suffering and death — but for a distinct purpose, i.e., to pay the penalty for man’s sin [specifically, “spiritual death” (i.e., separation from the Father) on the cross
(Matthew 27:45-46; Mark 15:33-34), also represented by His “physical death” at that time], to effect man’s redemption.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . .

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14)

But made Himself [Christ] of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:7-8)

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. . . .

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil . . . (Hebrews 2:9-10, 14)

But once Christ Jesus the Man passed from death to life, having effected His resurrection from the tomb, He no longer was bound by the limitations of flesh.  This was evident in His appearance to His disciples and later to Thomas and the disciples as seen in John 20:19-28, both times passing through the walls of a sealed room.  Subsequent to these supernatural visits, Christ was seen ascending through the atmosphere up to heaven before His disciples (Acts 1:9-10).  The point being is that once Christ was free of the flesh, He returned to employing those faculties that can only relate to Divinity.

You may have heard that no one throughout history has had such an incredible impact upon mankind as Jesus Christ and His Holy Word.  And though this is indeed true, the reality is far greater.  No person, no system, no movement has ever offered answers and solutions to the myriad questions and mysteries that revolve around this earth, the universe in which it resides and mankind as a whole.

Not only does Holy Scripture clearly describe the Author of all that exists, it also defines its direction and all that has relevance to it.  It tells where we came from, where we are going and the various paths from start to finish.  More than this, it provides a moral structure the likes of which far supersedes the normality of man.  And unlike all other moral or religious systems, it is solely a structure of grace based supremely on faith alone — something that could never have originated in the mind of man.

And should one strictly insist on the secular outlook regarding all that exists and which revolves around man — the extreme complexity of the human body, the enormity of empty space within each existing atom yet each holding tenaciously together, the intricacy of human kind in general and the enormity of an arranged and methodical universe — then the only logical answer for it all can only be found in God and His Holy Word.

Yes, without a doubt, God — the God of the Bible — seen visibly in Jesus Christ — is real.  And to all who by faith accept this fact, the following passage of Scripture should have special meaning:

Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

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Bible One - Charles Strong's The Reality of God

Word Document:  The Reality of God By Charles Strong of Bible One.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

The following is an excellent tool for those who desire to teach the "meat" of the Word -- the hope of glory in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The purpose surrounding man’s creation has to do with the seventh day, a seventh 1,000-year period; so does the fall, and so does redemption; and so does God’s work throughout the six days, the 6,000 years of Man’s Day.  The whole of Scripture moves toward that coming seventh day, a pattern established in the skeletal outline set forth at the very beginning.

Salvation by Faith or Works or Both
By Charles Strong of Bible One

Content:

Foreword

Within the spectrum of Christian dogma and the multiple thousands of local churches, institutions, and organizations adhering to it, there has always been disagreement as to (1) the effectual manner a person must employ to secure salvation, i.e., eternal life and (2) how secure it is once obtained.  Essentially, there are two schools of thought comprising this issue, as follows:

1) Salvation is strictly a grace-gift and can only be obtained by a decision of faith alone [to believe] in Christ alone — a position based solely upon the work of Christ upon the cross.  Once obtained, it is absolutely non-reversible by man or God.  It should also be noted that many believe that once a person declares such faith, his life will evidence “good works;” otherwise, his salvation was never valid, i.e., executed appropriately, in the first place.

2) Salvation is a process achieved by faith (often employing the confession of sins and a promise to make Christ the Leader of one’s life) and works — or in some cases by works alone — starting with one’s submission to baptism.

And this continuing process can only be completed when one passes on from this temporal life; therefore, at any time, depending on one’s conduct (works), it may be reversed (i.e., abolished, cancelled) with the possibility of being regained should one’s conduct be properly reestablished.

Where all who hold these views agree is that all persons are sinners in need of salvation, that is, unless “salvation” is achieved there is no eternal hope, as per the following:

. . . for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles] that they are all under sin. (Romans 3:9b)

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

For the wages of sin is [spiritual] death . . . . (Romans 6:23a)

But the Scripture has confined all under sin . . .(Galatians 3:22a)

Both doctrinal positions affirm that the basis for their creed is found in the Holy Bible, an enigma to be sure, since the passages of Scripture held by one school of thought appear to contradict the passages held by the other. 

Note the following passages of Scripture, which contenders of these two positions use:

1) Salvation by grace through faith.

But as many as received Him [Christ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

That whoever believes in Him [Christ] should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. . . . He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. . . . He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:15-16, 18, 36)

 And this is the will of Him who sent Me [Christ], that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. (John 6:40, 47) 

And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man [Christ] is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39)

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. . . . . being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [satisfaction] by His blood [death], through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.   Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.  (Romans 3:22-23a, 24-26, 28; cf. Romans 4:16; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 2:2; 4:10)

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him [Christ] who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. (Romans 4:2-5)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. (Romans 5:8-9; cf. 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 1:7; 3:16; 4:9-10)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23; cf. Romans 6:17, 21)

For He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son, Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Isaiah 53:6, 9, 12; Romans 5:19; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:22, 24; 1 John 3:5)

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (Galatians 2:16; cf. Galatians 3:11, 24, 26; Ephesians 2:8-9)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that [one’s salvation is] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9; cf. Ephesians 2:5; Galatians 2:16; 3:11, 24, 26; Romans 3:20, 27-28; 4:2; 9:11; 11:6; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5)

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18; cf. Romans 5:6; Colossians 1:21-22; Hebrews 9:26, 28)

The Composition of Man

Contrary to the teaching of a multitude of religious groups that recognize only two aspects (facets, parts) of man’s composition, i.e., material and immaterial (assuming the “spirit” is the same as the “soul”), God’s Word is not imprecise regarding the issue, clearly stating that man is a triune being — composed of a “spirit” and a “soul” and a “body.”

This tripartite makeup of man is plainly distinguished in the following passages of Scripture.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Although in Scripture there may be some similarities of treatment assigned to spirit, soul, heart, and mind; the student of the Word may be assured that the distinction between the “spirit” and the “soul” is never confusing, each word (spirit [pneuma]; soul [psuche]; body [soma]) when used as part of the composition of man is precisely and unambiguously utilized, as may be seen not only in the previously stated two passages of Scripture but also in the following:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. (Matthew 27:50; cf. Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30)

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59)

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39)

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)

Receiving the end of your faith — the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:9)

The first chapter of Genesis reveals that man was created in the “image” and “likeness” of God.  The word translated “God” in the Hebrew text of this statement is Elohim.  This is a plural noun, which, in complete keeping with related Scripture, would include all three members of the Godhead — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (e.g., cf. John 1:1-3).

Since Elohim is a trinity, for man to be created in the “image” and “likeness” of God, he too must be a trinity.  Unlike the dichotomous animal kingdom (created apart from the “image” and “likeness” of God) possessing only bodies and souls, trichotomous man (created in the “image” and “likeness” of God) is a triune being.  Man not only possesses a body and a soul, but he also possesses a spirit as well.

Jesus is Elohim manifested in the flesh; and having been made in the “likeness” of man (but apart from man’s fallen nature), He, as man, must also be a trinity (John 1:14; Philippians 2:7).  This tripartite nature of Christ, in whom “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), was clearly revealed at the time of His death.

At this time Jesus yielded up His spirit, which went back into the presence of His Father in heaven (Luke 23:46; cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7; Acts 7:59); His soul went into Hades, the place of the dead, housed inside the earth at that time (Acts 2:27); and His body was removed from the Cross and placed in Joseph of Arimathaea’s tomb (Matthew 27:57-61).  This threefold separation persisted until the soul and spirit re-entered the body at the time Christ was raised from the dead.

Thus, God, Elohim, is a trinity; Jesus, Elohim manifested in the flesh, is likewise a trinity; and man, created in the “image” and “likeness” of Elohim, can only be a trinity as well.  Accordingly, a complete redemption provided by the triune God must, of necessity, pertain to man as a complete being.  Man’s complete redemption must encompass spirit, soul, and body.

And to understand the complexity of God’s salvation for man, it must be understood in relation to each part of man.

The Original Language of Specific Passages of Scripture

As previously noted, the Greek words for “spirit,” “soul,” and “body” are quite distinguishable.  And in Scripture they are never confused, each conveying an interpretation and application different from the other.  Then, there is the existence of those passages of Scripture within our English translations where a translation (although possible) of these words only clouds the conveyed meaning.  For example the Greek word for “soul,” which can be translated “life” is used, as follows:

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life [Gk. psuche: soul] will lose it, but whoever loses his life [psuche] for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul [psuche]? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul [psuche]? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” (Matthew 16:24-27)

Another example of how a study of the original language, e.g., Greek, will clarify one’s interpretation of “salvation” is the actual meaning of the words normally translated “eternal life.” Note the following by Chitwood from his book, Search for the Bride BOOK:

Further, salvation associated with regality, which has to do with the earth, is dealt with in Scripture centrally in relation to one age — the Messianic Era, lasting 1,000 years [seen numerous times in Scripture, particularly in John’s gospel, as occurring on the seventh day, the earth’s coming Sabbath (the seventh millennium dating from Adam)].  At times, the ages beyond are in view, though not necessarily relative to salvation per se [e.g., in Luke 1:33, “forever” should literally be translated, “with respect to the ages”;  or in Revelation 1:6, “forever and ever” should be translated, “with respect to the ages of the ages”].

But the central thrust of that to which Scripture points is not upon the ages.  Rather, it is upon one age — the Messianic Era.  This central thrust of Scripture was set at the very beginning of Scripture, within a septenary structure established in the opening verses of Genesis [Genesis 1:1-2:3] — a day of rest following six days of restorative work, pointing to a 1,000-year period of rest following 6,000 years of redemptive work.  These opening verses set the pattern for the way in which God would structure all subsequent revelation.  And the whole of Scripture, structured in this manner, must be understood accordingly.

Salvation by grace through faith [salvation of the spirit], though it relates not only to the Messianic Era, but to all the ages beyond, is really dealt with in Scripture in a more restrictive sense.  It is dealt with in Scripture exactly the same way Scripture deals with the whole of the matter surrounding salvation, whether dealing with past, present, or future aspects of salvation.

Scripture, in accord with the septenary pattern set at the beginning, focuses issues relating to salvation [or anything else in Scripture] on the Messianic Era, the coming Sabbath of rest awaiting the people of God [Hebrews 4:1-9].

Scripture deals very sparingly with issues beyond the Messianic Era; and, accordingly, Scripture deals with the salvation issue — whether past, present, or future aspects of salvation — exactly the same way.  Scripture deals very sparingly with salvation in relation to the ages beyond the Messianic Era [eternity], though the salvation that man presently possesses extends into and covers all of these ages.

The preceding is why the thought of an age or why the Greek word for age can be used in the New Testament in connection with man’s presently possessed eternal salvation.  And this is really the case throughout Scripture, not only in the New Testament but in the Old Testament as well, for neither the Hebrew text of the Old Testament nor the Greek text of the New Testament contains a word for “eternal.”  Both use words that have to do with a long period of time or with an age, but not with eternity [Heb., olam; Gk., aion or aionios].

The salvation of the soul [having to do with present and future aspects of salvation] is another matter though.  The salvation of the soul has to do with the Messianic Era alone, not with the ages beyond.  Thus, unlike the salvation of the spirit, the whole of the matter is covered when Scripture relates the salvation of the soul to the Messianic Era.  Issues surrounding the salvation of the soul, unlike those surrounding the salvation of the spirit, do not extend beyond the scope of time seen in the septenary structure of Scripture.

