To Conceive - Hebrews 11:11

Hebrews 11:11 ESV 

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

By faith we receive power from the Holy Spirit and are given the ability to conceive, though we are dead. He is faithful to His promise and His word is always true. 

We are born again and given spirit form and life. We enter and stand in His presence as sons and daughters. 

Who can conceive such a marvelous thing? Almighty God. 

Who can perform such a marvelous thing? Almighty God. 

Believe and conceive. 

Apart From Us - Hebrews 11:39-40

Hebrews 11:39-40 ESV 

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

They gave witness through their faith in God without receiving what was promised. We give witness to that same faith and are sealed with the Holy Spirit to confirm the promise of the inheritance that awaits. Our faith will find the reward promised by God: our perfection. 

The Greek word translated as "provided" means something planned and provisioned beforehand, or predestined, for those who believe God. We will all receive perfection together. 

Said To Them - John 20:2

John 20:2 ESV 

John 20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 

Why does John tell us that Mary runs to Peter and the beloved disciple?

Peter may symbolize the remnant of Israel that will come believe in The Lord. He was the apostle to the Jews, the servant of God. It is Peter that would receive the command from Jesus to feed His sheep. His sheep will witness to the world, the tribes sealed in Revelation followed by a multitude without number coming out of the great tribulation. 

John may symbolize those who first believe in Christ, His resurrection and grace. He became the beloved disciple, even as Christ loves the church. To him is given the gospel of divine love and the revelation of the end times. The Greek word for "beloved" is the word for brotherly love, of personal affection. This appropriate for all sons and daughters of God. 

Who is the disciple whom Jesus loves? You and me. 

Still Dark - John 20:1

John 20:1 ESV 

​Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

The light of the world had not yet risen to make the victory over darkness apparent. Though still dark, Christ had left the darkness of the tomb behind.

Darkness remains today though the light has risen and shines on the world. The stone has been rolled away, but many choose to remain in the tomb of death than walk out into the light. 

The Greek word translated as "stone" could be used in reference to a millstone. This could remind us of the millstone of sin around each of our necks that is rolled away by the resurrection of Christ. 

God separates the light from the darkness and calls the light good. 

Why does this first appearance come to Mary? It may be the same reason the angels announced the birth of the Savior to the shepherds. He has come to the lowly and the meek of the world. The word took the humble form of man and delivers its glorious message to the humble of man. This takes place today. Those that arrive at the end of themselves are able to see beyond themselves. The light and truth of God come into view and begin to shape us in the image of God. We enter the light because He is the light. 

Power To Conceive - Hebrews 11:11

Heb. 11:11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 

Faith preceded power. The child of promise is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, as promised by the one Who is faithful. 

Like Sarah, we are given the power of the Holy Spirit when we receive that faithful one. When we place our faith in Christ, we participate with the Spirit in conceiving a son of God, for such is our walk with God until we are able to eat from the tree of life. 

He has prepared a table for us though we walk in the land of the shadow of death. 

Their Hour - John 16:1-3

John 16:1-3 ESV 

​“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.

The daily examples of this prophesy are in the news. The killing serves their god, but not God Almighty. This is their hour. The day of the Lord is yet to come. Their hour will come to an end. 

Satan will be loosed for a little while, then thrown into the lake of fire. 

Land Of Promise - Hebrews 11:8-10

Hebrews 11:8-10 ESV 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

We are called out just as Abraham and told that we will receive an inheritance. We live in these tents of flesh as we await our incorruptible bodies based on the foundation of the word of God. This is the land of promise, the good earth formed by the hand of God. 

Of God - John 8:47

John 8:47 ESV 

Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

God's words do not make sense unless you are born of God. They are foolishness to the world. The Holy Spirit allows the hearing, speaking Spirit words that we can understand as those who are of God.

Our comfort and delight found in Scripture gives witness to the assurance and conviction that we are of God. 

The World Hates You - John 15:17-19

John 15:17-19 ESV 

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

The command to love is in sharp contrast to the hate of the world. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are the subjects of this love and hate. We are commanded by Christ  to love one another. The world receives its commands from the prince of this world, the devil. He seeks the end and destruction of all who follow God and His Son. 

This will not end until Christ brings it to its end. 

God is love. Satan is hate. 

