The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit – Part 14

Updated February 24, 2024

The better part of this paper has been a demonstration of the depth of the first phrase:

Phrase 1) “A change also of the law” (Heb 7:12)

We have demonstrated how Matthew 5 conflicts with the 6th and 7th commandments as well as four of the statutes and judgments. These, of course, are simply examples given by Christ to show that the entire old covenant was being fulfilled in Christ. Christ could not very well cover the 613 laws of the old covenant in one lesson. Christ cannot very well be speaking of the law of Moses when He said…

Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

…Then in the very next verse, and the rest of the entire chapter, go about changing the law of Moses, at times blatantly contradicting what the law of Moses teaches:

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

“Fulfilling” includes superseding, or else these two examples alone demonstrate that the Sermon on the Mount is a self-contradictory message. We have quoted the scriptures showing that the new covenant is spirit, is NOT in “the letter” (2Co 3:6).

Phrase 2) “That which is done away…”:

2Co 3:11 For if that which is done away [G2673: ‘katargeo’, “fail… vanish away” (1Co 13:8)] was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

This phrase (done away – used once as ‘put away’) is used five times by Paul in relation to the old covenant. It is used here in 2 Corinthians 3:11 and in the following entries in the New Testament:

1Co 13:10 – “When that which is perfect is come [the law of love] then that which is in part [the ten commandments and the old covenant] shall be done away.”
1Co 13:11 – “When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child…” (Hate your enemies as opposed to love your enemies; don’t kill as opposed to don’t hate; don’t commit adultery as opposed to don’t look on a woman to lust after her, etc.) but when I became a man, I put away [Greek: katargeo) childish things”

When we put away childish things, we are no longer under the school master..

Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

The Greek for ‘child’ in Galatians is G3516: nepios – an infant or toddler, NOT G5207 – huios used in verse 5, which signifies an adult son. Huios in the King James is translated son, sonship and adoption. It has nothing to do with our present concept of adoption, but means a mature adult son about to take over his father’s trade. Paul says “the heir as long as he is a child [nepios] differs nothing from a servant” [a bond servant, a slave] (Gal 4:1). As a spiritual ‘huios’, adult, we are to “put away [our] childish, ‘nepios’” Old Covenant ways.

2Co 3:7 “But if the ministration of death [the old covenant (Deu 4:13)], written and engraven in stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory [ministration of death] was to be done away…”

Deu 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

Paul is saying that Moses’ face with its temporal glory which resulted from the giving of the ten commandments, is a type of the temporal old covenant “ministration of death and condemnation.” As we so often do, we have taken the type, “Moses’ face”, and made it the antitype, the reality, the ‘glory’ that comes “in the face of Jesus Christ”:

2Co 4:6 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.

“Moses had a normal face before the two “tables of stone” were placed into his hands. When those two tables with the ten commandments written on them were placed in Moses’ hands, his face began to shine, but that shining and that ‘glory’ did not last very long. In that story, God is telling us that that covenant was a temporary covenant with a fading temporay glory. It was the covenant, the ten commandments, that made Moses’ face glorious, and that glory was “katargeo… done away… to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.

2Co 3:14 “But their minds were blinded for until this day remaineth the same [blinding] vail not taken away in the reading of the old covenant which [old covenant blinding] vail is done away [G2673: ‘katargeo’] in Christ” [the new covenant].

Summary of “Done Away”

Five times we are told that:

1. The ‘in part’ is replaced by the ‘perfect’ and the ‘in part’ was “done away.”
2. We are to “put away” childish things when “that which is perfect is come.”
3. The ministration of death written and engraven in stones was glorious and “which glory was to be done away”.
4. (If) The “ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”
5. The veil that was put over Moses’ face to hide the glory of the old covenant remains and serves as a veil that covers the glory of the new covenant, and in so doing, hides Christ. “In Christ”, however, that veil is “done away.”

That veil typically is the adherence to the old covenant. After making all these statements concerning the old covenant, Paul says: “… we have…not handled the word of God deceitfully…but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (2Co 4:13).

2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

The Greek word for ‘done away’ or ‘put away’ in all these verses is katargeo (Strong’s concordance G2673). It appears 26 times in the New Testament:

Luk 13:7; Rom 3:3; Rom 3:31; Rom 4:14; Rom 6:6; Rom 7:2; Rom 7:6; 1Co 1:28; 1Co 2:6; 1Co 6:13; 1Co 13:8; 1Co 13:10; 1Co 15:24; 1Co 15:26; 2Co 3:7; 2Co 3:11; 2Co 3:13; 2Co 3:14; 2Co 15:26; Gal 3:17; Gal 5:4; Gal 5:11; Eph 2:15; 2Th 2:8; 2Ti 1:10, Heb 2:14

This Greek word, katargeo, has been assigned thirteen different translations in the Kings James Version.

The most common translations are ‘destroy’ and ‘done away’ with five entries each.

Here are the five entries for where the English word ‘destroy’ is used to translate this Greek word, ‘katargeo’:

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him [Christ], that the body of sin might be destroyed [G2673: ‘katargeo’], that henceforth we should not serve sin.

1Co 6:13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy [G2673: ‘katargeo’] both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed [G2673: ‘katargeo’] is death.

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy [G2673: ‘katargeo’] with the brightness of his coming:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy [G2673, ‘katargeo’] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Romans 6:6 is typical of the five entries of the word ‘destroy’. It is important that we know that the verbs ‘knowing’ and ‘serve’ in Romans 6:6 are both in the present tense while the verbs ‘crucified’ and ‘destroyed’ (‘katargeo’) are in the aorist tense, which tells us that a process is presently taking place within us, as our old man is diminishing and our new man is increasing:

Joh 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

Here are the five entries for where the English words “done away”; “fail”; “vanish away”, and “put away” are used to translate this Greek word ‘katargeo’:

1Co 13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail [G2673: ‘katargeo’]; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away [G2673: ‘katargeo’].

1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away [G2673: ‘katargeo’].
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away [G2673: ‘katargeo’] childish things.

2Co 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away [G2673: ‘katargeo’] in Christ.

‘Without effect’ or ‘none effect’ is the third most common with three entries.

Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? [G2673: ’katargeo’]

Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect [G2673: ‘katargeo’]:

Gal 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect [G2673: ‘katargeo’].

The next most common translation of the word katargeo brings us to our third phrase:

Phrase 3) “… That which is abolished”

This Greek word, katargeo, is the exact same word translated ‘abolished’ three times in the New Testament:

2Co 3:13 And not as Moses which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished” [G2673, ‘katargeo’]

Eph 2:15 Having abolished [G2673, ‘katargeo’] in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments [the ten old covenant commandments] contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.

According to the dictionary ‘commandments’ and ‘ordinances’ are one and the same:

ordinance
ôr′dn-əns
noun

1. An authoritative command or order

2Ti 1:10 But now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished [G2673, ‘katargeo’] death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”

While this last verse is not directly concerned with the law, it does demonstrate the meaning of the word katargeo in relation to the law. That which happens to death is that which happens to the law. Being “in Christ” in no way denies death; yea it establishes “the law of sin and death” of the flesh and in so doing, brings in “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2).

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh [the letter of the law], but after the Spirit [“the law of the spirit of life”].
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Without the destruction of the “weak and beggarly elements” of the law of Moses (Gal 4:9-10), the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, also called “the law of love” (Rom 13:10, 1Jo 5:2-3), could not be established. Why is that? Simply because “that [only] through death he might destroy him that hath the power over death” (Heb. 2:14):

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through [the destruction of the law of sin and] death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

It is the law of Moses, the old covenant, on “two tables of stone”, which, is according to the word of God, the “ministration of death” (2Co 3:7).

2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter [the Old Testament], but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:7 But if the ministration of death [“the letter… the law of Moses”, the ten commandments], written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: [G2673: ‘katargeo’]

In other words:

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
1Ti 1:10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
1Ti 1:11 According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

It is this law of Moses which carries with it the fleshly inclination of thinking one’s own righteousness can save oneself which makes “all the world guilty before God” (Rom 3:19).

Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

What is Meant by “Nature”?

Paul tells us that the Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law:

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

The Gentiles absolutely do not naturally love their enemy “by nature” inherited from Adam. However they can, and indeed they often do, “by nature… love their neighbor”.

Lev 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Jehovah.

Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

This is Christ’s observation about the law of Moses concerning who we are to love:

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Many scholars declare that the first part of Matthew 5:43 is in the law of Moses but the last half “is the addition, or wrong interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees” (Gill on Matthew 5:43). Gill apparently thinks that since the law of Moses says:

Exo 23:4 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
Exo 23:5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

That therefore Moses never said “hate thine enemy”, and he even asserts that Christ was not referring to the doctrine of Moses when Christ said… “You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt… hate thine enemy” – nothing could be any further from The Truth. “Thine enemy” whose ox you are to “bring back to him” is your fellow Israelite, and “the ass of him that hateth thee” is also speaking only of the ass of a fellow Israelite.

When Christ said “it hath been said”…

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

…This is the enemy Moses explicitly told Israel to hate:

Deu 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Deu 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

“Save alive nothing that breatheth… utterly destroy them”. That is what the law of Moses taught concerning Israel’s enemies, and Christ changed those words to “Love thine enemies.” The contrast cannot be more stark between the law of Moses and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

The most transparent part of the personality of every infant ever born, Jew or Gentile, is his complete and total self-centeredness from the very beginning. “… Both Jews and Gentiles…are all under sin”:

Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Yet it is entirely possible for sinful, wicked men to love their neighbors. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil which signifies the law of Moses reveals our nakedness but it does not change our hearts as only the spirit of God within us can do. It is not called ‘the tree of sin’, nor is it called ‘the tree of nothing but evil and total depravity’. It is called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” because we are both good and evil “by nature”, whether we are Jews or Gentiles.

Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

When Paul says by the spirit that “the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law” (Rom 2:14), he is referring to the Adamic nature which “the carnal commandments” of the law of Moses, the “law… for the lawless” was designed to govern. We are all, by default, born “under the law… for the lawless… until faith comes.”

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Let no false prophet tell you that he has never been under the wrath of God or that he never will be under the wrath of God. This is who the scriptures teach has been under the wrath of God:

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Since we are all born as unbelievers, we have all been under “the wrath of God” by default:

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

The Greek word for nature is Strong’s G5449: phusis.

Circumcision, tithing and Sabbath keeping are not natural to the Gentiles, because those parts of the law of Moses signify spiritual principles not to be found in the law of Moses. Nevertheless, it is the law of Moses to which Paul refers when He says:

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law [“carnal commandment” (Heb 7:16)] written in their [carnal] hearts, their [carnal] conscience also bearing witness, and their [carnal] thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;

Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

It is not the law of Moses (the law for the lawless – 1Ti 1:9) which gives life. Rather, it is the law of love, which is kept only by “being partakers of the divine nature having escaped [through this “divine nature”] the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Pe 1:4).

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We will pause here and resume our study of the law of Moses versus the law of the spirit by examining Paul’s fourth phrase… “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances… (Col 2:14).

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 8

Not For That We Have Dominion Over Your Faith” Versus “Obey Them That Have The Rule Over You”

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Heb 13:17  Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Introduction

Christ has made it abundantly clear that His ministers are not to lord it over His flock or take advantage of His flock in any way.

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

If Christ’s children are not to “exercise authority upon” those in their charge, why then are those in the the Lord’s flock told to “submit [them]selves [to]… them that have the rule over you”? How can a leader “have the rule”, without “hav[ing] dominion over” others?

What does “have the rule over you ” mean? Does not that word ‘obey’ actually mean ‘be persuaded’? The answer is, yes, as Strong’s definition tells us:

G3982
πείθω
peithō
pi’-tho

A primary verb; to convince (by argument, true or false); by analogy to pacify or conciliate (by other fair means); reflexively or passively to assent (to evidence or authority), to rely (by inward certainty): – agree, assure, believe, have confidence, be (wax) content, make friend, obey, persuade, trust, yield.

If there is any doubt that this word means ‘to be persuaded’, let’s just look at how it is normally translated:

G3982
πείθω
peithō
Total KJV Occurrences: 58
persuaded, 16
Mat_27:20, Luk_16:31, Luk_20:6, Act_13:43, Act_14:19, Act_18:4, Act_19:26, Act_21:14, Act_26:26, Rom_8:38, Rom_15:14 (2), 2Ti_1:5, 2Ti_1:12, Heb_6:9, Heb_11:13
trust, 7
Mar_10:24, 2Co_1:9, 2Co_10:7, Phi_2:24, Phi_3:4, Heb_2:13, Heb_13:18
confidence, 6
2Co_2:3, Gal_5:10, Phi_1:25, Phi_3:3, 2Th_3:4, Phm_1:21
obey, 5
Rom_2:8, Gal_3:1, Gal_5:7, Heb_13:17, Jam_3:3
believed, 3
Act_17:3-4 (2), Act_27:11, Act_28:24
confident, 3
Rom_2:19, Phi_1:6, Phi_1:14
persuade, 3
Mat_28:14 (2), 2Co_5:11, Gal_1:10
trusted, 3
Mat_27:43, Luk_11:22, Luk_18:9
obeyed, 2
Act_5:36-37 (2)
persuading, 2
Act_19:8, Act_28:23
agreed, 1
Act_5:40
assure, 1
1Jo_3:19
friend, 1
Act_12:19-20 (2)
made, 1
Act_12:20 (2)
persuadest, 1
Act_26:28
put, 1
Heb_2:13
waxing, 1
Phi_1:13-14 (2)
yield, 1
Act_23:21

22 of the 58 total entries, almost 50 percent of the total entries are some form of the English word ‘persuade’. The word ‘obey’ accounts for only 7 entries, which would better be translated as ‘persuaded of’ as these verses demonstrate:

Act 5:36  For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed [Greek: peitho – persuaded of] him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
Act 5:37  After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed [Greek: peitho – were persuaded of] him, were dispersed.

