Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 6

You know my reproach the psalmist says

Plainly Jesus was the one who was especially reproached. He was, you remember, really God in the flesh.

“18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.
My adversaries are all before you.”
Psa 69:18-19

Jesus was, we need to remember, really God

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

What then was Jesus really like?

“6 who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.”
Phil 2:6-8

What was His treatment really like?

“28 They stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.”
Mtt 27:28-31

This is treatment of God in the flesh!

“39 Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” 41 Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees,a and the elders, said, 42 “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.”
Mtt 27:39-44

Who did they really have heartburn with? It was with God. I just needed a little help, He says,

“Reproach has broken my heart,

“and I am full of heaviness.
I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
For comforters, but I found none.”
Psa 69:20

Broken hearted, that was Jesus approaching hard hearted Jerusalem, Lk 19:41-42.

Also it can be argued that it was a broken heart
that killed Jesus

An aneurysm. A ruptured artery to His heart. Then He bled to death internally, His body cavity filling with His blood, and being dead long enough, the blood and fluids were separating.

“However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
Jn 19:34

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

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 5

Those in trouble in Psalm 69 are evidently near death, and are earnestly pleading for the Lord to deliver them from trouble. It seems as if they feel like they are not being heard

And they call on the Lord’s lovingkindness,

Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.”
Psa 69:16.

The Lord does have great lovingkindness,

““Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, 7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.””
Ex 34:6-8.

Ah! that is clearly so. Even so they plead for him to not hide His face from them.

Don’t hide your face from your servant,
For I am in distress.
Answer me speedily!”
Psa 69:17.

Does God ever hide his face from His servants? Yes in fact, sometimes He does. So it says in Proverbs,

“Yahweh is far from the wicked,
But he hears the prayer of the righteous.”
Prov 15:29

God says of physical Israel of the Old Testament,

“He said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end shall be:
For they are a very perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.
Deut 32:20

In Isaiah chapter 1 it one gives specific reason.

“When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.”
Isa 1:15

So the men in Psalm 69 realize that God may hide His face from us. Look carefully! If you play games with God, He may hide from you when you need Him!! They plead with God,

“Draw near to my soul, and redeem it.
Ransom me because of my enemies.”
Psa 69:18

No doubt David at times felt abandoned
by God at times

He knew the reason when his first child by Bathsheba was dying, and his prayers went unanswered in 2Samuel 12. Likewise in Absalom’s revolt. Still, excepting some of David’s psalms about the Christ, his heart was over all very trustful in the Lord despite horrendous setbacks in 1Samueal. Perhaps this fits Jesus better. The psalmist goes on to say,

“Don’t hide your face from your servant,
For I am in distress.
Answer me speedily!”
Psa 69:17

So it does seem to say he feels like God is hiding His face from him.

Jesus felt that God had hidden His face from Him,

“About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, limaa sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” Mtt 27:46.

Now you may argue that it only felt that way, but maybe He did for a while, so that Jesus could bear the penalty for our sins.

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

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 3

It is easy to see in the gospels that the disciples were often very thick headed. Often like us, eh? There was much which they didn’t understand. Of Jesus death they understood nothing from the Scriptures, and even when Jesus explained it very clearly, it still didn’t pierce the void. Of the very simple parable of the sower, they had to have it explained to them. But we noticed last time an obscure passage in Psalm 69, and when Jesus shows his zeal for the Lord’s House, His disciples immediately understood, and they related it to Psalm 69. But I think of both Jesus and David when it says,

“10 When I wept and I fasted,
That was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.”
Psa 69:10-11

Jesus did literally weep over the hardness
of heart of the Jews

“41 When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.””
Lk 19:41-42

So also did David, especially of Saul’s enmity toward him, but perhaps not to the extent of Jesus. David was after all, only symbolic of Jesus, without that full majesty. And Jesus did indeed become the song of fools, even to this day

“Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
I am the song of the drunkards.” Psa 69:12

However the prayer of David and of Christ is to God, and their praise was to God. At the acceptable time.

“But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.
God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.”
Psa 69:13

There IS an ACCEPTABLE time. We do have to
WAIT sometimes!

Evidently David and Jesus asked at the right time, although often times you and I don’t. Then they both had to wait, and plead in anguish, and suffer before they were delivered. Abraham had to wait,

“13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, … 14 saying, “Most surely I will bless you, and I will surely multiply you.” 15 Thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”
Heb 6:13-15.

