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’
https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/hebrews-updated-2015/
[my teaching on Hebrews]
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
http://caller.com/news/energy-effects/water/special-meeting-on-boil-water-advisory-set-for-monday-3332d600-cb05-28ae-e053-0100007f8258-380154951.html Even she can’t believe it!
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:
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
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
http://wp.me/a4V5qQ-7O Multiverse
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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