the Bible says. Why? Paul tells us that the glory of God is upon a believer’s head, and if it is covered by a shawl or anything that is used as a garment of praise or prayer or worship or teaching; anything at all in relation to relating to God or doing His work, then we cover up that glory.
The indwelling Spirit within the believer’s heart emanates as the glory of God from our heads. The glory of God is seen upon us, the Bible says. You can search it yourself. Is that in Psalms and Isaiah? It’ll do you good to search it. It’s there. So if the glory of God is seen upon us, and it is, then we cover it up with prayer shawls, head coverings for garments of praise, etc. That was needed before Jesus came but is no longer.
We are even told why! It’s for the angels. What? Well, it is simply this: The angels see us. I do believe we have a light covering in their realm for many reasons. God does not want that glory, that light covering, to be covered. The demonic world needs to be blinded when they see us for instance. If the glory upon us is covered we could be in some trouble. Maybe it gives them access to some extent or information they can use against us?
We are told for example in the Psalms, that God sent evil angels against His people because of their disobedience. Some would say all the fallen angels are bound in the pit now waiting for judgment. This Psalm tells us otherwise. So we know that some evil angels are still loose, in addition to the demons around us.
I can also see that the angels employed to help us also need to be able to spot us clearly and easily with a mark upon us which identifies our allegiance. Now I can see that it is entirely possible and likely based on what scriptures shows us, that a believer who is in disobedience, also covers up that glory seen by angels and can put us in vulnerable positions. If we walk around in life with the glory emanating from our heads, they can easily spot us to grab us from trouble, even death. If we cover it up by disobedience, or by a garment we think might be a worshipful thing but is a bad thing, then we are in danger.
Look what Isaiah says: “Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, that take counsel, but not by Me: and that COVER WITH A COVERING, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin unto sin” (Isaiah 30:1). God goes on, through the prophet, saying “…that go down to Egypt…to trust in the SHADOW of Egypt”. This is another covering, the shadow of Egypt and not the shadow of the Almighty.
It also makes me think about the warning to us not to take communion in an unworthy manner, because if we do ,then we can be in danger of sickness and even death as a believer. How about other things? Are we doing anything that covers up the glory of God seen upon us by the angels? Anything? God will show you if you ask Him and want to obey. If so, and if I am right in understanding these things in the Bible about obedience and covering up His glory, then when we are in such a state of covering up that glory, who knows what evils can harm us.
Anyway, consider certain things when you are speaking to or for God. Consider certain things allowed, which God does not permit. Are we covering the glory of God upon us and opening ourselves up to extreme danger? I whole heartedly believe this is the case.
We are the light of the world. How can we be that light..and salt of course, but light…if we are covering it up by disobedience, or garments in connection with Him?
Believer, let your light so shine before men (and this includes angels) that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven.
Thank you Lord.
Is huge. At first glance we might think they are synonyms. Certainly sin is iniquity and iniquity is sin but they have specific differences.
Sin is used in the Bible in many ways and each use pertains to the context of the doctrine being taught. We really do need to understand the differences between the different words in the original language for sin. We also need to examine what God means by iniquity.
The general use of “sin” in the Old Testament refers to first, our sin nature that was a result of Adam’s sin. We are not responsible for being born with a sin nature, we are only responsible for rejecting the remedy for it…Jesus.
Then, once the law of God is broken, this is deliberate sin. It is a bi-product of being born with our sin nature. We are unable to keep God’s law, and it is written on our hearts, until we are spirit-born, saved. We have to come to Jesus for forgiveness and believe on Him. Sin then has no power over us. If we deliberately sin, it is because we choose to. If we trespass unaware, He will show us and give space and power to correct it.
In the New Testament, we see many words used for sin in the Greek, and each is very specific to the context and doctrine being taught. I have to say that these are easily grasped because they are common sense. If we know our Bibles, then these slight differences in meaning between the Greek words, make sense.
For example, one word refers to a sin of ignorance. Another word refers to a sin that is ongoing. Another word refers to a sin that is knowingly and willfully and continually choosing against the known will of God. This is the word used in 1 John when he teaches us that there is a sin unto death for the believer.