The Three Aspects (Phases) of Salvation

(Excerpted from Salvation of the Soul BOOK)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Are they [angels] not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit [lit. “for the sake of the ones about to inherit”] salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)

“Salvation” in the Word of God is spoken of in three tenses — past, present, and future:

 1)  Christians have been saved.
 2)  Christians are being saved.

 3)  Christians are about to be saved.

In Ephesians 2:8-9, salvation is a past, completed act.

In 1 Corinthians 1:18, salvation is a present, continuous work.

In Hebrews 1:14, salvation is a future, inherited possession.

The Purpose for Man

God’s purpose for man is seen at man’s creation in the initial chapters of God’s Word, a purpose that underlies God’s all-encompassing plan of salvation for man.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

God’s purpose for man upon his creation was to “have dominion” over the earth, to “subdue” it.  And this purpose for man has not changed in God’s overall plan, as is stated in Search for the Bride BOOK:

Man was created in the beginning to rule and to reign (Genesis 1:26-28).  But, through Satan’s deception (through the deception of the incumbent ruler, whom man was created to replace), man fell from the position in which he had been created.  And in this fallen state man found himself in a position wherein he could not realize the purpose for his creation.

But God provided redemption for His fallen creature.  And the redemption that God provided can only have, for its ultimate goal, man being placed back in the position for which he had been created in the beginning.  Thus, the whole of the matter surrounding salvation in Scripture (salvation past, present, and future) is seen relating centrally to that future time when man will be placed back in the position for which he was created in the beginning.

The fall was with a view to removing man from this position; and, accordingly, redemption (the whole of the matter — past, present, and future) can only be with a view to placing man back in this position (something that can be clearly seen in Scripture when viewing the whole of God’s redemptive plans and purposes).  Thus, regality forms the crux of the entire matter surrounding both man’s fall and God’s subsequently provided redemption for fallen man.

The Use of Types and Antitypes in Scripture

(Excerpted from The Study of Scripture BOOK, Ch. 8, OR  Types and Antitypes, both in this site. )

Then He said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?”

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Now these things were our examples [Now these things happened as types for us], to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted . . . .

Now all these things happened to them for examples [Now all these things happened to them for types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [the ages] are come.  (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11)

Three things above all else must be adhered to in the study of Scripture:

1) A person must recognize that all Scripture is God-breathed.
2) A person must begin where God began.

3) A person must study Scripture after the fashion in which it was written.

. . . holy men of God spoke as they were moved [borne along] by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21b)

Now all these things happened to them for examples [Now all these things happened to them for types]. .

The Central Person of Scripture

Viewing Scripture after the preceding fashion, a complete word picture is presented of the central Person of Scripture — the Lord Jesus Christ.  This word picture begins in the opening chapter of Genesis and continues uninterrupted until the Living Word Himself appears on the scene 4,000 years later.  In this respect, the Old Testament forms a complete introduction to and revelation of the One who would appear on the earth, intervening in the affairs of man, 4,000 and 6,000 years beyond the creation of man in Genesis 1.

This is really the underlying thought behind Christ’s rebuke of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, following His resurrection.  They didn’t know the spiritual content of their own Old Testament Scriptures, though they undoubtedly would have been familiar with the letter of the matter, the historical facts.  Had they known the spiritual content of the historical facts, they would, in turn, not only have known the exact identity of the person standing in their midst but they would also have known exactly what had occurred, was occurring, and would yet occur.

But “their eyes were restrained [their vision was ‘held back’]” (Luke 24:16).  Insofar as these things were concerned, they were spiritually blind.  Though spiritually alive and capable of understanding spiritual truth, these two disciples hadn’t seen the true spiritual content in their own Scriptures; and, consequently, their own resurrected Messiah was a stranger in their midst, with the events surrounding Calvary and the glory to follow involving things which they didn’t understand at all.

This is the reason Christ referred to the two as not believing “all that the prophets have spoken.”  They should have known that Christ would appear a “first time” to suffer prior to a later appearance to enter into His glory.  That which they had witnessed (His sufferings), were witnessing (the results of His resurrection), and that which lay ahead (His glory), were all foretold in minute detail, time after time after time, by the Old Testament prophets (all whom God had used to pen the Old Testament Scriptures, making them known in the types [e.g., Genesis 22-25; 37-45] and through other means [e.g., Isaiah 52-54; Zechariah 12:10; 13:6; 14:1ff]).  And these disciples should have known these things, but they didn’t know them (Luke 24:25-26).

Thus, in order to instruct these disciples (revealing Himself to them, showing them what had happened, was happening, and would yet happen), Christ went to the one God-revealed account covering the whole of the matter, an account that had been in the possession of the Jewish people for hundreds of years.  He went to the Word given to man through man by the Holy Spirit over a period of about a millennium (from approx. 1445 to about 400 B.C.), beginning with Moses (i.e., the writings of Moses).

And Christ began exactly where the Spirit had begun 1,500 years before when He began giving the Word through man to man.  Christ began at revelation given through Moses.  Then He moved on to revelation given through other prophets.  And by so doing, Christ “expounded to them [the two disciples] in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

Then later that day, when Christ “took bread, blessed and broke” the bread before giving it to these two disciples, “their eyes were opened and they knew Him” (Luke 24:30-35).

Their eyes were opened because they, at that time, had come to know certain things that the Old Testament Scriptures taught concerning Israel’s Messiah.  And that which allowed the two disciples to put these things together in a correct framework and see them after a correct fashion was evidently triggered by Christ breaking bread, blessing it, and giving it to them, exactly as He had done in the presence of the twelve disciples immediately before His crucifixion (Matthew 26:26-29; cf. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Christ is the “bread of life” (John 6:33-35), referred to by the use of “bread” at various times throughout the Old Testament (for example, the manna, or the bread on the table in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle).  Christ was the One whose body, as the Bread, had been broken; and the bread being given to the two disciples following Christ breaking it pointed to the true Bread from heaven having been broken (or, as in the case of the bread being broken and given to the twelve preceding Calvary, about to be broken) on their, and our, behalf.

(Note the Lord’s Supper, observed by Christians today — breaking bread, and drinking from the cup.  Observing the Lord’s Supper by Christians today pictures exactly the same thing seen in Christ breaking bread in the presence of these two disciples.  A drinking from the cup, of necessity, would have had to be absent at this time because of that which Christ had told His disciples a few days earlier, in Matthew 26:29:

. . . I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.

The preceding statement points forward to that day seen in the typology of Genesis 14:18-20, when Christ comes forth as the Great King-Priest after the order of Melchizedek, with “bread and wine,” to bless the descendants of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s twelve sons, the nation of Israel.

Observing the Lord’s Supper by Christians today shows “the Lord’s death till He comes” [1 Corinthians 11:26].  In this respect, Christ, before breaking bread and giving it to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus following His resurrection, had previously asked them:

Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? [Luke 24:26]

And Christians today, breaking bread and drinking from the cup, are to see matters exactly the same way — the broken bread and the cup, pointing to Christ’s past sufferings, are to be followed by His future glory.  The past sufferings are seen in Isaiah 53, and the future glory is seen in Genesis 14, with both seen numerous other places throughout the Old and New Testament Scriptures.)

And the two disciples seeing Christ Himself do this — the One whose body had been broken for them, as the bread had been broken — and having had Christ, immediately prior to this, instruct them from the Old Testament Scriptures (relating, among other things, the sufferings of Christ, which had just occurred), they were then able to put all of it together.  It was at this point that “their eyes were opened,” and it was at this point that “they knew Him.”

They, at this point, knew the Christ of the Old Testament, the One standing in their midst.  They, at this point, knew the One spoken of “in all” of the Old Testament Scriptures, beginning with Moses.

(Note the statement concerning “the rulers of this age [referring centrally to the Jewish religious leaders]” in 1 Corinthians 2:8 who had “crucified the Lord of glory” [Acts 2:23, 36; 3:14-15].  Had they previously gone beyond the letter into the spirit of that which the Old Testament reveals concerning Christ — had they known the things from the Old Testament Scriptures that Christ revealed to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus — Scripture clearly states that “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

It is clearly revealed that the religious leaders in Israel knew Christ’s identity [cf. Matthew 21:38-39, 45; John 3:2], which accounts for their actions.  But they didn’t know Him in the sense spoken of in 1 Corinthians 2:8 [note the context of the verse], else, as stated, they would not have crucified Him.)

1) How Much of the Old Testament?

How much of the Old Testament deals with the person and work of Christ?  And how much of the Old Testament is typical in nature?  The two questions do not cover the same scope.  The former is more extensive than the latter and is really all-inclusive.  However, the typical nature of Old Testament Scripture is far more extensive than many may realize or are prone to admit.

How though can one know the extent of typical teachings in the Old Testament Scriptures?  The answer to that is very simple.  Scripture itself reveals the extent.

a) Christ in the Old Testament

Christ, dealing with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “expounded to them in all the scriptures [the Old Testament Scriptures] the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).  Note that it is not “in the scriptures all” but “in all the scriptures . . . .”  The simple statement is made that “all the scriptures” — all of the Old Testament Scriptures — are about the person and work of Christ.  He can be seen on every page and in every part of Scripture on that page.

But, the way Christ is presented in the Old Testament Scriptures is in the spirit rather than in the letter of the manner in which Scripture has been structured.  Insofar as Old Testament history is concerned, that would be to say, Christ is really not seen in the strict letter of the historic account per se.

A person can read Old Testament history from one end to the other and never see the person and work of Christ within that history (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14-15).  In this respect, the person would be reading the letter of Scripture, failing to see anything beyond.  In order to truly see the Christ of the Old Testament, a person must see beyond the letter to the spirit.

Christ is seen mainly within the inherent types set forth by the historic accounts rather than in the actual historic accounts themselves.  All Old Testament history is, after some fashion, about the person and work of Christ; but this same history must be “spiritually discerned,” “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”  (1 Corinthians 2:13-14).

And this can be illustrated after several fashions at the very beginning of Scripture.  The first verse in Scripture forms a direct statement concerning the work of the triune Godhead in creation; and, looking beyond the direct statement, this verse is also the beginning point in the overall type encompassed in Genesis 1:1-2:3. 

Accordingly, Christ is revealed at the very beginning of Scripture, in the opening verse, after this dual fashion.

“In the beginning God created . . . .”  The word “God” is a translation of the Hebrew word Elohim, a plural noun which, in complete keeping with related Scripture, would include all three members of the Godhead — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Everything that exists in the material universe came into existence “by [‘through’] Him [the Son]”; and apart from Him “was not anything made that was made [i.e., apart from the Son, not one thing that presently exists was (or could have been) brought into existence].”  It was all done through the Son, present with the Father in the beginning (John 1:1-3; cf. Colossians 1:16-17).

Then in verses two and three of the opening chapter of Scripture there is a ruin of the creation (Genesis 1:1) and a beginning restoration.  And in a type-antitype structure — going beyond the letter to the spirit, as it would pertain to the ruin and beginning restoration of man (a subsequent ruined creation [Genesis 3]) — the Spirit moving (Genesis 1:2b) and God speaking (Genesis 1:3) are based on death and shed blood, ultimately and finally on death and shed blood through the finished work of the Son on Calvary, 4,000 years beyond the historic-typical account.

In this respect, the typical reference is to the manner in which God restores ruined man — via death and shed blood — based today on the Son’s finished work at Calvary.  The Spirit moves, God speaks, and light comes into existence (reference the author’s book, in this site, From Egypt to Canaan BOOK, Chs. 7-8).

