Randy Green's Blog, page 380

Hereditary Heaven – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel [Joshua 24:31].

I recall a church I pastored over twenty years ago. On my first visit to become acquainted with the good folks of the church, and they in return to become acquainted with me, I enjoyed a meal with an elderly couple. This couple had been a part of that congregation for so long, they for all intents and purposes owned it! Or so it seemed in their eyes.

Actually the husband was a rather reserved fellow, sitting back and allowing his wife to bask in all the glory to be had. He was content to be left alone and to leave everyone else alone. ‘Twould’ve been a grand accomplishment for her to have done the same. Alas, but it wasn’t to be so, not by a long shot.

Anyway, as we sat at the dinner table enjoying the food, this dear woman flapped her jaws more in the pursuit of self-flattery and egocentrism than she did for the purpose of eating. I preferred to use mine to eat, and so I chewed and took it all in…regrettably. She gave me the lowdown on the entire congregation, one-by-one, and threw in the last several pastors to boot. Ah, but there was one redeeming quality in that church…her!

Well, before she was through, she gave me an example of how one of those pastors was impossible to stomach. According to her, he had the unadorned chutzpah to talk about the blood of Jesus on Christmas! Do you believe it? On Christmas! She wanted him run out of town on a rail, but not before spending a week in the pillory and then dressed in tar and feathers.

She was setting me up, you see. Before she agreed to vote for me as the next pastor, she wanted to know whether I would do her bidding or insist on feeding the good church folk with the pure, unadulterated Bible. So her next step was to look me straight in the eye—much as the Queen of Hearts did to those who soon lost their heads—and queried, “You wouldn’t do that, would you? You wouldn’t talk about the blood of Jesus too much, even on Christmas?” And then she leaned back in her chair and took a nibble of food, while she waited to hear me timorously say, “No, I won’t do that.”

I took my time and permitted her to gloat over her perceived victory of painting the candidate into a corner and committing him to do her bidding. When I finished chewing my food and swallowing, I then allowed the suspense to build up further by taking a long drink of tea. At last I looked at her with a smile and calmly responded to her bait, “No, ma’am, I wouldn’t talk too much about the blood of Jesus…because you can never talk too much about the blood of Jesus!” And then I added, “The blood of Jesus is the axis around which all of Scripture revolves. We must die to self and be born again in Jesus.”

We will take a respite at this time and continue the story in our next study. You won’t want to miss it. The ending feeds us with a lot of spiritual nutriment which is good for the soul.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: born again, Church, heredity, Joshua 24, new life, religion, Salvation

Jacob’s Ladder and a Carpenter

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Jesus answered and said to (Nathanael), “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [John 1:50-51]

Jacob was the son of Isaac. He had an older twin brother named Esau—older, that is, by a matter of jinutes, and that’s quicker than a minute. Esau was a jovial sort of gregarious guy, like a modern-day jock whom everybody likes. Trouble was, Esau couldn’t care less about the things of God. He despised God’s covenant, demonstrating himself to be a godless man.

Esau was the natural firstborn, which entitled him to the birthright (i.e., headship of the family after Isaac died) and the blessing (i.e., the double portion, or twice the amount of family wealth the other son(s) received as their inheritance. Here’s the thing: the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, which was handed down to Isaac by the Lord’s sovereign choice. Then the Lord decided to continue the Abrahamic Covenant through Jacob and his lineage, rather than through Esau.

So the Lord considered Jacob to hold the position of firstborn. This family, you see, was not the normal everyday run-of-the-mill family. In the natural world the son born first was entitled to the rights of the firstborn. In the world of covenant the Lord doesn’t follow the natural order. He changes things around to show that no one belongs to Him by natural birth. We must be born again.

Anyway, Esau decided to kill Jacob because he didn’t like Jacob receiving the rights of the firstborn. So Isaac dispatched Jacob far away to Uncle Laban’s house to stay awhile. On the first night of his trip to Uncle Laban’s, Jacob stopped at Bethel to sleep along the road. Here’s what happened when he went to sleep:

He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it [Genesis 28:12].

