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Showing posts from March, 2011

Studies in John 14-16: John 14:8-11

John 14:8-11 (8) Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. (9) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (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. (11) Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Jesus again emphasizes it. . . If you’ve seen me, then you’ve seen the Father. God is a Spirit. You cannot see a Spirit unless it manifests itself as something. In 64 verses, in both the Old Testamant and the New, the Bible talks of the angel of the Lord: Genesis 16:7,9,10,11; 22:11,15; Spoke to Hagar in the wilderness, Spoke to Abraham when he raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac, Exodus 3:2; Spoke to Moses

Studies in John 14-16: John 14:5-7

J ohn 14:5-7 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? (6) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (7) If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Jesus said in verse 7, “ If you had known me, ye should have known my father also. . . ” Here is the first portion of the Strong’s definition of the Greek word translated as ‘known’: G1097 γινώσκω ginōskō ghin-oce'-ko A prolonged form of a primary verb; to “know” (absolutely) So the verse might be translated as such: If you had absolutely known me, ye should have absolutely known my Father also. . . Jesus did not come, from the moment of His arrival, with a blare of trumpets announcing that He was God. He came as a normal baby, totally dependant upon Mary and Joseph for his care and upbringing. Medieval pictures portray Him in his crib with a halo a

Studies in John 14-16 - John 14:6

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. I typed in ‘cult definition’ in the Google search bar. The first definition returned was this: followers of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn Looking at John 14:6. . .It surely seems that Christianity fills the definition of a cult. Political correct thinking today is that there are many roads to salvation. . .But! That is not what Jesus says. Sorry, if you take the words of Jesus to be true, then there is 1 way, 1 truth, and 1 life. I don’t send anyone to heaven and thanks be to God, I don’t send anyone to hell. It’s not my decision. It’s not my words. It’s not my desire. It’s not God’s desire that any should go to hell: 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repe

Studies in John chapters 14-16 - 14:1-4

John 14:1-4 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (2) In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (4) And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. If you have faith in God, you can likewise have the same confidence and faith in Me. . . In verse 2, the Greek word translated 'mansions', is only found twice in the Bible both times here in chapter 14 of John. The other instance is: John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Here it is translated as 'abode'. Here is the Strong's Greek dictionary entry for the word: G3438 μονή monē mon-ay' From G3306; a staying, that is, residence (the a

Studies in John 14-16 - The Beginning

John chapters 14, 15, & 16 might be thought of as the advanced degree section of Jesus teaching of His disciples. These are His last words to the Apostles before the betrayal. Sometimes the chapter divisions, which it is important to remember, were not in the original Greek and Hebrew writings, but were added well more than a 1000 years after Christ, don't seem to make much sense in their placement. In this case, chapter 13 ends with Jesus speaking to Peter: John 13:36-38 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. (37) Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. (38) Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. I don't see any editorial indication of pause or change of location or time or audience. It

Losing the Promised Land. . .

I am working on a study of all the verses of the Bible where God said “mine” or “my” referring to those things that are God’s. I had to reject the following verse. The verse contains the phrase “my righteousness”, but it refers to what a man thinks of in his heart about his own righteousness, and not God’s righteousness, Here is the verse: Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.  Deuteronomy 9:4 What a powerful verse. On first reading it is key to understanding what takes place in the Old Testament. How unfair it seems for God to drive out peoples from their lands and to give the land to the Hebrew people, but It wasn't for the goodness of the Hebrew people that God gave them the land, but for the wickedness of the people who resided there, that God took

Looking for a Messiah. . .

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. (Romans 8:22) The ancient bones of the earth shudder and shiver in feverish trembling. . .The waters are violently troubled, sweeping away cities and inundating multitudes of people. The winds of unrest blow increasingly, unceasingly. . .unpredictably. Epidemics of anxiety and sleeplessness drive whole peoples into chemical sanctuaries of refuge and peace. A savior is hungered for. . .Where is he??? Fear mongers prosper. Fear of financial meltdown. . .fear of planet wide ecological catastrophe. . . fear of illegal immigrants. . . .fear of globalization. .. .fear of asteroids causing perpetual worldwide winter, fear of volcanic eruptions decimating continents. . .fear of terrorists attacking with dirty bombs, engineered biological plagues, poison gasses . . .fear of AIDS, SARS, H1N1. . . an alphabet soup of influenza epidemics. . .fear of China. . .fear of our own government. . .hope fades.