Friday, August 19, 2016

 SAMUEL, JOHN, HEBREWS [review]

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

https://youtu.be/DnZF6wn2Yyw  Samuel, John, Hebrews review
ON VIDEO- [Links- verses below- this video is real windy- but you can make out some stuff so I posted it anyway]
.Consistency of scripture
.Who is the ‘voice’?
.The wife shot the lawyer- why?
.The Cross- Resurrection- is the climax
NEW-
The last few weeks I’ve been commenting on all 3 of these bible books.
In this brief review I wanted to simply ‘pull together’ the main thought of scripture-
Which is Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and prophets [the Old Testament].
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Lk. 24
In Samuel we see the preeminence of the ‘voice of God’ over the ritualistic practices of the law.
The prophet keeps rebuking Saul for not hearing ‘the voice of God’.
In John’s gospel we see Jesus as the LOGOS- the Word of God.
In Hebrews we are told ‘hear HIS voice’- In the past God SPOKE by the prophets- now he speaks thru his Son.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Jesus is defined as the WORD
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
.
In John’s gospel Jesus says he will not judge them- but the WORD HE SPOKE WILL JUDGE THEM IN THAT DAY.
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Jn. 12
So- the common theme in all of these books- is Jesus is the WORD- and we must reject ritualistic sacrifice- trying to please God thru our on works- or religious practices.
And we must enter in- by faith- to the new Promised Land.
Hebrews 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Not simply ‘heaven’ when we die- but the actual new experience of the life of God which is available now.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Jn.

The author of Hebrews warns ‘TODAY- if you hear his voice [his voice is Jesus] harden not your hearts’.
Samuel pronounces judgment on Saul- because he refused to HEAR [obey] God’s voice.
And Jesus himself says he will not judge in the last day- but what he spoke- THE WORD of the Father- that will judge us.

There- we see the centrality of the Son of God- In the prophets [Samuel] and the law [Hebrews- speaking to a people under law- being exhorted to move on].
And the gospels.
Jesus was/is the living embodiment of the Word of God.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

He is life- he spoke the words of life- and in him all the law and prophets were fulfilled.
We must hear him.
PAST  TEACHING-
https://youtu.be/iImxoD3cRfQ  Samuel preview
JOHNS GOSPEL
LINKS-
https://youtu.be/f8VpxlYM_kU  John 8- ‘who the Son sets free’
LIGHTNING CRASHES-
https://youtu.be/dHNSrCyNPOc  Lightning Crashes
ON VIDEO [past posts- verses below]
.Trump will win
.Cop stuff
.Media circus
.No pain killers for me!
.CCPD
.Chicago
.Black people were right about killing him
.Politics of war
.Russia- Putin
.Phone addiction
.60 years old- 38 years clean- still calling a sponsor?
.AA- co-dependency- face it
.Focus- effective ministry
.Gnosticism- Marcion- Dualism


PAST POSTS-

 ‘Wherefore we receiving a Kingdom that can not be moved, let us HAVE GRACE, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire’ Though Paul doesn’t say it [I think he should have!] but this alludes to the ‘God’ of Moses day, who did not consume the burning bush, compared to the ‘God’ of today [new covenant] who will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire! This fits in with the theme of a harsher punishment for those who reject the covenant of grace as opposed to those who rejected the covenant of law. I know these themes are not popular, but this is clearly the way Paul is presenting them. I also am not saying the ‘God’ of the Old Testament is different from the ‘God’ of the new [this is the heresy of Marcion! I think that was his name. He was an early Christian heretic who comprised the first canon of scripture for a ‘new testament’ it included basically Paul’s letters, and he taught that The God of the new testament was different from the God in the old] but Paul is presenting the new covenant in a way that says ‘don’t neglect this new way of salvation, those who do will receive a harsher judgment than those who rejected the law’.
END NOTES-
A HEAVENLY CITY.
DON’T BE SAD, HE’S TREATING YOU LIKE A SON.
NO REPENTANCE- OUTSIDE OF CHRIST THAT IS.
CULTURE SHOCK IS HARD ON US ALL.
Once again we see the contrast between ‘he that spoke from earth’ [Moses- the law]- and he that ‘speaks from heaven’ [Jesus covenant is more strict- to those outside of it and reject it- because he has heavenly authority- Moses had earthly]. Hebrews 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