There we have the description of Jacob’s Ladder. Let’s fast forward now to circa 27 A.D. and pick up the story about Jacob’s Ladder in the hands of a Carpenter from Nazareth. Oh, by the way, the Carpenter’s name was Jesus. We began this study with a quote from Carpenter Jesus about Jacob’s Ladder. But there was one significant difference between the Genesis account and Jesus’ telling of the story. Did you catch it?

Jacob’s Ladder was an actual ladder which connected heaven and earth. On Jacob’s Ladder the angels went back and forth between heaven and earth. But that’s not what Jesus told us, is it? No, it’s not. According to Jesus the angels did not go back and forth between heaven and earth on a ladder. They did so on the Son of Man. Carpenter Jesus is the Son of Man. He is Jacob’s Ladder.

The eternal Son of God took upon human flesh, sinless to be sure but nonetheless real humanity. He did so approximately 7 B.C. as the God-man Jesus Christ. The purpose for Him doing so was to reunite sinful man with a thrice holy God. God created man without sin and in fellowship with Him, but man sinned and lost his relationship with the Lord. In order to bring man back to God, the penalty for man’s sins first had to be paid, and then man needed to have a new nature which wanted to be in relationship with the Lord, a nature which no longer wanted to sin.

The eternal Son of God became man in order to pay the penalty for man’s sins by dying on the cross. He rose again out of death on the third day in order to provide man with a new resurrection nature, God’s own nature within man. This provision is available to any person who will take the Word of God at face value and ask Him for it (Biblical faith).

Yes, the God-man Jesus Christ, Carpenter Jesus, is the antitype of Jacob’s Ladder (the type). He reunites God and man in Himself. Isn’t that glorious? The Lord be praised! Let’s go to Him now and receive the blessings of His presence, shall we? We’ll have a grand old time.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: Genesis 28, God-man, Gospel, incarnation, Jacob’s Ladder, John 1

Hot and Cold – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Moses…saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So…he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand…(The Lord said), “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me… I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”  [Exodus 2:11-12; 3:9-11]

Moses figured he was now a Midianite. He was born a Hebrew and became an Egyptian and tried to rejoin the Hebrews, and now he was a Midianite. Talk about a cockamamie life! Boy, was Moses’ life whacky.

“Not so fast, Moses my man,” said the Lord. “You may graze sheep in Midian and Sinai, but you cannot go far enough away to escape Me!” So there was Moses and there was a burning bush and there was the Lord in the bush. He told Moses that He chose Moses to be His mouthpiece to Pharaoh.

So get yourself on back to Egypt, Moses, and I’ll tell you what to do and say. I’m ready to deliver My people Israel from slavery and fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant by giving them the Promised Land as their national habitation.

Forty years prior Moses was champing at the bit to deliver the Hebrews from Pharaoh’s enslavement. Now he couldn’t squirm hard enough or stammer long enough to express his utter lack of desire to go back to Egypt. You see, he was young, brash, and impulsive forty years prior. He was like a teenager—you know, knows it all and doesn’t need to learn. Fast forward four decades: Moses finally understood that HE wasn’t able to deliver the Israelites.

Still, Moses hadn’t yet learned of the necessity for depending on the Lord for direction and strength. Moses heard the Lord’s words, but he understood them as requiring that he carry them out in his own power and by his own reasoning. It actually took the Lord to twist Moses’ arm several times, and even  give in to Moses’ need to cling to Mommy Aaron’s apron strings, before Moses was ready to obey the Word of God. Moses was still that spiritually immature.

In fact it wasn’t until the fourth plague that Moses finally began trusting the Lord enough to confront Pharaoh without clinging to Mommy Aaron’s apron strings. This is an extremely important principle we are to glean from the life of Moses, as well as from the other men and women of God in the Bible. Just as we have to grow by steps in the sphere of nature, so too must we grow step by step in the spiritual sphere.

