How Will Believers Be Present With The Lord?

The Church and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan. The church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament. This present mystery age intervenes within the program of God for Israel because of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at His first advent. This mystery program must be completed before God can resume His program with Israel and bring it to completion. These considerations all arise from the literal method of interpretation. Other rapture views deny or weaken the dispensational distinction by placing the Church in the Tribulation which is otherwise noted as “the time of Jacob’s trouble [the Tribulation].”
I Thessalonians Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians has much to say about the issue at hand. The most popular passage, of course, is found in I Thessalonians 4:13-18. The event described here includes a return of Christ in the air (not to the earth as the Second Coming is described in Zechariah 14:1-5 and Revelation 19:11-21), a resurrection of the dead in Christ, a rapture of living believers, and a reunion with those who have died in Christ. Paul penned these verses in order to clarify a misunderstanding that the Thessalonians embraced concerning the relationship between the resurrection and the saints who were asleep in Christ to the rapture. The question is this: Does the death of a believer before the Lord comes cause him to lose all hope of sharing in the glorious reign of Christ? Paul’s answer is a reassuring affirmation that the living at the time of the rapture have no advantage over those believers who have died. Those who sleep will be raised to reign with those who remain. Both groups will share in the kingdom. If Paul and the Thessalonians were speaking of a rapture at the end of the Tribulation, it seems illogical that they would sorrow over believers who were fortunate enough to die and miss the horrible judgments that await these last years.

Paul anticipated, “to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.”? 2Cor 5:8. Does this say that to be absent from the body is to be immediately with the Lord? No. The time between death and the out-resurrection will seem, to those who die, to pass in an instant. For this reason Paul could covet death knowing that from his perspective the next thing He would know is being with Christ. In the context Paul speaks of three states: 1. Clothed in the body 2. Unclothed 3. Clothed with our Heavenly body. Paul did not want to be “unclothed” (dead) but clothed in the Heavenly body. When will we be clothed in our immortal body? Paul taught “that this mortal will “PUT ON (be clothed with) immortality” when the dead rise at the Second Coming (1Cor 51-55). How do the dead in Christ get to be present with the Lord? By the out-resurrection (1Thess 16-17). Indeed, the Apostle Paul was anticipating the return of Christ in his lifetime, as do we now. Now:
The rapture, which is pre-trib, is not technically a resurrection, for all, in the group, born again believers, are not dead, as some remain alive, therefore the word of God refers to this as an out-resurrection, as only some are resurrected, of that group! no rapture/gathering together mentioned in O.T./ Gospels/ Revelation, sure:
THE GENEVA BIBLE AND SIX PRIOR BIBLES BEFORE KING JAMES USED THE WORD " A DEPARTING" OR "DEPARTURE" INSTEAD OF A "FALLING AWAY" IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3.
Greek - "he apostasia" means THE Departure - from the circumference of a circle, directed outward, away from the circle.
NOTE "A DEPARTING"COMES FIRST, "AND THAT THAT MAN OF SIN WILL BE DISCLOSED". DON'T FORGET IT ALSO SAYS “NOW YOU KNOW WHAT WITH HOLDITH" AND "HE WHO LETS SHALL LET TILL HE BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY." WHAT OR WHO DO YOU BELIEVE WILL BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY? IT MAKES ALSO MAKES NO SENSE THAT PAUL WOULD TELL A VERY NEW AND SMALL CHURCH IN THESSALONIA, THAT A SIGN OF BEGINNING OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION WOULD BE A FALLING AWAY FROM THE CHURCH WHEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE MANY CHRISTIANS THERE TO FALL AWAY. ALSO HE WAS REFERRING TO SOMETHING HE HAD TOLD THEM ABOUT BEFORE. WHAT HAD HE PREVIOUSLY TOLD THEM? 1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. IT SOUNDS MORE LIKE HE TOLD THEM ABOUT “A DEPARTING OR DEPARTURE” THEN A FALLING AWAY. AS A MATTER OF FACT PAUL DID NOT DESCRIBE “A GREAT FALLING AWAY” AT ALL AND ACTUALLY SAID IN 1TIMOTHY 4:1 THAT ONLY “SOME SHALL DEPART FROM THE FAITH” 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; SO ALTHOUGH HE BELIEVED EVEN THEN, THE TIMES WERE EVIL, HE DID NOT EXPECT A GREAT FALLING AWAY OF BELIEVERS BUT THAT THE EVIL WOULD GET WORSE. 2Ti 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. AND TO THE CORINTHIANS PAUL SAID THIS: 1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS THAT USED DEPARTING OR DEPARTURE. The first seven English translations of apostasia all rendered the noun as either " departure" or " departing." They are: the Wycliffe Bible (1384); Tyndale Bible (1526); Coverdale Bible (1535); Cranmer Bible (1539); Breeches Bible (1576); Beza Bible (1583); Geneva Bible (1608).
Bible study to bless the saints of the "Body of Christ".
Be sure to look at all of the verses in this study.
The Body of Christ will not go through Israel’s tribulation. To begin with, Israel and the Body of Christ are not the same. Neither are God’s plans for them. God’s plan for Israel concerns Christ returning to earth in a spectacular event called the Revelation – to inaugurate His Kingdom in Jerusalem (Matt. 24-25; Rev. 19-20. This plan was “spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21; see Luke 1:70). God’s plan for the Body of Christ is completely different. It concerns our heavenly inheritance, not an earthly kingdom. Jesus revealed this program to Paul only as a mystery “kept secret since the world began” (Rom. 16:25; see Eph. 3:3-9). In that it began as a mystery, it will likewise disappear in a mystery called the Rapture; an any moment event whereby Jesus returns for us in the air (1 Thess. 4:16-17), snatches us from earth, and takes us back to Heaven with Him as He promised (John 14:2-3) – when “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). Then comes “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; see Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15) – aka tribulation. The tribulation - as it is most commonly known (Moses: Deut. 4:30; Jesus: Matt. 24:21, 29; John: Rev. 7:14) - is part of God’s earthly program for Israel. It is also called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15), Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Dan. 9:26-27), and “the hour of temptation” (Rev. 3:10. It has no bearing on the mystery Body of Christ, which will be gone before it begins. From the beginning it was prophesied to Israel (Deut. 4:30), and thus is primarily for Israel (Jer. 30-31; Dan. 12:1, Zeph. 1:15; Matt. 24:21, 29). Its purpose is to punish sin and sinners (Jer. 30-31; Zeph. 1; Joel; Rev. 6-19), and prepare earth and Israel for the Revelation of the Messiah and the Jewish (Millennial) Kingdom promised to David in perpetuity through Covenant (2 Sam. 7:8-16), and sealed with an oath (Psa. 89:3-4, 20-37; see Luke 1:31-33). While the prophets revealed the tribulation as a horrific but integral component in the Day of the Lord (Isa. 2:12, etc ), it was Daniel’s prophecy where its duration was revealed as the final week of seven years in his seventy week prophecy for Israel (Dan. 9:24-27; see Rev. 11:2-3; 12:14). To wit, while we can easily find Israel and the anti-Semitic Gentile nations on earth during “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Zeph. 1:15), the heavenly Body of Christ - which has been promised deliverance from this divine punishment (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; 2 Thess. 2:5-7;) - is conspicuously absent (Rev. 2-19). There isn’t a prophecy or a single verse anywhere in the Bible conclusively identifying the Body of Christ on earth during Israel’s tribulation without pulling from context and redefining the words “saints” and “elect” - which in Daniel, the Olivet Discourse, and Revelation specifically refer to Israel. In lieu of these factors and others we are convinced that the Body of Christ will not go through Israel’s tribulation!
 We know that death still has a sting, that the corruptible has not yet put on incorruption and that the mortal has not yet put on immortality.  But we also know that our enemy death will be destroyed and that the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive shall be changed and that we will meet  our lord in the air and forever be with him.  What a glorious day that will be!