But what do we make of the Greek word translated ‘rule’ in Heb 13:17 if Christ’s followers have no dominion over anyone?

Heb 13:17  Obey [Greek: peitho] them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:18  Pray for us: for we trust [Greek: peitho] we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Is not this Greek word best translated as ‘leaders’ in this verse? The answer is that it is best translated as ‘leaders’, if indeed we esteem our leaders as such.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Greek word which is translated as ‘rule’ in Heb 13:17:

G2233
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai
hayg-eh’-om-ahee

Middle voice of a (presumed) strengthened form of G71; to lead, that is, command (with official authority); figuratively to deem, that is, consider: – account, (be) chief, count, esteem, governor, judge, have the rule over, suppose, think.

Here are all 28 entries for this Greek word ‘hegeomai’:

G2233
ἡγέομαι
hēgeomai
Total KJV Occurrences: 28
count, 7
Phi_3:8 (2), 2Th_3:15, 1Ti_6:1, Jam_1:2, 2Pe_2:13, 2Pe_3:9
chief, 3
Luk_22:26, Act_14:12, Act_15:22
counted, 3
Phi_3:7, 1Ti_1:12, Heb_10:29
rule, 3
Heb_13:7, Heb_13:17, Heb_13:24
esteem, 2
Phi_2:3, 1Th_5:13
governor, 2
Mat_2:6, Act_7:10
think, 2
Act_26:2, 2Pe_1:13
thought, 2
2Co_9:5, Phi_2:6
account, 1
2Pe_3:15
esteeming, 1
Heb_11:26
judged, 1
Heb_11:11
supposed, 1
Phi_2:25

It is clear to anyone with the mind of Christ that the essence of this Greek word ‘hegeomai‘ is ‘esteem’ in the sense of ‘accounting’ someone as an esteemed ‘chief’, ‘leader’, ‘ruler’, or an esteemed ‘judge’.

Here is Heb 13:17 in the Concordant Version:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

We will all “give account [of] every idle word”, (Mat 12:36, Mat 18:23, Luk 16:2, Act 19:40, Rom 14:12, Heb 13:17 (2), 1Pe 4:5), and we will also “render an account” of how we have served as overseers of the Lord’s flock. If we are not vigilant to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”, it will be none other than Christ Himself to whom we will “render an account” for how slack we have been in being “vigilant for the sake [of each other’s] souls”.

The next verse has this same Greek word, ‘peitho‘, translated as ‘obey’ in the King James, but notice it is not translated as ‘obey’ in this verse:

Heb 13:18 Pray concerning us, for we are persuaded [‘peitho‘, translated as ‘trust’ in the KJV] that we have an ideal conscience, in all wanting to behave ideally.” (CV)

This point was made in Tony’s study Thursday night:

Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Who has God given charge over His flock? We just read the answer to that question:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

Paul gave this warning to the leaders and elders of Ephesus:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

Then he gives this admonition to Timothy:

1Ti 3:2  A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3  Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4  One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5  (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

1Ti 5:17  Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

If we are not to have dominion over each other as the Gentiles, how are we to understand “a man know[ing] how to rule his own house” as a qualification for “tak[ing] care of the church of God”? Once again, the Greek has a different meaning than what the translators chose to express the mind of the spirit.

Here is Strong’s definition of the word translated as ‘rule’ here in 1 Timothy:

G4291
προΐ́στημι
proistēmi
pro-is’-tay-mee
From G4253 and G2476; to stand before, that is, (in rank) to preside, or (by implication) to practise: – maintain, be over, rule.

Here is the definition of G4253:

G4253
πρό
pro
pro

A primary preposition; “fore”, that is, in front of, prior (figuratively superior) to. In compounds it retains the same significations: – above, ago, before, or ever. In compounds it retains the same significations.

This is the definition of G2476:

G2476
ἵστημι
histēmi
his’-tay-mee

A prolonged form of a primary word στάω staō (of the same meaning, and used for it in certain tenses); to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively): – abide, appoint, bring, continue, covenant, establish, hold up, lay, present, set (up), stanch, stand (by, forth, still, up).

Putting these two definitions together in the context of a proper head of a fellowship in the body of Christ or of a head of a household who ‘[has] his children in subjection with all gravity”, it is clear that Greek word ‘proistemi‘ literally means that a leader, whether in his home or in the house of God is to stand firm in the doctrine of Christ, “with all gravity”, just as he deals with his children, “with all gravity”.

What kind of leader of the house of God would let his own children disrupt a fellowship with loud, disruptive, rude and selfish behavior? Any so-called ‘leader’ who would allow such behavior in either his home or in the house of God is no one to trust with the “gravity” of the doctrines of Christ.

Speaking to Titus, Paul tells us this:

Tit 2:7  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity.

The Greek word translated a ‘gravity’ here in Titus 2:7, is the same word translated in the same way in:

1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; [Greek: semnotēs – sincerity, G4587]

It is the doctrine of Christ that is the subject in both Timothy and Titus. How a man’s children behave is simply an indication of whether that man is qualified to be an overseer of the Lord’s flock and whether he is qualified to detect and deal with “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils”, as Paul instructs Timothy in the very next chapter:

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

“Carnal babes”, physical or spiritual, are never to be allowed to disrupt the fellowship of the body of Christ.

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.

A Godly, Biblical elder and a Godly leader knows he must “[be] vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account [to] the Chief Shepherd, and he is vigilant to protect his Lord’s flock from “grievous wolves” who rise up from within the flock of God:

Heb 13:17 Be persuaded by your leaders, and be deferring to them, for they are vigilant for the sake of your souls, as having to render an account, that they may be doing this with joy, and not with groaning, for this is disadvantageous for you.

This is what Paul has warned us about through his admonition to the same Ephesian elders  who he admonished to “look well to yourselves, and to the flock over whom the Lord has made you overseers”:

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Paul’s three-year warning was ‘three years’ because God wants us to know that “watch [against] grievous wolves… of your own selves… speaking perverse things” is a process that continues to this day.

But if we have no dominion over the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ, how will we be able to be good “overseers” of the Lord’s flock? To answer that question, let’s go back and see what had happened that caused Christ to tell his disciples they were not to exercise dominion over each other as the Gentiles do.

Here is what had happened between His apostles which provoked these verses of admonition:

Mat 20:20  Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Mat 20:21  And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
Mat 20:22  But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23  And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Mat 20:24  And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren.

The truth was that the apostles had all argued among themselves who would be the greatest among them in Christ’s kingdom as Mark reveals:

Mar 9:33  And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
Mar 9:34  But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 
Mar 9:35  And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
Mar 9:36  And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
Mar 9:37  Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Matthew adds a few more details of what Christ expects of those He sends as ministers of His flock:

Mat 18:1  At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 
Mat 18:2  And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Paul tells us he had no dominion over the faith of those who God gave to him to serve as their overseer:

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion [Greek: G2961, kurieuō] over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

…and finally Peter tells us this:

1Pe 5:1  The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
1Pe 5:2  Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3  Neither as being lords [G2634 katakurieuō] over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

The alleged contradiction

If Christ’s ministers are not to lord it over the Lord’s flock, and if Christ Himself tells us we are not to exercise dominion over each other as the Gentiles do, then what is the function of the elders and ministers within the body of Christ? Did Christ have any authority over His apostles? Was Christ given any power over those who followed Him? Do Christ’s ministers have any power or authority over the Lord’s flock?

To answer these questions, let’s examine a few of the verses which appear to contradict the doctrine that God’s ministers have no “dominion over [your] faith”:

We are told this of Christ’s own style of teaching:

Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Mat 7:28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority, [Greek: exousia, G1849] and not as the scribes. 

‘Hear and do these sayings of mine and you are building on a rock. Hear and do not these sayings of mine and you are building upon the sand.’ Christ certainly did speak as if He had great authority over all who heard His sayings.

Here is Strong’s definition of the Greek word which is translated as ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29:

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
ex-oo-see’-ah

From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence: – authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.

These are the New Testament entries for that word exousia:

G1849
ἐξουσία
exousia
Total KJV Occurrences: 103
power, 61
Mat_9:6, Mat_9:8, Mat_10:1, Mat_28:18, Mar_2:10, Mar_3:15, Mar_6:7, Luk_4:6, Luk_4:32, Luk_5:24, Luk_10:19, Luk_12:5, Luk_22:53, Joh_1:12, Joh_10:18 (2), Joh_17:2, Joh_19:10-11 (3), Act_1:7, Act_5:4, Act_8:19, Act_26:18, Rom_9:21, Rom_13:1-3 (3), 1Co_7:37, 1Co_9:4-6 (3), 1Co_9:12 (2), 1Co_9:18, 1Co_11:10, 2Co_13:10, Eph_1:21, Eph_2:2, Col_1:13, Col_2:10, 2Th_3:9, Rev_2:25-26 (2), Rev_6:8, Rev_9:3 (2), Rev_9:10, Rev_9:19, Rev_11:6 (2), Rev_12:10, Rev_13:4-5 (2), Rev_13:7, Rev_13:12, Rev_14:18, Rev_16:9, Rev_17:12, Rev_18:1, Rev_20:6
authority, 28
Mat_7:29, Mat_8:9, Mat_21:23-24 (3), Mat_21:27, Mar_1:22, Mar_11:27-29 (4), Mar_13:33-34 (2), Luk_4:36, Luk_7:8, Luk_9:1, Luk_19:17, Luk_20:2 (2), Luk_20:8, Luk_20:20, Joh_5:27, Act_9:14, Act_26:10, Act_26:12, 1Co_15:24, 2Co_10:8, Rev_13:2
powers, 8
Luk_12:11, Rom_13:1 (2), Eph_3:10, Eph_6:12, Col_1:16, Col_2:15, Tit_3:1
right, 2
Heb_13:10, Rev_22:14
authorities, 1
1Pe_3:22
jurisdiction, 1
Luk_23:7
liberty, 1
1Co_8:9
strength, 1
Rev_17:13

This word ‘exousia‘, meaning power and authority, is used in connection with both God’s witnesses as well as the beast, each in his own predestined turn:

Rev 11:6  These [two witnesses] have power [exousia] to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power [exousia] over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all [seven – Rev 16] plagues, as often as they will.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him [the beast] to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

So Christ tells us that ‘exercising dominion and authority upon others as the Gentiles do’, “shall not be so among you”, and yet we find that He Himself “spoke as one having authority”, ‘exousia‘, which is most often translated as ‘power’.

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion [G263 katakurieuō] over them, and they that are great exercise authority [G2715: katexousiazō – pronounced kat-ex-oo-see-ad’-zo] upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority [exousia, G1849], and not as the scribes.

Notice that the Greek word translated ‘authority’ in Mat 20:25, which “shall not be so among you”, is a different word from the word translated ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29.

Before we expose the fact that there is no contradiction at all in these two statements, let’s look at a few other of the places where this word ‘exousia‘, which is translated as ‘authority’ in Mat 7:29, appears:

Mat 9:1  And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
Mat 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. 
Mat 9:3  And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth.
Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?
Mat 9:5  For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?
Mat 9:6  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power [Greek: exousia – authority] on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
Mat 9:7  And he arose, and departed to his house.

1Pe 3:22  Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities [G1849, exousia] and powers [Greek: dunamis, G14111] being made subject unto him.

Here is Peter telling us plainly that this ‘exousia‘, this ‘power’, this ‘authority’ given Christ, places the “angels and authorities and powers… subject unto [Christ]”.

The question now becomes, has Christ given this same power and authority to His children? What does Christ Himself tell us?

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power [Greek: exousia, G1849] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

This brings us back to those verses brought up in Tony’s Thursday night study:

Psa 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Nothing empowers “the enemy” more than his lies and false doctrines, typified throughout scripture by the serpent, the adder and the dragon.

Mat 15:9  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Col 2:22  Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Now if one of these “doctrines of devils” is injected into the body of Christ, Christ Himself has given His children power over all such powers and authorities, whether those powers are coming from without or from within His body.

How is it possible to have “power… over all the power of the enemy” and not have dominion over the faith of a brother or a sister? The answer to that question is:

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Christ is not just us as individuals. We are indeed Christ, but we are Christ only as a “many member[ed] body”:

1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
1Co 12:19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

Here is how Peter asserts this power and authority over all the powers and authorities when external governments attempt to affect the actions of the body of Christ from without:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Peter did not claim to be an infallible Pope, and he used the pronoun “We”. In other words, Peter asserted his power over the governments of this world in the same way Christ exercised that same power. Christ always spoke for His Father:

Joh 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

Christ and Peter were both willing to give up their physical lives for spiritual life. As Christ told Pilate:

Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [G2634 katakurieuō] at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

Paul demonstrates the power and authority we all have, and with which we are to deal with the doctrines of devils which attempt to infect the body of Christ from within or from without:

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

2Ti 1:13  Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 
2Ti 1:14  That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. 
2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

The apostle John tells us the same:

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The difference between ruling the house of God in this age and ruling the nations during the millennium

In Rev 2:27 we are told what is promised to those who have been overcomers in this age. These promises would include those who have fallen “asleep in Christ” over the past two thousand years, as well as those saints who will still be living in these earthen vessels at the time of the first resurrection. This is what is promised to those who are granted to partake of that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” (Rev 20:6):

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 

The word translated ‘rule’ in this verse has much in common with what we read about a Godly ruler in this age, but it is a different word. Here is this Greek word, and here is Strong’s definition of this word:

G4165
ποιμαίνω
poimainō
poy-mah’ee-no
From G4166; to tend as a shepherd (or figuratively superviser): – feed (cattle), rule.