Moving on to Genesis 2, Christ and His bride can be seen in the person of Adam with his bride.  Eve was formed from a part of Adam’s body, as the bride of Christ (the bride of “the second Man,” “the last Adam” [1 Corinthians 15:45-47]) will be formed from a part of His body.  And as Eve was presented back to the first man, the first Adam, to complete Adam and to reign as consort queen with him, so will it be with the second Man, the last Adam.  The bride will be removed from His body and be presented back to Christ to not only complete Christ but to reign as consort queen with Him (Romans 8:14-23; Hebrews 2:10).

Then in Genesis 3, Adam partook of sin to effect Eve’s redemption, as Christ became sin to affect our redemption.  The first man, the first Adam, found his bride in a fallen state and followed the only avenue open to bring about her redemption.  And the second Man, the last Adam, did exactly the same thing.  He found His bride in a fallen state and procured her redemption through the only means available, through an act that had been predetermined in the eternal council chambers of God before the ages even began (Hebrews 1:2-3; Revelation 13:8; cf. Romans 5:12-14).

Then Genesis 4 provides additional details, commentary, to that which is previously revealed in chapter three.  In this chapter Cain slew Abel, pointing to Israel, 4,000 years later, slaying Christ.  One brother slew the other brother in both type and antitype.  The blood of Abel cried out “from the ground” (Genesis 4:10), but the blood of Christ speaks “better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).

And on and on one could go with Old Testament history after this fashion.  Exactly what portions of the Old Testament Christ called to the attention of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is unrevealed.  He may have called their attention to Joseph, who first suffered prior to being exalted over all Egypt (a type of the world); or He may have called their attention to Moses, who suffered rejection by his brethren prior to their acceptance of him; or He could have called their attention to any other account or place in the Old Testament.  It is all about Him.

Note that Stephen, in Acts 7, singled out parts of the preceding two types (singled out events in both Joseph’s and Moses’ lives) as he revealed, to Israel’s religious leaders, Christ’s identity from the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 7:9-42).  And, Stephen using the Old Testament Scriptures in this correct manner, caused powers in both the heavens and upon earth to react.  On the one hand, the Son, through an opened heaven, is seen standing (rather than sitting [Psalm 110:1]) at His Father’s right hand; and, on the other hand, the Jewish religious leaders being addressed stoned Stephen (Acts 7:54-60).

Suffice it to say that Christ, in Luke 24, could have referenced any account in Old Testament history and, through this account, revealed things concerning Himself to these two disciples.  We can only know that He did reference different historic accounts in the Old Testament (and possibly Old Testament prophecies and/or statements in the Psalms or Proverbs [cf. Acts 7:44]), beginning with Moses; and, from these accounts, He revealed things concerning Himself to these disciples, especially as these things pertained to His past sufferings and His future glory (Acts 7:26).  And, as a result, in the subsequent breaking of bread, “their eyes were opened” (Acts 7:31).

b) Types in the Old Testament

Though all of the Old Testament is, after some fashion, about Christ, not all of the Old Testament is typical in its structure.  Types have to do with history, not with the book of Proverbs, most of that seen in the Prophets, or in many of the Psalms (the latter though, particularly the Psalms and the Prophets, at times, deal with history, in which types can be seen).

The statement, “Now all these things happened to them as examples [‘types’] . . . .” (1 Corinthians 10:11; cf. 1 Corinthians 10:6), refers to recorded events in Old Testament history.  And, as previously stated, though the contextual reference is only to a select number of events during Moses’ day, the statement concerning types in connection with Old Testament history could, by no means, be limited only to these contextual references.  It must be looked upon as far more extensive than this.

In fact, drawing from Luke 24:25-27, 44, one can arrive at only one conclusion concerning the extent of typology in connection with Old Testament history.  It must be looked upon as all-inclusive, for all of the Old Testament Scriptures are revealed to be about the central Person of Scripture, Jesus the Christ.

The story of Joseph (ref. Genesis 37-45), for example, is about the Person and work of Christ, though there is no direct statement in the New Testament specifically stating that Joseph is a type of Christ.  But, comparing Luke 24:25-27, 44 and 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11, one can be drawn to no other conclusion.

And so it is with numerous other portions of the Old Testament.  Though no direct statement may exist in the New Testament specifying that a particular person or event forms a type of Christ, dealing with some facet of His person and work, that becomes meaningless in the light of Scriptures such as Luke 24:25-27, 44 and 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11.

It also becomes meaningless when one sees and understands that God, by His very nature, would, of necessity, be completely consistent concerning how He structured all of Old Testament history.  He simply did not, He would not, He could not, structure part in one way and part in another way, particularly in the light of sections of Scripture such as Luke 24:25-27, 44 and 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11.

In the preceding respect, and in the light of these sections of Scripture from Luke and First Corinthians, it becomes clear that any Old Testament historic account, of necessity, has to do, after some fashion, with the person and work of Christ (past, present, or future); and this has been accomplished centrally through the inherent typical nature of Old Testament history, established by a Sovereign God, in perfect keeping with Scripture’s own direct statements and internal evidence.

All of this becomes self-evident when one begins to study Old Testament history after the fashion in which it was written.  The whole of Old Testament history, so to speak, begins to come to life and open up as one views the Scriptures after the fashion in which God clearly reveals, in His Word, that they were written.

(Aside from the preceding, any segment of Old Testament history has to do with one part of a complete whole — one part of the complete Word, forming the complete Old Testament canon.  And this complete Word [the complete Old Testament] was made flesh in the person of the Son.

There is the written Word, and there is the living Word; and the two cannot possibly be separated from one another, for the latter is simply a full manifestation of the former, in flesh, which would include the subsequent New Testament revelation as well.

In this respect, approaching the matter from another perspective, the question could be both asked and answered:  “What part of the Old Testament is not about Christ?”  And the answer:  “No part, simply because the Old Testament [not part, but all] was made flesh in the person of the Son.”

That which is stated about or inherent in One [the written Word (John 17:14)] can be stated about and would be inherent in the Other [the Living Word (John 1:1, 14)].  For example, if perfection is seen in One [in Christ], then perfection must exist in the Other as well [the Scriptures].  And the reasoning behind that would emanate from the fact that the living Word is simply a manifestation, in flesh, of the written Word.)

2) Structure of the New Testament

But is typology limited to Old Testament history?  What about the New Testament?  Is it also highly typical in nature?

The passage already under consideration in Luke 24:13ff would perhaps address the issue about as well as any other part of the New Testament.  There is nothing stated about this section forming a type, but it does.  And the fact that it does is so evident that a person with any spiritual perception at all can’t fail to see it.

Events in Luke 24 occur on the third day, dating from Christ’s crucifixion (Luke 24:21), and have to do with the eyes of blinded Jews being opened through Christ personally appearing in their presence and revealing Himself to them.  This section of Scripture can only refer to one facet of the person and work of Christ.  It can only refer to that future day when Christ appears in Israel’s presence — with Israel, as the two disciples in Luke 24, blinded (Romans 11:25) — and reveals Himself to the nation (Romans 11:26; 2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

And events of that future day will parallel events in Luke 24:13ff with respect to time as well.  These events will occur after two days, on the third day.  That is to say, they will occur after two thousand years, in the third one-thousand-year period (cf. Hosea 5:15-6:2; 2 Peter 3:8).

Israel will not know Christ in that future day, exactly as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t know Him; and He will reveal Himself to the nation exactly the same way that He revealed Himself to these two disciples.

Christ, in that future day, will call the nation’s attention to their own Old Testament Scriptures — Scriptures that relate the entire story, from one end to the other — and He will reveal Himself to the nation from these Scriptures, exactly the same way that He revealed Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in the historic account.

And exactly the same thing will occur in that future day that occurred in the type.  Christ will appear in the antitype of Melchizedek, with bread and wine (Genesis 14:18-20; cf. Matthew 26:26-29), to bless Abraham and his descendants.  And as there was a breaking of bread in the type, there will undoubtedly be a breaking of bread in the antitype.

Then Israel will recognize her Messiah, spoken of throughout the very Old Testament Scriptures that will have been in the possession of the Jewish people for almost two and one-half millennia, with parts of these Scriptures having been in their possession for almost three and one-half millennia.  At that time — at the full end of Daniel’s Seventy Week prophecy — Israel’s blindness will be lifted, and a nation will be brought forth in a day (Isaiah 66:8; Romans 11:26).

Another facet of the matter can be seen in Paul’s conversion in Acts 9:1ff.  And, interestingly enough, Paul stated in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 that his salvation experience was “a pattern [Greek, hupotuposis, referring to ‘an original pattern,’ ‘a prototype’] to [‘of’] those who are going to believe on Him [on Jesus Christ] for everlasting life.”  That is to say, the manner in which Paul was saved forms an original type of the manner in which others will be saved at a later time, forming the antitype.

Paul was saved through Christ personally appearing and revealing Himself to him, which is not the manner people have been saved throughout the present dispensation following Paul’s conversion.  But this is the manner in which Israel will be saved at a future time, when Christ reappears to the nation.  And it is this future event to which Paul’s salvation experience, in a God-ordained type, relates.

Paul was saved as a type of the future salvation of Israel.  He, at this time, understood the letter of the Word but not the spirit of the Word.  There was a veil over his eyes, which was “done away in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14).  And so will it be with Israel in the antitype yet future.

There is a reading of the letter of the Old Testament in the synagogues today, as in Paul’s day, which leaves the “veil untaken away.”  Paul, typifying Israel in this respect, was blinded for two days (the veil was over his eyes for two days), with the blindness (the veil) being removed on the third day (Acts 8:9; cf. Genesis 42:17-18; Esther 4:16-5:1; Matthew 27:63; Luke 24:7, 21, 46).

(Paul, prior to the events surrounding his conversion in Acts 9, was part of a redeemed nation, comprised of individuals spiritually alive and capable of understanding spiritual truth, to whom the kingdom of the heavens was being re-offered.  And individuals receiving this message were being saved, delivered, with respect to that which was being proclaimed — Christ’s kingdom and glory — not with respect to eternal salvation, as someone spiritually dead would have been saved then or today.  Those Jews receiving the message at the time of Paul’s conversion, which would include Paul, were already saved in this respect.

The same thing, as it relates to eternal salvation, could be said about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  They had received the message proclaimed by the Messianic King; Paul hadn’t.  But, as matters relate to eternal salvation, there was no difference.  Paul, prior to his conversion experience in Acts 9 was just as saved in an eternal respect as these two disciples were following their reception of the message proclaimed by the Messianic King.  Or, to state matters another way, Paul was no more saved in an eternal respect following events in Acts 9 as he was before these events.

There are two aspects to the salvation message seen in Luke 24:26.  There is an aspect having to do with Christ’s past sufferings and an aspect having to do with Christ’s coming glory.  This would be seen in Christendom today as the gospel of the grace of God [reflecting upon the first part of Luke 24:26] and the gospel of the glory of Christ [reflecting upon the latter part of this verse (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; Ephesians 2:8-9)]).

Relative to Israel’s coming conversion [foreshadowed by both types], both types would have to cover the whole panorama of the matter, for Israel today, unlike Israel at the time of Christ’s first coming, is spiritually dead.

Israel, yet future, will first be made spiritually alive, saved, delivered, through that which is seen in the first part of Luke 24:26 [Christ’s past sufferings]; then they will be saved, delivered, in relation to that which is seen in the latter part of this same verse [Christ’s future glory].

(For additional information pertaining to Israel’s spiritual condition at the time of Christ’s first coming, refer to From Acts to the Epistles BOOK, in this site.)

The Jewish people must see beyond the letter to the spirit.  They must see the One concerning whom Moses and the prophets wrote.  They must see their Messiah in their own Old Testament Scriptures, something that will occur when Christ returns and reveals Himself to them after this fashion — first as the Paschal Lamb, then as the Messianic King.