The writer says ‘don’t be sad- God disciplines every son who he receives’- though this certainly applies to Christians- Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Remember this- though the message of grace and Jesus as the Messiah is wonderful- especially to us Gentile believers-
Yet- it was indeed a cultural shock to the 1st century Jew-
Why?
Even though Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets- yet in order for the Jewish person to accept this [Like the apostle Paul]
He had to accept a real cultural change in the religion he practiced from his youth-
He was being asked to stop the animal sacrifices- to ‘move on’ from the Law covenant- and to embrace Christ.
Now- in reality- it would be the fulfillment of all that was contained in the law- but it’s often hard for anyone to ‘move on’ from former religious practices that are embedded in his culture.
So- in context ‘Don’t be sad- God is disciplining you- showing you new stuff- and it’s tough for sure- but he does this with all the sons he receives’.
We also see the promise of the heavenly city- As opposed to the earthly one. Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are
[parts]
. Now, this would eventually lead up to the development of the strong nation states, an independent identifying with your state/region as opposed to being under Rome and the papacy. This type of independence would allow for the 16th century reformation to happen under Luther. If it were not for Frederick the Wise, the regional authority in Germany where Luther lived, he would have never had the protection or freedom to launch his reformation. Luther also had the influence of being a scholar at Wittenberg. Around the 12th-13th centuries you had the first university pop up at the great cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The word university simply meant a co-operative effort from two or more people. It applied to many things besides learning. It was also during this time that the church began to develop a system of harmonizing Christian doctrine; she began to do systematic theology. The writings of the Greek philosophers [Aristotle] were rediscovered after centuries of them being hidden, and the great intellectual Saint Thomas Aquinas would wed Aristotle’s ideas with Christian truth. This became known as Scholasticism. Aquinas believed that men could arrive at a true  knowledge of God from pure reason and logic. But man could not know all the truths about God and his nature without ‘special revelation’ [the bible and church tradition]. All Christians did not agree with Aquinas new approach to Christian truth, the very influential bishop Bernard would initially condemn Aquinas over this. Bernard said ‘the faith that believes unto righteousness, believes! It does not doubt’. The Scholastic school taught that the way you arrive at knowledge was thru the continuous questioning and doubting of things until you come to some basic conclusions. These issues would be debated for centuries, and even in the present hour many argue over the issue of Divine revelation versus natural logical reasoning. Tertullian, an early North Afrcian church father, said ‘I believe because it is preposterous, illogical’ he became famous for his saying ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens’ meaning he did not believe that Greek philosophy should have any part with Christian truth. Origen, his contemporary, believed the other way. So the debate rages on. Why talk about this here? Some believers ‘believe’ in a type of knowledge called ‘revelation knowledge’ they mean something different than the historic use of the term. Historically ‘revelation’ meant that which God revealed to us THRU THE BIBLE, not something outside of the bible. For instance, the first canon of scripture put together was by a man called Marcion. His ‘bible’ contained the letters of Paul and parts of :Luke. He believed the revelation God gave Paul was for us today, not the Old Testament or the historical gospels. He was condemned by the church as a heretic. The point being some took Paul’s writings about receiving knowledge from God as an indicator that what God showed Paul was different than what the church got thru the other apostles. In point of fact the things that God revealed to Paul, or to you or me; all truth is consistent, it will not contradict any other part of Gods truth. Paul’s letters are consistent with the gospels, not in contradiction. When believers cling to an idea that their teachers are sharing ‘special revelation’ or a Rhema word that is somehow above the scrutiny of scripture, then they are in dangerous territory. Paul did appeal to his experience with God as a defense of his gospel, but he backed up everything he said with Old Testament scripture. God wasn’t ‘revealing’ things to Paul that were outside of the realm of true knowable ‘truth’. You could examine and test the things Paul was saying, he wasn’t saying ‘because God showed it to me, that’s why I’m correct’. So in today’s church world, we want all the things we learn and believe to be consistent with what the church has believed thru out the centuries. Sure there are always things that are going to be questioned and true reform entails this, but beware of teachers who come to you with ‘revelation knowledge’ or a ‘Rhema word’ that goes against the already revealed word of truth.