Here are all the entries for this word:

G4165
ποιμαίνω
poimainō
Total KJV Occurrences: 12
feed, 4
Joh_21:16, Act_20:28, 1Pe_5:2, Rev_7:17
rule, 4
Mat_2:6, Rev_2:27, Rev_12:5, Rev_19:15
feeding, 2
Luk_17:7, Jud_1:12
cattle, 1
Luk_17:7
feedeth, 1
1Co_9:7

This word actually appears only eleven times, because the word ‘cattle’ is a double count of ‘feeding cattle’ in Luk 17:7. Of these 11 entries it is 7 times translated as ‘feed, feeding, or feedeth’.

So the word obviously is associated with feeding God’s people. Whether they are converted or not, they are still His, and He feeds them all.

Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The difference between feeding God’s children at this time and during the millennium is the same as the difference between feeding God’s children for forty years in the wilderness and feeding them at this time. In other words Christ is in the process of gathering His elect under His wings as a hen gathers her chicks at this time, whereas that is contrasted with being ruled with “a rod of iron” during the time of the millennium.

The phrase “a rod of iron” appear four times in the Bible, and three of them are in the book of Revelation:

Psa 2:9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

So the feeding of that period of “a thousand years” is for an entirely different purpose than the feeding of God’s flock at this time. The manchild of the woman of Rev 12 is given to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and we are told when that will take place:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The overcomers of Rev 2:27 are the woman’s manchild who will rule with Christ with a rod of iron for a thousand years. The feeding of those who will be living at that time will not produce an overcomer because there will be no ‘wicked one’ to overcome during that period. Read this link for much more on this point:

http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/gods-purpose-for-the-millennium/

Conclusion

To conclude this study, I will again quote what Christ has commanded us to avoid:

Mat 20:25  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
Mat 20:26  But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27  And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28  Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 

Mat 23:8  But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Mat 23:9  And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Mat 23:10  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
Mat 23:11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
Mat 23:12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

…and Paul’s doctrine accords with Christ’s words:

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.

Yet we are told by the same Lord:

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

So there is no contradiction in telling us that we have no dominion over each other’s faith, while at the same time telling us that we are to submit ourselves to our leaders who must render an accounting of how they have been overseers of the Lord’s flock. While we have no dominion over each other’s faith, if we are in Christ, we do have “power… over all the power of the enemy”, and we have power and authority over all of His lying serpents and scorpions, and we are commanded to tread upon those lies, even if they are coming from “any man who is called a brother”, and we are to follow our instructions in Matthew 18:15-18, and cast him and his lies out of our fellowship before his leavening lies leaven the entire body of Christ:

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 

When we follow the commandments given us in Matthew 18…

Mat 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

…we will not be dominating each other’s faith because “the church” itself as a united and healthy body of one man, “the man Jesus Christ”, and He is dictating what is and what is not Truth, as we are instructed:

1Ti 3:14  These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

If Christ is living His life within us, then we will have His mind and…

1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If indeed we are lying and are not in the Truth, then we have been given power over all the power of the enemy, and the gloves are off. It is incumbent upon every leader in the body of Christ, as the Lord’s angels (messengers), to “tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon”

Psa 91:11  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Psa 91:12  They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psa 91:13  Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

If we are Christ’s, then we are also His angels:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things [same angel as the angel of Rev 19:10]
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

“If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”, and there will be no desire to attempt to dominate one another’s faith. If ever there is such a desire on the part of any brother, obedience to our instructions in Matthew 18, will purge us of the rebels:

Eze 20:38  And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

When the rebels are purged we will then “have fellowship with Him”, and we will be “of the same mind” to the extent that we will be able to say with the rest of the body of Christ:

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 5

Who Tempted King David? How Much Was Paid For Ornan’s Threshing Floor?

God inspired those who wrote the original manuscripts (2Ti 3:16), but He did not inspire the transcribers and scribes who copied and preserved the scriptures to the extent they would copy the originals perfectly, and there are copy errors which are easily detected by simply using the principle of ‘a multitude of counselors’, or in this case it is ‘the multitude of manuscripts’. Having said that, I am in no way negating scriptures which plainly tell us God is in charge of everything – including causing errors to creep into the scriptures (1Jn 3:20, 1Co 11:12, Eph 1:11, Rom 11:36) just so God can blind mankind according to His plan (Joh 9:39, Exo 4:11, Joh 12:40).

We must also be very careful to remember that the scriptures themselves tell us that no prophecy of scripture is of “its own interpretation” (2Pe 1:20).

The errors of the translators are easily detected by simply taking the time to seek a multitude of counselors. When we apply that principle of ‘a multitude of counselors’ and we discover what the majority of the manuscripts say, we will generally find out that when one verse appears to contradict another verse, in almost every case all we need do is to recognize that one writer is telling us one angle of the story while the other is telling us a completely different part of the same story.

The story of King David numbering the people has four apparent contradictions in it when we compare what is written in 2 Samuel 24 with 1 Chronicles 21.

1) Was it the Lord or was it Satan who moved David to number Israel?
2) Was King David given the choice of three years of famine, or was it seven years of Famine?
3) Did King David buy the threshing floor for 50 shekels of silver or 600 shekels of gold?
4) Did King David buy the threshing floor from Araunah or Ornan?

First alleged contradiction

The first apparent contradiction is that in 2 Samuel we are told:

2Sa 24:1  And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

Here in 2 Samuel 24 we are told “the Lord…moved David… to say, Go, number Israel and Judah”, while this same story in 1 Chronicles 21 relates to us:

1Ch 21:1  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Is this really a contradiction, or doesn’t this story simply confirm the revelation we are given in the book of Job that a sovereign God used the being whom He created to be an adversary to Himself to “provoke David to number Israel”?

It is in the book of Job that it is most clearly demonstrated that Satan cannot so much as scratch his head without the direction from God to do so. In the book of Job, Satan did exactly what God commissioned him to do. He did not go one inch beyond that commission, neither could he do one iota less than what evil He was sent by Christ, to accomplish:

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

First Christ sent Satan to destroy “all that [Job] had”, but He was not permitted to put for [his] hand upon [Job] himself”. Then in the next chapter Satan is permitted to put forth his hand and touch Job’s body. The entire event is carried out “after the counsel of [Christ’s] own will”, which was: “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”

Job 2:4  And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5  But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7  So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Job 2:8  And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

Satan here refers to his own actions as “thine [Christ’s] hand”, and Christ confirms for us all that Satan is indeed Christ’s hand.

 Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

So 1 Chronicles 21 is simply complementing the story of 2 Samuel 24.  2 Samuel gives us the story from the absolute point of view dwelling on God’s sovereignty, while 1 Chronicles 21 gives us the details of how God made King David to sin.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

The Truth is always to be found in “the sum of [God’s] Word”,  and that ‘sum of God’s Word’ tells us that the way God made King David to sin was by sending the adversary to suggest to King David that David number the people, just as He had previously sent an evil spirit to have Joseph’s brothers to sell him into Egypt (Gen 45:4-8), and just as He would later send a lying spirit to lie through all of King Ahab’s prophets (1Kg 22: 22-23).

Second alleged contradiction

The second alleged contradiction in this story concerns the number of years King David was asked to chose as one of the three punishments. Here is this part of the story from 2 Samuel 24:

2Sa 24:10  And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
2Sa 24:11  For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
2Sa 24:12  Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
2Sa 24:13  So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

1 Chronicles gives us a different number of years King David was to suffer famine in his land:

1Ch 21:11  So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee
1Ch 21:12  Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

When we apply the principle of a multitude of counselors to this situation, we learn that the vast majority of the manuscripts retain “seven years”, even if many of the translations have taken it upon themselves to change 2 Samuel to three years to make it agree with 1Chronicles 21. Here is a cut and paste from a web site called Another King James Bible Believer at this link:

http://brandplucked.webs.com/7or3yearsoffamine.htm.

This short article actually applies the principle of ‘the sum of thy word’ to show us that the account in 2 Samuel includes four previous years of famine.

Quoting from this link:

“Bible commentator Matthew Poole (1624-1679 English Annotations on the Holy Bible) rightly says: “Seven years of famine. Objection. In 1 Chron. xxi 12, it is only three years of famine. Some conceive that here was an error in the transcriber, and that the true reading is three years, as the LXX. read it in this place, being supposed to have found it so in their copies, and that otherwise they durst never have presumed to make so great a change in the text.  In Chron. he speaks exactly of those years of famine only which came for David’s sin; but here he speaks more comprehensively, including those three years of famine sent for Saul’s sin, chap. xxi.

2Sa 21:1  Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

“And this sin of David’s was committed in the year next after them, which was in a manner a year of famine; either because it was the sabbatical year, wherein they might not sow nor reap; or rather, because not being able to sow in the third year, because of the excessive drought, they were not capable of reaping this fourth year. And three years more being added to these four, make up the seven here mentioned. So the meaning of the words is this, As thou hast already had four years of famine, shall three years more come? And that it is said of these seven years, that they shall come, it is a synecdochical expression frequent in Scripture, because part of the years were yet to come; even as it is said of the Israelites, that they should wander in the wilderness forty years, Numb. xiv. 33, when part of that time was already spent.”

“In 2 Samuel 24: 13 the prophet Gad comes to David and says: “Shall SEVEN years of famine come unto thee in thy land?”

“SEVEN years is the reading of the Hebrew text here as the NIV, RSV, NRSV, ESV and the Catholic New Jerusalem bible footnotes tell us. The reading of THREE YEARS comes from the Greek Septuagint version, but not the Hebrew.

“The false reading in 2 Samuel 24:13 of THREE years is found in the NIV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, NEB, Bible in Basic English, the New Living Translation, the Holman Standard 2003, Common English Bible 2011 and the Message of 2002.

“The Catholic Versions are continually changing and are in disagreement with each other. The older Douay-Rheims and the Douay of 1950 both follow the Hebrew reading in 2 Samuel 24:13 and say “SEVEN years”, but then the Jerusalem bible 1969, St. Joseph NAB of 1970 and the New Jerusalem bible 1985 went with “THREE years”, and then tell us in a footnote that the Hebrew reads “seven years”.  But they are not done yet. Now in 2009 the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Sacred Bible has come out and it goes BACK to the Hebrew reading of “SEVEN years” saying: “Either SEVEN years of famine will come to you in your land; or you will flee for three months from your adversaries”.

So the principles of ‘the sum of thy word’ working with the principle of ‘the multitude of counselors’ once again helps us to understand that what appears to the casual reader to be a contradiction, is proven to be easily understood by anyone willing to give scripture the same credit they would readily allow for secular writings. 2 Samuel is simply far more comprehensive than 1 Chronicles in telling us how long Israel suffered famine in the land.

Third alleged contradiction

The third alleged contradiction in this story is the name of the man who sold the threshing floor to King David. In 2 Samuel 24 we are told his name was “Araunah the Jebusite”.

2Sa 24:18  And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa 24:19  And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
2Sa 24:20  And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
2Sa 24:21  And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

But in 1 Chronicles the name of this man is Ornan:

1Ch 21:18  Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 
1Ch 21:19  And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.
1Ch 21:20  And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
1Ch 21:21  And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
1Ch 21:22  Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

The simple solution to this alleged contradiction is to acknowledge the most obvious fact that many people in the Old Testament and in the New Testament were given, and were known by, more than one name. A few examples will make this point:

1) Abraham, for most of his life was called Abram:

Gen 17:3  And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Gen 17:5  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

2) Joseph was also named and known as Zaphnathpaaneah to the Egyptians, and this man, Ornan/Araunah, while an Israelite, was also a Jebusite.

Gen 41:45  And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

3) Gideon was also called Jerubbaal:

Jdg 7:1  Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

4) Christ changed the name of “Simon, the son of Jonas” to Peter, and the names are used interchangeably:

Mat 10:2  Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Joh 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Attempting to turn these two names into a contradiction is to accuse Christ of contradicting Himself every time He refers to “Simon Barjona”, as Peter, or vice-versa. Only an atheist, with a secular humanist agenda, would fail to see that in this story King David bought the threshing floor, to paraphrase Matthew 10:2, from “[Araunah], who is called [Ornan]”.

Fourth alleged contradiction

The fourth alleged contradiction concerns the price paid for the threshing floor. Here is what 2 Samuel tells us:

2Sa 24:17  And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.
2Sa 24:18  And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2Sa 24:19  And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
2Sa 24:20  And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
2Sa 24:21  And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
2Sa 24:22  And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
2Sa 24:23  All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
2Sa 24:24  And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Here is this same story in 1 Chronicles 21:

1Ch 21:18  Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
1Ch 21:19  And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.
1Ch 21:20  And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
1Ch 21:21  And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
1Ch 21:22  Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.
1Ch 21:23  And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.
1Ch 21:24  And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
1Ch 21:25  So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

Fifty shekels of silver versus six hundred shekels of  gold is one huge difference. But in this case 1 Chronicles is the more comprehensive of the two accounts, because in 2 Samuel we are told King David at first simply bought the threshing floor and the oxen. That is not the narrow focus of 1 Chronicles where we are told that King David bought “the place… for… six hundred shekels of gold by weight”.

