Category Archives: Heaven

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 11

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We have False Expectations about what will happen,
or what God will do.

Such things are all over the map, depending on what your particular beliefs are. Quite often our personal beliefs about God and the Bible are not really from Scripture but from popular summaries or narratives about Scripture. Even among Christians these things are often so. Or to put it another way, our faith is often in the doctrines and commandments of men (compare Mtt 15:9). Our faith is often not genuine Biblical faith. We are often NOT like the noble Bereans (Acts 17:11), we are not searching the Scriptures to see if these things are so. Often we need to not merely confirm what an individual verse says, but also need to see how the impressions we initially receive fit with the rest of Scripture.

Sometimes we are merely unnecessarily dogmatic about what God does or doesn’t do, without really searching for possible exceptions from what we might read in one place.

These sorts of things can dumb us down in our reactions to what we hear.

The Sadducees had a “this is all about this
present world” view of Scripture.

“For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess all of these.”
Acts 23:8

That means they had an tremendous amount of Scripture to explain away or to deny it authenticity. These were very dark lenses through which they were reading the Bible. Hopefully you and I are not making such gross mistakes in perspective, but still, even without realizing it, we may almost unconsciously put on light blocking shades when we read certain passages, or study certain subjects, and these things often make it hard for us to see certain Bible subjects clearly.

The Sadducees approached Jesus with a question
about eternity in Matthew 22.

Seven men had at one time or another married one particular woman, but none of them had a child by the woman. One by one they all died, and lastly the woman died (Mtt 22:23-27). Then they at last sprang what they thought was a foolproof trap to show the absurdity of believing in a resurrection from the dead.

“In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”
Mtt 22:28

Jesus said they were “mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures, nor the power of God.” Mtt 22:29

Although they probably read the Scriptures everyday, they were so blinded by their own overviews of Scripture that they came to not really know the Scriptures. Their strange glasses distorted everything that they read in the Bible.

And they did not know or understand the power of God. If an almighty God can take mere dirt and turn it into something as complex as a human being, how small a thing would it be for Him to raise them from death? He went on to say that in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven, Mtt 22:30.

We need to really listen to whatever God says,

and not push our own expectations off on God.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Mountains in Scripture

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An audio lesson.

Mountains have commonly been associated with high and exalted worship. Take for instance the Greek “gods” were associated with Mount Olympus. This association also exists in Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament. Jesus told the Samaritan woman,

“Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father”
Jn 4:21 WEB World English Bible

Of course the ultimate mountain for worship is Mount Zion in the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the earthly is only a type, Heb 12:22-24. It is NOT “a mountain that might be touched,” Heb 12:18.

Listen to this audio lesson here, or click on the Audio Player to download as an MP3 file.

Israels Wilderness Wandering as a Type

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An audio lesson.

This shows how the historical wanderings of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai, typify both our everyday Christian lives, and also our ultimate Exodus out of this world to go to what we often call “heaven,” and which Scripture often refers to as a new universe, i.e. a new heavens and a new earth!

Listen to this audio lesson here, or click on the Audio Player to download as an MP3 file.

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 4

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And More Naive Assumptions: Thinking we know
what God may want or desire.

Without realizing it, we as men may read into what God says what is really human desires and objectives. We can do this in prophecy and also in many other things.

Take for instance food.

God speaking by the mouth of Paul has said,

“for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Rom 14:17

Still some may think, it is about how you eat, and what you eat. That is part of what righteousness is all about, and blithely ignore passages like,

“But food will not commend us to God. For neither, if we don’t eat, are we the worse; nor, if we eat, are we the better.”
1Cor 8.8

So much for God telling us plainly.

Or thinking if we like something for worship,
God must like it too!

Now you may like big band music, or rock music, or whatever, and that is your prerogative. But does that mean that God also likes what you like, and you should introduce it into worship? Really? This listen to what God says by the mouth of Isaiah.

“8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isa 55:8-9

It is foolish to introduce worldly entertainment into worship, confident of God’s acceptance. So how would we know how to correctly worship God? He would have to tell us.

“For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.”
1Cor 2:11

And it very simple things which God’s commands.

“What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
1Cor 14:15

There is more to say, but that is the gist of it.

And what is God’s kingdom all about?

We have already seen that it is NOT about food and drink, Rom 14:17. But further even from that, we can see clearly that it is not really even about this world at all. Not ultimately! For when we see Jesus was on trial for His life before the Roman governor Pontus Pilate. Pilate asked Him, “What have you done?”

“Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.””
Jn 18:36

No, it is about a new heavens and a new earth after this present universe is burned up, 2Pe 3:10-13.

The premillenialists have it all wrong. They are confusing verses about heaven, with verses about this present world.