But first he had to wait of awhile. Everything worthwhile in life requires some waiting. Making money by getting compound interest has been described as a miracle. But you still have to wait until the interest is paid. You may want to see someone or do something, but you still have to wait for the right time. All of life requires some waiting. A successful famrer plants something, and then has to wait.

Wait until the coming of the Lord, James says,

“Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.”
Jas 5:7

There are plenty of lessons for us about enduring even unjust suffering from both David and Jesus in Psalm 69.

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

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 2

God will lead the humble

May they be ashamed, David says,

“6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Hosts.
Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
Shame has covered my face.”
Psa 69:6-7.

He goes on to say, I have become a stranger to my own kin,

“I have become a stranger to my brothers,
An alien to my mother’s children.”
Psa 69:8

Now that was true of Jesus as we see in John chapter 7. Opposition to Jesus was increasing, so Jesus was staying in Galilee because the Jews in Jerusalem were wanting to kill Him (Jn 7:1), and the time was not yet right. Now the feast of Booths, or Tabernacles was coming. This was the time when the Jews for a while lived in temporary shelters (booths) as they did in the wilderness before conquering the land. Jesus brothers were were harassing Him about why He didn’t go to the feast, and show off His great works. For it says,

“For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.”
Jn 7:5.

As far as I know being “An alien to my mother’s children,” doesn’t really fit David at all. When David was in serious trouble with Saul and his army, it says,

“David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.”
1Sam 22:1

So David had some bitter enemies, but not as such among his brothers. But Jesus did, and Psa 69:8 really doesn’t fit David, the first person author, but it does fit Jesus. So here is further evidence of the future Messiah being the subject of this first-person psalm

“6   Jesus therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil. 8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.” Jn 7:6-8.

And zeal for Your house has consumed Me

“For the zeal of your house consumes me.
The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
Psa 69:9.

And when Jesus did the first cleansing of the temple in John 2, it says,

“His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
Jn 2:17

Now notice here from the gospel of John what might be seen and look carefully. Psa 69:1-4 apply to both Jesus and David, and more especially to Jesus. Verse 4 applies especially to Jesus, and verse 5 about David’s sin applies only to David, and then 6-7 applies especially to Jesus, and then verse 9 especially applies to Jesus.

So here is more evidence of the main subject
being Jesus the Messiah,

All of this in what is another curiously written prophecy.

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

Prophecy Practice: David, Jesus and the Righteous in Psalm 69, Part 1

Save me Lord, David says, Psa 69:1.

A psalm of David. It is clear from the start of this psalm that the author is in a very bad way. I’ve just been overwhelmed Lord, things are just covering me up. I’ve been crying and waiting for God. And there are a bunch of men who hate me without cause. He says he is sinking in the mire. His feet are not on firm ground, and waters are flowing over him, Psa 69:2. He says he is worn out with crying. He throat is dray, and his eyes are failing him, Psa 69:3. Then he says,

“Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
I have to restore what I didn’t take away.”
Psa 69:4.

He has more enemies than the hairs of my head! I think that would be hyperbole, exaggeration, when speaking of David. Not to say that he did not have many enemies, but more than the hairs of his head?

That last quote of course is referring to Jesus

Jesus is speaking in John 15 about the persecution which is coming on Him and His followers. He says He has come and spoken to them so that they would have no excuse. But now men have seen His works and have hated both Him and His Father. So He says,

“But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’” Jn 15:23.

That is a reference to Psalm 69:4. Here is the interesting thing. The psalm is about Jesus and it is also about David, and there is not a clear dividing line. Now Saul became the enemy of David without cause, when David was not a threat to him. But notice in the very next verse it is talking David and only about David, because he says …

“God, you know my foolishness.
My sins aren’t hidden from you.” Psa 69:5,

So Psa 69:5 is CLEARLY and ONLY
about David.

David, even as a prophet of God, is acknowledging his many sins, and he speaks about all of David’s foolishness. But you can’t say that of Jesus, because he was the one without sin.

“For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.” Heb 4:15.

Of course it says that in more than one place.

“You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and in him is no sin.”
1Jn 3:5

But Psa 69:4 could include both Jesus, and David.