And so it is with New Testament history.  The New Testament has been structured after the same fashion as Old Testament history.  It was given through Jewish prophets by the same One who gave the Old Testament Scriptures through Jewish prophets; and it has an evident inherent typical nature, established by the same sovereign God who first structured the Old Testament after this fashion. 

The Central Focus of Scripture

As all Scripture revolves around a central Person, all Scripture also revolves around a central focus, which has to do with the central Person.  Scripture concerns itself with time, and, in the main, this time has to do with the 7,000 years portended by the seven days opening Scripture.  And, within this time, there is the thought of creation for a purpose, redemption for a purpose, and God’s work throughout the 6,000 years covering the present age (Man’s Day) for a purpose.

The purpose surrounding man’s creation has to do with the seventh day, a seventh 1,000-year period; so does the fall, and so does redemption; and so does God’s work throughout the six days, the 6,000 years of Man’s Day.  The whole of Scripture moves toward that coming seventh day, a pattern established in the skeletal outline set forth at the very beginning.

Thus, the central focus of Scripture looks to that seventh day when the central Person of Scripture will be revealed in all His glory to bring about that for which man was created in the beginning and for which he has been redeemed.  The Son is to exercise dominion over one province in His Father’s kingdom — for a revealed purpose (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) — and man is to have a part in this dominion.

In this respect, biblical history, within its established historic-typical framework, becomes largely prophetic within its scope of fulfillment.  Biblical history, in this respect, revolves around the central Person and the central focus of Scripture.  And the central Person and the central focus of Scripture are so inseparably related that at times they are spoken of either in synonymous terms or both are understood to be in view though only one is mentioned.

Examples of both facets of the matter can be seen in Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45 and Hebrews 12:1-2:

1) Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45

The Stone, “cut out of the mountain without hands,” in one respect refers to Christ and in another respect to the kingdom of Christ.

The Father will give the Son “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” (Daniel 7:13-14).  He will be the “King of kings, and Lord of lords” in the kingdom.  He, as the King, as the Stone, will be the One who personally smites the image at its feet (Revelation 19:11-21).

But Daniel 2:44-45, interpreting verses thirty-four and thirty-five, also refers to the kingdom of Christ itself breaking in pieces and consuming all the kingdoms comprising the one world kingdom of that day (cf. Revelation 11:15).  The Stone, after smiting the image, will become “a great mountain” and fill the whole earth.

In this respect, the King of the kingdom is not to be thought of apart from His kingdom.  All the various facets of His person and work, set forth in detail throughout Old Testament Scripture, have an end in view; and that end is the day when He will rule and reign over the earth.

Christ’s finished work at Calvary and His present work as High Priest — foretold in the Old Testament — have the same end in view.  The Savior, who is presently exercising the office of High Priest, was born King (Matthew 2:2).  And the coming King and His Kingdom, in the overall scope of the matter, become inseparable; and this is the reason they can be spoken of in synonymous terms, as in Daniel chapter two.

2) Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1-2, in the light of other Scripture, presents the same picture.  In this section of Scripture a person is told to look “unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”

The thought from the Greek text is literally to look “from [from the things in the surrounding world system, the present kingdom under Satan], to Jesus . . . .”  But yet other Scriptures exhort us to look from this present world system “to the mountain [signifying the coming kingdom of Christ (Isaiah 2:2-4; Daniel 2:35)]” (cf. Genesis 13:10-12; 19:1, 17).

Are we to look to Jesus?  Or are we to look to the Mountain?  The correct biblical answer would center on the thought that a person, within a proper biblical perspective, cannot look to One apart from looking to the Other.  That would be to say, in a proper biblical perspective, we cannot really look “from, to Jesus” apart from seeing Him in connection with His coming kingdom; and, conversely, we cannot really fix our eyes on “the mountain,” the kingdom, apart from seeing the King of the kingdom.

When Hebrews 12:2 states, “Looking from, to Jesus . . . .” the thought would have to include, as well, the same thing contained in the remainder of the verse.  Christ, . . . for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame [considering it a thing of little import in comparison to the joy set before Him], and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The “joy that was set before Him” had to do with that day when He would rule and reign (cf. Matthew 25:21, 23).  Christ had His eyes fixed on that day as He endured present sufferings; and we are to fix our eyes on the One who left us an example, after this same fashion, as we endure present sufferings.

Christ, at the time of His sufferings on Calvary, had His eyes fixed on the coming kingdom, the day of His exaltation and glory.  And that is exactly the place — the same place — we should have our eyes fixed as we look “from, to Jesus” during present sufferings.

He left us an example that we “should follow His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).  His eyes were fixed on that which lay ahead.

And, as has been demonstrated, in the true biblical sense of the command, there can be no such thing as a Christian fixing his eyes on Jesus apart from seeing both the King and His Kingdom.

The Central Message of the New Testament

(Taken from Mysteries of the Kingdom BOOK, Ch. 13, in this site.)

Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52)

The Word of the Kingdom — the message surrounding the kingdom of the heavens (Matthew 13:11, 19, 24) — is the central message of the New Testament.  Whether studying the gospels, the book of Acts, the epistles, or the book of Revelation, an individual will be studying Scriptures dealing centrally with a message pertaining to the kingdom.

The person understanding this message will possess a proper foundation to build upon as he studies different parts of the New Testament.  However, if this message is not understood, the converse of the preceding will be true.  That person will possess an improper foundation to build upon; and his studies throughout any part of the New Testament will, accordingly, be adversely affected.

This is why an individual instructed in the Word of the Kingdom can be likened to the householder in the text.  Not only will he be able to go to the Scriptures and bring forth things that are “old” (things he has already seen and understood) but he will also be able, from the things that are “old,” to begin seeing and bringing forth things that are “new” as well (things he has not previously seen and understood).

And, according to the text, he will be able to do this because he has been “instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven.”  He now possesses a key to the Scriptures; a key that will open numerous passages of Scripture to his understanding, passages that otherwise would have remained closed.

Such an individual, as he studies and learns new things about the Word of the Kingdom, will progressively find himself being able to, more and more, take the “old” and see and understand that which is “new.”  And the more that person comes into an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom, the more he will see Scripture opening up to him in this fashion.  The latter, in this respect, is inseparably linked to and dependent on the former. 

This is what an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom will do for an individual in his quest for knowledge of Scripture.  And, though this has been the experience and testimony of numerous Christians, this is not simply what they might have to say about the matter.  Rather, this is what the unchangeable Word of God has to say about the matter.

 The Word of God clearly reveals that a person instructed in the Word of the Kingdom can go to the Scriptures and bring forth out of this storehouse of unlimited treasures “things new and old.”  But by the same token, apart from an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom, though an individual may be able to see and understand certain truths, the same situation referred to in Matthew 13:52 simply doesn’t exist.

The preceding will explain why this whole realm of teaching lies center stage in Satan’s attack against the Word during the present dispensation.  An understanding of the Word of the Kingdom is the key to a proper understanding of Scripture as it relates to Christians, and Satan knows this.  He knows that if he can corrupt or destroy that which will open the door to a proper understanding of the numerous other Scriptures bearing on the subject, he can best accomplish the purpose for his present work among Christians.

Satan’s efforts toward this end are something easily seen in the first four parables in Matthew 13.  These four parables present a chronology of Satan’s work as he seeks to subvert the Word of the Kingdom, and this chronology covers the progressive results of his work in this respect throughout the entire dispensation.

Satan’s attack in the first parable, the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23), was seen to be against those hearing the Word of the Kingdom.  He sought to stop the matter at that point, preventing individuals from understanding this message and subsequently bringing forth fruit.  Four types of individuals are seen responding to the message, with Satan being successful in his attack against three of the four.  Those seen in the first three of the four categories fell away and bore no fruit.  But Satan’s attack against those in the fourth category proved to be unsuccessful.  They heard the Word, received and understood the Word, overcame Satan’s attack, and bore fruit.

Then the next parable, the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43), centers on Satan’s attack against the ones bearing fruit from the previous parable.  Satan placed those with a false message (false teachers) in the midst of those bearing fruit, seeking to subvert the message and stop that which was occurring.  That is to say, he sought to corrupt the true message by introducing a false message.  And this was done with a view to stopping that which had resulted from a proclamation of the true message.  This was done with a view to stopping those Christians who were bearing fruit from doing so.

Then the next parable, the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32), shows that which happened in Christendom over the course of time during the dispensation because of this false message.  The mustard seed germinated and took a normal growth for a while.  But then something happened, which caused it to take an abnormal growth and eventually become a tree.  And after this abnormal growth had occurred — after the mustard bush had become a tree, something that it wasn’t supposed to become at all — the birds of the air (ministers of Satan, seen in the first parable [Matthew 13:4]) found a lodging place therein.

And the fourth parable, the parable of the leaven (Matthew 13:33), completes the picture.  The false message introduced near the beginning of the dispensation is likened to leaven placed in three measures of meal (“three” is the number of divine perfection, and “meal” is that which is used to make bread.  Leaven [a corrupting substance] was placed in the meal [resulting in corruption in the bread]).  And this leaven would continue to work (this false message would continue to permeate and corrupt the true message) until the whole had been leavened (until the whole had been corrupted).

This is the revealed direction that Christendom would take relative to the true message concerning the Word of the Kingdom following the introduction of the leaven, following the introduction of a false message concerning the Word of the Kingdom.

These four parables together show a history of Christendom throughout the dispensation in relation to the Word of the Kingdom.  This message — the central message of the New Testament — was universally taught throughout the churches during the first century.  But the introduction of a false message resulted in changes.  Christendom itself took an abnormal growth; and this abnormal growth was such that the false teachers eventually found themselves welcomed within that which they, through their false message, had corrupted.

Corruption though didn’t stop at this point.  The working of the leaven continued, and it would continue until this false message had permeated all of Christendom.  This corrupting process would continue, according to the text, “till the whole” had been leavened.

And, viewing the matter solely from the standpoint of that which can be seen in the world today, what has been the end result of the working of the leaven?  As the dispensation draws to a close, where does the Church find itself today?

The answers are easy to ascertain.  All one has to do in order to see and understand that which has happened is to go into almost any church of the land (fundamental and liberal alike) and listen for any mention of things having to do with the Word of the Kingdom.  A person will listen in vain.  Because of the working of a leavening process that is in its final stages, the true biblical message surrounding Christians and the coming kingdom is practically nonexistent throughout Christendom today.

This leavening process recognizes no bounds or barriers.  Fundamental Christendom finds itself just as permeated with the leaven, as it relates to the Word of the Kingdom, as does liberal Christendom.  From the theology schools to the pulpits of churches to the pews in these churches, the whole of Christendom finds itself in exactly the same state insofar as that which is revealed throughout the first four parables in Matthew chapter thirteen is concerned.

Many of the fundamentalists, not understanding the true nature of the leavening process, look upon themselves as having escaped this corruption.  But such is not the case at all.  Insofar as any understanding and proclamation of the Word of the Kingdom is concerned, the fundamental groups find themselves in exactly the same state as the liberal groups.  They find themselves permeated through and through with exactly the same corrupting leaven.  There is absolutely no difference between the two groups in this respect.  Neither understands nor proclaims this message.

Seminaries — fundamental and liberal alike — are training students in everything but the one message that will open the Scriptures to their understanding.  And these same seminaries are turning out graduates who are filling the pulpits of churches with a message completely void of any reference to the Word of the Kingdom.  These seminary graduates don’t know the truth of the matter, and, as a result, their entire ministries are negatively affected.  The various flocks that the Lord has entrusted to their care are not being properly fed; and, in reality, for the most part, Christians under their ministries are slowly starving to death.