The locusts are loosed in the world and the smoke of the dark pit continues to block the light. The same force behind the persecution of Jesus is going after the people of God. The dragon is enraged. The nations rage. Their time is running out. The foaming sea will be stilled. 

Be Made Perfect - Hebrews 11:39-40

ESV 

Heb. 11:39 ¶ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 

Heb. 11:40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 

We reach perfection upon His return. Then we shall know even as we are known. Until then we are perfect in Christ. We all will rise together. 

The promised land is the inheritance of the new earth, of incorruptible bodies that arise out of this mortal clay. These are the rooms that Jesus prepares in His Father's house. This is the revealing of the sons of God. The Father's house is where He and the Son abide. They dwell in each believer's heart. 

That You Love - John 15:12

John 15:12 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:17

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

There is one commandment Jesus left us. There is only one to remember: that you love. 

God first, then each other. By loving each other, we love our Father. In doing this, we do not take His name in vain. 

Love is the will of God for your life. 

Receive

Be

Give 

You must receive the love of God before you can be love, as He is love. In being love you are able to give love. So it flows and so it goes, living water that will never end. 

Nothing else counts as faith expressing itself in love. 

Was Taken - Hebrews 11:5-6

Hebrews 11:5-6 ESV

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Whatever we do we must live in faith of the living God. We may see death, but we will not die. If we are born again by the Spirit, we shall rise to the glory of God. We will be taken into eternal life upon His return. 

Faith includes believing and seeking. Doing so, we will find Him and He will take us. 

By The Word - Hebrews 11:1-3

Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV 

​Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Things are seen and not seen. We place our hope in things not seen, which are more real than the the things that are seen. Our eyes are not opened until we begin to see without our eyes. We often refer to this as faith. 

God has made us sons and daughters that are able call Him Father. The witness of this is within. We have yet to be revealed in creation, but we are assured of this fact as we house this new creation in these jars of clay. The earth groans in anticipation. 

It is the word of God that created the universe and through that word we find rebirth. It is within the light of God we take form and the void is filled. A new earth is underway, not made out of things visible, but born from above. 

Who Has Trampled - Hebrews 10:26-31

Hebrews 10:26-31 ESV 

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The theology of "once saved, always saved" is shown to be a false teaching. That notion is dispelled here and many other places. One who has received the truth can be given over to their sin. There is no limit to the grace of God, but there is an end. Only God knows that end for a particular person, when they are given over to wickedness. 

Satan is trampled by the feet of Christ. What will happen to one who tramples on the Son of God? The vengeance of God. 

Came Back Seeing - John 9:5-7

John 9:5-7 ESV 

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

From the mouth of Jesus comes the moisture that turns the earth into clay that can be molded into something new. 

He spread the mud on the man's eyes that would allow the possibility of sight, but the blind man would have to obey in order to see. He would have to wash to comply with command of Jesus. He would have to go as he was directed, and this way led to his sight. 

Jesus is the light of the world and brings sight to the eyes of the dead. He is in the world today in the body of Christ. We are the light of the world. 

Might Be Displayed - John 9:1-3

John 9:1-3 ESV 

​As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We are all blind from birth. We all walk in darkness until we see the light of God. This is so that the works of God might be displayed in us.

Gave Them Up - Romans 1:28-32

Romans 1:28-32 ESV

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The United States no longer acknowledges God. Our leader said not long after elected that we were no longer a Christian nation. These verses speak to our state of the union and the fate that awaits our country at the end of the road. An atrophied mind and heart explains the actions and events of the day. The spiral is ever downward as we fill the cup of our wickedness and destruction. 

Please forgive us and turn our hearts to your light of your truth. 

You Will See - John 1:38-39

John 1:38-39 ESV 

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

Seek and you will find. 

Knock and the door will open. 

We can all see where He is staying. We only have to follow Him. 

We can be with Him. 

"Come and you will see".

Life Was The Light - John 1:1-5

John 1:1-5 ESV 

​In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Was Jesus God? That's the Word. 

The Word is living, and the light and life of men. 

The light shone on the earth, though the earth does not understand. The darkness of the deep resists the light, but the light will subdue the darkness. It will give way until the darkness is no more. 

Blessing Or Burned - Hebrews 6:7-8

Hebrews 6:7-8 ESV

For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

The seed is sown. Rains fall. A man cultivates the earth he is given. Something grows, fruit or thorns. It depends on where his attention and efforts lie. 