This psalm is about both Jesus and David, and you have to look and think to realize what applies to which one. Would you have spotted the dual subjects by verse 5? Would you have even known there were dual subjects? How would you, could you?

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

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 15

Confusion from not WANTING to believe it!

The kingdom of the saints will last forever

Scripture does say that the kingdom of the saints will last forever. That is not really an idea to contest, unless you have a very distorted view of the Bible or of prophecy. When God was promising a kingdom to David’s Son Jesus the Christ, it was said that,

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

We are now translated into this kingdom, past tense.

“who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;”
Col 1:13

Heb 1:5 quotes 2 Samuel 7 as being about Jesus! Further, Hebrews says that we are Jesus “house.”

“but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.”
Heb 3:6

And Revelation talks of Jesus already being on His throne.

“He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.”
Rev 3:21

And that throne is forever, per Daniel 2 and many, many verses.

But the beast “conquers” the kingdom?

Huh? What? It is amazing the number of verses which we gloss over and fail to get the messages we desperately need.

There is someone called the “beast” in Revelation 13, and the “man of lawlessness,” in 2Thessalonians 2, and the foolish shepherd, or the idol shepherd in Zechariah 11, and it does indicate that for a while, it does look like, he has had the final victory over the saints, the house of God, the kingdom of God. The entire world will worship this man.

“that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
2Thes 2:12

It says the same thing in Rev 13:4-5. Further it says,

“It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.”
Rev 13:7

No it couldn’t be, I have heard it argued. NO ONE can overcome the church, so they said, and they rejected the clear meaning of Revelation 13.

Of course ultimately, the church will NOT be overcome.

The beast thinks he has won, but it is only for a short 3-1/2 years. Then at the last the faithful saints are delivered and the beast is thrown alive into hell, Revelation 19. Still the Savior says,

“… Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Lk 18:8

In other words, even our Lord questions whether there will be any faithful at the end.

Our incomplete understanding of Scripture sometimes prevents us
from seeing God’s warning to us.

We should always remember that Scripture is NOT a pick and choose buffet, but that it is all true. The challenge is to see how all the parts fit together.

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

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 14

Confusion from misreadings:
and time shall be no more? Rev 10:6

Clearly there will be radical differences between the world to come and our present universe. It even clearly says things which we cannot imagine. For instance,

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”
Rev 21:1 KJV

We really cannot imagine this, even though it does speak at times of something “like a sea of glass,” Rev 4:6 WEB. So I have heard all my life, that in the world to come that “time would be no more.” Revelation 10 pictures mighty and beautiful angel standing on the sea and the land, and he,

“… sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, … that there should be time no longer:”
Rev 10:6 KJV

I mulled these things over for many years.

I have even talked in sermons about the Second Coming of Christ as “the end of time,” and it was phrase I used in my everyday thinking about the Second Coming. It did seem to clearly say that in Rev 10:6 in the KJV. And if God said so, well it must be, even if I didn’t understand why? But there were disquieting voices going on within me.What does that mean? Time will be no more?

Something did not seem to set right.

Of course that happens all the time when we really read and study all of Scripture. Even so I was still trying understand what this meant for this new country to which we were going. No time? I even read some physics articles and some mushy philosophical articles on time. Then I thought: does one thing often happen after another, even in heaven? And I must say, it does seem so in both Testaments when talking about eternity. Well, if one thing happens after another … isn’t that time? At least in some sense! Duh!

Then I went back and took a closer look at Rev 10:6.

(I mean, we don’t have time to take a closer look at everything in Scripture, do we? We only live a few decades). But then I took a jolt. The WEB and the New American Standard and many other translated it along the lines of, “that there will no longer be delay.”

My goodness, that is quite a difference.

It is like when you and the kids are about the house, and you say, come on kids, we are out of time.” But we don’t mean that literally. Even if we miss our appointment, time still goes on. Then comes the next question.

Is the King James Version at fault?

I think not! On thinking it over, I think they are saying the same thing as these other translations, only in words that perhaps many of us took more literally than we should have.

Misreadings can cause a great deal of unintended confusion, and end up in our day to day traditions, that often lead us astray. Further, none of us are immune to these things. We all start somewhere.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

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

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 13

Misunderstandings can cause confusion.