INCARCERNATION! WHAT?

Jesus Christ: Incarnated or Created?

We now will examine the historical background of the development of what has become the cornerstone of Christian orthodoxy, the doctrine of the “Incarnation.” We will see that this doctrine arose neither in a vacuum, nor strictly from the text of Scripture. It was the result of the influence of certain beliefs and attitudes that prevailed in and around the Christian church after the first century. Pagan mythology, Gnostic views of redemption and human pre-existence, and the misunderstanding of Johannine language all contributed to the teaching that God Himself became a man, which is the essence of “Incarnational theology.”

Although the “Incarnation” is assumed to be a basic tenet of Christianity, the term is used nowhere in Scripture. This is even admitted by Trinitarian scholars: “Incarnation, in its full and proper sense, is not something directly presented in Scripture.” The doctrine of the Incarnation was actually formulated during the next several centuries. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church verifies this fact:

The doctrine, which took classical shape under the influence of the controversies of the 4th–5th centuries, was formally defined at the Council of Chalcedon of 451. It was largely molded by the diversity of tradition in the schools of Antioch and Alexandria…further refinements were added in the later Patristic and Medieval periods.

The reason the councils and synods took hundreds of years to develop the doctrine of Incarnation is that it is not stated in Scripture, and the verses used to support it can be explained without resorting to a doctrine that bears more similarity to pagan mythology than biblical truth. Teaching the Jews that God came down in the form of a man would have completely offended those living at the time of Christ and the Apostles, and greatly contradicted their understanding of the Messianic Scriptures. This doctrine is derived most prominently from the gospel of John, and in particular from the phrase in John 1:14 (KJV): “And the Word was made flesh….” But was “the Word” synonymous with “the Messiah” in Jewish understanding? Hardly. The Jews would have understood it to mean “plan” or “purpose,” that which was clearly and specifically declared in Genesis 3:15—a “seed” of a woman who would destroy the works of the Devil. This plan of God for the salvation of man finally “became flesh” in Jesus Christ. This verse is not establishing a doctrine of Incarnation contrary to all prophetic expectations, nor a teaching of pre-existence. It is a teaching of God’s great love in bringing into existence His plan to save mankind from their sin.

Before proceeding, we must define what is traditionally understood by the “incarnation” of Christ. Keep in mind that we strongly affirm the reality and necessity of the virgin birth of Christ as the only way he could have been born without the inherent sin of mankind that would have disqualified him from becoming the Lamb of God. But the traditional “formula which enshrines the Incarnation …is that in some sense God, without ceasing to be God, was made man.”

We will quote the New Bible Dictionary, a Trinitarian source, for a working definition and explanation of this doctrine:

It appears to mean that the divine Maker became one of His own creatures, which is a prima facie contradiction in theological terms. When the Word “became flesh,” His deity was not abandoned or reduced or contracted, nor did He cease to exercise the divine functions which had been His before…The Incarnation of the Son of God, then, was not a diminishing of deity, but an acquiring of manhood.

One wonders how a pre-existent “God the Son” can become a man without any “diminishing of deity,” or that he could live a “fully human” life without ceasing to exercise the divine functions he had been exercising since eternity began. Trinitarians say this is part of the “mystery” of the Incarnation. The New Bible Dictionary admits that the concept is not developed or discussed in the New Testament:

The only sense in which the New Testament writers ever attempt to explain the incarnation is by showing how it fits into God’s overall plan for redeeming mankind…This evangelical interest throws light on the otherwise puzzling fact that the New Testament nowhere reflects on the virgin birth of Jesus as witnessing to the conjunction of deity and manhood in His person—a line of thought much canvassed by later theology.

If the deity of Jesus was not at first clearly stated in words (and Acts gives no hint that it was), it was nevertheless part of the faith by which the first Christians lived and prayed…The theological formulation of belief in the Incarnation came later, but the belief itself, however incoherently expressed, was there in the Church from the beginning.

We disagree with the assertion that the doctrine of the Incarnation was “in the Church from the beginning.” Since the doctrine is clearly not in Scripture, how can it possibly be considered a part of “the Apostles’ Doctrine”? Because scholars admit that this doctrine is biblically tenuous, we must examine why Christian theologians of the third century and later became so preoccupied with establishing it as the cornerstone of a Trinitarian Christian faith. In doing so, we will see some of the changing assumptions and beliefs that led to the development of this doctrine. We must first establish the fact that the very process of turning from historical truth to mythology was clearly prophesied by the apostle Paul at the end of his life. This is amazing but not surprising, in light of the many times in Scripture that God has warned His people about being influenced by pagan culture.