Christians throughout the churches today are simply not hearing the one message, above all other messages, which they should be hearing.  And the reason is given in the first four parables of Matthew chapter thirteen.  The working of the leaven over almost two millennia of time has produced a corruption extending throughout Christendom that has all but destroyed the message surrounding the Word of the Kingdom.  And, as a result of this corruption, the Bible, for the most part, remains a closed book for the vast majority of Christians.

The preceding is why a person, untrained in the theology schools of the land, but understanding the Word of the Kingdom, often has a better grasp of the whole of Scripture than many of those who are teaching in the theology schools.  The person having an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom possesses a key to Scripture that a person without this understanding does not possess.  He can go to the Scriptures and bring forth things both “new and old”; but the same thing cannot be said for those who lack this understanding.

Why?

Why will instruction in the Word of the Kingdom open the Scriptures to a person’s understanding like nothing else?  Why is an understanding of this message so vital if a person is to possess a correct and proper grasp of Scripture?  The answer could be looked upon in a twofold respect.  

First, an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom is the only thing that will provide the true biblical picture surrounding the purpose for the Christian life.  Why did God bring the new creation “in Christ” into existence?  Why is God taking an entire dispensation to do a work among the Gentiles?  Why is the Holy Spirit presently in the world performing a work among Christians?

And second, an understanding of the Word of the Kingdom is the only thing that will provide the true biblical picture surrounding direction for the Christian life.  What is the goal toward which everything moves as it pertains to the new creation “in Christ”?  What is the spiritual warfare about?  What is the race of the faith about?  What will be the end result of victory or defeat as it pertains to the warfare or the race?

An understanding of the Word of the Kingdom will answer questions surrounding the Christian life unlike anything else in the Word of God.  This is the only thing that will present the complete biblical picture in its correct fashion.  Only out of this teaching can all the issues surrounding the Christian life be properly addressed, and only out of this teaching can one find the true motivation for Godly Christian living.

But, if all the preceding is true — and it is — then why is this message so fought against in Christian circles today?  It would appear that acceptance rather than rejection would be the norm.

Such though is not the case at all.  Rather, with rare exceptions, rejection is invariably the norm.  And the reason is seen in the working of the leaven in Matthew 13:33.  The negative attitude of Christians toward the Word of the Kingdom is simply the end result of a work of Satan that has been going on for almost 2,000 years.

1)  Purpose of . . .

The overall picture of the Word of the Kingdom in the New Testament begins with the offer of the kingdom of the heavens to Israel in the gospel accounts.  Israel spurned this offer, the offer was taken from Israel, and an entirely new entity was then brought into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel had rejected (Matthew 21:33-43; 1 Peter 2:9-11).

The one new man, the new creation “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:15) was brought into existence to bring forth fruit where Israel had failed.  And, since Israel had spurned the offer, God, in relation to this one new man, turned to the Gentiles.  God set aside an entire dispensation, lasting two days, 2,000 years, during which time He would perform and complete a work with an entirely new creation.  And this would be accomplished by removing “a people for His name” from among the Gentiles, though with “a remnant according to the election of grace [believing Jews]” being included (Acts 15:14; Romans 11:5).

And, in order to carry out His purposes surrounding this new creation, God sent the Holy Spirit into the world.  Throughout the present dispensation, the Spirit of God is in the world performing a work in the antitype of that which is seen in Genesis 24.

As Abraham in this chapter sent his servant into the far country to procure a bride for his son, God has sent the Holy Spirit into the world to procure a bride for His Son.  And, as in the type, so in the antitype — the search occurs among those in the family.  The Spirit of God is conducting His search among those comprising the one new man, for this one new man forms the body of Christ, and the bride is to be taken from the body
(cf. Genesis 2:21-25; 24:2-4, 9; Matthew 22:14).

And also as in the type, once the search has been completed, the bride will be removed.  As Rebekah was removed from Mesopotamia, so will Christ’s bride be removed from the earth; as Isaac came forth to meet Rebekah, so will the Son come forth to meet His bride; and as Rebekah went with Isaac to his home, where she became his wife, so will the bride go with Christ to His home, where she will become His wife (Genesis 24:61-67; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Revelation 19:7-9).

2)  Direction for . . .

The goal toward which everything pertaining to the new creation “in Christ” moves is exactly the same as the goal set forth in the beginning, in the opening two chapters of Genesis.  The point out ahead toward which all things move is the earth’s coming Sabbath, foreshadowed by the Sabbath in Genesis 2:1-3, which followed six days of restorative work (Genesis 1:2-25 [2b]).

And it matters not whether one is viewing the reason for the existence of the one new man, the reason for the present dispensation, or the reason for the Spirit of God having been sent into the world, the point toward which everything moves is always the same.  It has to be the same, for this is the way matters were set forth and established at the beginning of God’s revelation to man (Genesis 1:1-2:3).

And properly understanding the spiritual warfare and the present race of the faith is contingent on properly understanding things surrounding the goal that lies out ahead.  It is contingent on properly understanding the reason God has brought the one new man into existence, the reason God has set aside an entire dispensation to deal with this new man, and the reason God has sent His Spirit into the world to perform a work during the dispensation.

Christians are engaged in a warfare against powerful spirit beings in the heavens, which is part and parcel with the race of the faith in which they find themselves engaged; and whether Christians do or do not understand all the various things about this warfare and race, Satan knows every one of these things all too well.  And he is ever lying in wait to defeat the Christian in the warfare or sidetrack him in the race.

And the end result will be either victory or defeat.  An individual will either overcome in the warfare and race or he will be overcome.

And note what is at stake in either victory or defeat — the greatest thing God could ever design for redeemed man.  The Spirit of God is presently in the world opening the Word of God to the Christians’ understanding, calling their attention to one central fact — They are being offered positions as co-regents with Christ in His kingdom, forming the bride that will reign with the Son as consort queen.

That’s what is at stake.  And knowing this, is it any wonder that Satan, very early in the dispensation, set about to accomplish the things outlined in the first four parables in Matthew chapter thirteen?  Is it any wonder that he has done and continues to do everything within his power to corrupt and destroy the true message surrounding Christians and the coming kingdom?

From Genesis to Matthew to Revelation

As previously seen in this book, several things must be kept in mind when studying the parables in Matthew chapter thirteen.  The first four were given outside the house, by the seaside; and the last three were given after Christ had re-entered the house.  This fact, often overlooked, is significant beyond degree if one is to understand these parables correctly.  Then, a chronology is seen in the parables that carry the reader from the beginning of the present dispensation to the future Messianic Kingdom.

As previously shown, the first four parables (given outside the house, by the seaside) present a history of Christendom as it relates to the Word of the Kingdom; and this history covers the entirety of the dispensation.  To understand why conditions in Christendom are as they presently exist, one has to go back in history and follow the course of events leading into the presently existing situation.

And going back in history after this fashion can only be done one way.  It can only involve going to the Scriptures to see what the Word of God reveals about the matter, not what the various Church history books written by man reveal.  All of man’s writings on Church history might as well be categorized as “secular” insofar as this aspect of Church history is concerned.  That which man has written simply doesn’t deal with Church history in this respect, though this is the main crux of the matter seen within the way Scripture deals with the subject.The earliest period of Church history is dealt with in the book of Acts, following the inception of the Church.  This period covers that time when the kingdom was being re-offered to Israel (from 33 to 62 A.D.).  And accordingly, the message seen throughout this book centers on the proffered kingdom.

The epistles (some written during the Acts period, some following) deal centrally with the same message seen in Acts — one having to do with the kingdom.  These epistles simply form different facets of instruction written to Christians surrounding the same central message.  And these epistles, as the book of Acts, provide information surrounding early Church history.

Both the book of Acts and the epistles deal with the Church during the first century only.  But there are two places in Scripture that deal with a history of the Church throughout the dispensation.  One is in the parables in Matthew chapter thirteen, before the Church was even brought into existence; and the other is in Revelation chapters two and three, at a place in the book where the Church is seen being dealt with at the judgment seat in the heavens following the dispensation (though the record itself was given during the early years of the dispensation and has to do with a history of the Church during the dispensation as well).  Thus, one complete history is seen in Scripture at a point preceding the dispensation (Matthew 13), and the other is seen in Scripture at a point following the dispensation (Revelation 2; 3).

In Matthew chapter thirteen, before the dispensation began, a history of the Church — in relation to the Word of the Kingdom — is seen in the first four parables.  And, in Revelation chapters two and three, at a point in the book that follows the dispensation, a history of the Church — in relation to the Word of the Kingdom — is seen in the seven letters (seven epistles) to the seven churches.

The first presents a history of the Church in relation to the Word of the Kingdom from the perspective of the Lord using parables; the second presents a history of the Church in relation to the Word of the Kingdom from the perspective of the Lord using epistles to seven existing churches in Asia.  But both show exactly the same thing.  The Church is revealed to have begun one way (a mustard bush, an entity laboring for Christ’s sake [Matthew 13:32; Revelation 2:2-3]), but the Church is seen ending another way (a tree, a completely leavened entity, one neither cold nor hot, one described as “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”  [Matthew 13:32-33; Revelation 3:15-17]).

Then, all of this is intimately connected with God’s original structure of His Word at the beginning.  The parables in Matthew 13 and the seven epistles in Revelation 2; 3 are structured after a fashion that is in complete keeping with the way God set matters forth at the very beginning of His revelation to man, in the opening chapters of Genesis.  And this is easy to understand, for the latter rests upon and is inseparably linked to the former.

Scripture begins with a foundational framework upon which the whole of subsequent Scripture rests — six days of restorative work (a restoration of the ruined material creation, with man created at the conclusion of this work, on the sixth day), followed by a seventh day of rest, a Sabbath day.  And the preceding relates the story of the whole of Scripture beyond this introductory framework.

Man, following his creation, fell.  And he, through this fall, became a ruined creation, bringing about not only his own ruin but the ruin of the restored material creation once again as well.  And God, following this ruin, again set about to perform six days of restorative work — which this time had to do with both man and the material creation.  And this latter restorative work will be followed by a seventh day of rest — a Sabbath rest awaiting the people of God, the coming Messianic Era (Hebrews 4:4-9) — in exact keeping with the pattern set forth at the beginning.

Each day in the former restoration was twenty-four hours in length, including the Sabbath; and each day in the latter restoration has been/will be 1,000 years in length, including the Sabbath (cf. Matthew 16:28-17:5; 2 Peter 1:16-18; 3:1-8).

All of Scripture beyond the foundational framework in the opening two chapters of Genesis rests upon and forms additional information for this framework.  And it matters not whether one is dealing with the framework set forth at the beginning or with subsequent Scripture, all restorative work can be seen moving toward the same goal — a coming Sabbath of rest.

(Note also that exactly the same septenary structure beginning the Old Testament in the opening two chapters is seen in the opening two chapters of the gospel of John as well [which, in this respect, should be the gospel beginning the New Testament, paralleling Genesis beginning the Old].

As well, with respect to everything moving toward the seventh day, the subject matter is the same throughout both books.  In Genesis, this is accomplished mainly through the use of types; and in John, this is accomplished mainly through the use of signs.

The former [Genesis] has to do with the restoration of a ruined material creation, occurring over six days of time, with a seventh day following [a day of rest following]; the latter [the gospel of John] has to do with the restoration of another ruined creation, ruined man, occurring over six days of time, with a seventh day following [a day of rest following].

Thus, if the gospel of John occupied its proper place in the Canon of Scripture — set at the beginning of the four gospels — each Testament would be introduced by this septenary structure.)

