King James Bible
King James Version (KJV)
All Discussion PAGE 287
Viewing page: 287 of 6006
< Previous Discussion Page Next Discussion Page >
277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Glory And Honour
Re.4:11 "Worthy are you,our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
The four and twenty elders casting their crowns before the throne said the quote, which is our key verse. They established the direction of the Salvation plan of God. The reason why the Spirit revealed the memorial is to present the church of God in eternity and its effect is the mighty chorus given in Re.5:9-13. "And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth" join with the voices of angels in heaven in full throated praise. The new song is unlike songs created according to canon in music or sung by a choir of skillful singers, it is entirely under the grace that the seven lamps of the Spirit signify. (Re.4:5) Seven spirits of God or the unity of the Spirit is an ever present memorial. (The three heavens denote trinity- body represented by the four and twenty elders and the four beasts; the spirit by the seven lamps; and the soul which points to the Lamb who appears in ch.5:6.) "In the image of God" in the creation account brings in a similitude of 'as in heaven.'
The second part of the key verse shall explain Ge.1:1, "By your will they existed" included the memorial of four and twenty elders. The Spirit gives the number 24 (3x8) in terms of the Law which is same in heaven, on earth and under the earth " quoted above. The grace of Jesus Christ covered all three so death of the Son was also for spirits in prison. "The grace of of our Lord, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor,"(2 Co.8:9) In short no man may escape ignorance as to his calling (Ro.1:20) Either you gather with Christ or be cast out into the outer darkness.
Thank you, John 3:16 God has given us a promise that through faith in Him and the one He sent, His Son Jesus Christ who died on the cross for us, that we will not perish but have eternal life. Eternal life is a gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not about where we will spend eternity, without this gift there is no eternity for man.
Rev. 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
God bless,
RLW
His name Abram signified 'exalted father' and considering God would change his name to Abraham to mean ' father of a multitude.' he had to walk before him and be perfect. Despite of his wife's barrenness and advanced age, his faith had to be of much sterner stuff. Many events in his life tested it. One explains the wife-sister puzzle occurring in Ch.20.
King Abimelech was in mortal danger for taking Sarah from her husband. Abraham presented his wife as sister as he did before Pharaoh on an earlier occasion. He supposed that he could get around difficulties as before. Technically Abraham was telling the truth. But both cannot be right.
Marriage was instituted owing to the flesh that is weak. When the Spirit describes the creation of Eve gives it primary sense, which what Jesus explains, "But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. / For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;/ And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh."( Mark 10: 6-8) What therefore God hath joined together has one single head, which is of Christ. The will of God does not change.
The Spirit presents Abraham as a double for the Son and his wife as the Bride of Christ (See under A-Abigail) Among the heroes of faith Sara stands in her own right along with Abraham. "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."(He.11: 11) Her faith was her own over which she was answerable to God alone.
The wife of Nabal, who dwelt in the district of Carmel(1 Sa.25:3) After Nabal's death she became the wife of David. By her David had a son called Chileab (2 Sa.3:3)
The Spirit presents her as a woman of good understanding, as the Bride of Christ. For this reason Abigail's role in relation to David is similar to Rachel has with Jacob. Her personal name meaning, "my father rejoiced," by the same line of reasoning evokes the joy in heaven while in the world of the flesh she was paired with a churlish man; and a son of Belial the epithet coming from His workforce. Under the circumstances bearing the cross and following Jesus applies in the world where the children of light are unequally yoked with children of wrath.
Abigail tries to make peace between her husband and David. An occasion illustrating her prudence and David, a stand-in for Christ is illustrated in this passage.
"And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me."(1 Sa.25:32-33) Notice the usage 'this day'. Abigail's hour was that moment. Now is the day of Salvation.
a (SMILING GUNMAN) I thought this could not be good! It was the (ENEMY) trying to prevent me from going deeper in God to attain my mantle. Not chasing a MANTLE because I only have a few clues of what my MANTLE may be. I am chasing GOD and Jesus and in this fall Feast Season, I will try and catch them. Again, I thank you for your time and wisdom.
Jacqueline Collier
The second son of Adam was a shepherd. He foreshadows Christ the Good Shepherd. His offering from the firstlings of the flock pleased God more than of Cain.
How did Abel settle upon a burnt offering? To the pure God shall show himself as pure. ("With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure, "-Ps.18:26). Abel is qualified as righteous. ( 1 John 3:12)
Faith is the pure language by which he understood the truth 'Without shedding of blood is no remission' (He.9:22). Here is an example of the wisdom from heaven. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."(Jas.3:17). Besides God first demonstrated when He first dressed his parents with coats of skins. (Ge.3:21).