We mustn’t hie off halfcocked to serve the Lord. First we must sit at His feet with Bible opened and allow Him to teach us. We send our kids through twelve grades of school and even on to college and beyond. We ourselves need to go to school at the feet of the Lord Jesus for a lifetime because we never fully know Him or His Word. Notwithstanding this, after seriously attending school with Headmaster Jesus for a few years, we should be spiritually mature enough to grow in discipleship. We should become ardent servants of our Lord. But it takes baby steps at first and then bigger steps as we go along.

Let’s examine our lives, our hearts, and our minds. How long have we been born again? How many times have we read the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible? How often do we spend time alone with Jesus, and for more than a few minutes at that? Are we really desirous of knowing our Lord and Savior? Or are we putting it off until we get to heaven?

Tough questions, these. Let’s tackle them once and for all, shall we? Lord Jesus, have your way in each of our lives, we pray. Amen.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Filed under: Church Age Tagged: discipleship, discipline, Exodus 2, Exodus 3, Moses, servanthood, spiritual maturity

Hot and Cold – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

Moses…saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So…he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand…(The Lord said), “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me… I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” [Exodus 2:11-12; 3:9-11]

The lives of the men and women of God are recorded in the Bible to teach us. Sometimes we learn from them positively, other times negatively. Sometimes we learn by their example what to do, other times by their example what not to do!

We took a brief glimpse at the life of Jacob/Israel in our last study. We learned from his life both what to do and what not to do. Even more, we saw that it’s not how we begin the race but how we finish it. We learned that we must forget what lies behind and press forward to what lies ahead, ever onward to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

The life of Moses is another fascinating case study of how to go from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. God is our heavenly Father. It is His job to rear His kids into spiritual adults. And He does! Sometimes He succeeds simply through His Word, other times not so much. If we listen and learn from His Word, and then obey what we learn, we needn’t visit the wood shed with Him.

As we saw with Jacob’s life, so too with Moses’ life. The several verses from Exodus 2-3 with which we began this study illustrate this. Moses made his choice to be a part of the people of God, rather than be an adopted Egyptian. He was raised in Pharaoh’s palace as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son. But Moses learned of his Hebrew ethnicity and of his being God’s deliverer to the Hebrew slaves. Moses rejected the palace for the high calling of God.

Trouble was, Moses didn’t know God enough to understand Him. Moses hadn’t an inkling of what God wanted or how he was to go about it. Moses simply rushed into the fray headstrong and slapdash. He would deliver the Hebrew people from their slavery. The first item on the agenda was to kill an Egyptian taskmaster because he used his whip on a Hebrew slave.

Having done that, Moses figured the Hebrew people would embrace him in their arms as God’s gift to them. Turns out Moses was wrong. The Hebrew slaves saw Moses as a Hebrew wannabe, a spoiled little rich kid from Pharaoh’s palace. They wanted nothing to do with him. Moses put himself between Scylla and Charybdis. On one side were the Hebrews who rejected him, on the other Pharaoh who wanted to kill Moses for killing the Egyptian slave master. What to do?

It didn’t occur to Moses to consult God before he took it upon himself to kill the Egyptian. And now, after he stepped in it, he again didn’t think to consult God about what to do. You see, it takes a certain measure of spiritual maturity to even know of our necessity to consult God for His will in all matters.

So Moses made his own decision once again. He hied off from Egypt to parts unknown on the other side of the Sinai Peninsula, where he lived for the next forty years. He was in Midian, where he married a Midianite woman and had two sons by her. The names he gave his sons are revealing. They show that Moses figured he’d never be back in Egypt again, and that he would never see his people again. He was now a Midianite! Thenceforth Midian was home.