Now saints and the holy ones are a big subject in Scripture. The main Hebrew word is qodesh. It has the idea of setting something apart, dedicating it to a special service, or work. It can refer to special day that is set aside, as the Sabbath day, Ex 20:8. It can refer to a spirit, the living God, of whom it is said,

“Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders? ”
Ex 15:11 WEB

It can refer to an assembly for a holy purpose (Ex 12:16), or a holy place (Ex 3:5), or even a holy nation, the people of God (Ex 19:6). It is the Old Testament word for the saints, those purified by the Lord,

“As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.”
Psa 16:3 WEB

And there is the phrase “holy ones.”

It might refer to a place or a thing that is holy, or even a person or an angel that is holy. The New Testament word is hagios, and it has the same range of meanings.

And certain beings come with God, both in history,
and at the Second Coming.

It is clearly angels which are spoken of iater times.

“ …Yahweh came from Sinai, …
He came from the ten thousands of holy ones:”
Deut 33:2 WEB

It is clearly not talking about men. There are “holy angels,” and one appeared to Cornelius in Acts 10:22.

But who does Jesus come with at the end of our age?

And there are some startling passages.

“… Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, ”
Jude 14 KJV

The Lord is coming with His “saints”? How does this come to be? When Paul discusses this he says that those who are alive will arise to meet Jesus in the air, 1Thes 4:17, preceded by the resurrected saints of old, 1Thes 4:16. But in Jude 14 KJV it has Jesus coming with saints! What is going on here? How can this be? I never stopped to study it out as a young man, but this greatly mystified me.

Qodesh or hagios can mean EITHER a holy person
(a saint), OR a holy angel, OR
a holy thing or place.

The phrase is often just the word “holy” by itself, with the context left to determine if it is a holy thing, or person, or angel. Sometimes translations simply say “holy ones,” as many translations have it Jude 14.

So who does Jesus come with at the end?

He comes with his holy angels, and can be easily proved from verse after verse.

“… the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mk 8:38 WEB

And when Jesus comes again He will send out his angels to gather His elect, Mtt 24:31. When even some translators confuse the issues, it can muddle the thinking of many.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

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

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 12

Trying to make the Word justify what we already
believe or are doing.

Let’s face it. Sometimes we may have an agenda. Even the most sophisticated of students may do this at times, including preachers and politicians, and world renown scholars. As human beings we often seem to be a self justifying breed. We may have already taken a stand, a perhaps ill advised one, that we never should have made. Now we want to justify that stand, and even deny the truth if that is “necessary” to uphold “our” word.

Adam did this in the Garden of Eden.

They were living in a garden. The Hebrew word in Genesis is gan. It seems to imply an enclosed place. The Greek equivalent is paradeisos, a paradise is a transliteration in English, a word for a garden or a park. They were very innocent, our first ancestors. They were naked but did not realize it. Further the constant temperatures in the garden were such that the absence of clothing was not noticed. God Himself had “planted” it, Gen 2:8. It was watered, like the whole earth in those early and plentiful days, by a mist arising from the ground (Gen 2:6), and also by a river which then split into four rivers, the best known to us Westerners being the Euphrates river (Gen 2:14). So all of this occurred in what is now northwestern Iraq or eastern Turkey. Food seemingly was there for the taking, and although man did have to tend it (Gen 2:15), man’s work was not cursed as it is now. Entropy. A perfect set up.

Some think that all knowledge is good.

They think it is shameful to destroy any knowledge, but knowing somethings can just be a snare to us, to cause us to do what is wrong. And so came the fall, when first the woman and then the man ate of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know the story. And so it has been.

When God questioned Adam,

he tried even to shift the blame back to God!

“The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.””
Gen 3:12

How very much like us as humans.

Remember that admitting the truth will NEVER commit
your grandparents, for instance, to hell.

You do not have that power, nor do I. We need to take hold of the truth no matter what, and leave judgment to God. The Solution is to be ready to believe WHATEVER is said, and hold to it, and further,

being willing to admit WHATEVER
proves to be wrong.

Just go ahead and admit it, and accept the consequences, and beg the Lord for mercy. There is no sin that is unforgivable, other than bad mouthing the Holy Spirit of God (Lk 12:10). Make your life one of continual learning, repenting, picking yourself up again, forgetting what is behind (Phil 3:13-14), and always trekking on.

As men, we cannot avoid being wrong at times, but we can avoid staying there.

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

Common Pitfalls in Interpretation, Part 11

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