 Creation, Not Incarnation
Jesus makes clear reference to two distinct categories in John 3:6 when he says that the “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Jesus clearly declared God to be “spirit” (John 4:24). Note that he did not say, “I am spirit,” or “God is flesh” or even “The Father is spirit.” By thus placing “God” in the category of “spirit,” when he himself is clearly a man of flesh and blood, Jesus effectively excluded any possibility that he was God. If God, being spirit, can incarnate Himself as a man, then the clear scriptural distinction between flesh and spirit disintegrates. But God the Creator, who is spirit, can create flesh, as He did in Genesis 1. His spirit brooded upon the face of the water, speaking into being things that had not existed before. These things were in “the flesh,” but were not He. They were His creation, but He stood apart from them and judged them to be very good.
Creation is the means by which God has brought things to pass outside of that which would occur naturally. He caused a human life to begin in the womb of Mary by an act of supernatural creation, not mystical incarnation (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:35). He waited for a willing woman to bear this child, a woman whose confession and testimony were befitting the honor bestowed upon her. In this way He brought into the world a human being who fulfilled the necessary conditions for becoming the Messiah. That was only the first hurdle. Then He had to work with the growing child to help him maintain his sinless condition until the time he could be anointed with holy spirit and thus be empowered to do the work to which he was called (Acts 10:38). Yes, God had to provide (by creation) the body that could be sacrificed, but Jesus had to obey Him flawlessly for his body to finally be the perfect sacrifice that it needed to be. Thus, God and Jesus each had a responsibility that the other could not perform, and upon which our redemption depended.
The assertion that Jesus was God in human flesh nullifies the absolute necessity of Christ’s obedience, because, as God, no temptation he faced would have been genuine. God cannot be tempted, because God cannot sin (James 1:13). It is also axiomatic that God can neither “obey” nor “disobey” Himself. Nor does He need to command Himself to do anything, for as God, the perfect moral being, He always acts in a timely and perfectly righteous manner. Another unsolvable problem caused by the “incarnation” is that it destroys the plan that God established of a First Adam and a Last Adam. Romans 5:12–19 clearly defines a critical, logical parallel between Adam and Jesus Christ in the context of the redemption of mankind. A major consequence of the doctrine that God became man is that it destroys this key parallel, for Adam is hardly comparable to an eternally pre-existent being. Rather, he was a created being made in the image of the One who created him, God. Adam was not “fully man and fully God,” “100 percent man and 100 percent God,” “co-equal with God the Father,” or “of the same substance as the Father.” Adam was a created, empowered being who chose to disobey a direct command of God, with dire consequences to himself and all mankind as a result.
Jesus Christ was also a created being, made a man in the same way that Adam was originally made, that is, a masterpiece of God’s creation, given dominion over Paradise and every creature He had made. Jesus could have no intrinsic advantage over Adam, or his qualification as Redeemer would be legally nullified. He was the Last Adam, not the first God–man. The differences between Adam and Jesus were circumstantial, not essential: Adam started tall with no navel; Jesus started short with a navel. Adam was created fully formed and fully able to comprehend the voice of God. Jesus had to learn from his parents. Adam did not have to suffer the indignity of a humble birth and be considered illegitimate, the son of common folk. Adam had only to dress and keep the garden and care for his wife. He had to keep from eating the fruit, or die and bring death to all his descendants. Jesus had to drink the cup of suffering and die so he could be raised to conquer death and make it possible for others to eat of the “fruit” of eternal life.
In a head-to-“Head” comparison, Adam had every advantage, yet Jesus overcame where Adam fell. He chose to obey God’s will, which was that he present himself as a perfect sacrifice for sin. For the legal requirements of redemption to be satisfied, whatever Adam was, Jesus Christ had to be. Scripture declares very clearly that Jesus was a created human being like Adam was. In fact, they were both the result of God’s direct creative activity.
As we have stated, the whole Bible is simply the story of two Adams. Except for the initial genetic perfection that they shared in common, the contrast between them is stark. Here is perhaps another way to summarize Romans 5:12–21:

 Two Adams

• Two created beings
• Two Sons of God
• Two men
• Two gardens
• Two temptations
• Two choices
• Two attitudes
• Two decisions
• Two results
• Two races

 Other Problems with the Doctrine of the “Incarnation”

Aside from its mythological character, what are other problems with the idea of God becoming a man? First of all, it is illogical and self-contradictory when we are true to the accurate biblical usages of words. The Bible explicitly states that “God is not a man…,” (Num. 23:19), which defines two distinct categories, God and man. In terms of logic, it could be stated in this way: If God is not a man, then if someone is a “man,” he cannot be “God.”
God’s holiness precludes Him from becoming anything other than what He is. Rubenstein points out the illogic of the assertion that “God can do anything.”
Athanasius [a bishop of Alexandria who spearheaded what became the orthodox Trinitarian position] says that God can do anything He chooses to do, and that He chose to turn Himself into a man for the sake of our salvation. Jesus Christ is not one of God’s creatures, he insists, but God Himself, incarnated in human form. These sound like clear statements, but, actually, they are hopelessly confused.
Can God do anything He chooses to do? Of course—except those things that are inconsistent with being God. Can He choose to be evil or ignorant? Could He be the Devil—or nothing at all?
Perfection cannot be improved upon or changed. He is not a pantheistic “god” who dwells in everything. He is holy, meaning that He stands apart from and above His creation, yet is intimately involved with it. Therefore, God cannot alter His essential nature, which by definition is perfect, and perfection cannot be improved upon. But even if He could, in doing so He would, by definition, no longer be “God.”
If Jesus Christ is “God in human flesh,” there are other scriptural casualties. First, it renders the pathos of Gethsemane virtually meaningless, when Jesus prayed three times for this cup to be removed from me (Luke 22:42). If he is “of the same substance” as the Father, and an eternally integral part of a “Godhead,” then his will is of necessity the same as “God’s.” If he struggled only in his “human side,” as Trinitarians argue, while accepting the assignment in his “divine side,” we are certainly left unimpressed by the difficulty he faced, compared to the way we face temptation without the benefit of a “divine” side that is sure to dominate.
If it were “God’s” will that Jesus should die, and Jesus is “God” in human flesh, then it was clearly also his will to die. Why then did Jesus wrestle so intensely with the assignment to sacrifice himself, finally surrendering and saying “…nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done“? If this struggle were between his divine and human natures, then why invoke God his Father in prayer in what was really an internal, almost schizophrenic, struggle?³³
In our considered opinion, attempting to artificially exalt Christ via theological manipulation results in the complete negation of the heroic character of this free act of his will. Unless he was really a man, “…in all points tempted like as we are…” (Heb. 4:15 – KJV), with real freedom to turn his back on the assignment, the value of his act as a magnanimous sacrifice (an emptying of his own will and desire) is virtually eliminated. If he were God, he could hardly deny himself or disobey his own directive. Seeing Jesus as an empowered human being who had to obey God like we do is the proper context and backdrop for appreciating his heroism. Seeing him as essentially God, endowed with a divine perspective of human events, results in a view that he was only going through the prearranged motions. In that case, his heroic commitment and example collide with his supposed “deity” and sink into a gray and uninspiring sea of inevitability.
Along with the demise of Christ’s heroism is the destruction of the logic of Philippians 2:8–11, and a diminishing of his exaltation based upon the merits of his obedience. Scripture here reveals that God highly exalted Jesus Christ in response to his humbling himself to be obedient unto death, even a death as humiliating and painful as crucifixion. If Christ were “co-eternal” and “pre-existent ” with “God the Father,” and if he already occupied the highest position in glory before the “incarnation,” then what is the significance of this special exaltation relative to his obedience unto death? Was he not simply returning to his former elevated station, one that could hardly be denied him since he willingly gave it up with the understanding that he would be able to return to it? If we are truly concerned about giving Christ his proper due and honoring him appropriately, does it not make more sense to place his accomplishments in a theological framework in which his heroism is more apparent rather than less?³⁴ Consider the power of James Moffatt’s translation of Isaiah 9:6 in this regard:

Isaiah 9:6
For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us; the royal dignity he wears, and this the title that he bears—”A wonder of a counselor, a divine hero, a father for all time, a peaceful prince!”