Let’s pause here and allow the food to feed our spirits. We’ll continue this topic in our next study.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Tit for Tat

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

And (Isaac) said (to Esau), “Your brother (Jacob) came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing”… And (Jacob) said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me?” [Genesis 27:35; 29:25]

When I was a child I behaved like a child. My childishness was not unique, not even close. When no one bothered to correct me, I went right on committing dumb acts! If I got by with it long enough, the acts became even dumber and my response increasingly witless. And if others joined in and egged me on—well, let’s not even go there.

You see, it’s in human nature to do wrong because all of us are born with a sin nature, and that’s the nature of sin. So here we are, very young or not so much so, and we come to know the Lord. We are born again, and now the Lord has another son to rear.

Like any good father, our heavenly Father desires the best for His kids. But there we stand, spiritually childish as all get out, committing one dumb act after another. So what’s a good heavenly Father going to do about it. He’s going to give us incentive to stop the childish behaviors, that’s what. To do this He disciplines us. This can consist of all sorts of good stuff, like, for instance, taking us to the woodshed to become acquainted with Mr. Hickory Stick.

But in His discipline of His kids, the Lord isn’t limited to just the wood shed. Often He directs our lives so that we receive tit for tat. We have a superb example of this in the Bible verses with which we began our study. Jacob was the Lord’s chosen son. In fact Jacob was chosen while Esau his twin brother was not, even while they were still in the womb. The Lord told Mommy Rebekah as much while she was carrying the twins.

The story of Jacob’s life as recorded in the Book of Genesis is meant to illustrate the parental aspect of the Lord, as He takes His finagling son through life’s process. Along the way Father God directs the affairs of Jacob’s life so that he keeps bumping his head into a brick wall. Sooner or later—in Jacob’s case it was later, much much later—this was meant to knock some sense into the childish urchin, so that he would stop committing dumb acts and seek the Lord’s will for his life.

And that is just what happened with Jacob…in the end. Jacob connived to steal his older twin brother Esau’s birthright. Then he machinated against Father Isaac to steal Esau’s blessing. The Lord had already told Mommy Rebekah that Jacob would be the child to receive the rights of the firstborn, even though Esau was the natural firstborn. But Jacob had to help the Lord out by seizing them in his own strength according to his own reasoning. In fine, Jacob walked in the flesh and considered that to be serving the Lord.

Needless to say, but Brother Esau looked none too kindly on Jacob’s maneuverings. He plotted to kill Jacob, so Jacob had to be sent away from the family home in Beersheba to stay with Uncle Laban in Paddan-aram. If you look at a Bible map you will see that this was a trip from the far south of Canaan all the way past Damascus to northern Mesopotamia—a not so minor distance on foot back in the day.

Anyway, to teach Jacob discipline, the Lord used Uncle Laban to give Jacob a taste of his own medicine. Laban repeatedly manipulated and schemed to cheat Jacob, in order to further Laban’s income. The Bible verses with which we began our study are a case in point. Jacob liked Laban’s daughter, so he agreed to work for Laban seven years in order to marry her. After the seven years were up, Jacob had his wedding. When he went to the bedroom for his conjugal rights, it was dark. Laban substituted his older daughter Leah in place of Rachel. Jacob was none the wiser…until the morning light revealed the truth!

Well, you get the point. Jacob deceived Father Isaac to get his way. The Lord’s discipline was to use Laban to deceive Jacob to get his way. Tit for tat. After several of these tit-for-tat rebuttals, Jacob did finally mature spiritually and begin to walk in the Spirit in serving the Lord. This occurred at Peniel, where Jacob was renamed Israel by the Lord.

So how goes it with you? Are you responding as a good son to the Lord’s discipline and maturing spiritually? I hope that all of us are, or there will continue to be tit for tats on the horizon. And they’re no fun!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

God’s Hall of Faith

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth…But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them [Hebrews 11:13, 16].