Once again, so much for God telling us plainly.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: A Proper Mindset, Part II

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In Genesis 19 Lot had been told a prophecy that Sodom was to be destroyed. He was getting his family ready to leave, and it says,

“Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.”
Gen 19:14 WEB

They could not see how this could be, so they did not believe Lot’s warnings, and so were destroyed with the city. We need to have an eternal focus if we are comprehend and believe what we need to in prophecy.

We Need Focus on Jesus and a Future World.

“looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Heb 12:2 WEB

We need to absorb that eternal perspective which Jesus exemplified in his life here on earth. Often our worldly perspective comes from the world, which does even recognize God working in the world, so the things taught in prophecy seem so outlandish that we cannot conceive such a thing as happening, so we reject the correct answers out of hand.

We need to focus on the “world to come,” Heb 2:5.

“1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. ”
Col 3:1-14 WEB

These things are necessary to “get it.”

Also, prophecy is much like learning math.

If we do not learn the first principles, or even outright reject them, we will never get the right answers on more involved prophecies. Many do this on Bible prophecy, both inside and outside of the faith.

The Angle of Entry is important.

Whether we see what we need to see often depend on the angle at which we approach a subject. To whatever extent we have rejected the many basic premises of Scripture, to that extent we are less likely to see, or to understand what we need to see. Often even believers do these things with even realizing it. If we come from false perspectives we are less likely to see or understand, or if the answer is too foreign to our worldly view, we may simply say, how can that be? and reject what is said. That sadly is often the case. We understand what is siad and reject it as impossible to ever be!

It is important to be willing to be open to anything which God says, and to assume that God is right and that He indeed foresees what will actually happen.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Makes Choices

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God chose a place for Israel to worship Him.

“But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come;”
Deut 12:5 WEB

Then when God made a choice, Israel was obligated to perform all of their formal worship in that place.

God choose Jerusalem in ancient times, both a the one and only place where the Jews could carry on the formal worship of God, AND as a type, symbolic of the heavenly Jerusalem where God actually “dwells.” Compare Heb 12:22 and Rev 21:1-2.

“Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose:”
Deut 12:26 WEB

Also God has the right to choose who will be allowed
to approach Him for worship.

“and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near to him.”
Num 16:5 WEB

We might compare it to our being able to choose who will come into our house to visit with us, so God has the right and does choose who can approach Him. In the test that followed in Numers 16, the presumptuous Korah was rejected as a priest, and he and all his house then entered Sheol alive, for their trying to push their choices on God!

And chose a special family for His Christ.

“Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
And didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.”
Psa 78:67-68 WEB

He can do that. If we can make decisions, God surely can.

“He also chose David his servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;”
Psa 78:70 WEB

Then from that family Yahweh will bring His special One, His Messiah (Hebrew), His Christ (Greek).

“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”
Isa 42:1 WEB

And of course, He did.

At a time, a still future time, God can “the second time recover” the Jews.

Of course the first time that God recovered the Jews from “Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,” was in the time of Ezra of Nehemiah. However, before even that first time happened, Isaiah foretold that God would recover the Jews a second time!

“It shall happen in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”
Isa 11:11 WEB

He can do that, He can decide that, and perform whatever He wishes.

And God choses the time when He will judge
the heavens and the earth.

“When I choose the appointed time,
I will judge blamelessly.”
Psa 75:2 WEB

God makes choices.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Coronavirus and Scripture, Part II of III

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When speaking of major powers at work in the Christian Age, the Bible uses more than one set of symbolism. One set is,

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
in Revelation chapter 6

I do not think Jesus is just speaking here of things at the very end of the age. I think rather He is speaking of powers that are at work all through the Christian Age. You might even say they are the everyday things of history. I am only going to discuss two of these horsemen in this post.

The first horseman is Jesus the Christ Himself

Revealing the Christian gives a more complete disucssion of the Four Horsemen who run through history. It is available through your bookseller.

Jesus is THE dominant power of our age!

“And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.”
Rev 6:2 (Compare Rev 19:11-16)

ALL authority has been given to Jesus the Christ, both in heaven and on earth, Mtt 28:18. Jesus reaches out to men to try to get them to change before it is eternally too late. What is the method to this rule?

“26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
Acts 17:26-27

Jesus presently rules in the midst of His enemies, Psa 110:1-2. He rules over the kings of the earth NOW, Rev 1:5. These kings are warned,

“10 Now therefore be wise, you kings.
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
For his wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”
Psa 2:10-12

Everyone will have to submit to Jesus the Christ, before this is over.