Yet another casualty of the “Incarnation” is the significance of his Lordship. Acts 2:36 says that God made Jesus of Nazareth “both Lord and Christ.” If Jesus Christ were already “God,” then one cannot comprehend the granting of the title “Lord” to him as anything particularly notable, because he already had every right to the title and had already been exercising it in the Old Testament. Again we find that man-made theological attempts to exalt Christ beyond what is specifically revealed in Scripture result in a radical demeaning of the value of his obedience and accomplishments on our behalf. Man, however sincerely, cannot add to Jesus’ greatness by making him something that Scripture does not. In fact, any attempt to do so significantly subtracts from the greatness of the biblical message. When we let the Word of God speak for itself and allow every piece of the puzzle to fit together without squeezing it to fit our own traditions or preconceived notions, both God and His Son are glorified, reason is satisfied and the Christian Church is blessed as it builds upon a sound cornerstone.

Death; Life; Resurrection & Rapture(our gathering together unto him).

The Dead Will Get Up at the Rapture or 
One of the Resurrections

When a person dies, he goes to Sheol (the grave; the state of death) and returns to dust. Therefore, the Bible rightly directs our attention to the Rapture or resurrection, which is when people will be raised to life.

Job 19:25–27 (ESV)
(25) For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
(26) And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
(27) whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!

Job was excited about seeing God when he was in his new body, which would happen at the resurrection. He never spoke of being with God when he died.

Ezekiel 37:12–14 (ESV)
(12) Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
(13) And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
(14) And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Speaking of those Old Testament Jews who believed, these verses are loaded with truth. Chief among that truth is that the people would know the Lord was God when He opened their graves and raised them up. If people’s “immortal souls” went to heaven when they died, that would be the time they knew the Lord was God, not much later when their bodies were raised.

Matthew 22:23–32 (ESV)
(23) The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question,
(24) saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’
(25) Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother.
(26) So too the second and third, down to the seventh.
(27) After them all, the woman died.
(28) In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
(29) But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
(30) For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
(31) And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:
(32) ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

This powerful section of Scripture is also recorded in Mark 12:18–27 and Luke 20:27–38. The Sadducees did not believe in any form of life after death. They rightly understood Jesus’ message that the dead would get up “in the resurrection” so they asked whose wife the woman would be at that time. If Jesus believed that after a person died his soul lived on, this was the perfect place to say that one’s soul or spirit did not marry in heaven. Instead, because he knew dead people are dead until the resurrection, he said “in the resurrection” people will not marry.

Luke 14:14 (ESV)
and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

If people went right to heaven or “hell” when they died, they would be repaid for their actions immediately after death. We are repaid after we rise from the dead, which is what Jesus taught.

John 11:21-26 (ESV)
(21) Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
(22) But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
(23) Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
(24) Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
(25) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
(26) and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Even if Martha believed her brother was alive in a good place but still wanted him to be with her, she would have said she wanted him back from heaven. Instead, she clearly indicated she believed her brother was dead and would only live again “in the resurrection.”
The Bible has many accounts of people being raised from the dead. At no time did Elisha, Jesus, Peter, or Paul pray to God before raising the person to see if they would be willing to leave heaven and return to this fallen world where they would only have to die again someday. Furthermore, if the people who had died were in heaven, it certainly seems that they would have had something to say about what heaven was like when they returned. Even if they promised God they would not talk about heaven, it seems that someone would have asked them about it.

John 14:3 (ESV)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

Jesus told his disciples they would be with him when he came again not when they died.

Acts 4:1 and 2 (ESV)
(1) And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,
(2) greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

The Apostles were not teaching that people went to be with Jesus when they died. If they had been, that is what the religious leaders would have been upset about. Instead, the Apostles were teaching the resurrection from the dead. Other verses confirm that the Apostles taught the resurrection (Acts 17:18 and 32, 24:15).

1 Corinthians 15:42, 51b and 52 (ESV)
(42) So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
(51b) …We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
(52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

It is very important to note that every believer is “raised imperishable” at the same time: “the last trumpet.” We do not have an imperishable immortal soul that lives with Jesus after we die. We become “imperishable” only when we are raised from the dead.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–17 (ESV)
(13) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
(14) For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
(15) For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
(16) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
(17) Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

If Paul wanted Christians not to grieve and knew that when people died their soul or spirit went to be with God, he would have said so here in order to help comfort people. Instead, he tells us that all the dead in Christ will rise at the Rapture when the Lord comes and comforts us by letting us know that even when a person dies he will rise again.

Titus 2:13 (ESV)
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Our hope is the coming of the Lord because that is when the dead are raised and can be with Jesus.

Revelation 20:4 and 5 (ESV)
(4) Then I saw…the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus…. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
(5) The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

These verses separate the people who come to life in the first resurrection from those who do not. The souls of the righteous, meaning righteous people, come to life after the Battle of Armageddon (Rev. 19:11–21) and reign with Christ.

Revelation 20:11–13 (ESV)
(11) Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. (12) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
(13) And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades [the grave] gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

These verses depict the Resurrection of the Unjust (Acts 24:15 – ESV), also called the Resurrection of Judgment (John 5:29 – ESV), and the Judgment that follows immediately afterward. At this future time, all the unjust people will get up and be judged. The souls of the wicked are not judged and thrown into Gehenna when the person dies.

Acts 2:29–32 and 34 (ESV)
(29) “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
(30) Being therefore a prophet…
(31) he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
(32) This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
(34) For David did not ascend into the heavens…

If David was in heaven, Peter should have said so. Instead, Peter said just the opposite, that David “…did not ascend into the heavens….” His point was not that Jesus was in heaven with a body and David was in heaven without one. His point was that David was dead and Jesus was not.

Doctrine of God and Christ

Yahweh is one, not two or three, and there is no God besides him. The Bible uses singular pronouns in reference to God thousands upon thousands of time, a fact that clearly teaches God is a singular individual. This one God is the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent creator of heaven and earth.
Jesus is the human mediator who called God his Father. Jesus had a beginning in time and is the miraculously born son of God. Jesus recognized his Father as the only true God who was his superior. Jesus admitted to possessing limited knowledge; he was a mortal man who experienced temptation, hunger, thirst, weariness, suffering, death, and resurrection.
The doctrines of God and Christ mutated over time and continued to develop in new and unbiblical ways after the New Testament was written. Steve talks about the first four ecumenical counsels (Nicea in a.d. 325, Constantinople in a.d. 381, Ephesus in a.d. 431, and Chalcedon in a.d. 451) to demonstrate how these doctrines evolved over time.
Give a listen if this subject interests you and feel free to share with your friends. This may be just the kind of audio message you might want to burn on a CD or email to someone who is currently believing in a non-biblical view of God and Jesus.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeHsoZguBqA
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What Cost? - Priceless!

