The Beginning And The End

Science has confirmed that the universe had a beginning, which is where the Bible starts. Maybe in the end science will confirm that God is the reason for the beginning. That is where reason will lead us if followed to the end. Jesus said He is the beginning and the end. 

Cleansing Of The Temple

John 2:15-16 (ESV)

15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.”

Jesus is cleansing the living temple of our hearts to make it a house of prayer, of true worshippers in the Spirit. 

In The Wilderness

Mark 1:4 (NASB)

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

The Old Testament is the voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. The Law leads to repentance which prepares us to receive Him, to make a straight way in the desert for the living waters of His life. 

John the Baptist is the final voice of the Old Testament witness to prepare for the way of the Lord. Jesus, the Lamb of God, brings the kingdom of God near, for He is the way of the Lord. 

Flowing From The Throne

Revelation 22:1 (ESV)

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

The river of life flows in the city of God, the new Jerusalem, and the perfection of the garden of Eden is accomplished.

Eden is the throne of God and the Lamb. His life flows into His garden on earth. The throne comes to manifest in the New Jerusalem. The waters of life no longer flow into the garden, but flow from the garden. The water of life on earth still flows from the throne because God is present. 

The water of life might be thought of as the Holy Spirit. He is God the Spirit who brings His life into the darkness of man. 

The water of life hovered over the waters of the deep in the beginning until He entered the darkness of the deep. The light is separated from the darkness and so the waters become separated accordingly. There is a great expanse between the two, as far as east is from the west. 

The water of life is “bright as crystal” because the light of God of God is not diminished by any imperfection. 

The Narrow Door

Luke 13:24-25 (ESV)

24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Many think they follow Jesus, but are mistaken. The road is narrow that leads to life with God and many take a different path thinking there is more than one way to our Creator. Jesus said He is the way. 

The unity of the Spirit divides the light from the darkness. His word will show the way. He is the truth of life. 

Brings Them Both

The wisdom of God came to us in the form of a man and continues to fill the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit brings them both. 

Work Out

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The salvation of man is in Christ. Once we receive Him, we are to work out our own salvation of life we been given. God will work in us to will and work as He predestined so we obtain the image of God. 

Though we have connected to the vine of life, the fruit of His Spirit should manifest. If it doesn’t, we are in danger of being removed and bundled up to be burned. 

The Ultimate Work

In the right hands, clay can be molded into something functional, useful, and even a thing of beauty. It is possible for the vessel or object to be all three. So it is with mankind. The ultimate work is accomplished by the hand of God. 

Gathered In My Name

Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

The ones who gather in His name already have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within them, but when they gather they reveal the body of Christ. He walks among the churches of the Church, which are signified by the lamp stands in Revelation. He is God with us. 

The Enormity Of His Gift

If one considers himself as the least of the saints and the greatest of sinners, that one has understood the enormity of His gift of grace and humbled himself before our Lord and Redeemer. 

 

At The Last

Job 19:25-27 (ESV)

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

27 whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me!

The resurrection of Christ our Redeemer confirms He is able to deliver us into His life. Our mortal flesh will be replaced with immortal flesh like His. 

In the end He will return to earth and we shall stand before Him face to face and see we are like Him. 

A House Of Prayer

If the church is the dwelling place of the Lord, it is in the heart of every believer, for we are the temple Jesus built with His resurrection. Do not let the seen distract you from the unseen reality. 

Your Hearts Enlightened

Ephesians 1:16-18

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

We are sealed in the body of Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our eyes are enlightened with wisdom and revelation if we seek them. We must ask for salvation to receive it. In the same way, we must ask for wisdom and revelation to receive them. You have not because you ask not. 

Our relationship with Jesus determines what we know of Him. To know Him is to have peace with our hope in Him and joy in the glorious inheritance that awaits us. 

The New Man

Ephesians 2:13-15 (NASB)

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

The Law of God was first written on stone tablets for His chosen people to bring the light of God into the world. The word of God is now written on the hearts of those who have become the living temple of the body of Christ. The Law remains for those who are not in Christ, for the Law is the condemnation of all who do not seek His salvation. 

We are joined in the peace of the Holy Spirit with Him and each other. This is the new man. 

The Union

The Church is the union of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and the body of Christ who are adopted as His sons. 

This is His kingdom come and His will that is done. 