He was killed by his older brother Cain in a fit of jealousy and became the first martyr.Matt.23:35.
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength " (Ps,8:2; Matt.21:16) I was four years old and my Sunday school teacher asked what God was like. But I had an answer that amazed my teacher that he would repppeatt o my father some forty years later. It must have seemed a childish nonsense. Does God throw stones from above on the bad? Now I know from reading Re.18:21 that he does so the mighty Babylon is wiped off from the earth. It made me realize how Abel would have known to please God. To the pure He shall reveal his mysteries. Some 75 years later I knew my life began ages ago.
Let's step back and think for a moment. What is heaven exactly? Surely a large factor there is that we will SERVE God forever.
John 12:26 says in KJV: If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Let us examine the same verse in the amplified version:
If anyone serves Me, he must [continue to faithfully] follow Me [without hesitation, holding steadfastly to Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]; and wherever I am [in heaven's glory], there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
I am not an expert on translations but it would seem eternally serving God is a theme here! Revelation 7:13-15 and Revelation 22:3 make this abundantly clear as to the serving of God eternally of His saints. Worship is also inextricably tied to being a servant; and the ruling and reigning with Christ is part and parcel with the destiny of the church as Kings and Priests before the throne as well ( Revelation 5:10; etal).
Now as we assess this life; surely we see this attitude of service begins here; and Christ of course laid out the perfect example with His life. Mark 10:45 shows how Christ came not to be served but to serve; if God incarnate followed that principal surely His disciples must do the same.
As to work in heaven; surely it won't be a drudgery. The curse with the thorns and sweat on the brow will be gone that we inherited in the garden. We won't have unreasonable taskmasters; stressful deadlines; and other difficulties. Work no doubt will be a cooperative effort since we will all be together in performing tasks. No doubt individual things will be suitable for us as well.
The world at large cannot serve without some benefit for themselves; just like we can't love unconditionally (see Matthew 5:34).
The last enemy destroyed is deateh (1COR15:26
Sampson. Hebrews 11:32 mentions Sampson in passing but doesn't elaborate on the subject.
Judges 13 gets into the beginning of the story of Manoah and his wife who had an angelic visitation from God announcing the birth of Sampson and the prophesied deliverance from the Philistines that his life would enable. Interestingly the angel appeared both times to the woman and it seemed this unnamed wife had more sense than her husband who was convinced they would die after such a visitation. Perhaps Sampson's upbringing in such a household led to some of his irrational behaviors as he grew up.
Judges 16 shows where Sampson ended up with Delilah; who ultimately sapped his strength to the point where he was blinded and no longer able to resist his enemies who were using her against him. He had lost his wife according to Judges 14:3 after they killed her following his vengeance in killing 30 Philistines. This tragedy could have been avoided if he had married within his people. He would continue to follow his affections; yet somehow God saw that he had genuine faith. This is perhaps best illustrated when he deliberately gave up his life in knocking down the pillars of Dagon's temple in Judges 16:29; and kills more Philistines than he did his entire life previously.
How we end life clearly is important; if the rest of our life is screwed up but we end it well then we can enter into heaven; the other extreme exists for those who turn away at the last minute; sadly a friend of mine said that was the case with his mother after being in a home where believers surrounded her the last few months of her life she turned away from the faith.
The examples in the last few posts show how God knows the heart; we can never be sure someone can't turn at the last minute but certainly shouldn't count on it. Matthew 7:20 shows us how in time we can see those who are truly saved by GOOD FRUIT.
In assessing Lot's narrow escape from Sodom; the patience of God is unmistakeable. The angels put up with the hemming and hawing in Lot's pathetic request to go to a closer town rather than far away in the mountains to escape (see Genesis 19:20). In the end he ends up fleeing further once he sees the destruction.
REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE. I highly recommend the tract by Chapel Library on this topic with this title. ( Genesis 19:26). I cannot ultimately prove that Lot's wife was lost in her curiousity to look back but it certainly cost her her life. We are reminded; of course of the verse in Luke 9:62 of he who looks back once he has put his hand to the plough not being suitable for the Kingdom of God.