 Priceless:

We've had a brief and sobering glimpse into how much the devil values us, which isn't very much. Now, what about God? How much does God value us? Just as it is difficult to comprehend the evil of the devil, it is equally difficult to comprehend the goodness of God and just how much we mean to him. When man fell in Genesis and became just body and soul, spiritually dead in the devil's new world order, God did not leave man there. He could have, but he didn't. Rather, he loved us so much he came up with a plan to get us out of the mess we had made for ourselves. That plan was Jesus Christ, a man who put his hand up and volunteered to die in our place.

Romans 3:21-24
But now [since the day of Pentecost] the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus that we are justified freely by God's grace. Redemption refers to the price that was paid to buy us back from the devil. Here is a dictionary definition of redeem.

1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.

Man at one time belonged to God, but when man fell, man became the devil's subjects, we were citizens in the world of which he was its god. To get us back, God had to redeem us, a price had to be paid. That price was paid in blood.

Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

We lost the spirit when man fell back in Genesis and became just body and soul. Jesus Christ was the price that was paid to redeem us, to buy us back from that state of death. God paid for us with his own son. He gave his only son to the devil, to die the most horrendous death ever experienced by any human being in the history of the world so that we could be redeemed. That was the price that had to be paid, and God paid it.

Romans 5:6-8
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God paid a price beyond anything we could imagine or comprehend. Does that give us value? Very much so. How much are we worth to God? He paid a very high price for us. That price was his son Jesus Christ, who died in our place. Man was a three-part being back in Genesis, but as a consequence of his disobedience man lost his spirit and became just body and soul. Since the day of Pentecost, because of the work Jesus Christ accomplished, because of the price that was paid, it is once again available for man to be a three part being of body, soul, and spirit.

Now, how do we determine value? What gives something worth? What makes something valuable? One thing that determines value is cost, how much you would be willing to pay for something.

Are your children valuable? Oh yes, but can you put a price on them? Is there a price tag you can stick on children? Would we sell our children? Would we sell them for a million bucks? 10 million? 100 million? What about for the world? Of course not. Some things in life are beyond value, beyond price, you cannot buy them, they are not for sale. Children are priceless.

Value, then, varies greatly, but generally speaking, how much you would be willing to spend on something would determine its value. If something is beyond price, if you cannot put a price on it, it is priceless. So, how valuable are we? Not very much to the devil, but what about God?

1 Corinthians 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

We were bought with a price. What price? What price did God pay for us? How much did God pay to redeem us from the god of this world? How much does he value us? God took the one thing he had that was priceless, beyond value, his son, and that was the price he paid for us. If how much we are willing to pay for something determines its value, how much then are we worth? If you're not sure how much you're worth, take a look at the price tag on you.

God paid for us with his own son. He gave his only child to the devil to die the most horrendous and tortuous death ever experienced by any human being in the history of the world so that we could be raised from the dead and have eternal life.

Are we valuable? How valuable are your children to you? To God, we are priceless. Of all God has, we are his most valuable possessions.

Romans 8:37-39
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

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.

Do you think there is anything that can take us away from God? Do you think there is a price God would sell us for? We are priceless, beyond value, beyond cost. There is no price that can separate us from this love of God. There is nothing the devil can do to take us away from God.

Knowing all this, we now have choices to make here. Are we going to believe the world's opinion of our value, or God's? See, that depends on us. If we spend our whole time watching television, playing computer games, watching movies, and reading newspapers and magazines, our perceptions of our own worth are going to reflect the god of this world's opinion of our worth, which isn't very much. However, if we keep our hearts and minds in God's word, our perceptions of our own worth will reflect our true value.

The world looks out at the universe, shows us how big it is, and tells us we amount to nothing. The bible looks out at the universe, shows us how big it is, and tells us that we are the only reason it is there. One viewpoint is a lie, while the other is the truth. What we look at is what we will believe and become.

2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

A glass is a mirror. As we look into the bible, we see the glory of God reflected from its pages and if we keep our focus there, we will be changed into that same image. If we hold our minds in the world, then that's what we will reflect in our hearts and lives. Where we keep our thoughts is up to us. It's a choice we make.

God paid a high price for us. Jesus Christ was the price that was paid to redeem us from death so we could freely enjoy eternal life. Do you know what eternal life really is? It is being born again of God's seed and becoming his child.

1 Peter 1:23
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

This isn't make believe, this isn't Aesop's fables, this isn't a myth or a fairy tale, this is the truth - we literally are born of God's seed, incorruptible seed. We are his children, he did pay that price for us, and he did redeem us from the devil and death.

Galatians 4:6,7
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Now, to give you a little more sense of your worth, here's a thought that once saved my life. Before the day of Pentecost, from Genesis to the day of Pentecost, God had no guarantee that anyone would believe his word and be born again. Sure, he has foreknowledge and he knew we would, but he had no guarantee of that. What if God knew in his foreknowledge that you would be the only person to ever be born again, that you would be the only one to ever believe his word? Would God have still paid that price just for you? He paid the price without any guarantee of anything, before anyone was ever born again, so yes, you really are that precious to God, that priceless. He paid that price just for you.

God paid a price so high for us that it's beyond human comprehension. Eternal life may be free to us, but trust me, it cost God everything. To the god of this world we are worthless, but to God we are priceless. Which God are you going to serve?

It is PAID for, so - Get Over It!

Get Over it!

Jesus Christ took care of everything we've ever done wrong in the past, and most folks are okay with that once they realise just how much it cost God and how much it cost Jesus Christ to accomplish it. However, folks often struggle to comprehend that Jesus Christ not only paid for the sins we've done in the past, but he also fully paid for all the sins we've not even committed yet.

Colossians 2:13,14 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Jesus Christ died for us, and we are righteous because of what he did, not because of anything we've ever done or ever will do. We didn't earn the gift of holy spirit, it was something God wanted us to have and it was his good pleasure to give it. The price he paid was his only son.

This was all done by God's mercy and grace, because he loved us and it was his good pleasure to do it for us. Does it follow then that he did it so he could beat us up all the time and make us sick? That garbage is certainly spouted from pulpits all over the world, but it is not the truth. God may not go to church or hang out in any religion, but devil spirits surely do.

We are righteous and we are justified, there is nothing of which we are guilty. God took all my sins, placed them on Jesus Christ, and he took them to the grave with him. He died in my place. If all my sins were put on Jesus Christ and died with him, are they any longer on me? No, they are not, and that's why I have the righteousness of God.

Romans 3:22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

At the moment we are born again, everything stacked against us, all the sins we've ever done are washed away. God didn't just take those old sins of ours and lock them away in a closet, or brush them under the carpet out of view, they just no longer exist. All of our sins literally died with Jesus Christ and they are gone forever. That is why God isn't looking for fault so he can punish us. This is illustrated succinctly in Psalm 103.

Psalm 103:8-10 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Listen to how kind the language is here. The point is, God isn't mad at us. Verse 10 has an amazing figure of speech in it - it contains two sentences that say exactly the same thing in two different ways. God said the same thing twice to emphasise and to establish the point that he does not deal with us after our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities. So he can't be watching us with a critical eye so he can whack us over the head then, can he?