Here is how ‘maqom‘, pronounced ‘maw-kome’, the Hebrew word for “the place”, is used in the Old Testament:

Gen 1:9  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place [maqom], and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Gen 1:10  And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Gen 12:6  And Abram passed through the land unto the place [maqom] of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Mic 1:3  For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place [maqom], and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

When the scriptures use the word ‘maqom‘, it can obviously include much more than a mere threshing floor. 1 Chronicles is a far more comprehensive account of the acquisition of the entire temple mount. This account is telling us that King David later came back and purchased the entire area of the temple mount from “[Araunah], who is called [Ornan]”.

The atheists and the secular humanists are giddy with delight in attempting to show these two stories with their differences in focus as obvious contradictions in scripture. They will no doubt have great success with those who have been given little or no interest in seeking the Truth. Our heavenly Father, right before our eyes, is giving our rulers over to an anti-Christian atmosphere. Both the hypocrisy of, and the false doctrines of, the great whore are being used against her at this time. The ten horns of the beast are having great success in bringing the entire Word of God into great disrepute with the powers that be.

This is what is taking place this very moment:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

You and I must know beyond any doubt that the Word of God is the Word of God, and we must not be tossed to and fro by the foolish arguments that are now becoming louder and louder against the only revelation of The Truth which is the scriptures.

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

God’s Word will sanctify no one who has any doubts as to what constitutes that Truth, as Pilate’s words so graphically demonstrate:

Joh 18:37  Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Joh 18:38  Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

The claim that the scriptures are full of contradictions is a very powerful part of the all-out attack on the Word of God we are just beginning to witness. We all must be confronted with whether we will obey God or men, and our resolve must be that of Christ and His apostles:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council [Greek: Sanhedrin, church counsel]: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

That is is one circumstance under which we are not to “be subject unto the powers that be”.

Rom 13:1  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

That confrontation is called “the trial of your faith”, and if we have any doubt about whether scripture is the Word of God, the adversary will leverage that doubt and take us right out of the body of Christ. It has already happened over and over again, so I am compelled to share with you what I have seen as the beginning of that process of doubting and falling away from the Word of God which was once considered to be the foundation of all Truth by those very brothers and sisters who have been taken out of our midst. This is spiritual warfare, and it is a life and death struggle. Christ has given us this solemn warning:

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

But if we are given to know our Lord, we will also given His mind, and this is that mind:

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 3

Answer A Fool, Answer Not A Fool?

Pro 26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Pro 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Introduction

Here we have two verses of scripture, one verse immediately following the other, written by King Solomon who is widely accepted in Christianity as “the wisest man who ever lived” other than Christ. Obviously there is a time to answer a fool, and there is a time in which we ought not to answer a fool. Nevertheless, scriptural detractors and infidels point to these two verses as an obvious and undeniable contradiction.

In doing so, these otherwise intelligent men are putting themselves in the foolish position of saying, ‘If you tell me to ‘Fight fire with water’, and then you also tell me to ‘Fight fire with fire’, then you are completely contradicting yourself. Such is the ‘logic’ of the infidels and of those who say, ‘There is no God and the Bible is a book of myths which is full of contradictions’.

Thanks in large part to all the high profile hypocrisy of the adulterous Protestant mega-ministers, and the highly publicized pedophilia of so many Catholic priests, the adversary, via the powers that be, has been very successful at associating the hypocrisy of the leaders of the great whore with the Bible itself. Yet these very same infidels more than willingly accept the writings of Homer, Socrates and Plato as reliable and authentic, while challenging the Word of God at every opportunity as a book of myths and contradictions which cannot be trusted.

This is God’s estimation of such men:

Psa 14:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

How do we know who and when to ‘answer’?

The perfect example of how to answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him, is of course, our Lord when he refused to answer the chief priests and the scribes when they brought the adulterous woman before Him:

Joh 8:1  Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
Joh 8:2  And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
Joh 8:3  And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 
Joh 8:6  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 
Joh 8:8  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Joh 8:10  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

It is good to know the words “as though He heard them not” are not in the Greek. Considering the fact that every man involved in bringing that woman to Christ “being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last”, it would be without logic to fail to connect what Jesus had written on the ground to the answer He finally gave to these hypocrites. Christ knew just when to answer, and He knew the exact perfect moment to give an answer which would cause those accusing Him to instead end up in the embarrassing position of condemning themselves before the whole crowd.

On another occasion our the Lord gave us another perfect example of how to answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit:

Mat 22:15  Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.
Mat 22:16  And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
Mat 22:17  Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
Mat 22:18  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? 
Mat 22:19  Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
Mat 22:20  And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? 
Mat 22:21  They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. 
Mat 22:22  When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.

Finally, at his kangaroo court trial before the prejudiced hypocritical Sanhedrin, Christ gives us another example of  how not to answer until the perfect moment to produce the most revealing response:

Mat 26:62  And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee?
Mat 26:63  But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
Mat 26:64  Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mat 26:65  Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.
Mat 26:66  What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.
Mat 26:67  Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Mat 26:68  Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?

Christ wanted every word we just read to be spoken “for [our] sakes”:

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

When “Jesus held His peace [it was] for our sakes”, and when”Jesus [spoke] unto… the high priest” that, too, was “for our sakes [to] leave us an example that we should follow His steps”.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

“Hereunto were [we] called… that [we] should follow His steps”. Christ has given us some very specific instructions about how we can be like Him and know just when to “answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit”, and when to “answer not a fool according to his folly lest you also be like unto him”. To be like Him we must give careful attention to those instructions. If we truly want to have the wisdom of Christ in knowing exactly when to answer and when we are not to answer a fool, we must simply be obedient to His commandments.

Let’s take a  look at those instructions and see if we are abiding by His words. Only if we do so are we His “disciples indeed”. Here is just how important it is to be obedient to what our Lord instructs us on this and any subject:

Joh 8:30  As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

It is not ‘adding to’ or ‘taking from’ the Word of God to declare that if we do not “abide in [His] word, then we are [not] His true disciples”. To be more direct, if Christ tells us to give a brother two admonitions and we ignore His commandment to limit our answer to “the first and second admonition”, and we continue to attempt to salvage a brother beyond “the first and second admonition”, then we simply are not ‘abiding in His Word’, and when we gloss over His words and fail to be obedient  to them, then we are not really His disciple at all because we have no respect for His commandment to let any brother who trespasses against us and who takes no heed to our “first and second admonition”, “let him be unto you as an heathen man and a publican”.

Mat 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. 
Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Those are very specific instructions, and they are very clear. Anyone “who is called a brother” or a sister, and who “neglects to hear the church… which is His body”, is telling you that he or she can indeed “say to the hand, I have no need of thee”, in spite of the plain commandment of our Lord to the contrary:

1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 
1Co 5:12  For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

To continue to attempt to answer a brother after he has rejected your first and second admonition is to ‘become like him’, because after the second admonition neither of you are trembling at the words of Christ, and Christ certainly is not abiding in either person who ignores and despises His commandments, to whom Christ asks this very pertinent question:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? [“Go to your brother… take with you one or two others… after the first and second admonition, reject…”]

To which the holy spirit has added these confirming words:

Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. 

We are not ‘abiding in Christ’s words’; we are not ‘doing the things He says’, and we are not letting a brother ‘be unto us a heathen man and a publican’, when we are guilty of adding the word ‘hundred’ to Tit 3:10, and making it read, ” A man that is an heretick after the first and second [hundred] admonition[s] reject;”. That is “adding to” the words of God, and we are certain to reap this promised curse for doing so:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

On the other hand, if we attempt to skip a step or two and simply cast a brother out of our fellowship without following our Lord’s instructions and “doing the things [He tells us]”, then this is the sure curse we will reap for our high handed presumptuousness:

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

When we “do the things [Christ tells us to do]” then we will automatically be gifted at knowing when to answer a fool according to his folly, and when to answer not a fool according to His folly.

As an example of the kind of person who is a fool, and who is not to be answered according to his folly, ‘lest you be like unto him’, here is the spirit upon whom we are not to waste our ‘precious ointment’ of the Word of God:

This is a quote from a list of supposed contradictions in scripture from the Infidels.org website. I think it is very revealing that even they appear to realize just how absurd are their own allegations, by the way they open with this:

“[Editor’s note: Not everyone will agree that all of the listed “contradictions” are, in fact, contradictions. It is therefore up to the reader to use his/her own intelligence and decide for himself/herself what s/he can and will accept as a contradiction. [‘voice of a stranger…leaning to his own carnal understanding, (Pro 3:5). In other words, you need not agree with what Meritt sees as a problem or contradiction. It should be kept in mind, however, that a perfect, omnipotent, and omniscient god would reasonably be expected to have done a better job of it than the Bible had such a god-inspired a book. In any case, lists such as this can be useful in serving as a springboard for further study.

“Introduction to Contradictions

“The Bible is riddled with repetitions and contradictions, things that the Bible bangers would be quick to point out in anything that they want to criticize. For instance, Genesis 1 and 2 disagree about the order in which things are created, and how satisfied God is about the results of his labors. The flood story is really two interwoven stories that contradict each other on how many of each kind of animal are to be brought into the Ark–is it one pair each or seven pairs each of the “clean” ones? The Gospel of John disagrees with the other three Gospels on the activities of Jesus Christ (how long had he stayed in Jerusalem–a couple of days or a whole year?) and all four Gospels contradict each other on the details of Jesus Christ’s last moments and resurrection. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke contradict each other on the genealogy of Jesus Christ’s father; though both agree that Joseph was not his real father. Repetitions and contradictions are understandable for a hodgepodge collection of documents, but not for some carefully constructed treatise, reflecting a well-thought-out plan.

“Of the various methods I’ve seen to “explain” these:

“1. “That is to be taken metaphorically.” In other words, what is written is not what is meant. I find this entertaining, especially for those who decide what ISN’T to be taken as other than the absolute WORD OF GOD–which just happens to agree with the particular thing they happen to want…

“2. “There was more there than….” This is used when one verse says “there was a” and another says “there was b,” so they decide there was “a” AND “b”–which is said nowhere. This makes them happy, since it doesn’t say there WASN’T “a+b.” But it doesn’t say there was “a+b+little green martians.” This is often the same crowd that insists theirs is the ONLY possible interpretation (i.e., only “a”) and the only way. I find it entertaining they they don’t mind adding to verses.

“3. “It has to be understood in context.” I find this amusing because it comes from the same crowd that likes to push likewise extracted verses that support their particular view. Often it is just one of the verses in the contradictory set which is supposed to be taken as THE TRUTH when, if you add more to it, it suddenly becomes “out of context.” How many of you have gotten JUST John 3:16 (taken out of all context) thrown at you?

“4. “There was just a copying/writing error.” This is sometimes called a “transcription error,” as in where one number was meant and an incorrect one was copied down. Or what was “quoted” wasn’t really what was said, but just what the author thought was said. And that’s right–I’m not disagreeing with events, I’m disagreeing with what is WRITTEN. Which is apparently agreed that it is incorrect. This is an amusing misdirection to the problem that the Bible itself is wrong .[Emphasis mine]

“5. “That is a miracle.” Naturally. That is why it is stated as fact.

“6. “God works in mysterious ways.” A useful dodge when the speaker doesn’t understand the conflict between what the Bible SAYS and what they WISH it said.”

I would not waste one minute speaking with a person who the scriptures call a fool who can blatantly state “…the problem [is] that the Bible itself is wrong”.

Psa 14:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

But I will take these objections one by one and point out to you the emptiness of the minds of those who say “there is no God [and] the Bible itself is wrong”.

“1. “That is to be taken metaphorically.” In other words, what is written is not what is meant. I find this entertaining, especially for those who decide what ISN’T to be taken as other than the absolute WORD OF GOD–which just happens to agree with the particular thing they happen to want…”

Anyone who refuses to allow for metaphors and allegories in literature and cannot even understand that “the Lamb of God”, means what it means instead of what it says, is metaphorically what the scriptures call an uncalled ‘dog’, who is not yet given a of mind to receive the Truth. The time we would waste on such a person we are instead instructed to use to feed God’s metaphorical ‘sheep’.

As an aside it is not a mere accident that this man has ‘six’ objections against those who defend the Bible.

“2. “There was more there than….” This is used when one verse says “there was a” and another says “there was b,” so they decide there was “a” AND “b”–which is said nowhere. This makes them happy, since it doesn’t say there WASN’T “a+b.” But it doesn’t say there was “a+b+little green martians.” This is often the same crowd that insists theirs is the ONLY possible interpretation (i.e., only “a”) and the only way. I find it entertaining they they don’t mind adding to verses.”

“…Which is said nowhere”? What utter nonsense! This man attempts to make the account of the three wise men contradict the account of the shepherds coming to see Christ the night of His birth.

Luk 2:16  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
Luk 2:17  And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 
Luk 2:18  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

The arrival of the three wise men was two years later. That is why Herod killed all the children 2 years old and under. It requires a prejudiced, biased and Godless mind to reject such clear evidence that the scriptures do indeed say “there was “a” (angels) AND “b” (wise men). That is just one example of how blind a fool can be in his folly, and why we are not to engage them in that folly lest we become “like unto them”.

Mat 2:1  Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Mat 2:2  Saying, 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.

Mat 2:7  Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 
Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

The story of the three wise men has nothing to do with the account of the shepherds in the gospel of Luke. This is a story about a 2 year old “young child” in “the house”, not “in a manger”.