(846)ROMANS 8:29-30 ‘for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: whom he justified, them he also glorified’. Let’s talk a little. When I first became a Christian I began a lifelong study of scripture, where I continually read a certain amount of scripture every day for many years. Over the years I have varied on how fast I should read [that is how many chapters per day and so forth]. But during the early stages I always took these verses to teach predestination in the classical sense. Simply put, that God ‘pre chose’ me [and all whom come to him] before we ‘chose him’. The Fundamental Baptist church I began to attend [a great church with great people!] taught that ‘classic Calvinism’ [predestination] was false doctrine, and they labeled it ‘Hyper Calvinism’. I simply accepted this as fact. But I never forgot the early understanding that I first gleaned thru my own study. I also was very limited in my other readings outside of the scripture. I did study the Great awakenings and Charles Finney. I read some biographies on John Wesley and other great men of God. These men were not Calvinistic in their doctrine [which is fine], as a matter of fact Wesley would eventually disassociate from George Whitefield over this issue. Whitefield was a staunch Calvinist! Over time I came to believe the doctrine again, simply as I focused on the scriptures that teach it. Eventually I picked up some books on church history and realized that Calvinism was [and is] a mainstream belief among many great believers. I personally believe that most of the great theologians in history have accepted this doctrine. Now, for those who reject it, they honestly struggle with these portions of scripture. Just like there are portions of scripture that Calvinists struggle with. To deny this is to be less than honest. The Arminians [Those who deny classic predestination- the term comes from Jacob Arminias, a Calvinist who was writing and studying on the ‘errors’ of ‘arminianism’ and came to embrace the doctrine of free will/choice] usually approach the verses that say ‘he predestined us’ by teaching that Gods predestination speaks only of his foreknowledge of those who would choose him. This is an honest effort to come to terms with the doctrine. To be ‘more honest’ I think this doesn’t adequately deal with the issue. In the above text, as well as many other places in scripture, the idea of ‘Gods foreknowledge and pre choosing’ speak specifically about Gods choice to save us, as opposed to him simply knowing that we would ‘choose right’. The texts that teach predestination teach it in this context. Now the passage above does say ‘those whom he foreknew, he also did predestinate to be conformed into the image of Christ’ here this passage actually does say ‘God predestinated us to be like his Son’. If you left the ‘foreknowledge’ part out, you could read this passage in an Arminian way. But we do have the ‘foreknowledge’ part. So I believe Paul is saying ‘God chose us before we were born, he ‘knew’ ahead of time that he would bring us into his Kingdom. Those whom he foreknew he also predestinated to become like his Son.’ Why? So his Son would be the firstborn among many. God wanted a whole new race of ‘children of God’. Those he predestinated he ‘called’. He drew them to himself. Jesus said ‘all that the Father give to me will come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no way cast out’. Those who ‘come’ are justified, those who are justified are [present tense] glorified. Gods design and sovereignty speak of it as a ‘finished task’ like it already happened. God lives outside of the dimension of time. I believe in the doctrine of predestination. Many others do as well. You don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to, but I believe scripture teaches it.

[parts]
THE DOOR OF HEAVEN
https://youtu.be/0NcMUtkKZGQ The door of heaven
ON VIDEO-
.Mystery family tree
.I had a dream
.Meth a demon?
.Granpa’
[parts]
ATHEISM- APOLOGETICS [links added- long version]


https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/history-of-everything-2/


MY RADIO LINKS-
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-7R  Kant, Hume, Sartre
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-6E Apologetics- Kant, Hume
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-62  Apologetics
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-6F  DaVinci code
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-7Q  Something from nothing- Quantum Leap
MY VIDEOS





On today’s video- I attempted the impossible- to tell the story of ‘everything’ in 1 hour.
Ok I bit off more than I could chew.
It took 2 hours [the next video ‘history of the world- part 2’ will finish it].
But- to sum up today’s video.
Is the biblical account of creation accurate?
We read that God made everything- by speaking.
Is this even possible- or some silly fable?
Over the history of time we read the story of the Jewish people- their trials and failures.
That’s the majority of the history of the Old Testament.
They believed the story in Genesis- while others questioned whether or not all things actually had a beginning point.
In time- we see the rise of the Greek philosophers- during what we call the intertestamental period [the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew].
These thinkers were looking for the answer to these questions- and the Greek word they used to describe this answer- was LOGOS- which is the Geek word- for WORD.
Then we had the appearing of Christ in the 1st century- and the apostle John calls him the LOGOS.
Hmm?
That’s the same word that the Greeks were looking for- John says ‘we have found him’.
Remember- this is Jesus Christ- the living Word.
Ok- over time we had the great movements of history- the Renaissance- the Reformation- the Enlightenment- the scientific revolution- the industrial revolution.
Most scientists believed that all creation was eternal- so- for them- the answer to ‘everything’ was- it was always there.
In the 20th century we had the great breakthroughs of Einstein- and we call one of them the Big Bang theory- meaning- all things did not always exist.
They had a beginning point- which we call the point of singularity.
Ahh- now we are back to ‘where did it all come from- if at the start- there was nothing’.
Yes- ‘In the beginning God spoke’.
 So- at the end of the story- of everything- we find the answer at the beginning.
In the beginning God spoke-Yes- the early followers of Jesus called him by this name- THE WORD.
 And science and logic show us that all events need a cause [even the 'event’ of creation].
So- this history of the world- recorded in the scripture- was true all along!
Surprised?
[parts]
1886- DIVINE LOGOS

Okay- just read Isaiah 65- one chapter left.