The god who looks for any reason to whack us is better known as the devil, the god of this world, Lucifer, and it is he who controls all world religion. A temple is a place where men go to worship. If God doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, who then are folks worshipping when they go to church if it isn't God? Any religion, church, organisation, or ministry that is controlled by central governing bodies of men is a temple made with hands, it is a broken cistern constructed by men. Psalm 103 continues.

Psalm 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear [respect, reverence] him.

How high is the heaven above the earth? How high is the universe? Have you ever tried to fathom the depth of the universe? The distances involved are so staggering they are beyond human comprehension. That's how great God's mercy is to us. It is staggering, beyond human comprehension. Mercy is the withholding of merited judgement. In other words, we deserved punishment but God withheld it. God does not want to beat us up for our sins. His mercy is staggering, beyond human comprehension.

Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Interesting that this verse says east and west and not north and south. If you go far enough north and cross the pole, you will start going south. If you continue south and cross the other pole, you will start going north again. Unlike north and south, east and west never meet. It is a physical impossibility for east and west to meet. You are either going east or you are going west. If you are going east, you are travelling away from west. If you stop and go west, you are now heading away from east. There is infinity between them. That is how far we have been removed from all the sin, all the mistakes and bad things we've ever done. You see, it isn't that God simply hides his eyes from our sins and pretends not to see them, they really do not exist anymore. Jesus Christ was the price it cost to get rid of them for us. We have been freed from sin and the power of death. Yes, that even includes you if you're a jesuit and you read this class and get born again. God's mercy is staggering.

To clarify and illuminate this point, let's examine how God dealt with sin in the old testament. One way of dealing with sin back then was with animal sacrifices. The animals were sacrificed and their blood made atonement for Israel's sin. Before we go any further, however, let's make it clear that animal sacrifice was not God's idea, it was man's idea.

Jeremiah 7:22For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

See, God commanded nothing regarding killing animals as sacrifices. It wasn't in his heart, it wasn't something he wanted. He spoke nothing about sacrificing animals. The next verse tells us what God wanted.

Jeremiah 7:23But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Rather than animal sacrifices, God wanted his people to simply live in fellowship with him and enjoy a good life.

Jeremiah 7:24But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

You see, rather than obey God, the Israelites wanted animal sacrifices, just like all the devil worshipping heathen around them. They wanted to stick knives in animals and spurt blood everywhere, just like the pagans and druids they lived among. They wanted to be like everyone else. God therefore had no choice but to put up with their garbage, and because they insisted on killing animals he was forced to give them a few guidelines on how best to go about it. Listen to Samuel's words when he confronted Saul.

1 Samuel 15:22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Solomon put animal sacrifice into its proper context in Proverbs.

Proverbs 21:2,3Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

The point is, sacrificing animals was not God's idea. Sacrificing animals was merely a symbolic gesture as he endured man's stubborn, evil ways. Talk about patience, grace, and mercy?

You can see this same human demand for bullshit when Israel demanded Samuel find them a king. They wanted a king like all the other nations, so they bitched to Samuel about not having one and told him to sort it out. Samuel was not amused, and neither was God. The Jones syndrome goes back a long way.

1 Samuel 8:4-9,22Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,

And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.

Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.

And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

Was it God's idea to give them a king? No, it wasn't. Whose idea was it? It was man's idea. God warned them about the nature of their king, but they refused to listen and demanded God give them a king. So God gave them one.

Was it God's idea to have animal sacrifices in the old testament? No, it wasn't. Whose idea was it? It was man's idea. Man wanted to stick knives in animals to ease his guilt, and demanded God accept these sacrifices. That's why animal sacrifices became a way of life in the old testament. It wasn't because God wanted it, but because people wanted it. God then later used these sacrifices as illustrations to teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ, who was sacrificed to redeem us from death.

Hebrews 9:11,12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Our redemption wasn't bought by the blood of animals. It was Jesus Christ's own blood that paid the price. He died in our place and it was his death that paid for the sin problem for all mankind. The root problem has now been dealt with. There is no longer a sin problem. It's dealt with. We are righteous now, we have the righteousness of God.

Hebrews 9:13,14 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

In the old testament, animals dealt with Israel's sin problem, but it was only symbolic, a stop gap measure that only temporarily put a lid on the garbage bin. What Hebrews is saying is, that if a few scabby animal sacrifices can symbolically deal with sin, what about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? How much greater a sacrifice was he compared to an animal? How much better a job did he do?

Hebrews 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;

In the old testament they had to sacrifice animals every year. They sinned, they sacrificed animals, they were clean again, they sinned, they sacrificed animals, they were clean again - it went on and on and on. The point is, sacrificing animals was not a permanent solution to the sin problem. However, Jesus Christ was. See the difference here? Jesus Christ didn't keep offering himself periodically as a sacrifice, over and over and over again, he did it once, and that obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

His sacrifice took care of the sin problem once and for all.

Hebrews 9:27,28 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

His sacrifice took care of the sin problem because he was a perfect sacrifice. That's why we are righteous now. Not because of our own works but because of what was done on our behalf. The blood of animals was just a temporary measure, a symbolic gesture God was forced to endure because man demanded it.

Now that Jesus Christ has dealt with the sin problem permanently, there is no more need for sacrifices, animal or otherwise. The problem has been dealt with.

Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

The law and the sacrifices could not make people perfect. They just couldn't. They simply could not take care of the sin and death problem that Adam and Eve's disobedience introduced.

Hebrews 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

If old testament sacrifices of animals made people perfect, wouldn't they then have stopped sacrificing animals because it was no longer required? See the logic here? But animal sacrifices didn't make people perfect, which is why they kept sacrificing more animals to alleviate their guilt.

Hebrews 10:3,4 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

It just was not possible to deal with the sin problem by sacrificing animals. It was a man who caused the problem in the first place and it would take a man to solve it. Someone had to pay the price for Adam's disobedience, and that someone was Jesus Christ. However, in contrast to the death of animals, Jesus Christ's death did a perfect job.

Hebrews 10:12,14-17 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

Whereof the Holy Ghost [pneuma hagion - holy spirit] also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

God will remember our iniquities no more because they no longer exist. That's why when God forgives, he forgets and never brings it up again. There is nothing to remember because there is nothing there. It's as far away as the east is from the west.

Hebrews 10:18 Now where remission [aphesis] of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Remission and forgiveness are from compound words meaning simply to send away. Aphesis is from apōtheomai, apo, away from, and ōtheō or ōthō, to shove. So apōtheomai means to push off, figuratively to reject: to cast away, to put away from, to thrust away from. This is the background of aphesis and another closely related word which is also translated forgiveness at times, aphiēmi. Now that sin has been sent away, dismissed, thrust away, there is no more need for animal or human sacrifices because there is no longer a sin problem. We are righteous because of the sacrifice that was made on our behalf by Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

The holiest refers to the inner sanctuary of the temple, the holy of holies as it was called. That was where God dwelt, where he lived among his people before the day of Pentecost. God no longer dwells, he no longer lives, he no longer resides in temples made with hands, or any place of worship which is constructed, governed and controlled by men. Since the day of Pentecost we now have direct access to God through the gift of holy spirit. We can go directly to God anytime we wish and request an audience. Not only that, but he will grant us that audience every time. Our father has time for his children.