Then, with the preceding in mind, note the first four parables in Matthew chapter thirteen.  Events in these parables form one facet of a commentary on that which occurs during the two days immediately preceding the Sabbath, which covers the entire present dispensation.  And, viewing events in the remaining three parables, which move beyond the present dispensation and progress on into the Messianic Era, it’s easy to see and understand how all these parables move toward this same goal — the same goal set forth at the beginning of Scripture, the coming Sabbath.  Everything moves toward this goal.

And exactly the same thing can be seen in the seven epistles to the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three.  This sequence of epistles simply forms another facet of a commentary on that which occurs during the two days immediately preceding the Sabbath.  And, from the overcomer’s promises, along with that which is revealed in Revelation chapters one and four, it’s easy to see and understand that all of this (exactly as the parables in Matthew chapter thirteen) has to do with the Church in relation to the Word of the Kingdom and the coming Sabbath.  Again, everything moves toward this goal.

Thus, it should be a simple matter to see that anything in the New Testament that has to do with the Church centers on things having to do with the coming kingdom.  And though man may write his history books completely separate from this message, Scripture centers its revealed history of the Church completely by this message.

During the first century, Christians would have understood a history of the Church in keeping with Scripture, for the Word of the Kingdom was universally taught throughout the churches of the land.  Today though, the situation has become completely reversed.  Because of the working of the leaven over almost two millennia of time, the message surrounding the Word of the Kingdom has become so corrupted that two things are evident:

First, a Church historian wouldn’t know enough about the Word of the Kingdom to even include it within his account in the first place, much less ascribe to this message a central place in his account.

Second, even should a Church historian write about the matter, Christians wouldn’t be able to understand that which he was writing about.  Because of the working of the leaven over almost two millennia of time, the truth about the Word of the Kingdom has become so corrupted that it would be completely alien to their way of thinking.

And that’s where we are in a supposedly enlightened twentieth century Christendom, immediately preceding Christ’s return for the Church.  We’re living during a time when there is far more material available for Bible study and research than has ever existed in the history of the Church — everything from the extensive computer study and research programs to new books being printed every day.  But we are also living during a time when the birds of the air are freely lodging in the branches of the tree, with its roots sunk deep into the earth, where the leaven has almost completed its work.

Warning

The parables in Matthew 13 thirteen deal far more extensively with the negative than they do with the positive.  More space is given in the first parable to those who fail to bring forth fruit than is given to those who do bring forth fruit (in three of the four parts).  And the emphasis in the second, third, fourth, and seventh parables is on different facets of this same work of Satan as well.  Only the fifth and sixth parables, which have to do with Christ’s redemptive work as it relates to the earth and to His bride, form an exception.

Thus, the central thrust of these parables is seen to be far more negative than positive.  These parables have to do centrally with exposing the work of Satan throughout the dispensation in relation to the Word of the Kingdom, along with revealing where this will lead, both during and following the dispensation.

As the dispensation draws to a close and Satan’s corrupting work nears its final stage, the whole matter goes almost completely unrecognized in Christendom.  And the reason for this is easy to see and understand.  The leavened state of Christendom is being viewed by those who have themselves been adversely affected by the leaven.

They are, in this respect, as were the two disciples on the Emmaus road who were walking alongside the resurrected Christ and didn’t even recognize Him.  Their inability to recognize the Christ of the Old Testament Scriptures — the Word that had become flesh, the Old Testament Scriptures that had been manifested in a Person — resulted from their inability to properly understand these same Scriptures.  It was only after these Scriptures had been opened to their understanding, followed by Christ breaking bread, that their eyes were opened.

And Christians today, viewing a leavened Christendom and not seeing or understanding its true condition, are simply not viewing matters from a correct biblical perspective.  Their inability to recognize the true condition of the Church stems from their inability to understand that which Scripture reveals about the matter.  And, if their eyes are to be opened to the truth of the existing situation, such will occur only through the truth of the Word being presented to them and being accepted by them.

But will such occur during the present dispensation?  Will the truth about the coming kingdom ever be proclaimed in such a manner that it will be accepted, allowing the eyes of Christians to be opened?

One here and one there will hear and understand the message, but not the Church at large.  Conditions can only continue to deteriorate in the latter respect.  Such was assured — the pattern was set — when the woman placed the leaven in the three measures of meal.  And conditions can only continue to deteriorate, until the whole has been leavened.

The Purpose of the Comings of Christ

(Excerpted from Mysteries of the Kingdom BOOK, Ch. 1, in this site)

John the Baptist appeared as the forerunner of the Messiah at His first coming, as Elijah will appear as the forerunner of the Messiah at His second coming.  A prophecy that had to do with Elijah was applied to John the Baptist (cf. Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3); and John was said by Jesus to be Elijah, with a condition applied to the statement (Matthew 11:13-14).

The passage in Isaiah, applied to John the Baptist, is set in a context surrounding Messiah’s coming at a time when Israel repents and the nation is healed (Matthew 11:1-5).  This, of course, didn’t occur during or following John’s appearance, though the prophecy was applied to John.  This will occur only following Elijah’s appearance as the forerunner of the Messiah (Malachi 4:1-6).

Christ’s statement concerning John being Elijah carried the condition, “if you will receive.”  That is to say, if the nation would have received the message, Elijah, rather than John, would have appeared at that time as the forerunner of the Messiah.  The latter was conditioned on the former.  God though, in His foreknowledge, knew what Israel would do and sent John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ at His first coming instead of Elijah.

John the Baptist was the Elijah of his day, as Elijah will be the John the Baptist of his day.  And the two men are so closely associated with one another that the prophecy applying to Elijah at Christ’s second coming in Isaiah 40:3 could be applied to John at Christ’s first coming in Matthew 3:3.

1.  Ministry of John, Jesus, and the Twelve

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea with a single, simple message:  “Repent: for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand” (Matthew 3:2).  This was a message directed to the nation of Israel, calling for national repentance, with a view to the Jewish people holding the scepter, with their Messiah, within the heavenly sphere of the kingdom.

The kingdom was “at hand [had ‘drawn near’]” because Messiah was present.  The King of the kingdom — the One destined to replace Satan as the ruler over this earth — was present; and the scepter could, at that time, have passed from the hands of Satan and his angels into the hands of Man, conditioned upon Israel’s repentance.

Israel was being offered regal positions with the nation’s Messiah, in a heavenly realm; but there was a condition.  The nation had to repent.  The nation had to change its mind.

This was the totality of the message proclaimed by John.  It was a call for the nation of Israel (the entire nation) to change its mind, with a view to the Jewish people occupying regal positions with the nation’s Messiah in the heavenly sphere of the kingdom.  Satan and his angels would be put down, and Christ and the repentant nation would move in and take the kingdom.

However, things didn’t go in this direction, and John eventually found himself in prison.  Then Jesus took up the same message, which, under His ministry, was accompanied by miraculous signs — signs having to do with the kingdom, which centered on physical healings.

Jesus went throughout all Galilee doing two things:

1) “preaching the gospel of the kingdom,” and 

2) “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:12, 17-25).

The message concerned the proffered kingdom, and the healings were miraculous signs intimately and inseparably connected with the message being proclaimed.  Israel was sick, “from the sole of the foot even to the head,” and healing for the nation was in the offing, conditioned upon the nation’s repentance.

All of this — Israel’s condition and that which could and would occur following Israel’s repentance — was set forth in detail numerous places in Old Testament prophecy.  But one section of the numerous prophecies will suffice to illustrate the point — a section of Isaiah’s prophecy.

Note how Isaiah opened his prophecy.  He began by describing Israel’s present condition:

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:  they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have gone away backward.

Why should you be stricken any more?  You will revolt more and more:  the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores:  they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (Isaiah 1:4-6)

Then Isaiah continued his prophecy by describing Israel’s healing.  He went on to describe what the nation could have, if…

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil;

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. (Isaiah 1:16-19)

And, beyond that, Isaiah concluded a section of his prophecy by describing conditions in Israel following the time of the nation’s repentance and healing:

And I will turn My hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your tin [paralleling “dross,” undoubtedly referring to metals in an impure sense].

And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, the city of righteousness, the faithful city . . .

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

And many people shall go up and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

And He shall judge among the nations . . . . (Isaiah 1:25-26; 2:2-4a)

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:  they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have gone away backward.

Why should you be stricken any more?  You will revolt more and more:  the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. (Isaiah 1:4-5)

Christ’s message to Israel, along with the message of the Twelve whom He later commissioned (Matthew 10:1-8)  — in complete keeping with Isaiah’s prophecy (among numerous other Old Testament prophecies) — was simply a call for the nation to repent, with a view to healing and the nation being established in her God-ordained position in the kingdom (Exodus 19:5-6).  The healing of an individual constituted a sign for the Jewish people to visibly behold, showing them what could happen to the entire nation, if . . .

“Repentance” on the part of Israel was the sole condition in the message proclaimed to the nation by John, Jesus, and the Twelve:  “Repent: for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand.”  Then, following national repentance, healing would occur.

The Jewish people were to change their minds about their prior attitude towards God’s commandments (Isaiah 1:19; cf. Leviticus 26:3ff; Deuteronomy 28:1ff).  They had previously disobeyed that which God had commanded.  And because of this disobedience, Israel had not only failed to fully occupy her God-ordained position in the Old Testament theocracy but the day came when this theocracy ceased to exist; and, in connection with the end of the Old Testament theocracy, Israel found herself in captivity and scattered among the Gentile nations.

(The northern ten tribes were carried into captivity by the Assyrians about 722 B.C., and the southern two tribes were carried into captivity by the Babylonians about 605 B.C., beginning the times of the Gentiles.  And a few years later the Shekinah Glory departed from the holy of holies of the temple in Jerusalem, ascending to heaven from the Mount of Olives, marking the end of the Old Testament theocracy.)

And even during the time Christ was on earth, though a remnant was back in the land, the nation remained under Gentile dominion.  The times of the Gentiles, which began during the days of Nebuchadnezzar, continued then, as it still continues today.  John opened the message to Israel concerning the proffered kingdom, Christ continued this message following John being cast into prison, and the Twelve later also carried this same message to Israel.

And, though numerous Jewish people heeded the call and repented, the nation as a whole refused.  The nation as a whole refused to change its mind relative to disobedience, something which had marked the history of the nation throughout centuries of time.

2.  Israel’s Climactic Rejection

Events surrounding the offer of the kingdom of the heavens to Israel, beginning with John and continuing with Jesus and the Twelve, reached an apex in Matthew 12.  However, the apex reached was not one of acceptance on the part of the nation.  Rather, it was one of rejection.

In this chapter, Christ healed a man on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:9-13), pointing to Israel’s coming healing on the Sabbath (the seventh millennium, the coming Lord’s Day, following the six millenniums comprising Man’s Day [cf. Numbers 19:11-12; Hosea 5:15-6:2; Matthew 17:1-5]).  And, following this miraculous sign, “the Pharisees went out, and held a council against Him, how they might destroy Him” (Matthew 12:14).

The Pharisees (along with the Scribes) — fundamental, legalistic religious leaders — were, by far, the largest of the religious parties in Israel.  And, occupying this position, they sat “in Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23:2), controlling the religious life of the nation.

These controlling religious leaders were the ones who followed Christ about the country, seeking, at every turn, to counter both His message and the miraculous signs He was performing.  And, in this chapter they reached an apex in their rejection by not only rejecting the manifested sign of a man being healed on the Sabbath (pointing to Israel’s healing on the Sabbath) but by subsequently holding a council concerning how they might be able to do away with the One having performed this sign.