Blessing or burned. What's in your garden?

To Distinguish - Hebrews 5:13-14

Hebrews 5:13-14 ESV 

for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

There was a tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve were commanded not to eat of its fruit. We might be looking at the reason God placed the temptation in the Garden in the first place. 

Without knowing evil, how would we know good? Perhaps the forbidden tree was like the Law in that it serves to help us to see the difference between the two. The fruit opened their eyes. The Law increased our understanding by defining sin and our weakness. 

Jesus came with the final teaching, the fulfillment of everything that went before. This gives us the ability to distinguish good from evil and choose God.

But Of God - John 1:12-13

John 1:12-13 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Believing is not an intellectual exercise, but an appropriation of that reality that manifests in one's life as trust and faith in the Lord. These are born of God. 

Just as Jesus took on our flesh, though born from above, we wrap ourselves in the divine righteousness of Christ when we are born from above. We become one with Him, the bride of Christ. 

We are sons of man who have become sons of God. This is possible because the Son of God became the Son of Man. 

Here I Am - Exodus 3:1-4

Exodus 3:1-4 ESV 

​Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Moses keeps a flock of sheep before he shepherds the flock of the Lord. He is familiar with the wilderness. 

Horeb is another name for Sinai, the mountain of God. 

The angel of the Lord is another name for God. 

The burning bush is actually a thorn bush, which may portend the crown of thorns worn by our Lord at His crucifixion. God speaks through the bush and through the Son. It is holy ground, even as He is holy. The fire can symbolize the Holy Spirit. Moses speaks with the Triune God. 

The most appropriate thing to say is, "Here I am". 

Also With Him - Isaiah 57:15

Isaiah 57:15 ESV 

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

He is with us, we are seated with Him on His throne. Both are incomprehensible, but true. To be lowly and contrite is to be high and lifted up, just as He. Growing up into Christ means we ourselves must get smaller and become more like Him. 

This is so for us if we are in the body of Christ. 

Just As He Told Them - Luke 22:7-13

Luke 22:7-13 ESV 

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Jesus tells Peter and John to prepare the Passover, but Jesus has made preparations of His own. He is preparing for the ultimate Passover that we may eat from the tree of life. The disciples are part of that preparation. 

The man carrying the jar of water could be symbolic of the living water that flows from the throne of God. He enters the house with that water. 

The upper room could remind us that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a room for us in His Father's house. There we will eat at a banquet prepared in advance. 

It will be just as He told us. 

Close But Far Away - Luke 19:29

Luke 19:29 ESV 

When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples,

Bethphage means "house of unripe figs"

Bethany means "house of misery"

Both apply to the house of Israel, which did not not bear the fruit of God and was thus a house of misery. Jesus will weep for the city on the hill which did not shed the light of God. Israel will enter the time of the Gentiles, reaping the fruits of their unbelief. 

Israel was at the foot of the mountain of God, but was turned away due to their disobedience. 

The two disciples will give witness to the will of the Lord. 

The Last State - Luke 11:24-26

Luke 11:24-26 ESV 

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”"

How often does an unclean spirit leave a person voluntarily? It would seem to be desirable for a demon to continue resting in that fallen house it has mastered. 

Once that spirit is ejected, the house can be cleaned and put in order. This is what God is doing as He proceeds with the creation of a new heaven and earth. 

Sadly, this parable speaks of the return of that unclean spirit, even bringing others with it. That house is worse off than before. Knowing God then turning away is like a dog returning to its vomit. 

Yet all things are possible for God. He is stronger than the numberless demons that seek to destroy His work. The current state does not mean the last state. He is faithful when we are not. 

His love endures forever. 

And Drowned - Luke 8:30-33

Luke 8:30-33 ESV 

Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

Revelation 18:21

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, 

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,

and will be found no more;

Genesis 1:1-2 NETS

​In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Yet the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and a divine wind was being carried along over the water.

The Septuagint uses the Greek word for abyss in Genesis for the deep, the waters of darkness, which is symbolic of man. 

Jesus brings the light to this man and orders these creatures of darkness to leave him.  They beg to enter the swine nearby, unclean animals. The swine then race to the sea. The demons have successfully taken life into the awaiting deep, the destination of all who choose not to be washed in the blood of the lamb. 

This foreshadows the destruction of Babylon. Babylon and the sea will be no more.