Iniquity is another thing. Iniquity seems to be referring to a choice by a believer to fail in morality, when they know to walk uprightly and should be walking uprightly. This sort of behavior in a believer is called “iniquity”. The definition of this word today is gross immorality…wickedness. A rebellious believer is capable of wickedness. David is an example. It just cannot be unrepented-of, and ongoing. If an iniquity is unrepented-of and ongoing, then it is the sin unto death potentially.
Now the interesting thing is that God says this all through the Bible and in many ways. It is why I see for sure that lukewarm believers in the last days will not be raptured but will go into wrath to be beheaded…killed. But then they are resurrected with the righteous and reign with Jesus for 1000 years. They seem to have different roles but saved and resurrected as well.
God says in Isaiah, speaking of Israel at the time but also referring to the last day when the wrath of the Lamb comes upon the unbelieving world, that they will not cease from their iniquity until they die. It is the same for the lukewarm at the end.
It is a serious thing to ponder if we are believers. Be holy as He is holy is our command. We must put away wickedness or we will not be raptured. There are so many believers today who dabble in sin and their iniquity will not cease until they die.
Jesus told us to die now while we live. Put away the evil deeds of the old man. Purify your hearts and be not double minded. I think it is soon. Pray you are counted worthy. It is the righteous who vanish when the last trumpet sounds. Believers who are still loving iniquity will have to die to stop it. “Surely this iniquity will not be purged from you till you die” (Isaiah 22:14).
I’ll say yes. We know that Jesus reveals Himself, in Revelation especially, as the Almighty, who had no beginning and no end. He is the Eternal One, and His incarnation was the vehicle by which He became the Kinsman Redeemer.
Now while He was on earth as the Lamb , Mary was certainly His mother in this sense…though Hebrews tells us clearly He was in the order of Melchizadek, who had no father or mother, neither beginning nor end. Melchizadek had to be Jesus. No one else had no beginning and has no end.
So was her motherhood necessary but temporary as His mother? It was. He begins to break the news to us immediately.
Jesus existed before Bethlehem, before Mary, who was the woman by whom He would enter into our place, as a man…qualifying Him to be our Kinsman redeemer.
The old prophet Simeon, who told her in the temple after His birth that her heart would be pierced, knew it. We get a hint when He goes missing at 12 years old. His response to her seems strange. He responds to her as God even then, and not as a son really.
We see Him distancing Himself from her, in her role as His mother, at the wedding at Cana. He calls her “woman”. He, as God, is referring to her as the one who fulfilled the Genesis 3 prophecy. She was THE woman who God said would bring forth the seed of the woman. Jesus was that seed. He was on His way to crush the serpent’s head with His accomplishment at the cross. So He is separating Himself from her there and also declaring her glorious election as that WOMAN. But she was only representing her race…humankind.
We see it again when a woman overcome with the glory of Jesus shouts, “blessed is the womb that bore You, who nursed You!” She saw the fulfillment and that is what she meant. She was declaring Him to be the Messiah. She knew it. God showed her.
Jesus says to her “Indeed, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it”. He is showing them, yes, she is that woman but she is not the focus…do God’s will, He says…that is the focus.
Again, He was teaching, and His mother and brethren were outside wanting to speak to Him. When He was told, He says, “Who is my mother, who are my brethren?” Then He says again, “whoever does my Father’s will, they are my brother, sister, mother”.
He is separating Himself from her and proclaiming Himself to be God.
Finally, but there could be more times, we see Him on the cross, leaving the earth now in the role of Lamb. He looks at Mary, His mother, and exclaims, WOMAN! Behold your son. Then he continues and looks at John and says, behold, your mother.
This is difficult to express because the depth of meaning here and emotion can’t really be conveyed well with anything additional. It’s too much.
Jesus is saying two things to Mary at once. He is calling her His mother for the last time. She will be that no more. Her work and role there is done. He is also releasing her of that role, signing off as her son and giving her, as mother, to another…namely John.
When He tells John to behold now John’s mother, who is now Mary, He is leaving her in his care. It’s finished. Mission accomplished, world about to be redeemed. At this point, He will soon ascend and sit again with the Father on the Heavenly throne.