Then, later in the chapter, Christ healed a man possessed with a demon, who was both blind and dumb (Matthew 12:22); and the Pharisees, in their rejection of the manifested signs, reached a terminal point.  They attributed the power behind the manifestation of this miraculous sign to Satan (Matthew 12:24).  And doing this after they had rejected the sign pertaining to Israel being healed on the Sabbath, along with subsequently seeking to do away with Christ, was the final straw.

These signs were being performed through the power of the Spirit (in completely keeping with the way God performs His works [cf. Genesis 1:2b]); and the Pharisees, attributing Christ’s works to Satan, committed what was called by Christ, “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 12:31).

The Pharisees had previously done the same thing (Matthew 9:34), but here the setting is different.  Here it follows their rejecting the sign of the Sabbath and their attempting to do away with the One having performed this sign.  Israel’s religious leaders, at this point, had gone beyond what could be allowed.  And Christ stated, relative to that which they had done:

Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 9:31-32)

For all practical purposes the kingdom of the heavens was taken from Israel at this point in Matthew’s gospel, though the announcement was not made until later (Matthew 21:43).  And it was at this point in Christ’s ministry that a major change occurred.

The Scribes and Pharisees, immediately after Christ told them that they had committed a sin having far-reaching consequences, had the effrontery to ask Christ for an additional sign (Matthew 9:38).  They had rejected all of His previous signs, even attributing the power behind the last one to Satan, and now they asked for something that they had previously rejected time after time.

This was little more than a personal affront, further seeking, by any means possible, to discredit the One performing these signs (as they had previously attempted to do).  But Jesus, knowing full-well their thoughts, responded with the only sign that would now be given to them — the sign of the prophet Jonah, pointing to His coming death, burial, and resurrection rather than to the kingdom (Matthew 12:39-40).

Then Christ described the condition in which the nation of Israel, because of the actions of their religious leaders, now found itself.

The men of Nineveh would rise up in judgment and condemn this generation, for they had repented at the preaching of Jonah.  And One greater than Jonah was standing in Israel’s midst, calling for the nation’s repentance, but to no avail (Matthew 12:41).

The queen of the south would, likewise, rise up in judgment and condemn this generation, for she had come from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.  And One greater than Solomon was standing in Israel’s midst, One whom the Jewish people wouldn’t hear (Matthew 12:42).

The nation was to be left in a desolate condition, wherein the Jewish people would walk through dry places, seeking rest, and find none.  And, should the people comprising this nation persist in their disobedience, particularly relative to any attempt to bring about a change in their state themselves, conditions would only become worse.  Their latter end would be “worse than the first” (Matthew 12:43-45; cf. Leviticus 26:18-31).

And this is the setting for Christ’s departure from the house, His going down by the seaside, and His beginning to speak in parables in Matthew 13.

Christ’s Actions, Continued Rejection

The seven parables in Matthew 13 present a sharp change in God’s dealings with the nation of Israel.  Heretofore, events surrounding the proffered kingdom had been strictly Jewish in nature, but now something completely new and different in relation to this kingdom is introduced.  These parables have to do with the kingdom of the heavens as it pertains to individuals separate and distinct from the nation of Israel.

Before He began to speak in parables, Christ went “out of the house, and sat by the seaside” (Matthew 13:1).  The first four parables were spoken outside the house, down by the seaside (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-33).  Then Christ went back “into the house” (Matthew 13:36) and gave three more parables (Matthew 13:44-50).

The use of “house” and “seaside” is fraught with meaning.  The “house,” from which Christ departed, and later reentered, is a reference to the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6; 23:38); and the “seaside,” to which Christ went, is a reference to the Gentiles (Jonah 1:12; 2:10; Revelation 13:1).

Thus, within the symbolism of that which is stated, the Lord left Israel (departed the house), went to the Gentiles (sat by the seaside), and gave four parables.  Then the Lord returned to Israel (went back inside the house) and gave three additional parables.

The kingdom of the heavens — about to be taken from Israel at this point in Matthew’s gospel — would have been taken from Israel prior to the time of the occurrence of events revealed in the first four parables, spoken outside the house.  And the last three parables, though spoken back inside the house, could not really pertain to Israel per se.  Because of the subject matter — the kingdom of the heavens, having previously been taken from Israel — these parables would have to still pertain to those outside the house, associated with the seaside (note that there is no mention of Christ leaving the seaside [leaving the Gentiles] when He reentered the house [returned to Israel]).

In this respect, the first four parables would concern the Lord’s dealings with a people other than Israel, associated with the Gentiles; and these dealings would have to do with these people in a particular realm — in relation to the kingdom of the heavens.

Then, the last three parables, because of the continued subject matter (the kingdom of the heavens), would have to continue the continuity of thought from the first four.  And further, though spoken back inside the house, these parables really cannot be Jewish in nature (for, again, they deal with the kingdom of the heavens — a sphere of the kingdom in which Israel could no longer have a part).

All seven parables have to do with events during time that elapses following the Nobleman’s departure “into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom,” and with events during time that terminates with His “return” after receiving the kingdom (cf. Luke 19:12ff).  There is nothing in these parables that occurs before Christ’s departure from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9), events depicted in these parables occur almost entirely during the time of Christ’s absence (Psalm 110:1), and events in these parables will be concluded immediately following Christ’s return (Revelation 19:11ff).

These parables — centering around a message pertaining to the kingdom of the heavens — have to do with an offer of the kingdom to a people other than Israel, following the removal of the kingdom from Israel (cf. Matthew 21:33-43; 1 Peter 2:9-10).  These parables have to do with the message pertaining to the kingdom of the heavens during and following the present dispensation, and these parables conclude with events surrounding Christ’s return (after He, the Noblemen in Luke 19:12, has received the kingdom from the Father [cf. Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 11:15; 19:11ff]).

The course of the dispensation is depicted in the first four parables, and the last three have to do with concluding events (directly related to that previously revealed in the first four) that will not only bring the age to a close but also usher in the next age, the Messianic Era.

Thus, the Lord reentering the house is not an act that places an emphasis on His dealing with Israel once again.  Rather, the emphasis remains where it is seen in the first four parables.  Nor is there any mention of Christ leaving the seaside when He goes back inside the house.  And the significance of this is seen in the fact that His prior dealings with the Gentiles (first four parables) would continue.

Israel is reintroduced because that dealt with in the final three parables cannot be accomplished apart from God dealing with the Jewish people once again.  But the emphasis in these three parables continues from the same place in which it was seen in the first four parables.

(Briefly stated, all seven parables in Matthew 13 form a continuous discourse having to do with the kingdom of the heavens being offered to a group other than Israel.  The people of Israel had rejected the proffered kingdom, and the kingdom was about to be taken from Israel, with a view to a separate and distinct entity [the Church] being called into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel rejected [Matthew 21:33-43].

In the first four parables, Israel is not in view.  These parables have to do with God’s dealings with this new entity, separate from Israel, during a time in which Israel is set aside; but in the last three parables, Israel is brought back into view.  And God begins to deal with the nation once again, with a view to two things:

1) concluding His dealings with Israel [something not seen in these parables but seen numerous places in          related Scripture], and

2) concluding His dealings with the new entity brought into existence to be the recipient of that which Israel          rejected [the central issue seen in these parables].  Because of Israel’s connection with certain concluding      events, Christ had to go back inside the house before delivering the last three parables.

The first four parables have to do with the course of Christendom during the present dispensation [the course of the period during which God is removing from the Gentiles “a people for His name” (Acts 15:14)], with Israel set aside; and the last three parables have to do with events occurring after God resumes His national dealings with Israel, following the removal of the Church from the earth and God turning once again to Israel.  But the Church, though having been removed from the earth before events in these last three parables begin to occur, is still the central figure seen throughout these parables.

The setting for the last three parables is the coming Tribulation and events surrounding Christ’s subsequent return.  And, though the Church will not be on earth during the Tribulation, this period really has just as much to do with the Church as with Israel.

The Tribulation, along with being “the time of Jacob’s trouble” [Jeremiah 30:7], will be the time when redemption [future not past] of the inheritance awaiting Christ and His co-heirs will occur.  And this future redemption, having to do with the inheritance will also include the bride — already having been redeemed, past — who, through this future redemptive act, will become Christ’s wife.

This entire sequence of events, along with related events that usher in the Messianic Kingdom, is depicted in the last three parables.  And, in this respect, the last three parables simply form a chronological continuation and conclusion to the events depicted in the first four parables, with all seven parables forming a history of Christendom in relation to the Word of the Kingdom, extending from the time of the Church’s inception on the day of Pentecost in 33 A.D. to that future time when the Church is present, with Christ, in the Messianic Kingdom.)

The Context of Each Passage of Scripture 

It should go without saying that context must always be considered before one derives a proper interpretation of God’s Word.  And although this is true throughout God’s Word, it is most critical when coming to an understanding of which aspect of God’s redemption plan for man is being addressed in any passage of Scripture.

Probably the most notable example of Scripture misinterpretation when this rule is ignored, which is prevalent throughout Christendom from local Bible classes to many of its finest theological institutions, is the interpretation that the book of Hebrews, along with its five distinct warnings, is directed to “professing” Christians (i.e., those who have not actually placed their faith in Christ); when, in fact, this is one of the most detailed instructional manuals specifically addressed to Christians and is centered on the salvation of the soul.

For the reader to gain a truly enlightened concept of using this principle as it applies to the book of Hebrews, it suggested that he review the book, Let Us Go On BOOK, in this site.   

The following is the Let Us Go On BOOK, Foreword, from this book:

There is a logical progression in thought as one moves through the five major warnings in the book of Hebrews.  And all of the warnings are directed to Christians alone, centering around the same subject matter — Christians either realizing or failing to realize the salvation of their souls/lives, synonymous with Christians either realizing or failing to realize the rights of the firstborn; and this salvation, realizing these rights, has to do strictly with the position that Christians will occupy in the coming Messianic Era (Hebrews 6:12, 18-20; 10:36-39; cf. James 1:21; 1 Peter 1:9).

In the first warning, the salvation set before Christians is called, so great salvation, and is specifically stated later in the epistle to be “the saving of the soul.”  This is the greatest thing God has ever designed for redeemed man, for it centers around man being removed from the earth, placed in the heavens, and occupying the throne as co-heir with the “heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2-2:5; 10:39; cf. Hebrews 3:1).

Then the second warning outlines the route that one must travel during his pilgrim journey if he would one day come into a realization of so great salvation.  The route carries one from Egypt to Canaan.

Spiritual lessons are drawn from the historic account of the Israelites under Moses, forming the type.  And these spiritual lessons are seen in the antitype surrounding the experiences of Christians under Christ.  The Israelites under Moses had been called out of Egypt and were being led toward an earthly land, wherein their calling was ultimately to have been realized.  And Christians under Christ have been called out of the world and are being led toward a heavenly land, wherein their calling is ultimately to be realized.

With these things in mind, the third warning then continues with one major overriding thought:  Let Us Go On! (Hebrews 6:1).  The thought has to do with moving from immaturity to maturity;  and this maturity, contextually, centers around Christians coming into a knowledge and understanding of the things surrounding the land set before them, for a revealed purpose.

In other words, so great salvation has been set before Christians (warning one), and the route that Christians must travel to realize this salvation has been well marked (warning two); then, with these things as an established background, the writer exhorts Christians to go on to a mature knowledge and understanding of those truths that God has revealed concerning the land set before them (warning three).

Entering into that land and realizing the rights of the firstborn therein is the goal of the Christians’ calling.  And pressing toward this goal or any goal apart from knowing and understanding certain things about the goal, or things which may lie in the pathway, preventing one from reaching the goal, would be unheard of.

This is easy to see from the manner in which Christians are commanded to array themselves for the spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:11ff, for they cannot properly array themselves apart from a knowledge and understanding of that which lies out ahead.