Do Not Fear

Revelation 2:10-11 (NASB)

10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

Tribulation begins for the one awakened from the slumber of the world to stand in the life of God. The ten days signify the time we walk with Jesus until we overcome the death which awaits everyone on earth. Those who receive the life of God will not face the second death, but will instead see Jesus face to face. 

Satan Bound

Revelation 20:1-3 (NASB)

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

Satan was bound when Jesus freed those he held captive with the chains of death. The thousand years represents a long time that has an end. This is to allow for the fullness of the Gentiles. When that is accomplished the restraining Holy Spirit will be taken away. The body of Christ is one with the Holy Spirit. We will go with Him and Satan will be released for a short time. Perhaps this is the time of the great tribulation. An angel will open the door to the abyss and release the fury of the devil, that great serpent who will bring his final deception on the earth. 

Fill Us

If the living waters are not filling the church, there is not enough to flow out into the world. The waters of the world may seep in the church. 

May the Holy Spirit fill us to overflowing and to the ends of the earth. 

The Invitation

We have been invited to join with the God of three persons, to become one with Him through the body of Christ. 

A Time For Rendering

Matthew 22:20-21 (NASB)

20 And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

Who’s image do we bear? We bear the image of man unless we are being made in the image of God. 

Our fate does not depend on the flip of a coin, but a decision. The choice is ours. There will be a time of rendering. Now is the time of decision. 

True Wealth

Our net worth is determined by God. 

Some Will Fall Away

1 Timothy 4:1 (NASB)

Apostasy

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

No one can snatch us from the hand of God, but we can fall away, not unlike the fall of Adam. The garden of Eden is a parable that is as relevant and immediate as the present moment. Will we be deceived from faith in God and listen to voices other than the word of God?

It does not matter what Adam did. The choice is ours.  

He Gave His Word

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God gave us His word that we might have eternal life. We do so when we obey His word, and thereby return His love. Love opens the door to eternity. 

Bread Of Life Now

Now we partake in the bread of life, but the time is coming when we will eat at the banquet wedding feast of our heavenly inheritance. 

Born Of Woman

Job 14:1-2 (NIV)

1 “Mortals, born of woman,

are of few days and full of trouble.

2 They spring up like flowers and wither away;

like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

Men born of God are eternal and blessed in heaven. They enter the tree of life and bear the fruit of His Spirit. They have forgone the shadows for His enduring light.    

A Garment

Creation is but a garment of God. The new creation is the image of God. Mankind has become the body of Christ. 

A Great Multitude

Revelation 19:6-9 (NIV)

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

7 Let us rejoice and be glad

and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

8 Fine linen, bright and clean,

was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

Some believers are the Bride of Christ. Most of the believers are those invited to the wedding, “a great multitude.”

No Limit

The sky is no limit for those in the kingdom of heaven. 

In The Sacraments

In the sacraments we remember the gift of the bread of life and the gift of His blood spilled for us that we may eat from the bread of life. 

We remember and confirm our inclusion in the body of Christ, flesh of His flesh. 

The Wall Of Hostility

Ephesians 2:13-15 (ESV)

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

The answer to all the hostility in the world is to be united as one flesh by the Holy Spirit. He is our peace. This is a creature of the new creation who becomes one in Jesus Christ. Hostility is the mark of the old creation which is left behind as we transform into the image of Christ. 

Help us to be more like Jesus

Thy kingdom come 

Thy will be done 

On earth as it is in heaven 

Being Religious

Religion is a construct of man and there are many versions and variations. 

But the way to God is the way He provided through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus did not start a new religion. He came to offer us life. Specifically His life. 

Made Him Known

John 1:18 (ESV)

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

This translation leaves out the adjective in the Greek which means “begotten”. Jesus is the begotten Son of God who is God in creation who we can see one day face to face. We will join Him on His throne if we persevere to the end. (Rev)

God has made Himself known through the Holy Spirit giving birth in the flesh of man. It is that same Spirit who gives birth to a new creation out of man reborn into the life of God. 

Begins With The Clay

The image of God in creation begins with the clay of man. 

Our Work

Grace and works are not incompatible. Receiving the grace of God means that the Holy Spirit is working in us to produce the fruit He is looking for. Our work is to say yes. 

A Strong Delusion

2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 (ESV)

9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

This explains why our world has so many people who think and believe as they do. They strongly believe the unbelievable because they have refused to love the truth and have been given over to delusion. It is only unbelievable and incomprehensible to the one who knows and loves the truth. 