“3. “It has to be understood in context.” I find this amusing because it comes from the same crowd that likes to push likewise extracted verses that support their particular view. Often it is just one of the verses in the contradictory set which is supposed to be taken as THE TRUTH when, if you add more to it, it suddenly becomes “out of context.” How many of you have gotten JUST John 3:16 (taken out of all context) thrown at you?”

Well, even the devil is used by God to speak Truth at times. For example:

Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

While verse 4 is a direct contradiction of what God had told Adam and Eve, Christ Himself confesses that verse 5 is true:

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

It is true that the vast majority of Christians quote verse 4 out of context, simply because they do not believe verse 5. But this writer himself thinks nothing of ignoring the context to attempt to discredit scripture as his assertion that the story of the shepherds contradicts the story of the three wise men demonstrates.

Nevertheless, it is true that context is not the only Biblical rule for understanding “the things of the spirit”. The fact is that the scriptures themselves declare that spiritual understanding is only to be had by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”, a principle of Biblical exegesis which is completely rejected by both Christians and secular humanists alike:

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 
1Co 2:14  But the natural [secular humanist] man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 
1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

That is the Truth of the Word of God. Do not waste your precious God-given time attempting to explain “the things of the spirit” to those who do not have the spirit, whether they are strangers like the writer on the Infidels.org website or your own family members. When we disobey the commandments of God telling us when to answer a fool and when not to answer a fool we are going “above that which is written”, and we are no better than the writers on Infidels.

“4. “There was just a copying/writing error.” This is sometimes called a “transcription error,” as in where one number was meant and an incorrect one was copied down. Or what was “quoted” wasn’t really what was said, but just what the author thought was said. And that’s right–I’m not disagreeing with events, I’m disagreeing with what is WRITTEN. Which is apparently agreed that it is incorrect. This is an amusing misdirection to the problem that the Bible itself is wrong.”

Whether infidels like it or not it is true that humans make errors when copying manuscripts by hand. It is also true that some of the oldest manuscripts are the most corrupted, but the “multitude of counselors” principle will keep any sincere Truth seeker from being misled by such errors and corruptions. There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts extant and the errors and corruptions are absent in the vast majority of those manuscripts.

Pro 15:22  Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.

The principle of “the sum of Thy Word” also serves the sincere seeker of Truth very well in avoiding such errors and corruptions.

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ASV)

The only person guilty of “misdirection” is a prejudiced infidel or agnostic who has no interest in doing anything other than disproving the validity of scripture, to the extent of excluding the use of metaphors in scripture, while allowing them in any other literature.

“5. “That is a miracle.” Naturally. That is why it is stated as fact.”

This objection is to be expected of anyone who does not believe in an invisible God. Sadly the lie of “theistic evolution” which has been adopted by the majority of Christians, is just as fatal to one’s salvation as atheism which does not believe in miracles. So if you do not believe in miracles why would you call your self a Christian at all, when the very foundation of the Christian religion is faith in the miraculous virgin birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. So much for number 5. God is a miracle working God who is not limited by mankind’s lack of faith.

“6. “God works in mysterious ways.” A useful dodge when the speaker doesn’t understand the conflict between what the Bible SAYS and what they WISH it said.

It is no doubt true that most Christians are not capable of defending the Word of God, and cling to the doctrines of their church over the plain statements of scripture, Infidels.org are as dedicated to the blind faith of their own secular humanist religion as is any Christian on earth. Nothing is more illogical than to believe that something came into existence out of nothing, and nothing is less demonstrably unscientific than the claims of evolutionists that live evolved from the non-living. The fact that many Christians are not equipped to defend their faith is in no way connected to the Truth of the scriptures.

Conclusion

I pray this study has helped you to be better equipped to see that Biblical “fools” are far more than just those who say ‘There is no God’. The fact is that secular humanism is hardly even a factor in the persecution of God’s elect. Here is who will be our chief adversary as we strive to follow in Christ’s steps:

Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 

Jewish “synagogues” are shadows of modern day Christian churches, where the Word of God is a distant second to established church doctrine. It is our Lord’s commandments in Matthew 18:15-18, Titus 3:10-11, and Proverbs 26:4-5 which will keep us from slipping and disobeying our Lord’s commandments to answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit, and answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like unto him.

Pro 26:4  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Pro 26:5  Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Mat 18:15  Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Mat 18:16  But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Mat 18:17  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Mat 18:18  Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Tit 3:10  A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Tit 3:11  Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

If we are given to be faithful to these commandments of God, we will be inoculated against the diseases which have infected all the churches of spiritual Egypt and Babylon:

Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture

Part 2 – Does God Need To Repent of Evil?

Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

1Sa 15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

Introduction

If “the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people”, how can He then tell us “He is not a man that He should repent”? In the very same 15th chapter of 1Samuel we are told:

1Sa 15:35  And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

This is but one of many examples of how God’s Word is written for the very purpose of blinding the eyes of those who are not chosen by God in this age to believe in Christ and abide in His Words. There is a very clear answer to this and every apparent contradiction in scripture, but it requires Christ’s faith within us to withstand the onslaught of attacks against the word of God.

Before we answer this oft repeated accusation against the Word of God, I want to let you know that I have been asked over and over, maybe by some of you, ‘How can I present the Truth in a way that my family and friends cannot deny it or fail to see it?’ I think that by now we have all come to know that there is no way you or I can make a blind man to see, especially when he has been intentionally blinded by Christ Himself, which is one of the very reasons Christ came into this world:

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. 
Joh 9:40  And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 
Joh 9:41  Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. 

It is obvious that the Lord is not attempting to convert the world at this time. At this time He has sent an evil spirit “that they which see might be made blind [to] the things of the spirit”. It is not because men are not physically intelligent. Some of the world’s most intelligent people are atheists or agnostics for this very reason:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The words, “Because they are spiritually discerned” makes “the natural man”, religious or secular, furious with resentment. They will always retort with something like, “Oh, so you think you have some kind of superior knowledge?” just as Joseph’s brothers responded to his dreams of ruling over them. The Pharisees certainly did not believe that some son of a carpenter, Christ, was closer to God than they. So they certainly did not think of themselves as being blind. To those Pharisees, Christ’s miracles were nothing more than the dreams of the dreamer of Deu 13:

Deu 13:1  If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 
Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 
Deu 13:4  Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
Deu 13:5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

We read of Christ’s miracles, and we think those people were incredibly blind to fail to see who Christ was. But the truth be known, you and I would have been right there with that mob crying out “Crucify Him” were it not for the grace of God.

This is what Christ Himself told His own disciples:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

Once again the Word is given to us in a manner which serves to hide the Truth being conveyed to us. You are blessed to know that the word ‘draw’ is much better translated as ‘drag’, and that what we are being told is that ‘no man can come to [Christ] except the Father drag him’. Not even the Concordant Version has the word ‘drag’ here in this critically important verse of scripture. I have a lot of translations, and I could not find a single translation, not Rotherhams, not Young’s Literal Translation, and none of the literal translations have the word ‘drag’. They all have the word ‘draw’, leaving the impression that Christ subtly draws us to Himself, like a man courting a woman.  The Song of Solomon certainly has a place in our experience with our Lord as our husband, but that part of our experience comes only after our old man has been dragged to the guillotine of the fiery Word of God and decapitated as David decapitated Goliath.Just as in the days when Christ was on this earth, the vast majority of His disciples cannot receive His fiery, purging words which treat this body of flesh as if it “profited nothing”, and “they [go] back and walk no longer with Him”:

Joh 6:58  This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
Joh 6:59  These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
Joh 6:60  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Joh 6:61  When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62  What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65  And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 

This purging and pruning of the Lord’s flock has been taking place in every generation, and it is being accentuated as this age comes to an end. A perverted doctrine of “love, love, love”, with no thought or care for the Biblical definition of what Godly love entails (1Jo 5:2-3], will not profit those who think it is possible to love God without being obedient to His Word. Christ’s own faith is required to please God, and anyone who does not believe that scripture in the Word of God simply has not yet been given the faith to do so. That person “cannot come to [Christ] except the spirit drag him”.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

“He that comes to God must believe that He is, [but] faith… is the gift of God”, so that whether we believe or do not believe, it is a work that God is working in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure”. It just happens to please him, at this time, to be in the process of blinding those who think they see and that includes almost every person on this earth (Joh 9:39 and Rev 12:9).

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

The faith, or the lack of faith, are both a work of the God who “works all things after the counsel of His own will”.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

What an incredible statement! Whether we have the faith to see and understand the words of Christ, or whether we have no faith and He has come to blind us, both are a work which He is performing “after the counsel of His own will”:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 
Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; 
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 

Here is verse 10 in the ACV version:

Eph 1:10  for an administration of the fullness of the times. To gather together all things in the Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth,

If we are given to believe that God has predestined us to “sonship” (uihothesia – G5206), “the Christ”, for an administration of ‘the fulness of times, to gather together all things in (us), the Christ… the church, the fulness of Him who fills all in all’, then we have been given that faith, and most people will think you and I are on a delusional ego trip, just as Joseph’s brothers thought of him when he, as a type of us, was given dreams of rulership. There were many reasons why Joseph was hated of his brothers, and one of those reasons was the same reason you and I are hated of our fellow ‘Christians’.

This is the Old Testament shadow of “an administration of the fullness of the times. To gather together all things in the Christ…”:

Gen 37:3  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
Gen 37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 

These verses are also the Old Testament shadow of what Christ tells us in Mat 10:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Our heavenly Father has favored us to know Him and His Word. Our Christian brothers do not know the Christ we know, nor do they know His Word, and they hate us simply because we speak the truth. That is the reason Christ was so hated:

Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Joh 8:46  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
Joh 8:47  He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Joh 8:55  Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

Gal 4:16  Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

But Matthew 10:22 tells us we will “be hated of all men”, and that is exactly what has happened in every generation since Christ. But that hatred is getting progressively “worse and worse” leading up to “the redemption of the purchased possession”:

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 

The entire Bible is now regarded as mere myth by both government and the vast majority of professing Christian laymen and ministers. The day has now arrived when these words have become an outward reality:

Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

People have been predicting the imminent return of Christ from the day He ascended up from His disciples into the clouds (Act 1:9). Because it has been so long and because so many predictions have been proven to be false prophecies by false prophets, many Christians have begun to think exactly as the apostle Peter predicted they would:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

It is true that it has been a long time since the fathers fell asleep, but what should that tell us, if Christ is within us? Should we therefore assume it is still going to be a long time before “the promise of His coming” to give us “the redemption of the purchased possession”? Or should we not rather live as if “Christ is at hand”? This is what the holy spirit tells us:

Mar 1:14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
Mar 1:15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

That is the mindset of Christ and of His Christ. Rather than teach that there are many years yet before the kingdom of God arrives, this is how you and I ought to be living our lives:

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Php 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

The Christ of Christ does not make false prophecies simply because they never “think above what is written”. But this is written, and it would behoove us to give heed to these words:

2Pe 3:5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 

On Thursday Salon.com made this report concerning the free reign of Satanism in a country that has rejected God and has completely lost its way:

“A Satanist member identified only as Mary Doe was denied an abortion at a Planned Parenthood office last month because of the restrictions, and the Satanic Temple sued the state last month seeking a religious exemption.

“Satanic Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves [says] the “informed consent” materials don’t just require women to comply with certain religious viewpoints, but also — in the case of Satanists — to contradict their own belief that women can decide for themselves.

“The question of when life begins is absolutely a religious opinion, and the state has no business proselytizing religious beliefs,” Greaves said.”

If the supreme court of the United States rules in favor of same-sex marriages (two of the justices have already officiated gay weddings), and if this satanist lawsuit goes to the supreme court, it will be consistent with that decision to permit abortions on demand. And why would either the satanists or the supreme court be influenced by a group of “worthless (spiritual) shepherds” who teach that most of those aborted babies will probably end up burning in hell for all eternity if they were not aborted?

That is why God told Zechariah to play the part of a worthless shepherd:

Zec 11:15  Then the LORD said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd.
Zec 11:16  This will illustrate how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for the sheep that are threatened by death, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.
Zec 11:17  Doom is certain for this worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will cut his arm and pierce his right eye! His arm will become useless, and his right eye completely blind!” (NLT)

“The worthless shepherd” is “the mother of harlots” who “sits on many waters” which we are told are the many peoples of this world, who are becoming weary of her rulership and who are, as we speak, turning their backs on her and will very soon “hate her and burn her with fire”:

Rev 17:15  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

These are words which ‘are written’ and they are words for which the Lord will not repent:

Jer 4:28  For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.

“The slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth… I have purposed it and will not repent”, and yet we read earlier:

Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 

Jon 3:10  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. 

Jer 26:12  Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.
Jer 26:13  Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. 
Jer 26:14  As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.

How can God tell us “I… will not repent…[I am] not a man that [I] should repent”, and in the same breath, in the same chapter just six verses apart tell us “it repented the Lord that He had made Saul king over Israel”?

1Sa 15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

1Sa 15:35  And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

While it will mean nothing to the natural man whom God has given a mind to reject His Word, let’s nevertheless look at what Strong’s has to say about the definition of this word which is translated as ‘repent’ in the King James Version of the scriptures, and see if perhaps there is no contradiction here at all:

H5162
נחם
nâcham
naw-kham’
A primitive root; properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity, console or (reflexively) rue; or (unfavorably) to avenge (oneself): – comfort (self), ease [one’s self], repent (-er, -ing, self).