Hebrews 10:20-22 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

And having an high priest over the house of God;

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith [pistis - believing], having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The sin problem no longer exists. We are sanctified, set apart because we are redeemed, because we are justified, and because we are righteous. God has forgiven us and there is nothing of which we are guilty. We are holy and without blame before him in love.

Okay, so how come my mind doesn't always agree with that? How come my mind continually reminds me of all the terrible things I've done? How come my heart seems to enjoy condemning me and making me feel guilty? This is the guts of the whole thing - it's called the renewed mind. We have to train our minds to think what the word says, and that's damned hard work at times. We have to decide between our feelings or what the word says. It's a choice we make to believe one way or the other.

Accepting forgiveness when we don't deserve it seems to be difficult for earthlings. God understands this and so did Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus Christ once told a story to help us understand forgiveness. It's wrongly known as the parable of the prodigal son. The point of the parable isn't the attitude of the son, but the forgiveness of his father.

Luke 15:1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

Jesus Christ did not have a problem with people. He was quite happy teaching the word to publicans and sinners, so God must have been quite happy with that too as Jesus Christ always did his Father's will. Unfortunately, the religious church leaders didn't approve of this. Much the same today isn't it? Why aren't the jesuits out lovingly preaching their gospel to publicans and sinners instead of continually coming up with new ways to exterminate them? Well, I guess you know the answer to that by now.

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Oh, how awful. Jesus was eating with bad people. Notice these religious pricks didn't take this up with Jesus either, but muttered behind his back.

Luke 15:3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

Remember, Jesus had been accused of eating with sinners as if it were a crime, so the people he was eating with would have been hurt by these unjust and cruel words from the mouths of the jesuits of that day. Those people were there to hear God's word, and the devil used those religious creatures to try to prevent the word from being taught. Jesus Christ had to deal with this, so this parable although spoken to the scribes and Pharisees was not for their benefit, but for the people with him. He told this story to illustrate that God didn't have a problem forgiving people, regardless of their past. He told this story to counteract the cruel words of the religious leaders who did not want God's people to hear the truth. You will not find God in temples made with hands.

Luke 15:11,12 And he said, A certain man had two sons:

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

The son asked for his share of the inheritance which was legally and rightfully his. The parable also says that the father divided unto them his living. In other words, he gave both his sons their inheritance.

Luke 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Most of us know what riotous living is. I wasted quite a few years of my life in riotous living, so this parable computes for me.

Luke 15:14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

His money ran out, as it does when you live riotously. If you've never been hungry, this probably won't hit your heart as poignantly as someone who has been in great need. Unless people come back to God's word again, they're going to find out what great need is pretty soon.

Luke 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

The worst job in the world to an Israelite was feeding pigs. Swineherds were not paid, and they had to eat the swill fed to the pigs to keep themselves alive. This son's situation had changed somewhat.

Luke 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

Makes you wonder where all his friends went, doesn't it? Where were all the friends who helped him drink away his inheritance? Where were all his mates now that he was eating swill with the pigs? Probably going to church every week, listening to the scribes and pharisees spout their bullshit about sinners, or going to secret masonic meetings to discuss how best to package pig swill and put it on supermarket shelves to make more money. I'm not cynical, this is how the world works, this is what is going on.

Luke 15:17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

The pig swill wasn't even sufficient to keep him alive.

Luke 15:18,19 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,

And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

So he made the decision to go home. Not sure what he might have expected, but he had nowhere else to go except to face death.

Luke 15:20-22 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Signet rings were used to stamp wax seals. The ring meant he could buy stuff and use the signet ring like we use a credit card. Did his father tell him to fuck off? No, God isn't mad at us for what we've done in the past, that's the point of this parable. God's mercy is staggering.

Luke 15:23,24 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

When we are born again and receive the gift of holy spirit, our past life is dealt with. Everything we've done wrong is gone - we have a clean sheet, a fresh start in life because we receive the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ paid the price so we could have the righteousness of God. God does not have a problem with anyone's past, regardless of what they've done.

Okay, we've pretty much established that we are righteous when we receive the gift of holy spirit, but what about all the sins we do after that point? Sure, I've been forgiven for my past, I'm born again, I have the righteousness of God, so I go out and get drunk. What now? Understanding this difference is to understand the difference between our standing and our state.

Our standing in the household of God is one of a son or daughter, as children, and that never fluctuates. We have eternal life. Always remember, you cannot corrupt the gift of holy spirit. You can sure mess up your life in the body and soul category, but you can't corrupt the gift of holy spirit. It is eternal life, and even if you get drunk, that spirit is still incorruptible, you still have the righteousness of God. That's why we must renew our minds. What use is it having the righteousness of God if we're out getting drunk all the time? Unless we renew our minds and live the word, we won't ever be able to enjoy the benefits of the gift of holy spirit because the renewed mind is the key to power. However, regardless of whether or not we renew our minds, we still have the righteousness of God, we still have the gift of holy spirit, we are still God's children.

Our state, however, is dependent on enjoying fellowship with God. Although we are his children, it doesn't necessarily follow that we are going to walk by the spirit and enjoy his company. Jesus Christ redeemed us, yes, and when we confess Jesus as lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, from that moment on we have eternal life. But what if we don't renew our minds? What if we just continue living riotously? What if we ignore the bible and keep our minds in the world's television? Will your life benefit from the promises in God's word? No, your life will not change at all because you will still be grunting in the world's pig swill. Why? It's not God's fault. It's up to you to renew your mind and turn on the power. God made the gift of holy spirit available, and he gave us his word to teach us how to manifest it. Now it's up to us to learn that word, renew our minds and use it to turn on the spiritual power. That's what makes the difference in life. It isn't religious ceremony or ritual, it isn't going to church every week, it isn't about how much money you give to charities, it isn't about how wide your inane smiles are, it's about turning on the power.

Now let's take this a step further. Let's assume we are renewing our minds, that we are learning God's word, and that we are doing our best to live it. Guess what, you're still going to mess up from time to time. You're still going to make mistakes on a regular basis. When our children grow up, are they perfect? No, of course not - every parent knows that - but do parents expect their children to be perfect? Hardly. Well, God is a parent, and just like any parent, he knows his children are going to break his word from time to time. That's just life. Jesus Christ was perfect, that's why he was the perfect sacrifice, that's why he was able to redeem us, but we're not perfect. We're perfect spiritually, yes, but we still have an old man to contend with that we must put off. This is a process, not a one time event. Just as parents love their children despite all their mistakes, so God loves his children, despite all their mistakes.