It would seem that Lot's wife couldn't have been alongside him and turned to a pillar of salt the same distance away from the destruction. It would seem she lagged some distance behind OR stood still quite a while when Lot continued on before this happened. Anyway; the tract I mentioned shows her priviledge in being in a home where someone read God's word and believed. I would say that it was probably much compromised what Lot was actually teaching as head of the household not to mention what his daughters knew scripturally. She was nonetheless without excuse; if we look at Rahab "the harlot" and her commendation saving the spies and preservation of life and listed in Hebrews 11 as an example of faith ( Hebrews 11:31) she was commended and actually part of the lineage of Christ eventually. Being OBEDIENT at such a time requires true faith; and Lot's wife clearly was more enamored with the world in this case than a pagan prostitute because of the ACTIONS demonstrating faith or lack thereof. This is why works ARE important. In all this we can't ignore Abraham's pleading to God in Gen. 18:32; clearly he had Lot in mind and his family to be the rightous who would escape. His sons in law ended up being wicked.
God is a Spirit. Worship of God is in the matter of creature giving glory to the Highest. The memorial of in heaven shows the subject matter and object of reverence. The four beasts for example never broke off from their devotion while they explained to St John of the significance of the bound book with seven seals. (Re.4: 8-9)."
While the Lamb opened one seal one beast says, 'Come and see.'(Re.6: 1). Thus with every beast and in the midst of these four beasts a voice is heard when the third seal is broken, "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine (Re.6: 6)". Worship of God is in spirit and in truth. ( John 4: 23-24). The voice in the middle spoke language of the Spirit on non-verbal mode.
The medium of instruction is faith the same article our Savior Lord employed to do His perfect will, which to our intent and purpose is obedience. Thus spiritual understanding is what we require in order to be perfected as a man of God, 'thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
" Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered./ And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."(Ro.8:26-27) Literally interpreting the quotes in the Bible is like watching a 3-d film without polaroid glasses. Faith makes one hear the word of God both Father and the Son in focus.
Your overriding message is not even recognisable to anyone truly living in God's Spirit. The best advice I can give you is to pray for humility and pray that you will learn to Fear God my friend, as this is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10
The Way. Matthew 16:24 "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
I pray that you can find humility my friend, and remember: we do not know when our time is up.
GBU
100% Correct! The Spirit of God works through you brother!
2 Peter states in verses 7-9: 7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Taking a view of Lot's life from the beginning; we see a stark contrast on his mindset from that of Abraham. They were apparently related to each other but the decision of Lot to go the fertile plain as opposed to Abraham's decision to be in the desert area as a nomad shows several things. First of all; despite the fact that they had som many possessions that they needed more space; continuing to remain wealthy must have been a greater factor for Lot. It is not known how much he was aware of the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom initiallly. Clearly though (as my next point) these verses show that he was greatly disturbed by it. Thirdly; however in seeing the story of his narrow escape he was willing to sacrifice his daughters in order to appease the wicked crowd attempting to attack the angelic visitors. This was clearly no place to remain in raising a family; hence the men who were pladged to marry his daughters were not sincere and didn't heed God's warning. I would surmise that likely they were the ONLY ones not Sodomites in the area hence very low standards were adhered to in finding suitable husbands. Hence that contributed to their attitude in Genesis 19:31 where they decided it was better to get their father drunk and sleep with him to have children than not since they felt no other men on earth were available for such a task. It was likely that they assumed all men left were of that persuasion that remained on the entire planet.
In the end Lot was so compromised only God could probably recognize he was truly saved.
We cannot say Satan made me do it, we are responsible if we sin.
What is death? Is it just the body that dies and our conscious soul, lives on somewhere outside the body? This started when the serpent said to Eve, Ye shall not surely die, you will be as gods. Most pagan religions have an afterlife where the soul lives forever. In the Bible, the OT is the word Sheol meaning the grave and death was sleep with no knowledge or consciousness, nowhere is the immortal soul in the Bible.
When Adam and Eve sinned, they were taken out of the garden and forbidden eternal life/immortality from the Tree of Life, Gen. 3:24. When the OT was translated into Greek Sheol became Hades with the Greek meaning that came with it, and in English, it's Hell with the same Greek meaning, the soul separates from the body and the conscious souls goes to a place of the dead. Many believe there is either eternal life with Jesus or eternal damnation in Hell/lake of fire where they will be tormented for eternity.
If we say our soul is immortal, we are saying we are gods because we cannot die. But the Bible says without the gift of eternal life given to us in the resurrection we will die the second death, we will perish, be destroyed forever to be no more. Romans 6:23 Psalms 37:10-13 Psalms 92:7 Proverbs 10:25, 29 John 3:16 2 Peter 2:10-12, they are mortal and will perish.