And now look at how it is most often translated:

H5162
נחם
nâcham
Total KJV Occurrences: 109
comfort, 34
Gen_5:29, Gen_27:42, Gen_37:35, 2Sa_10:2, 1Ch_7:22, 1Ch_19:2 (2), Job_2:11, Job_7:13, Job_21:34, Psa_23:4, Psa_71:21, Psa_119:50, Psa_119:76, Psa_119:82, Isa_22:4, Isa_40:1 (2), Isa_51:3 (2), Isa_51:19, Isa_57:6, Isa_61:2, Isa_66:13, Jer_16:7, Jer_31:13, Lam_1:2, Lam_1:17, Lam_1:21, Lam_2:13, Eze_14:23, Eze_16:54, Zec_1:17, Zec_10:2
comforted, 20
Gen_24:67, Gen_37:35, Gen_38:12, Gen_50:21, Rth_2:13, 2Sa_12:24, 2Sa_13:39, Job_42:11, Psa_77:2, Psa_86:17, Psa_119:52, Isa_49:13, Isa_52:9, Isa_54:11, Isa_66:13, Jer_31:15, Eze_5:13, Eze_14:22, Eze_31:16, Eze_32:31
repent, 19
Exo_13:17, Exo_32:12, Num_23:19, Deu_32:36, 1Sa_15:29 (2), Job_42:6, Psa_90:13, Psa_110:4, Psa_135:14, Jer_4:28, Jer_18:8, Jer_18:10, Jer_26:3, Jer_26:13, Jer_42:10, Joe_2:14 (2), Jon_3:9
repented, 17
Gen_6:6, Exo_32:14, Jdg_2:18, Jdg_21:6, Jdg_21:15, 1Sa_15:35, 2Sa_24:16, 1Ch_21:15, Psa_106:45, Jer_8:6, Jer_20:16, Jer_31:19 (2), Amo_7:3, Amo_7:6, Jon_3:10, Zec_8:14
comforters, 5
2Sa_10:3, 1Ch_19:3, Job_16:2, Psa_69:20, Nah_3:7
comforter, 3
Ecc_4:1, Lam_1:9, Lam_1:16
comforteth, 3
Job_29:25, Isa_66:12-13 (2)
repenteth, 3
Gen_6:7, 1Sa_15:11, Joe_2:13
comfortedst, 1
Isa_12:1
ease, 1
Isa_1:24
receive, 1
Isa_57:6
repentest, 1
Jon_4:2
repenting, 1
Jer_15:6

Of the 109 time this Hebrew word appears, 67 times it is translated with some form of the word ‘comfort’.  The first time this word appears in scripture is in Gen 5 where we read:

Gen 5:28  And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:
Gen 5:29  And he called his name Noah [H5146, Hebrew: Noach], saying, This same shall comfort [H5162, nacham] us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

The name ‘Noah’ is a form of the word which is elsewhere translated as repent, but ‘repent’ is not the primary meaning of this word. ‘Comfort’ is the primary meaning, and while repentance brings us comfort, comfort does not necessarily bring us to repentance. God comforted himself after rejecting Saul, but He did not repent of giving us a type of how the first Adam is rejected for the last Adam. It was God who ordained that Abel replace Cain, that Isaac replace Ishmael, that Jacob replace Esau, that Rachel replace Leah, and that Joseph replace Reuben. All things are being done “after the counsel of His own will, and He has given us all of those Old Testament types, as shadows of how our old man must be sacrificed for the sake of establishing our new man as His elect.

It all adheres to the Biblical principle:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 

“The first man Adam… is earthy”, and without Christ will always act earthy. This is ordained of God for the very purpose of demonstrating for all men why “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. The reason why is that “corruption cannot inherit incorruption”, and flesh and blood are corruption. Flesh and blood not only act corrupt, flesh and blood act in a corrupt way simply because flesh and blood are “corruption” in which God cannot take comfort:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

The spirit equates flesh and blood with corruption. It does not equate flesh and blood with acting in a corrupt way. Flesh and blood are “corruption” and can act in no other way except the spirit of God drag it to His mind and His actions.

Here is one last verse which demonstrates the primary meaning of the Hebrew word ‘nacham‘:

Isa 57:5  Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Isa 57:6  Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort [H5162, nacham, the same word translated as ‘repent’ in 1Sa 15:35] in these?

Knowing that the primary meaning of the Hebrew word ‘nacham‘, is ‘comfort’, and that its secondary meaning is ‘repent’, let’s go back to 1 Samuel 15 and look at what we are really being told in verses 29 and 35:

1Sa 15:29  And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.

1Sa 15:35  And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.

The Lord had to destroy the first man Adam, and He comforted Himself in knowing that the last Adam would be a living spirit even in King Saul in time. That is the same message we are being given in these words:

Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 
Isa 53:6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

God ‘creates evil’ (Isa 45:7), and ‘He makes wicked men for the day of evil’ (Pro 16:4), for the express purpose of demonstrating that ‘He made men as “brute beasts [who were] made to be taken and destroyed’. These words apply to all of us, even to the flesh and blood of Christ Himself. “The new man” in every man is “His seed”, and the fruit of His offering of His bruised life.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Knowing this is all true it is clear that God does not need to repent of the evil He brings upon us via the evil spirits He sends to work the evil which He creates to accomplish His plan and His purpose. God is our Creator, and as such He has every right to do with His creation as He sees fit. This is revealed to us in the very next chapter of 1 Samuel (1Sa 16:14). But it is equally clear that if God is to make clear to His creation the depth of evil, He must tell us that He comforts Himself when He “endures with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction”:

1Sa 16:14  But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

The replacing of King Saul with King David, was not ‘plan B’ for God. King Saul was raised up for the very purpose of being “taken and destroyed”:

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose [“as (a) brute beast, made to be taken and destroyed”] have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump [Both ‘Adams’ are “in earthen vessels” – Col 1:27] to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction [our old man]: 
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy [our new man], which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 

P.S.  Just today (Friday, June 26, 2015) the supreme court has indeed ruled that marriage is to be accepted legally as including same-sex marriages. This outwardly is a great earthquake, and its destructive power will soon become evident. This is just one of the many signs of the times in which we live.

Mat 16:2  He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.
Mat 16:3  And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? 

It is now illegal to refuse to serve those who want us to partake of this perverse lifestyle. As of this day it is now illegal for a florist to refuse to cater a same sex marriage, for a baker to refuse to cater a same sex marriage, or for a student to profess his or her faith in the Word of God. As of today it is now illegal to teach your children that homosexuality is an abomination to God. God has placed it in the power of the wild beast to carry out His purpose of replacing the great whore with His faithful wife, the new man/spiritual body, and the beast has once again demonstrated that He hates the woman (that great whore, Babylon) who has had the hegemony over him for so long. He is now in the process of burning her with fire, and it will take the miraculous hand of our heavenly Father to take us up to His throne and protect His elect when His great wrath and destruction comes upon the great whore.

Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Alleged Contradictions In Scripture – Part 1

“Resist Not Evil… Resist The Devil…”

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Introduction

Of course there is no contradiction at all, and we will make that clear, but it is easy enough to see  how, to the natural man who cannot “receive the things of the spirit” (1Co 2:14), these two statements, “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil”, and “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” appear to be nothing less than a direct and obvious contradiction of commandments. On the one hand we are told not to resist evil, and yet we are also told to resist “the evil one… resist the devil”. The natural man will naturally ask, ‘How can this be anything other than a Biblical contradiction?’

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The scriptures have always been under attack by the secular, God-denying world, but as the religions of this world fall into greater disrepute by the day, and become more and more hated by the general population whom they have exploited through fear, which they have created by lying about the true message of the Bible, the scriptures are being attacked in a way that has never before been experienced.

Just for the purpose of demonstrating how far from God and His Word this world now is, this is a quote from the Gallup polling organization dated May 19, 2015:

One in four people polled said every candidate should be required to state his or her position on this issue. It doesn’t matter how many people believe candidates should be required to state their position on whether homosexual marriages should be legalized, the liberal media will make certain that every candidate is asked about their position on this perversion, and the American public, as a whole, is so disenchanted with religion that they now embrace this perversion, and it is just a matter of time until homosexuality will legally be equated with race, and it will be illegal to teach your children that homosexuality is a sin.

The supreme court is about to rule on this subject of gay marriage, and it may well rule in favor of making this perversion legal on a national level. The trend is toward criminalizing anyone whose faith requires them to be obedient to the commandments of Christ and the dictates of scripture.

On another front, faith in the doctrine of a 6,000 year old planet has come to be regarded by most media and academia as Biblical myth believed only by the most naive. Both of these subjects are being taught in most public schools, and if you have children in public schools, you need to know what you are dealing with. God’s word is being belittled and ridiculed on every level in our schools, and it is being so treated by legislation. Those who think it is wrong to make a child feel different from the majority, by teaching children what the scriptures teach about keeping “the traditions of men”, will soon have to decide whether they feel that way when it comes to the subject of homosexuality and homosexual marriages and families.

“Resist not evil”

With all of this in mind, what are we commanded to do when confronted with a situation which would legally require us to disobey the Word of God? In Matthew 5 the Lord tells us:

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Does this mean that if we are sued for not celebrating homosexual marriages, and this has already happened several times, that we should go the extra ‘mile’ and give up our convictions about adultery also? If we are compelled to accept homosexuality and adultery should we then go the extra ‘mile’ and also celebrate the marriage of three men? How about three women, or two men and one woman, two women and one man, or two men and a goat. How about a man, a boy, a goat, and a computer? There is no end to the perversions that can be argued in court of law where ‘laws’ are determined by polling the people and casting the Word of God aside. Maybe with all the celebrations of a man calling himself a woman recently, maybe a man can marry himself and enjoy the financial benefits of being married to himself. Why would not all of this be nothing less than “freedom of marriage”?

The answer to all of those questions is that while we are told “resist not evil” when your fellow man gouges out your eye, we are told to resist evil when it comes to what we tolerate within our own hearts and minds, or in what comes out of our mouths from what is within our hearts and minds. When it comes to what we are commanded to do when we are confronted with inward sins and inward convictions, we are commanded:

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9  Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

There will be no ‘affliction, mourning or weeping’ when making all our decisions according to the latest polls.

Here is how Peter and the apostles dealt with laws which conflicted with the commandments of God:

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,
Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 

So the fact is that there is no contradiction at all between Matthew 5:39 and James 4:7. To those few who are given to believe the words with which Christ answered Pilate, there is no doubt about how those two verses of scripture complement each other, and they will always “obey God rather than men” even as they “resist not evil” and “turn the other cheek” to evil doers.

Pilate marveled that Christ did not even attempt to defend Himself when given the chance to do so:

Joh 19:7  The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 
Joh 19:8  When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
Joh 19:9  And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 
Joh 19:10  Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Joh 19:12  And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

“He that delivered me unto you has the greater sin”, when we think about it, tells us that the adversary is not sent to destroy Babylon until after He first thinks that he has destroyed God’s elect. This same order of events is repeated in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The adversary shows no interest in the woman who “brought forth [the] manchild”, until after her child is taken out of his grasp. Only then does he hate the whore and burn her with fire:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. [Christ came “of the seed of David according to the flesh”, just as His anointed “come out of (Babylon)], Rev 18:4]
Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

This same “woman” is mentioned again in chapter 17:

Rev 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
Rev 17:17  For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city [all religions], which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Christ knew His Father was working every detail of this life, and even every detail of the lives of every man in this age, “after the counsel of His own will. Christ knew these words in Acts 4 were the simple fact of the words He had spoken to Pilate; “You could have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above”.

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Therefore He feared His Father more than He feared any man or any group of men in this age. Christ could have resisted and overcome the entire Roman empire, but He knew that would not fulfill the purpose for which His Father had sent Him.

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
Joh 3:15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

In Christ’s way of thinking, the cross was the only way to be “saved… from death”.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 

Nevertheless, Christ knew that He was the main target of the adversary, and we as His anointed, need to be just as acutely aware that with Christ we are in the adversary’s cross-hairs, and we too, must see the death of our old man as the beginning of being metamorphosed into the new man, being ‘saved from death’ “through death”.

Mat 16:21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

These words have an application for every person who is honored to be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”. Do not listen to anyone who says to you:

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. [“Christ did all of that for you on the cross.”]

When such a thought enters our heavens, we must take that thought captive, as the Lord did with Peter:

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 
Mat 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.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 
Mat 16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Mat 16:27  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

It is very interesting to know that “the Son of Man shall come” is in the present tense, while “then He shall reward” is in the future tense. The fact is that Christ has come within all His disciples in every generation since His death and resurrection, and has in fact never left this earth, just as He promised His disciples:

Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

It is that assurance, along with the joy set before us, which will see those who are granted to rule and reign with Christ, the strength and the courage to endure the death of the old man when His hour comes as it must in every one of us:

Luk 22:52  Then Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves?
Luk 22:53  When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness. 

Christ and His Christ know why they have been brought into this world, and they do not resist that purpose by resisting the evil which they know is sent to them by God via evil men:

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

God’s elect have no doubt about who has made the wicked for the day of evil, knowing that they themselves are “chief of sinners” made for “the day of evil” in their own lives:

1Ti 1:15 This  is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 

The natural man reads those words and tells himself that he has not “breathed out slaughter against the disciples of the Lord”, as did Saul of Tarsus:

Act 9:1  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

But the new man knows that the very meaning of “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” requires that we all acknowledge that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” is in our own flesh as it is in all flesh:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

“Not of the Father, but is of the world”, does not contradict:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

God has to create darkness and evil if He is going to save mankind from his sinful composition and his sinful condition. God has to “make us to err from his ways, and harden our hearts from His fear” if He has already “devised [a] means” to bring His banished back to Himself:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

Isa 45:6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. 
Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. 