I say all of this for just the glory of the event. But I also mention it to further my point concerning Jesus taking on the form of a man. He was born in Bethlehem. It was a glorious event and He was a baby in a manger. But just like Mary is no longer His mother, Jesus no longer is to be thought of as a babe in a manger. It’s complete and now He has ascended. He has no birth. He has no beginning and has no end. Christmas then is a lie and a terribly pagan thing.
Those who celebrate it and stay focused on a day and a holiday are not understanding who He is, just like the others He had to correct.
Celebrate the glorious impossible story when you read it. But it is over. He isn’t born again every year. It’s finished. Let’s dwell in that gigantic truth.
Thank You Lord Almighty for the Glorious Impossible!
What is the mark of the beast? The Bible clearly tells us. In Revelation, we find that God tells us what it is when He mentions it. My new book Revelation, Outlined has this answer, that is in plain sight, and so much more information to ponder as well. But here it is:
Right when God mentions it in Revelation He says to pay attention, the wise will understand. He says it’s the number of man which is 666. The once born are sons of Adam (man). Adam means man. So every person born into this world is born a son of Adam. He is not a direct creation of God until he is born of the Spirit by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once he comes in repentance for the remission of sins, he is suddenly born again and the mark of man, 666, that is on the unbelievers at birth, is removed. If we never come to faith in Jesus Christ, we never have the mark of the beast removed from us. We are dead by choice and destined for Hell…eternal Hell, damnation with no escape. There is so much more in my book of you are interested. It’s available at all bookstores and the publisher’s bookstore: xulonpress.com bookstore.
Also right here on Amazon!
Revelation, Outlined
I hope you will check it out!
We never see a place in the Word where we are instructed to go tell others about all our sin before we knew Jesus. Yet this is what so many believers do. Has God required it or does He want it? I don’t think so. Jesus didn’t tell the man healed to go tell others all about his sin . He told the healed man to go and tell what good things God has done for him. We should do likewise.
Some love to speak of their sin and in specifics. I would say that this is a strange thing. I can’t even think of my sin, it makes me sick and sad. I want to think of forgiveness and the goodness of God. This makes me happy. My sin isn’t extraordinary and neither is yours. It isn’t worth examining or savoring. It is as vomit on the ground, why do I want to go visit it like a dog does? I was a run of the mill, ordinary, typical sinner dead in trespasses and sin. The lovely thing is that Jesus looked upon me with pity and He saved me!!!!! Thats all I have to say.
And you know what? That will lead others to Him, my sin won’t. It’s not worth mentioning. So let’s not. It’s understood.
Praise His holy name instead. Let’s do that and spend our time being salt and light.
Bless You Lord, our God!
This might seem unjust at first glance. It’s not. When we see something like this in the Word we have to go back to what we know sets a precedent for dealing with situations like this, and apply it first. God is just, holy and good and hates divorce. That is first, so let’s go from there to understand what happened in Ezra with Israel and the strange wives and children they ended up with, because they disobeyed God.
In the law God gave Israel in the beginning, we see that anyone from any nation, anywhere, could come worship the one true God of Israel. They would come into the fold and be absorbed into the nation, becoming therefore a Jew. So we have to assume that this was the case with the strange wives and children Israel took into the fold. If the wives, when confronted with this decree to put all the unbelieving wives and children away, listened, and the women and children said, I will worship God, then they remained. How do I know? Because God said this is the protocol. He doesn’t have to belabour the point again because as usual, He is assuming and requiring that they and we already know all of this. God doesn’t re-establish every minute detail of the Word every time He states a truth. This is our responsibility to know, and the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to show us this, if we seek truth.
For those not really seeking truth, but are rather seeking an excuse to blame God for being cold or unjust, they will not follow this path. They will get perturbed, blame God for being an unjust God and put the Word down as being untrustworthy. This is also God’s plan to weed out the unbelieving.
So we can rest knowing that any wife and child during this curious time in Israel’s history, who decided to worship God alone were spared and remained. Any who went after the strange gods, had to be removed. This is good, just and right.