Psalm 103:8,10,13 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

This word pity as used in the King James is one of those words that means something different today than it did in 1611 when it was written. Fathers today don't pity their children, they care for them and love them, understanding their frailties. That's what the word pity meant when it was written all those centuries ago. A similar fact is relevant with the word fear. In 1611, the word fear in this context meant awe, reverence and respect.

Forgiveness has always been available. Even Adam and Eve were forgiven and went on to live productive lives, albeit without that spirit that had been created within them. Forgiveness has always been available, and the word must be understood in that light. It doesn't matter to God where a person has been, or what they've done in the past, he's only interested in where they are now and where they want to be tomorrow. Religious people, like those pharisees and scribes, are cold and hard, self seeking and self righteous, turning people away from the truth. They are vipers and scorpions, whited sepulchres full of dead men's bones. Do not expect to find God in temples made with hands filled with those creatures.

Eternal life is a free gift, but continuing in fellowship with God after that point is dependant on our walk. That's what determines our state. Our standing is as children, and that will never change, but our state fluctuates. Regardless of our state, we will always still have the righteousness of God.

The key to power is the renewed mind. If I don't know I'm righteous, and I mess up, feel guilty and run out and get drunk, I'm going to suffer consequences because I'm missing the mark. I'm still righteous, but I won't enjoy the benefits of that righteousness, and my fellowship with God will suffer dramatically. However, if instead of running out to get drunk when I mess up, I go to God's word, read about my sonship rights, read about how Jesus Christ paid for that mistake I just made, and decide to renew my mind and get over it and move on in life, now I'm starting to get somewhere spiritually. That's why the renewed mind is the key to power. It isn't about being faultless, it's about keeping God's word in our minds despite our old man nature. It isn't about how few times we fall down, it's about how quickly we get up again after we fall. A faithful man isn't someone who only falls down once a year but stays down for weeks in condemnation, it's someone who falls down many times every week but who jumps right back up again and carries on knowing he has the righteousness of God. We put the old man off by renewing our minds, and put on the new man by turning on the power in the gift of holy spirit.

Psalm 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Sonship is our standing as children of God, but fellowship is our state, our personal relationship with him. We can be children of God, but not be in fellowship with him. That doesn't mean God doesn't love us, it means we're out swilling it with the pigs. To get back in fellowship, we have to decide to leave the world's troughs and return to God. The devil doesn't want that though, which is why he uses masons to dress up his pig swill in such attractive packaging. The masons get lots of money out of it while the rest of us suffer.

2 Corinthians 4:4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

1 John 2:15-17Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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.

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

Revelation 12:9And 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.

Although we're perfect spiritually, God doesn't expect us to be perfect physically. He knows our human capabilities and shortcomings. What parent doesn't understand that their children are not perfect? We're all human. God knows that and he made provision for it.

1 John 1:3,4That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

What is the context here? What is this section of scripture talking about? Fellowship! What God is revealing here by revelation is how we can enjoy fellowship with him, and with his son Jesus Christ, that our joy may be full. This isn't talking about getting born again, it's talking about fellowship after we're born again. This isn't dealing with our standing as sons of God, it's dealing with our state.

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

God is light and in him is no darkness at all. None. Not a bit. Not even a little shadow. He's just light. Have you ever seen darkness inside light? Darkness can't exist where there is light.

1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

If we're out swilling it with pigs, it's our own fault. That son wasn't forced into a life of riotous living, and nor are we. We have the freedom of will to choose which life we're going to live, the way of life or the way of death. Regardless of which life we choose, we are still righteous if we are born again, but what about our standing, what about our fellowship, what about the quality of our lives?

1 John 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.

When we walk according to the word, we're in fellowship with God, and that's where the beauty and richness in life resides.

1 John 1:8,9 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This section of scripture isn't talking about getting born again, being made whole, receiving eternal life, this is talking about fellowship. The context is fellowship. Confessing sins is not how you get born again, it's how to get back into fellowship after you've been born again. See the difference? You can't have fellowship with God if you're not born again and don't have the gift of holy spirit. You have to have spirit before you can have fellowship. How can a child have fellowship with a parent if they've not yet been born? So, we get born again, we receive the spirit, we become children of God and then we can begin to develop our fellowship with our father.

This verse says we need to confess our sins, but remember this is not talking about getting born again. This is so important to recognise. If you are forty years old when you are born again, how the heck are you going to remember all the sins you've ever done in your life? That's impossible. But I can sure remember the one I did this morning. When we are born again, all our past sins are taken care of, so this confession of sins isn't about being born again, it's about maintaining fellowship. This isn't talking about our sonship, it's talking about our state, our fellowship.

Forgiveness, or remission of sin is what we receive when we are born again, when we receive the gift of holy spirit. That takes care of every single thing we've done in the past. At the time of the new birth, we receive the righteousness of God and that will never change. However, although we are righteous and have eternal life, our fellowship with God may be less than satisfactory. We are sons, but we can sure still live riotously and swill it with the pigs down on animal farm. Every time we come back to God, he is willing and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We return to God by leaving the world's pig swill and renewing our minds.

It's not difficult to figure this out. For example, let's say our mind, or some religious dickhead, or even one of our friends or family brings up something from the past we'd rather forget. Okay, we have some work to do. Either we listen to the world and what it thinks of us, or we listen to the word and believe what God thinks of us. This is all part of the renewed mind.

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

The renewed mind is the key to this whole thing. The renewed mind is the key to power. It is the key to unlocking all the spiritual power resident within us. We have to retrain our minds to think a new way.

God says we're his children, while our minds, our friends and our families may tell us otherwise. So we have to train our minds until we think of ourselves as the word says. We are God's children. That's the truth, but sometimes we won't feel like it. Does it matter what we feel like? No, the word is truth, not what we feel like. If we think less of ourselves than what the word says, we replace those thoughts with the word. We memorise scriptures like Ephesians 1:3 and 4, and we replace our old man thoughts with what God thinks. That's renewing the mind.

Ephesians 1:3,4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

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:

I am righteous. Jesus Christ redeemed me, and I received remission of sins. I have the righteousness of God and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks of me to the contrary, not my family, not my friends, not anyone. When it comes to the word I don't have any friends unless they are helping me to think and live the word's way. God has declared me not guilty, and that's why I have peace with God.

Romans 5:1Therefore being justified by faith [pistis - believing], we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

See, God isn't mad at us. We have peace with God. He's not upset with us, he's not pissed off with all the garbage in our past. Our garbage was paid for and dumped as far away from us as the east is from the west. We have been declared not guilty, and now we have peace with God. He isn't mad at us for anything, and will never be mad at us for anything in the future. When we make mistakes, we simply recognise the error (confess our sins), rectify the problem so it doesn't happen again, and move on in perfect fellowship with our father, God, who is always faithful and just to forgive us.

So, to sum up, get over it!

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