The unrighteous will be destroyed/perish, they will have their part in the lake of fire, Rev. 21:8. Their death is forever, not forever in torment. When we die our destiny is fixed, there is not a second chance after death. This adoption of the Greek philosophy of the immortal soul and Hades fogs our understanding, it plugs our ears that are to hear.
I could say more but I will leave it here, I hope you will study for the truth. We should empty our minds in prayer where we are open to the truth given by the Spirit of Truth, not led by the traditions of men, Colossians 2:8.
RLW
Matthew 13:30-32 state: 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
There are numerous studies on the explanation of wheat and tares; it boils down to plants that appear the same when they spring out of the ground; but only at the harvest time can useless nonnutritive plants be differentiated from the edible ones used for food. In the end Matthew 13:30 states "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."
This would be; I surmise an indication that during the Tribulation the wicked are gathered together eventually in Armageddon to fight God and the rest of the firstfruits and wheat will be translated or Resurrected in heaven.
The real question here may be WHY does God allow this to happen in the first place? First of all; there needs to be an awareness that the battle isn't merely between the Christian attendng church and the rest of the world outside the church who don't profess Christ. In fact it is within the house of God that Satan no doubt desires to impact; the rest of the lost pose no threat to his kingdom. There is no doubt a primary reason for this is to TEST His children to see if they will indeed be zealous for His Name's sake or be as cowards and retreat accepting every wind of doctrine. ( Eph 4:14). Our lamps need to shine ( Matt. 5:16) unashamedly!
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." ( 2 Cor. 7:10).
Hebrews 6:4-9
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
Perhaps the second set of verses from Hebrews helps to explain the first passage. In some sense; the wicked wish to turn away from all they have been enlightened with which in some sense explains why they can't be renewed into repentance since they have decided with all the evidence given to turn back to their sins. They have in some sense repented from committing to God and turned back to the world; flesh and the Devil being ashamed of what they consider foolish ways of ignorance apart from their own wisdom. Whether repentance can mean turning from God back to wickedness may be questionable; what is scary here is that much like Lucifer all the evidences of God's glory is seen and because of pride is rejected. As Jesus Himself said in John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. WE MUST NOT BE ASHAMED OF GOD'S METHOD to be admitted into heaven; it is the narrow way to life that must be followed ( Matthew 17:13-14). More in next post.
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
Isaiah 35
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
It is a sign as well.
"He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works (Ps.33: 15)". This heart is not any anatomical part of the body of man but defines a spiritual place. Truth is written inward parts. This being the case the people, events and places are set in direct frame of reference to Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life."
What is a sign? Rainbow is a natural phenomenon. But after the great flood God sets the sign that gives it a spiritual underpinning. For Noah whenever he saw a rainbow it held a special significance of divine Judgment and His great mercy in delivering from the antediluvian world. A sign is the spiritual shadow to the natural world. It is thus we need understand the role heart plays in instruction in righteousness.
Word as a sign necessitates that we treat the worlds- heaven and the earth as a closed system. Hence symbolism of numbers does play a great part. For example we have this verse, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." (Pr.9: 1). Seven in the lexicon of the Spirit is to denote completeness or set forth in the will. So it denotes the house as coming from heaven. God completed the creation in seven days (Ge.2:1) is not simply a matter of seven days as we know the term.
The word of God renders the will of the Father into a visible world just as Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. (Col.1:15). He is the true Light. Thus God commands, 'Let there be light" And it was so. Truth as was in heaven is made visible. God created the worlds of heaven and the earth by His word. Both heard alike meaning faith is the pure language , the lingua franca. Wisdom and Power of God the Father and God the Son must be freely available to man according to the Word, which is eternal and forever settled in heavens. Is it not?
'Deep calls unto deep' as the Spirit puts it and the wisdom of heaven and heart of man cannot be speaking at cross-purposes. Faith is the pure language, which Prophet Zephaniah tells is what God looks for. "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent."(Zep.3:9). For the three wise men the star was more than a celestial object but a sign and as we shall see that their faith was borne out to be true.
"Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven (Ps.119: 89-NKJV)". Word is made up letters, which can be written down as well as sounded. It means a symbol or sign, which does not change. It is thus we need infer its spiritual significance from the word settled in heaven. Coming back to the three wise men they were led by the star. Their rational mind tripped them at first since they went to Jerusalem assuming the king of the Jews must be found in a palace than elsewhere. "And, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was./ When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."(Matt.2:9-11) The Spirit elevates human speech, as a star is shown to be a sign. The scholarly mind of the Magi rejoiced because it was faith that led them all the way. For this reason our approach to the Bible must be treated as God document organized by the Spirit and inerrant.
King Nebuchadnezzar having seen the dream forgot it altogether. When Daniel brought it to light and ended the interpretation he said, "The great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure (Dan.2: 45)". Truth was self-evident so the Gentile king fell prostrate before the seer: "of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. (2:47)."
A sample shall suffice:
"Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matt.2: 2)." How did a star connect with the king of the Jews so some pagan stargazers should set out in search from one end of the world? William Barclay in his commentary on St Matthew, for an example, writes: "We do not know what brilliant star those ancient Magi saw. Many suggestions have been made." How does it help to be left into a limbo of doubt?
Without faith in its soundness, scholarship is dubious as carnal wisdom is. For Daniel interpreting the king's dream was to lay bare the thoughts of the king's heart fully trusting in God. ("And that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart"-Dan.2: 31). The Spirit annotating whatever topics that require clarity is addressing the heart rather than reason.
Man brings his scholarship, which is his word against the Word, which was with God from the beginning. Where the Spirit presents certainties man is relying on carnal wisdom, which thrives in controversies. There are no buts and ifs with wisdom from heaven, which is freely given. Besides this wisdom is Person specific.
Bible is the God document and is inerrant. Jesus is the Word become flesh so we have him as the standard. "I am the truth" is one single standard about which God framed the worlds 'by the word of His power'. (He.1:3). So Christ is the standard for a child of God who wishes to be made perfect.
Heaven and the earth have a single standard. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."(1 Co.1:30).
: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:/ That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Ti.3: 16-17)". This being the case what if the teacher himself is in doubt? What it is doing to the pupil's heart. Like the proverbial tares it shall slowly find is own niche.
Faith is absolutely insisted upon in order to prepare a child of God to quit him like a man in this age of lawlessness. He sorely needs solid food from the word of God.
The adage 'child is the father of man' is very much true also in the making of a man of God. It is reasonable that a pedagogue relies as much on truth he knows by experience, and the trusting nature of the child does the rest. This is evident in the preceding verse of St Paul's epistle: 'And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (v.15)'. Hearing the word of God is not simply a matter for the ear. The sound one hears is processed elsewhere so it makes sense to him. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This time St Paul writing to the believers in Rome says this sound has been heard. Hearing and meditating upon the word of God is fine and good. But doubt like the tares are always crouching at the door as God told Cain,"and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."(Ge.4:7)
Sound over the distance it covers is running what with doubt as an obstacle course, and it is all about us.
Nothing is hid from God's presence, "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known".( Luke 12:2). Face in the parlance of the Spirit is simply a term to define a surface that is open before God, and implies beginning of a process, as in the face of Cain. God asks him, "The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?" (Ge.4:6-ESV). His 'countenance' (KJV) or face was open before him.
By the same token the creation account presents, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters".(Ge.1:2). Its reaction we have in this verse, "The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled" (Ps.77:16).
From the convulsions the deep presented before the Spirit we can infer that the face holds a quality. As God tells Job ' it is turned as the clay to the seal.'( Job 38:14) This explains the manner God framed the worlds by his word. He commanded 'Fiat Lux' and consequently the things, which came to the surface were seen, as hidden depths of Cain's heart were mirrored in his face. The will of God brought the earth as clay to the seal. It is as finished as the will of God shall be complete and wanting nothing more. So we have this certainty, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."(Ro.11:29-NKJV)
Face is the presence of God, which St Paul annotates in this verse, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6) Coming back to the creation account the Spirit of God moving upon the waters gave every water vapor a certain ability to know the glory of God, ( Jas 4:14). Ro.1:19-20. "So we are without excuse."
"The light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ' throws off heat and the two disciple felt it when the risen Christ 'expounded to them from the word'. "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?( Luke 24:32)"
Presence of God is the word that went forth before the worlds began.(Is.55:11;2 Co.4:6)
Sometimes one mistakes the person of Jesus, his humanity for the face as in this case. Here antipathy of the Samaritans for his Jewishness came in the way.
"And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem."( Luke 9:51-53) They were taking cues from the presence of God and not the person of Jesus who wanted to be helped along the way.