God knows that good character is corrupted by bad company. He knows that light has no fellowship with darkness. He knows all things. Let’s not think for one minute that any wife or child in question in Ezra, who would believe in God and worship Him alone, were put away. God longs that none would perish but that all would come to the saving knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.
Thank You Lord!
Is there such a concept in the Bible? I’d say, no there isn’t. Can we prove it? Yes. Think on this: If there were such a thing, the Lord wouldn’t hint at it but plainly state it. He has not. But what I believe He has done is placed the answer in plain site for searchers.
Hitler was a baby. He was a precious baby like any other. God knew that Hitler would do what he did. He is omniscient. He knows everything. He sees the end already because He is outside of time. That isn’t the main reason He sees everything but it helps our minds to begin to understand His omniscience, which only He has. God knows the end because He cannot learn. He is the Creator and knows all things. It’s too high for us to really grasp this, but we can see that He does because of His Word. It predicts the future perfectly. It’s perfect and all knowing…Jesus is the Word.
So He knew Hitler was the evil man he was. If there is an age of accountability, then why wouldn’t God take him home before he reached that age and was lost? He longs that none would perish but that all would come to the saving knowledge of God in Christ Jesus.
Also, we see that Noah’s flood killed every child on earth. They were all corrupt. Now with a close look, there is very, very strong evidence that all flesh had been corrupted by fallen angels and their offspring the Nephilim, the Rephaim. They all were unredeemable, so God killed every single one but the 8 in Noah’s family. If there were such a thing as an age of accountability, then certainly all children under that age at the time of the flood would not be accountable yet. We just don’t see an age of accountability in the Bible in mention, pattern, inference or anything. You can argue that a Nephilim is unredeemabe whether child or grown, but the point remains.
We also see that when the faithful in the church are raptured, there is, in my opinion, the lukewarm part who remain on earth till they are killed by the Beast from the earth…the false prophet…because they refused to worship the image of the Beast, antichrist. The Bible would tell us if there were no children in this group. Revelation says that the false prophet causes all who were not written in the Lamb’s book of life, do worship the image…small and great, rich and poor. The inference here is, all people who were not written in the Lamb’s book are lost and take the mark of the Beast. The same word here for small is also used in Matthew 18:6 in reference to children. We cannot say conclusively that here in Revelation, the small are not children…they could be. We have no mention of no young children being present because I would say that they are.
God knew Esau in the womb. He knew he was lost. There was no age of accountability for Esau. There was no age of accountability for Hitler. God knows if a soul will be born again or not had they lived longer. Some children who die are saved and some are not. Romans tells us not to inquire into this subject because it is none of our business which vessels are made for destruction. God does not make a soul with the intention of destrpying it…that is Calvanism at its worst. No, it is simply a sucinct way for God to say that some who are created will be twice born and some won’t. It is entirely their choice. The ones who won’t are vessels made for destruction. It is a manner of speaking. We know this because the Bible has already set that precedent all through. God longs that NONE would persish, but that ALL would come to the knowledge of Him in Jesus. He jsut knows that they won’t…He calls them vessels fit for destruction.
There are many more references. The main verse used for the accountability concept is that David knew his baby would be in heaven. David was a prophet and more than that, a priest after the same order all believers are priests. God told him. That’s how David knew. We need to be much more careful with the Word, and more investigative too. We’ve missed a lot.
The thing is that all false doctrines delute the gospel. This one does as well. They do it by loosening God’s standards to use man’s instead and they call it merciful. But it isn’t merciful at all. It shows a refusal to yeild to God’s holiness and perfection.
God knows who are His. He doesn’t need to wait for a certain age. This is a manmade doctrine that, I’m sorry, does not love God more than child, mother, father, even one’s own life.
who might be a hindrance to either our salvation or our fruitful walk.
We can often wonder why people drop away from our lives. As Christians we can expect it. God will guide us so that we have no fellowship with darkness. Good character is corrupted by bad company, He has said. The pivotal concept here is not “can be corrupted” but “is corrupted”. And it is for sure.
The holy Christian walk is marked by small company. It just is. The Bible says it. If we will walk Godly in Christ Jesus, men will hate us.