The “helmet of salvation,” for example, is identified as the “hope of salvation” (cf. Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8); and the “hope of salvation” has to do, not with the salvation that Christians presently possess, but with the salvation of the soul (Hebrews 6:12, 18-19; 10:36-39), which is the central message of the book of Hebrews.

The “helmet of salvation” cannot be possessed apart from a “hope” based on knowledge and understanding.  But it is only one part of the armor, and the possession of other parts of the armor require a similar knowledge and understanding surrounding the goal of the Christians’ calling.  And, apart from being properly arrayed for battle after the fashion revealed in Ephesians 6:11ff, Christians will suffer defeat time after time and ultimately fail to realize the goal of their calling.

Drawing from the previous two warnings in order to understand the third is the progressive manner in which the things in this book, Let Us Go On BOOK, have been structured; and this is also the progressive manner in which any correct exposition of Hebrews 5; 6 must be viewed.

Scripture must be understood in the light of Scripture.  There is first the near context, and there is then the far context.  The near context, in this case, takes one back to the previous two warnings; and the far context takes one to the various other related points in Scripture throughout both the Old and New Testaments.  One must compare “spiritual things with spiritual” if he would come into a correct knowledge and understanding of the things that God has revealed to man in His Word (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

Conclusion of the Matter

Unquestionably, within Christendom today, there exists a very large and bewildering confusion over the method whereby one may obtain “eternal salvation,” and, for that matter, what “eternal salvation” actually means.  Many believe it is achieved through faith, others believe it is a product of works, and still others combine the two to achieve such an end.

Upon a thorough study of God’s Word, as has been outlined in this document, the conclusion of the matter is that salvation is achieved both by faith and works, depending upon which aspect of His redemption plan for man is addressed, i.e.,

(1) Spirit-salvation (an instantaneous passing from “death to life”) is strictly achieved by means of a decision of faith in Christ, based totally (only) upon Christ’s finished work on the cross in the place of anything that man can do; and, is completely unchangeable — can never be altered or withdrawn by man or God — insuring a person an eternity with God in the ages to come.

(2) Soul-salvation (a progressive, continued work by the Holy Spirit within man, which leads from spiritual immaturity to spiritual maturity) is strictly achieved by means of one’s faithful consumption of God’s Word, applying it to one’s temporal life (e.g., works); which, may assure one’s eventual participation in Christ’s rule during the coming Messianic Era — the coming thousand year reign of Christ over the earth.

(3) Body-salvation (the transformation of the body) will be strictly achieved by God in accordance with His schedule after one's temporal life, resulting in the body being conformed to Christ's glorious body
(Philippians 3:21).

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Bible One - Charles Strong's Salvation by Faith or Works or Both

Word Document:  Salvation by Faith or Works or Both by Charles Strong.docx which is SAFE to open and print.

To website CONTENTS Page.

The following links, in this site, are additional commentaries on the Word of the Kingdom and/or Satan’s ongoing war against Christians:

The Primary Message of the Bible! / Saved for a Purpose / Conditions in the Church Today! / Confusion about Salvation / Brought Forth from Above BOOK, Appendix 1 / The Central Message of the New Testament / Dragnet / Separation / Furnace of Fire / Kingdom / Christendom Today! / Satan Rules the Earth / God's Transition of Satan's Kingdom to Christ's Kingdom / Satan, Great Enemy of Christian Life! / Organizational Set-up of Satan’s Rule over the Earth / The Spiritual Warfare BOOK / Freedom, Satan and Armor / Christians vs. Angelic Rulers Presently!  / Man and the Universe! / Christians and the World and In the Kingdom of Men.

One son rose up against the other Son, and slew Him.  As Cain rose up against Abel and slew him, Israel rose up against Christ and slew Him.  And as the blood of Abel cried out “from the ground,” the blood of Christ “speaks better things than that of Abel.” (cf. Genesis 4:10; Hebrews 12:24).

Cain & Able Foreshadowed Israel & Christ
By Arlen Chitwood of Lamp Broadcast

Excerpted from Bible One - Arlen Chitwood's Middle East Peace, Ch. 2.

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,

that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.

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 chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

See! Your house is left to you desolate;

for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” (Matthew 23:34-39)

Repent [the entire nation], for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. (Matthew 3:1-2; 4:17; 10:1-7)

(“Repentance” and the use of the word in Scripture is, more often than not, misunderstood [e.g., unsaved individuals often called upon to repent prior to believing (some attempt to make repentance and belief synonymous or inseparable); or, in a similar respect, seeing the call for Israel to repent in the gospel accounts and in Acts as a call to the unsaved].

The word “repent” is a translation of the Greek word, metanoia, or in its verb form, metanoeo.  Both are compound words [the preposition meta (meaning, “with”) prefixed to words derived from vous (meaning, “mind”)].  Thus, these compound words, in their base sense, mean “with the mind.”

The word [either noun or verb form] refers to doing something with the mind, and that which is referenced through the use of this word has to do with changing one’s mind.  And that is really all that the word means.

The Jewish people in the gospels and Acts were called upon to change their minds relative to their continued disobedience, which would lead to a change of actions, etc.

Relative to salvation today, does an unsaved person have to repent?  He does if he has to change his mind about Christ before he can believe, though most today would probably have to make up their minds rather than change their minds prior to belief.  But either way, it is believing that saves a person, not making up or changing one’s mind.  The latter would only place a person in the position where he can believe and be saved.)

Within Christendom, most local churches, including those that are evangelical, do not emphasize (teach) the solid food (meat) of God’s Word; rather, it is the milk of the Word that is presented over and over again from the pulpits.  Even in their various “Sunday school” and Bible classes, there is constant repetition of the rudimentary doctrines and almost never a presentation of the insightfulness and gravity contained in the boundless depths of God’s Word.

The Christian Experience — Its Initiation and Progression
By Charles Strong of Bible One

In the beginning God created man (mankind) in His own (trichotomous) image for a specific purpose, to have “dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26; cf. Genesis 1:28).  But man’s act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden brought about dire consequences from the hand of God, the spiritual death (separation from God) of man and the degradation of earth’s impeccable animate and inanimate order.

And it is from this condition of spiritual death that man (on an individual bases) must emerge, i.e., regain spiritual life, in order to recover/possess the purpose for which God created him.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:1, 5)

The Initiation

The requisite purpose for Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, coming to earth was to be the propitiation (Gk. hilasmos – the means of covering and remitting, i.e., satisfying God) for the sins of mankind.  Christ accomplished this purpose on the cross of Calvary by taking on and becoming man’s sin so man could obtain the righteousness of God.  While on the cross Christ paid the penalty for all of sin by suffering the extreme punishment and judgment of God the Father (spiritual death, i.e., being separated from [forsaken by] God the Father) for a period (several hours) of time.  Christ’s work on the cross was total, complete, and, in His own word, “finished.”

And He [Jesus Christ] Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. . . . In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 2:2; 4:10; cf. Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17)

For He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Isaiah 53:6; Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24)

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:45- 46)

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:31)

And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved . . . .”  (Acts 16:30-31a)

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Eternal salvation is by grace (that which God is able to do completely apart from human merit) through faith (by believing on God’s Son [Ephesians 2:8-9]), and it is based entirely upon the finished work of Another (John 19:30).  Nothing that man has done, is presently doing, or will ever do can have anything to do with his eternal destiny.  Man can do no more than receive by faith that which has already been done on his behalf.

This is why Scripture states:

“. . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved . . . .” (Acts 16:31)

This statement is in response to a question in the preceding verse:

“. . . Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.  I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able. (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the Word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14)

For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17)

I [Christ] have given them [Christ’s followers] Your [God’s] Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one [Satan].  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. (John 17:14-17)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  (2 Corinthians 5:10)

. . . For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. . . . So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10, 12 [10b])

But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. (Colossians 3:25)

Now if anyone builds on this foundation [faith in Jesus Christ] with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,  each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4)

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. (Revelation 22:12)

The adoption, the change in our body of humiliation, the redemption of the body, occurs at a time following the resurrection and rapture.  This will be the capstone of all that proceeded, placing man back in the position that Adam occupied before the fall, though with regal garments.  And, accordingly, it will precede and anticipate Christ’s millennial reign.

Adoption (Redemption of the Body)
By Arlen Chitwood of Lamp Broadcast

“The adoption” is spoken of in Romans 8:23 as being synonymous with “the redemption of our body”:

“. . . waiting out adoption, [namely] the ransoming of our body” (Lenski)

“. . . patiently awaiting son-placing, the redemption of our body” (Wuest)

And since “the adoption” and “the redemption of our body” are synonymous in this respect, the matter cannot possibly be a reference to that which will occur at the time of the resurrection and rapture at the end of the present dispensation, as commonly taught.  If the redemption of the body were to occur at this time, all Christians would be adopted into a firstborn status.  And this would be completely contrary to any Scriptural teaching surrounding adoption, for “sons” alone [those whom God presently recognizes in this capacity, as seen in Romans 8:14; Galatians 3:26; 4:6-7; Hebrews 12:5-8], not children, find themselves in a position to be adopted [ref. God’s Firstborn Sons BOOK].

If the redemption of the body/adoption does not occur at the time of the resurrection and rapture, then when does it occur?  And exactly what is involved in this future redemption/adoption?

Romans 8:14-23 connects this future redemption/adoption with being “glorified together” with Christ and with “the manifestation of the sons of God.”

Then, in this same respect, note how these things have been put together in Philippians 3:20-21:

For our citizenship [Greek: politeuma, “commonwealth,” “political sphere of activity”] is in heaven [“heavens”]; from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

who will transform our lowly body [lit., “our body of humiliation”], that it may be conformed to His glorious body [lit., “His body of glory”], according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

The thought from the preceding two verses has to do with the Christians’ future regal position in the heavens, following Christ’s return; and it has to do with occupying this position in a “body of glory,” like unto the body presently possessed by Christ, not in the “body of humiliation” presently possessed by Christians.

There was a time when this same humiliation presently seen in connection with the Christians’ body was also seen in connection with Christ’s body.  Note the quotation from Isaiah 53:7-8 in Acts 8:32-33:

 . . He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

In His humiliation His justice was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth. (Acts 8:32-33)

(Two different words are used for “naked” in the Hebrew text of Genesis 2:25 [before the fall] and Genesis 3:7 [after the fall].  In the latter [Genesis 3:7], the word has to do with absolute nakedness, but not so in the former [Genesis 2:25].

Remaining within the way a person dressed in the East at the time Moses wrote Genesis, and at later times as well, the word used relative to nakedness pertaining to Adam and Eve preceding the fall [Genesis 2:25] could be used to describe a person clothed in a tunic [inner garment] but lacking the mantle or cloak [outer garment].  In the preceding respect, prior to the fall, Adam and Eve were clothed in the Glory of God but had yet to possess the regal outer garments worn by kings [fulfilling the reason for man’s creation — to rule the earth (Genesis 1:26-28)].

Then, following the fall, no longer clothed in the Glory of God, Adam and Eve were no longer in a position to be further clothed in regal garments, realizing the purpose for their creation.  They, apart from the inner garment [the Glory] could not wear the outer garments [royal apparel].

Adam, prior to the fall, never wore regal garments or held the scepter.  In this respect, he never moved beyond the description given in Genesis 2:25 — a “naked” condition, “naked” in relation to the reason for his creation [lacking the outer regal garments].

Thus, if man, now separated from the Glory, is to ever fulfill the purpose for his creation, God must act.  Redemption has to occur; and this, of necessity, has to include the complete man — spirit, soul, and body — with a view to not only a restoration of the Glory but to regality beyond this restoration.)