The fourth horseman is Death and Hades

“And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.”
Rev 6:8

Now this is NOT talking about extraordinary times at the end of this age, but we could say normal times, in an abnormal, sinful world. This ‘horseman” has authority to let death rule over “one fourth of the earth” (Rev 6:8 above).

This “horseman” includes the wars of our world (“to kill with the sword”), the famines and desolations we see on TV, the murders, the inexplicable accidents. It includes the Spanish Flu of 1918, and the regular flu which kills about 60,000 each year in the United States. In truth the World is in “bondage to decay,” Rom 8:21, and it affects us all, everyday.

Sin and death go together. Things are not right in our universe, things are not right with us. Compare Psalm 94 in our previous post.

The only real escape is a permanent one

Giving our lives to Jesus Christ so we might be counted worthy of that new heavens and new earth where only righteousness dwells, 2Pe 3:10-13.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: There is more than one Jerusalem

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David did say,

“For David said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people; and he dwells in Jerusalem forever:”
1Chron 23:25 WEB

“Forever,” David says. That is in line with the prophecy in 2Samuel 7 about that special son of David who would build the temple of the Lord. Solomon does tell us by inspiration that he was the fulfillment of this prophecy.

“Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ”
1Kgs 8:20 WEB

That indeed seems to fit 2Samuel 7, and there it is that it says,

“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne shall be established forever.”
2Sam 7:16 WEB

That would fit 1Chron 23:25 reviewed above. Still there are problems.

For Solomon’s throne only lasted until 586 BC.

For another 50 years few Jews lived in Jerusalem. Further, starting in the second century AD Jews were banned from living in Jerusalem for many centuries. None of which sounds like “forever”, and I am sure it caused many to wonder if these prophecies were false.

Nonetheless, are other factors at work here?

For starters, Heb 1:5 says that 2Samuel 7 refers to Jesus the Christ. That would have Solomon as a “type”/symbolic of Jesus. Of that fulfillment Isaiah seems to speak of a Mount Zion and Jerusalem beyond the moon and sun passing away!

“Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Yahweh of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem …”
Isa 24:23 WEB

Present Jerusalem, pictured above with the Mohammedan “Dome of the Rock” sitting where Solomon’s Temple used to sit, is symbolic of the New Jerusalem in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Additionally Isaiah writes of a time of no more mourning or crying in Jerusalem. For instance,

“For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more; he will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear, he will answer you.”
Isa 30:19 WEB

Further, Isaiah clearly speaks in more than one passage of this earth, and this universe being completely destroyed. For instance in Isaiah 13, and Isaiah 34. Isaiah writes well before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. So what are the missing parts of the puzzle.

For Isaiah writes of a new
heavens and earth.

“17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”
Isa 65:17-18 WEB

And that is the context in the New Testament. When God makes everything new (Rev 21:5), He make a new Jerusalem.

“I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.”
Rev 21:2 WEB

Some of those Old Testament passages are about the “new,” heavenly, Jerusalem. And that one, of that kingdom, indeed will be forever!

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: The Kingdom will come!

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Even now the kingdom exists and Jesus has ALL authority, Mtt 28:18. Even now He rules over all of the kings of the earth, Rev 1:5, and if they do not serve His purposes, He may shatter them, Psa 2:9; or He may destroy in their way, Psa 2:12.

Just the same, there are future aspects to the
kingdom which are yet unseen.

Mankind has yet to see the kingdom in its fulness. So near the end of his life, Paul says,

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
2Tim 4:18 WEB

There is a future sense to this kingdom which is yet unseen, and Paul expects to be there. These things are to happen when Jesus comes again.

“20 and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, 21 whom heaven must receive UNTIL the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.”
Acts 3:20-21 WEB

So there are times of restoration which are yet to come. It is also called “times of refreshing.

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,”
Acts 3:19 WEB

When does this restoration, this renewal happen. At the Second Coming of Christ, as seen above in Acts 3:21.

Then this present universe will pass away.

“… ”the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
2Pe 3:10 WEB

Then a new universe will come, a new universe where sin and death and entropy (things run down!) are no longer operating principles. So Peter notes,

This universe will pass away, and a new universe not subject to death and decay will be created.

“But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.”
2Pe 3:13 WEB

So also it says in Revelation that the apostle John says,

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.”
Rev 21:1 WEB

“He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.””
Rev 21:5 WEB

It is called “heaven,” or a new heavens and a new earth. It is called the heavenly kingdom. It will be an everlasting rule.

“Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end …”
Isa 9:7 WEB

At that time, Jesus will say to
one Christian,

““‘Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’”
Lk 19:17 WEB

And to another, “‘And you are to be over five cities.’” Lk 19:15. There will be cities there. This will be a real place. These things have not happened yet, but they will.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901