They hated Jesus first, so of course they will hate us. If we walk with Him they will. If we resemble the world we should have left, then they will still enjoy our company. Where there is no Godly conviction, there is contentment for the lost. It is not true contentment but they want to not be bothered by the conviction a holy believer brings…so they are repelled by their company.
Do we have old friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers who have been removed from our day-to-day lives? There is reason for it if they do not walk with the Lord. God sees them as a hindrance to our walk in Christ. We are always required to minister to their needs but we are also required to keep holy fellowship. Mingling with the lost in hopes that my faith might rub off is never what God orders. God removes the lost from a true believer’s fellowship if that fellowship will corrupt the character He has formed in me.
He is the keeper of the sheep. He is the author and finisher of my faith. It is a narrow road and few find it.
This is a topic that is not spoken of enough in the body of Christ. If it were, more believers might walk more worthy of their calling. I think maybe that because many believers are not appropriately focused on rewards in heaven, that many of us have a sloppy, complacent and lukewarm walk.
This also has been Satan’s plan. He wants to rip the believer off of inheritance (Heavenly rewards) and he has and is very successful at doing just that. But it is the believer’s fault in the end. If as a believer, I don’t have to think of possible loss concerning rewards, then I will not be fervent making sure I am in God’s will. I will stray and be sloppy for sure. But it matters a great deal. All the parables about wicked servants should warn us. We must be very purposed and deliberate about obeying and following God. If we don’t there will be great loss.
But if I will die to sin and self then I will be repulsed by anything against God’s will. I can be sure that my walk will end in receiving all the rewards God has planned for me. Isn’t that incentive enough to be transformed then, by the renewing of my mind, offering myself up to God as a living sacrifice, which is my reasonable service?
If God can trust us with the little things, then He will trust us with bigger things. He has promissed us that.
But if He cannot trust us in little things, He will not trust us with bigger things. And worse, what little He did allow us to have He will take even that away…in whatever form that takes. Salvation is not the focus here but rewards are…both now and then.
Walk in the Spirit then and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. He is faithful.
In Genesis 3, we see the judgement and prophecy concerning the seed of the woman. This is a reference to the virgin birth, Missler says and is correct, because women do not have seed. This is clearly Eve who would be the one through whom the Savior of the world would come…that is, the woman, not the man. Why? because she is the one through whom sin entered the human race. The Redeemer, who is always redeeming, then determined that she then would be redeemed by giving birth, that is, her child bearing role would allow her to be the one who Jesus would have to enter the world through. He is the seed of the woman. She is saved through child-bearing. That is, she, as a sinner because she is of mankind, will be saved as that sinner because she will be the one who bears children. Therefore she will be saved (along with all mankind) because the Messiah will become a man through her womb. In other words, mankind will be saved because God will become a man to save mankind, to die for his sins…but she will be the bearer of mankind through her womb. What honor. But it’s the only way.
The seed of the woman would crush Satan’s head… and He will. He already has and we will see it completed soon.
I show you a mystery…a woman shall encompass a man. This is the same reference. Now this is a reference to Eve because it’s the woman who would give birth to Jesus and not the man…obviously. God had to become a man to redeem man. only a like kind creature can die for the sins of that creature.
Now Mary was chosen as the actual woman to give birth to Him and be His mother. She is only His mother to Him in His role as the man child. She is not the mother of God because God has no mother. He has no beginning.
We see Jesus begin to reveal this to Mary at the wedding at Cana. He calls her woman. He is distancing Himself from her now. He is trying to show her and us that She is the woman in the Genesis 3 prophecy.
He is declaring to her that He is Messiah, and God. But when He says “woman” to Mary, He is declaring that she is the seed of the woman.
At the cross He does it again. He calls her. He doesn’t call her mother or Mary. He calls her “woman”. He then says to the apostle John, this is your mother. Jesus was handing her over to him. Her role in the seed of the woman prophecy was over. Fulfilled. He is God and He is showing her that. She is the woman in the seed of the woman prophecy and He is that seed. He is God…the man child of Revelation, God become man…Emanuel. It is accomplished and her role is fulfilled.
Glory to God in the highest.