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Our God is so great that He carries out His plan whether we understand Him or not:

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Our God is so great that He called us in His Son, “before the world began”.  He decided before He created the first man that mankind would be a temporal, sinning machine made out of the dust of the ground. He would make that sinning machine demonstrate just how sinful it is, and bring it to its wits’ end and make it cry out to Him for deliverance from itself.

Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, 

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

If God “promised… eternal life… before the world began”, and if it is true that His “grace… was given us in Christ before the world began”, and if it is true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, then it is obvious that God’s original intention was for our original parents to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before He ever created Christ, through whom He has created all the rest of His creation. These bodies of flesh and blood are but temporary “brute beasts” made to be taken and destroyed”

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

2Pe 2:12  But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Paul continues with his explanation of God’s plan for mankind in Romans 9:

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [the new man], and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction [the old man]:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy [His elect, first], which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Because God is God, He has the right to do with His creation as He has planned and designed it. He has every right to create a sinning machine, create an adversary to tempt His sinning machine, bring His sinning machine into dire straits, which demonstrate beyond any doubt that “flesh and blood” because of its “corruptible” composition “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. Then through Christ, as a caterpillar which dies to its old form and is metamorphosed into a butterfly, God has determined to save all who are in Adam.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed [Greek: metamorphoo] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

God’s Word is under assault in this world. God’s Word is Christ, but God’s Word is also the anointed of Christ who know Him and who have Him and His Word within them. You and I are, by God’s design, placed into the adversary’s cross-hairs, and Christ and His Word are our only refuge and our power to overcome the wicked one:

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
1Jn 2:14  I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 

Mike,
Please clarify the seeming contradiction:

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
2Th 3:2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

Thanks,
J____

Hi J____,

Thank you for your question concerning what may appear to be a contradiction in the word.
You compare these two verses of scripture which appear to be contrary to each other:

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
2Th 3:2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

I understand how we all struggle to understand what appears to us sometimes to be contradictions within the word of God.
In this case Rom 12:3 speaks to “every man that is among you”. “You” refers to those in the church of Rome to whom this epistle is addressed.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man [“among you” Roman Christians] the measure of faith.

Now let’s notice with whom that verse in 2 Thessalonians is concerned:

2Th 3:2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

So there it is. No, all men do not have faith. Rom 12:3 is addressed to the saints in the church of Rome who have all been granted a “measure of faith”, and 2Th 3:2 is speaking of an entirely different group of “unreasonable and wicked men” who “have not faith”.
I hope this helps to clear this up for you.
Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Mike,

Can you help me understand what’s going on here in Ezekiel 9:5-7 with this sighing and crying and mark on the foreheads?

Thanks,
P____

Hi P____,
Thank you for your question. You ask me:

Can you help me understand what’s going on here in Ezekiel 9:5-7

Let’s look at those verses. I am including verse 4 for the sake of establishing who is doing the speaking:

Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

The only way you will understand this or any other verse of God’s Word is to remember these words of Christ:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Where did these word originate? ” And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city…” That’s right, these are words which have “proceeded out of the mouth of God,” and you and I and every man who has ever lived will, in time, “live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” by which “man must live.”
In this particular case, there are those mentioned in these verses who die because they do not have the mark of God upon their foreheads, and there are those who do not die because they do have the mark of God upon their foreheads, and because they do “sigh and cry for the abominations that be done in the midst of the city… Jerusalem.”
If we are, as Christ declares, to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, how is it possible to live both the dying for not bemoaning the atrocities being committed in the midst of the city and the living because of having the mark of God and bemoaning the atrocities that are being committed in the midst of the city? To the natural man the answer to that question is nothing less than believing in contradictions, but to the man of the spirit, it is a very simple matter of “living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
By “comparing spiritual with spiritual” the man with the mind of the spirit knows that he is the first Adam before he becomes the second Adam. He is likewise Cain who kills his brother, before he becomes Abel who dies in obedience to the words of the Lord. We are all first guilty of nailing our Lord to the cross before we repent and die to the flesh by living our lives as if resurrected “in Christ.”

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Rom 6:13 Nor yet be presenting your members, as implements of injustice, to Sin, but present yourselves to God as if alive from among the dead, and your members as implements of righteousness to God. (CLV)

There is no contradiction at all in seeing that we are all first spiritually dead, before we become alive in the spirit of Christ. That is how we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” We first do every evil word, and then we repent and Christ lives His life of dying to the flesh within us. It may appear to the natural man to be a contradiction, and indeed, life in Christ is the exact opposite of life in the first Adam, but it all makes perfect sense to those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear.

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Now, in order to understand what is being said in Eze 9:4-7, we must keep in mind that we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” We must keep in mind that we must keep and live, both the dying because of not bemoaning the atrocities in Jerusalem, and we must keep and live, the living because we have the mark of God and do bemoan the atrocities committed within the city of the Lord.
I am going to give you three New Testament examples of how this principle of living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is applied by the holy spirit to Christ Himself. Then we will see clearly what is happening there in Eze 9:4-7.
Here is the very first scripture in the New Testament which is quoted out of the Old Testament. Let’s look at what the New Testament writers affirm is a prophecy of Christ’s birth:

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Mat 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Mat 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

There it is. Matthew simply states, under inspiration of the holy spirit, that the verses in the Old Testament which say that Christ would be called Emmanuel are a reference to Christ’s birth. But Christ was not called Emmanuel. Joseph and Mary were both told to call Him ‘Jesus.’ Now let’s go back and look at that prophecy in the Old Testament, and see if that really is what the spirit is saying. Here are the verses to which the holy spirit refers in Mat 1, concerning the birth of Christ:
You may very well say to me that these two prophecies have nothing in common with each other, and that is exactly what any physical Jew would say. To the natural man these two prophecies seem to have very little in common, but that is also true of virtually every Old Testament prophecy which the New Testament says is a reference to Christ. I cannot cover them all in this e- mail, but I will deal with these first three examples of this phenomenon cited here in the first two chapters of Matthew. Here is the Old Testament prophecy which Mat 1 affirms is a reference to the birth of Christ.

Isa 7:1 And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, [ that] Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
Isa 7:2 And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.
Isa 7:3 Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field;
Isa 7:4 And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Isa 7:5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
Isa 7:6 Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, [ even] the son of Tabeal:
Isa 7:10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
Isa 7:11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
Isa 7:12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
Isa 7:13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

To the mind of the natural man who does not believe that we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God,” this does not appear to have anything at all to do with the birth of Christ. This whole story is about a conspiracy on the part of the two kings of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel, to invade and destroy Judah and Jerusalem. Ahaz, the king of Judah, is so frightened that we are told, “his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind.” The message from God to Ahaz is that Ahaz does not need to fear because some virgin is going to have a child, and “before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.” In other words the two kings to the north of Ahaz will be removed before the son of some virgin is old enough “to refuse the evil, and choose the good.”
Yet according to the holy spirit, Christ had to live by these words and be born of a virgin, and according to the holy spirit, these verses in Isa 7 are actually a reference to the birth of Christ.
Now let’s look at our second example of how the Old Testament is interpreted in the New Testament, so we can see how we are to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Let’s look at the very next time the Old Testament is quoted in the New Testament:

Mat 2:13 And when they [ The “wise men from the east”] were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
Mat 2:14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
Mat 2:15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Now let’s look once again at how these verses use Old Testament words in a way that demonstrates that we and “Christ in us… must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Here is the only place in all of the Old Testament where the statement “I… called my son out of Egypt” is to be found:

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

The natural man will ask, what does Israel have to do with Christ? The answer is that Israel has everything to do with Christ, as much in every way as Christ’s disciples have to do with Christ. That is the principle to which Christ referred when He told the devil “Man… shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Those who receive those who Christ sends are actually receiving Christ Himself. Just how serious a matter is it that we come to know who are and who are not Christ’s? Here is just how crucial it is that we be able to properly “try the spirits whether they be of God.”

Mar 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Here is just how much Christ identifies with those who He says are “His body and His flesh.”

Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Christ says we are Him. “Why persecutest thou Me?”

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Physical Israel was, at the time of Isaiah and at the time of Hosea, God’s kingdom on this earth. To attack Israel was to attack Christ. To blaspheme Israel was to blaspheme Christ. Whether past, present or future, that which is Christ’s is Christ Himself. Those are not my words, they are His words, and He now says that we are “His flesh and His bones.”
Here is what He says to us about the past:

Mat 23:34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

“This generation”, as the next chapter demonstrates, is ” he that readeth.” “This generation” is not just that generation in which Christ was on this earth in a body of flesh.

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, ( whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“This generation does not pass away, till… he that reads understands [ that] man must live by every word of God.” That is what Christ means when He says “My words shall not pass away.”
Here now is what Christ teaches us about the application of His words to our future:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
1Co 3:23 And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

“All things” and “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God… things present and things to come,” are all one and the same thing. They are “My words which will never pass away.”
Such is the case also for the present:

1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

The emphasis of scripture is upon the present. Time and again, in the book of Revelation, Christ tells us that He is, He was and He will be, but the ‘is’ part of who He is, is always primary and is first in the vast majority of the cases:

Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace [ be] unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Rev 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Christ does not want us to read His Words and put any of them in the distant past or the future. “All thing are ours… thing present and things to come.” But “all things, also includes “all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias.” But Christ wants us to primarily think of Him as He who is, as the “I Am” God who is here and is near. We are never to forget that all things are ours, past and future, but His presence is primarily how He wants us to see Him and His Word.
Now, notice the context of Hos 11:1. Let’s look at what other “words that proceed out of the mouth of God by which man shall live” are right there in Hos 11:

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Hos 11:2 As they [ Moses and Aaron] called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
Hos 11:3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
Hos 11:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.

It has all been predestined for all men. We will never go back to Egypt, but we will go “into Babylon.”
How does Christ apply “Israel to Himself?” How does Christ apply the sins of Israel to Himself?” He does so by taking our sins upon Himself, so that God can truly say “I called my Son out of Egypt. We are His Israel:

Gal 6:15 Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do– submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life!
Gal 6:16 All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God – his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them! (MSG)

“As they called them they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.” That is what we all do as we are “coming out of Egypt”. It is each of us, even if we are God’s “very elect”, who Christ says are Himself, it is we who have first, while we are still “in Adam”, been guilty of “the blood of all the righteous men, and prophets from Abel to Zacharias.” It is all ” in me, that is in my flesh.” I am “the man” spoken of by Nathan the prophet, and it is only by acknowledging these Biblical truths that we must all give an account of the deeds “done in his body.”

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
2Sa 12:7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Until we can see that each of us “are the man” being spoken of on every page of scripture and in every verse of scripture, we still do not know where “the revelation of Jesus Christ” begins or where it ends, because the revelation of Jesus Christ begins in Gen 1:1 and it ends in Rev 22:21. Even the boring genealogies are just more proof that we and our Savior are both of Adam, “the Son of Man.”
Now let’s look at the third Old Testament scripture which is quoted here in the first two chapters of Matthew. It is found in the very next few verses after the angel tells Joseph to take “the young child and flee to Egypt.” Here is yet another very revealing verse of scripture which leaves the natural minded man thinking that the writers of the New Testament were simply quoting and applying Old Testament verses completely out of context.

Mat 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
Mat 2:17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
Mat 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

It is common knowledge to all who are familiar with the geography of Palestine that Bethlehem is just about as far south and west of Jerusalem, as Rama is north and east of Jerusalem. How is it that the New Testament writers can seemingly take any part of the nation of Israel and make it apply to the events surrounding the life of Christ? How can they seemingly take the different events that took place in the lives of the various kings of Israel, be it King David or King Ahaz, and apply those events to the life of Christ? How is it that the writers of the New Testament can take Israel’s coming up out of Egypt and apply that to the life of Christ? There is a spiritual principle involved in doing this, and that principle is expressed in Mat 4:4 and Luk 4:4.
The answer is simple. The simple answer is that every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is applicable to Christ and all who are in Him, from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21. We should each feel that ‘I am the man’ being spoken of on every page and in every verse of scripture if we are in Christ, because it is all about Him. It is all, every single verse and every single word, a part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. The first Adam consists in Christ, and the last Adam is Christ and His Christ.

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [ they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

With this in mind let’s go to the verses in question. I have added verse 4 just so we could see more clearly what is being said in these verses:

Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

Again, let me ask you; From where did these words in Eze 9: 4-7 come? The answer to that question is in the first words of verse 4, “And the LORD said unto him…” Like all of God’s Word, these really are “words that proceed from the mouth of God,” and therefore you and I, if we are in Christ, “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
What do these words concern? They concern Israel, and in particular they concern those who are in Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Who is that today? What is the ‘I am” application of these words of our Lord which “shall never pass away? Where is the true Jerusalem today?

Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

It is the “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” which is the first Adam which we all first are. So those who do not have the mark of God in their forehead, represent us at that time of our walk. That is the time when we are committing “the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” What has to happen to us before we can receive the mark of God in our foreheads? We first must come to see ourselves as those who have been slain by the words which “the Lord said unto Him.”

Eze 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

You and I are “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children,” before we can become “Jerusalem which is above…” “The ancient men” is our “old man… the first Adam… the dead who bury their dead,” who we all first are.
That is right, the scriptures teach that a spiritually dead person is physically alive and physically capable of burying his physically dead:

Mat 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Mat 8:22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

The man who is spiritually alive has the mark of God in his forehead, but he is dead to the things of this world and of the flesh:

Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [ in] the oldness of the letter.