For more on the subject, just pickup a Bible. It contains the truth and the word of God. 

Revelation

The Revelation of God begins with Genesis and ends with the book of Revelation. It is given to mankind through the Holy Spirit, first in the words of man, then in the word made flesh to dwell among us. He took our resurrected flesh into heaven so those in the body of Christ could dwell among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one, even as God is one. 

The book of Revelation is the last book in our Scriptures, but His word endures forever. The body of Christ are those who are in the word and therefore in Christ. 

For Good Works

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The work God is doing in creation is bringing mankind into the body of Christ, that we should walk in His way. The way was “prepared beforehand”, that is predestined, from the foundation of the world. 

The good works are the fruit of the Spirit within that manifests as His light out into the world. 

Separation In Creation

The separation of light and darkness in creation takes place in the heart of man. When we see the light and enter the light, we leave the darkness of the old earth for the light of the new earth by becoming one with the Father and Son of creation. 

Scripture is the record that explains what is happening and what is to come. 

Perfected Flesh

Jesus, the Son of God, came to us in the flesh of man. He will return in the perfected flesh of creation. The perfected flesh of those in the body of Christ will return with Him. 

The New Thing

The new world order is as old as the Tower of Babel. There is nothing new under the sun, except the new thing God is doing. 

Light In The World

The seven flames on the single lampstand in the temple of Israel has been expanded and fulfilled in the seven lampstands that represent the Church before the throne of God. The light of the world is visible in both cases. Israel was a single lamp of the Lord. In the Church, each one of us carries the flame of the Holy Spirit, a city on a hill. 

A Double Portion

We in the body of Christ have received a double portion of life from our Father above. First He gave the life of His Son for our sin and then He gives us the resurrected life of His life as a son. 

The favored son always receives double the blessings of the Father. 

Nature

The nature of man leads to death. 

The nature of God leads to life. 

A Royal Priesthood

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Those who have entered the body of Christ are part of a royal family, for He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Those who have entered the body of Christ are part of the priesthood of the Father, for He is the High Priest of our salvation. 

Forever a royal priesthood in His marvelous light. 

First And Last

Matthew 19:30 (ESV)

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Israel is the first chosen people of God. The Body of Christ is the last. 

The last will be first and the first will be last. Both are the people of God and in the tree of life. 

You Are Gods

John 10:34-36 (ESV)

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

Psalm 82 is the source of written Scripture. Those addressed as ”gods” are angels who are part of the divine council in heaven. They were given the charge to judge and help mankind, to work the ground of earth as it were. They failed in that endeavor according to the psalm. 

Now the sons of God in Jesus Christ will judge mankind and the angels. This is a variation on the repeated theme of the second son receiving the blessings of the father. 

The first and second Adam. 

Cain and Able. 

Esau and Jacob. 

Ishmael and Isaac   

Israel and the Church. 

Those who are last will be first. 

The Supernatural

Being a Christian means embracing the reality of the supernatural. God the Father is outside of creation and therefore supernatural. God the Son is God in creation and therefore supernatural. Being in Christ, the Son of God is being part of the supernatural, for we have the Holy Spirit. 

A New Creation

In the beginning the heavens and earth were created. Then God began a new creation that would take the form of Jesus Christ, who is God with us. Those in Him share in this new thing that He has done and join Him in the fullness of life. 

Heavens Are Not Pure

Job 15:15 (ESV)

Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones,

and the heavens are not pure in his sight;

The heavenly host is not perfect. Perfection comes in the body of Christ. 

Languages Of The Word

The Law of the Old Testament was given to Israel and received in the Hebrew language. It was mediated by angels of heaven.  

The Gospel of the New Testament was given to Gentiles and received in the Greek language. It is given through the incarnation of Christ in the flesh of a man and the incarnation of the Holy Spirit in the flesh of the body of Christ. It is mediated by the angel of the Lord. 

In The Garden

The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are before every one of us, for the Garden is in the heart of man. It is there we can encounter the Spirit of the Lord. 

Beginning

God has no beginning other than the one He created. 

Perfect Through Suffering

Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

The Son of God was perfect beforehand He took the flesh of man. What He perfected in the His incarnation and resurrection is the union of heaven and earth in man. He has made the way through the wilderness for us to join Him in His perfection.   

The work of the new creation continues with each believer added to the body of Christ.