These past few weeks I have been going thru the last 15 or so chapters of the book.

There are lots of great themes to do- maybe I’ll take a pic of the verses I wrote down and hung up here in my study.


I also wanted to engage in a conversation on the Divine Logos.

Huh?

Well yeah- maybe a little scholarly sounding- but my goal has been to ‘upgrade’ our level of teaching.

When I say ‘our’ I’m talking generally about the present day church in America- and the obsession with ‘the now’.

That is ‘what do I get out of this- monetarily?’

Yeah- that’s the rave of the day.

So- every so often I do my best to walk the other road- to give the other side of the coin.


So- a few weeks ago I was at my daughter’s house- we usually have the whole family over for the b-days and stuff.


And my kids like playing those word games.

So they bought some game- don’t remember the whole name- but part of the name had LOGOS in it.


I just quipped ‘you do know what that means’?

Now- I kid around so much- sometimes they have a hard time believing me- like ‘sure- you’re making it up’.

No- for real!


Logos means WORD.

It’s the Greek language- which the New Testament was written in- and it simply means WORD.

My 2nd oldest said ‘I should have known that’.


My oldest daughter- Bethany- just turned 27- Becky is a couple of years younger.


They both have degrees from A&M University here in Texas- top notch school for sure.


So that’s why Becky ‘should have known it’.



Anyway- this word is a favorite in the writings of the apostle John.


In both the gospel and his 3 little letters [1st, 2nd and 3rd John] he uses this term to describe Jesus.


‘In the beginning was THE WORD and the word was with God…’

That’s the Greek word- Logos.


It should be noted that the early Greek philosophers had a concept much like this.


All the way back to the time of Plato- Socrates and Aristotle [around 500 years before Christ] the Greeks were speaking about a universal principle- some type of ‘unifying theory’ that would be the basis of all knowledge.

They spoke about this principle as THE LOGOS.

So- some of the critics of Christianity did use this as a criticism of the church- they say ‘see- the disciples were just making stuff up- borrowing themes that were already there’.

Do they have a point?

A point- maybe- but that’s all.



In the letters of John we also read him refuting a cult of the day- called Gnosticism [Gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge. They believed that they had secret knowledge that the others did not have.  A modern twist on this is sometimes referred to as Revelation Knowledge- it’s a form of this ‘special knowledge’ idea that existed in the early days of the church.]

An off shoot of this group were called the Docetists.

These guys were pseudo Christians- they held to some form of Christian belief- but denied the true faith of the church.


They taught that Jesus was ‘a phantom spirit’ that is- they denied what we refer to as the incarnation.


That God became man in the person of Christ.



John was one of the youngest disciples- and he also outlived the others.


His writings are probably the oldest in the N.T. [Revelation]

So- he was around long enough to refute the growing philosophical challenges to the church.


So- putting all this together- when John said Jesus was the Divine Logos- he was not ‘stealing’ that idea from the earlier Greek philosophers who were indeed looking for a Logos principle.

No- he was saying ‘look- we- the followers of Christ- have found the thing you were looking for all the time- he is the Wisdom- the Logos of God’.

See?


Okay- I haven’t read John in a long time- nor have I ever studied Greek.

But- I do have a Greek lexicon [a book that gives you the Greek word before it was translated into English].

And back ‘in the day’ when we were young believers- seeking to learn the faith- these were the basic tools of the trade.


But today- well- the tools are motivation- success stuff.


Learning how to invest- make a buck [or 2] - how to ‘create your world’.

Yeah- we really don’t have time for all that silly stuff like the Logos.

After all- it’s all Greek to me.

Yeah- I know.




Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] - I have posted lots.

[parts]

facebook.com/john.chiarello.5 
Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. I deal with issues at times that it would be beneficial for some of you to download and save the file from the Word Press link. This creates a permanent record. The on-line videos are only good if sites are not hacked- which has happened in the past. Thanks- John.#





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