“When you were in the flesh” means ‘When you thought as the flesh thinks.’ None of this makes any sense to the natural man. It is all counter intuitive. The natural man reasons that you simply cannot die in order to live, and yet that is exactly what the spirit teaches:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

If God gives you “eyes that see and ears that hear” spiritual truths, then these things will make perfect sense. But God has given “eyes to see and ears that hear” to only a very few people, and many who do see and hear spiritual matters have not been given the ability to “try those spirits to see whether they be of God.”

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

These “spirits” we are to try are words and doctrines which are being spoken by “many false prophets.” We must be able to distinguish the words of Christ from the words of the Adversary. Both are spiritual words, but one spirit cannot go all the way with the words of Christ and will twist and distort the doctrine of Christ rather than believe that “you shall surely die”. There is no way around that truth. We must first die to the flesh, before we can ever hope to be alive in Christ.
Those verses in Ezekiel are but an earlier, less distinct, version of these verses in Revelation, where it becomes clearer that it is all within:

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [ was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

“The earth” is us as “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” which we all must first be. Here are the verses which demonstrate this truth:

Jer 22:1 Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,
Jer 22:2 And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

“These gates” are the gates of Jerusalem where “the throne of David” was located. It is in this same chapter, speaking to the same subjects, that we see these words:

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Jer 22:30 Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man [ that] shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

Physical Israel, with a physically pedigreed king, is no longer God’s people, and just like Adam previoius to physical Israel, physical Israel was merely a type and a shadow of that for which God is using all flesh to typify and to foreshadow. It is all “types of us” who must all face the death of our old man, and give up the physical pedigree of being a physical Jew, and become the true Jew, the true Israel of God, by beginning with the ancient man and slaying all the different parts of that old nation which is all within us.

Eze 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

Here is the truth of what this is all about:

1Co 10:11 Now all this befalls them typically. Yet it was written for our admonition, to whom the consummations of the eons have attained.
1Co 10:12 So that, let him who is supposing he stands beware that he should not be falling.

I hope this has helped you to see that this is all typical of us “upon who the ends of the ages are come.”

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Wendover, England
September 4th, 2011
Study Topic: How We Can Live by Every Word of God by Mike Vinson

Video | Audio

Bible Study Notes

After fasting for forty days the adversary tempted Christ to turn stones into bread. Christ responded by telling us all:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Considering the well-known fact that much of the words which proceed out of the mouth of God throughout the scriptures concern the curses for disobedience and the fury of God’s wrath upon all of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of mankind, we need to know how it is possible for us to keep all of those very negative words and still be able to claim the blessings which are promised to all who are granted to be a part of the body of Christ in this age.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

How is it remotely possible to distinguish between the curses which are promised to the wicked versus the blessings which are promised to the righteous and still maintain that “all things are ours”?

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

We will today demonstrate with the scriptures how this is accomplished in the life of God’s elect, here and now, and how, in God’s own time, this will be accomplished in the life of every man of all time. First let us ask a few more questions about certain scriptures which seem to be completely contradictory.

Just how is it possible, for example, to ‘believe on Christ and never die’ and still be able to say “I am crucified with Christ”. How is that accomplished?

Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Christ told the Pharisees:

Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Yet he told his disciples this:

Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

How do we live a life which confesses that we are blind and also claim to have eyes which have been blessed to see?

Finally, how is it possible to both ‘lose your life’ and thereby ‘find it’???

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

This is no great mystery at all for those who have indeed been given eyes to see and ears to hear. Nevertheless, most Christians who claim to have those ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’ cannot understand how we can read and claim that “we are not appointed unto wrath”, and at the same time say that we are the temple of God, and we must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and must keep the things which are written in the book of Revelation.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

“Jesus… delivered us from the wrath to come”, and “God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. Yet we are told this also:

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

We want to “enter into the temple”, and we are told: “Jesus… delivered us from the wrath to come”, and “God has not appointed us to wrath”. Yet we are also told “No man is able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels… full of the wrath of God… were fulfilled.”

These are total contradictions to our natural man. “They are foolishness to him” (1Co 2:14). These apparent contradictions have caused many, who perceive themselves as having spiritual eyes and ears and who think of themselves as able to see and understand spiritual matters, to nevertheless deny that the words ‘man… shall… live… by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ actually mean what they say. These Christians who seem to understand so much, simply are not yet granted to understand how it is possible to read 1Thessalonians 1:10 and 1Thessalonians 5:9 and still confess that they must live by every word of God, including the words referring to His wrath, and confess that they cannot enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels has been fulfilled and kept in their lives. They cannot agree with the apostle that “things present and things to come are ours”. At this point they begin to twist God’s word to say ‘We deserve the wrath of God’, and ‘We deserve to be children of wrath’, inferring that though we ‘deserve it’, it will never ever come anywhere near God’s elect.

In the end they prove themselves to be “unlearned and unstable”, and they find themselves adding words to the word of God, and “wresting” the words of the apostles, “as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction”.

2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

So while the ‘mind of the spirit’ is given to understand “the things of the spirit”, those “things of the spirit” are nothing less than foolishness and contradictions to the “unlearned and unstable”, who simply don’t like what the scriptures reveal to be the truth.

“Two men… the first man Adam… the last Adam”

There is a principle of “two men” – the first man Adam” and “the last Adam” – which we find throughout scripture. It is this principle which clarifies every single verse which seems to contradict any other verse of scripture. So what the scriptures teach literally, from Genesis to Revelation, and what we are saying, is that our “first Adam”, our “old man”, has indeed repeatedly been tempted beyond what he could resist. What the scriptures teach and what we are saying is that God’s faithfulness is not promised to save our old man. Our old man is indeed doomed. That is what he is promised. He is not told that God will deliver him from the wrath to come. He is nowhere told that he cannot escape the wages of sin, he has utterly failed, and he will be utterly destroyed by the fire of our Lord’s wrath which will come upon all the unrighteous and ungodly works of our old man.

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Do we really think that our “old man”, our “first man Adam”, with all of His unrighteousness and ungodliness, will escape “the wine cup of the wrath of God”? We will come back to these verses, but let’s look at them here. Here is what God has to say to all who cannot understand this “two men” principle as it is applied to all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, including your old man and my old man.

Jer 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

What the scriptures are teaching us is that it is through that failure and destruction and death of our old man, that our new man is born.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his [old man, first Adam] life shall lose it: and he that loseth his [old man, first Adam] life for my sake shall find it.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, [and through “the seven plagues of the seven angels” (Rev 15:8)] to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

So it is through the death and destruction of our old man that our new man will ‘endure to the end’ and ‘will not be tempted above what he can bear’ and is not appointed to wrath’. It is through God’s wrath upon “all the unrighteousness and ungodliness” of our old man, and through his destruction, that our new man is not be appointed to wrath and will be given salvation.

It is the old man, our old man, who most assuredly will not endure to the end because he is but sinful flesh and blood which was never designed to endure to the end, and it is that carnal, old man who “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. That is who is destroyed in the fire of the wrath of God.

Eze 21:31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

The scriptures teach that it is through the destruction of our old man that our new man is created. That is what “He that loses his life will find it” means. It is only our new man who is not appointed to the wrath of God which has been poured out upon all of the unrighteousness and ungodliness of our old man who is appointed to this destruction. Here are “the things which are written” on this subject:

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Is this verse not speaking of you and of me? Is it someone else who is “made to be destroyed”? Or is this not speaking of our own old “brute beast”? Our own “first man Adam”?

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

This “two men” principle is one of those “things of the spirit” which are ‘foolishness to our ‘natural man’, our “old man”, our “first man Adam”.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

“We have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” What is it that is “freely given to us of God”? Do we even want what is “freely given to us of God”? Do we really? We need to be careful what we ask for, and we need to “count the cost” before we “take up our cross”.

Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

The cost of being Christ’s disciple simply does not compute in the mind of the natural man, our “first man Adam”. For example, here is what we are “freely given… of God”:

Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Let’s go back now to Luke 14 and look at what it means to ‘bear our cross and follow after Christ’.

Luk 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

There it is! That is “the cost”. “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” In other words, God demands wholehearted service to Himself or we are not worthy to be His disciples.

Matthew’s account of this statement demonstrates that “hate not his father and mother” means ‘love them less than Me’. Here is that verse:

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

So, what else is “freely given us of God”? Luke 14 doesn’t really sound like we have been delivered from the wrath to come at all. That sounds more like a guarantee of much more ‘wrath to come’.

When are those “seven plagues of the seven angels” to be fulfilled, so we can “enter into the temple”? Is that also “freely given to us of God”? Are Revelation 15 and 16, which speak of filling up the wrath of God, part of “the things which are written therein” which we are enjoined to “read… hear and keep”? You “try the spirits”, and you decide.

We mentioned these verses earlier, but here they are again because these verses show us a little more of what is “freely given to us of God”. As it turns out, there is nothing which is not freely given to us of God:

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

“The world… death… things present, or things to come: all things are yours”. So what happened to “you are not of the world”?

Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

“All things… to come are ours”? What about that promise that we have been “delivered from the wrath to come”?

1Th 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

“Death… is ours”? Did not Christ promise to Martha, “Whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die”?

Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

The spirit of Christ sees no contradictions here at all, and those who have “the spirit of Christ” have no problem with anything being said in any of these verses. The reason for that is that the spirit and mind of Christ knows instinctively when that spirit is referring to our old man, “the first man Adam”, and when that spirit is referring to our new man, “the last Adam”.

It is based upon this ‘two Adam’ principle that another principle operates when we are reading the Word of God. That other principle is “the sum of thy Word is Truth”.

Psa 119:160   The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ESV)

It does not read ‘Some, s-o-m-e, of thy word is truth’. It says “the sum, s-u-m, of thy Word is Truth”. So there is never any need to twist or attempt to wrest God’s word to say such an unscriptural thing like ‘Even our “old man… the first man Adam” is “not appointed to wrath”. Why would we do that when the scriptures make it so clear that we all “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?’

When we see the incredible number of verses, including the bulk of the book of Revelation, which declare that God’s wrath is poured out on “all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men”; When we see that we must live by every word of God, keep all the things written therein, drink the wine of the cup of the wrath of God, and fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels which fill up the wrath of God before we can even enter into the temple of God, then we know that 1Thessalonians 5:9 refers to our “new man”, the “last Adam”, and all those other verses speaking of drinking of the cup of the wine of His wrath, refer to our “old man”, our “first man Adam” who “will certainly drink”.

We quoted these verses earlier, but here again is what our Lord has to say to those who are not given to understand and to apply this ‘two Adam’, “two men” principle, and who continue to insist that God’s wrath never has, and never will, “abide” upon them:

Jer 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.

Is this all just referring to a particular number of evil people, or is not this the end of “all flesh”? What do the scriptures teach us?

Jeremiah is very clear that “the wine cup of this fury at [God’s] hand” is not sent to only certain wicked men. We have already read the verse which declare that “there are none that are righteous” and that all men are wicked. Here God makes Himself crystal clear about those who will receive of His wrath upon their unrighteousness and ungodliness:

Jer 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations [our old man, “the first man Adam”], he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked [our old man] to the sword, saith the LORD.

Before Jeremiah, Isaiah had made this very same crystal clear, explicit prophecy:

Isa 66:13 As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
Isa 66:14 And when ye see this [ this “two men” principle], your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants [our new man only, “the last Adam”], and his indignation toward his enemies [our old man].
Isa 66:15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
Isa 66:16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

So much for those who think their old man will never know the wrath of God upon their unrighteousness and ungodliness. No one who has never been a child of God’s wrath needs to be comforted. What is the one thing we do know about that wrath?

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

“All ungodliness” is found in “all flesh”, and that is where God will “render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire”.

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is in and through these “two men” with us all, that we can truly “live by every word… keep the things which are written therein… confess that all things are ours, and that “all things come alike to all”, and not just death coming alike to all. ‘Death’ and ‘the world’ are indeed ours, but so also “all things are ours” because we are all our old, unrighteous, ungodly, “first man Adam” upon whom all the curses and the wrath of God are poured out, before we can even enter into and become the temple of God, and come out from under all that wrath of God.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

These ‘two men’ are the subject of one of our Lord’s parables. Notice how these “two men” parallel the two spirits with which we are dealing.

Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican [men who deserve the wrath of God].
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner [I am chief of sinners, and my old man is deserving of all of your wrath].
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

“Two men went up into [ our] temple…”. These are the same ‘two men’ found throughout the scriptures. The ‘seed of the woman’ and the ‘seed of the serpent’ in Genesis 4 are both within every man in every age. That is the doctrine of our Lord, which is also the doctrine of the apostles. It is the doctrine we will find throughout His Word, and that is the doctrine of His Body and the doctrine of His elect.

“If they refuse to take the cup… say unto them… Ye shall certainly drink.” That is what I am saying to you and to me, and to all who will hear or who will ever read these words, “You [and I] shall not be unpunished.” God “will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth… we shall certainly drink“, and our old man will be slain by that ‘sword’ of God which is “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”.

It is our “new man” who will, in the end, “be alive in Christ”.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam [“the first man Adam] all die, even so in Christ [“the last Adam”] shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

“In Christ, at His coming” can be ours at this very moment in down payment form:

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I will close this study with some of the things which are written therein which our “new man”, our “last Adam”, must “keep” at this time within, and which he will also keep outwardly at the time of “the redemption of the purchased possession”, that blessed and holy first resurrection:

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.