There are two perspectives on sin we need to be aware of, as it pertains to the thrice holy God. First, He cannot tolerate it, any of it, not even the most miniscule trace of it! Secondly, He paid the penalty for sin by giving His one and only Son as a propitiation for all the sins of mankind. Those who have true Biblical faith are already declared by God to be justified, to be not guilty. They don’t have to wait until eternity to be judged. Those without true Biblical faith are guilty as sin and will be so judged at the Great White Throne Judgment in eternity (cf., Revelation 20).

Are we to conclude from this that nobody identified in the Bible but Jesus ever had true Biblical faith? What I mean is that in Scripture everybody sinned and it is recorded therein to note this condition of all mankind. If we are already adjudged not guilty, why are sins recorded for those who supposedly did have true Biblical faith?

Hebrews 11 was recorded to shed light on this very issue, dear people. When we page through the Old Testament and read the accounts therein of all the “celebrities” itemized in Hebrews 11, we find a stark contrast between the accounts in the Old Testament and Hebrews 11. No, there are no contradictions between the two accounts. The contrast is between putting the finger on sin in their lives as recorded in the Old Testament, and leaving their sins unrecorded in the Hebrews 11.

The reason for this contrast has to do with another contrast between the Old Testament and Hebrews 11. The Old Testament accounts are a record of the lives of these “celebrities” as they took place while they walked the earth with a sin nature. The accounts in Hebrews 11 are a record of their remembrance in eternity without a sin nature.

Because each “celebrity” did have true Biblical faith while walking the earth, he was justified (declared not guilty) by the Lord, even during his sojourn on earth. Nonetheless, he did commit sins and had to be forgiven by the Lord.

But it is all water under the bridge, once we are promoted to eternity. God no longer remembers our sins in eternity. He casts them behind His back, never to turn around to look at them again. He buries them in the deepest depths of the sea, and He doesn’t go fishing either!

Heaven will be home for all eternity to everyone who has true Biblical faith. In heaven the Lord has His own Hall of Fame; but since it is based on faith, the better title for it is God’s Hall of Faith. Everyone in heaven has his/her own bust prominently displayed on a pedestal. Not one former sin of any person in heaven is ever mentioned there. Practically speaking, no saint has any sins, and history books of their lives don’t record them as having sinned either.

Praise God for His Hall of Faith! Praise Him for recording Hebrews 11 for our consolation and edification! May His name be glorified both now and forevermore!

Thank you, Jesus. Let’s do that now, shall we?

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Apples and Oranges – Part 2

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace [Isaiah 9:6].

Consider the first part of Isaiah 9:6 as an example of Biblical Hebrew parallelism:

For a child will be born to us,

A son will be given to us.

The two lines are synonymous, brothers and sisters. What we have to realize, however, is that this doesn’t mean they have precisely the same meaning in all aspects. No! The two lines run parallel to each other by presenting much of the same meaning…but not all of the same meaning. Just recall the distinction we made when we began this post. To be “born” is not necessarily the same as to be “given”.

The latter part of Isaiah 9:6 identifies who the “child” and “son” would be. Those words point out that He was to be the Messiah, somehow a man and somehow God. Don’t believe me? Read the latter part of the verse again. Do they not specifically state that this person was “Mighty God”? And did the verse not begin by telling us “a child will be born to us”?

When was God born? Uh, that would be never! Humans are born. Am I not right? So a human would be born to us, and this human would be “Mighty God”. Now where have we heard this before? Hmm. That’s a toughie. Let’s see. Was it in Aesop’s Fables? No, that wasn’t it. Perhaps it is in the U.S. Constitution. Not so much. Ah, yes, I remember now. It is in the New Testament.  Come to think of it, it is the most fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith!

The words “a child” and “a son” run parallel with each other, you see. The words “will be born” and “will be given” also run parallel with each other. But that is the extent of their being synonymous, dear friends. The Messiah later was born and named Jesus. The word Christ is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Messiah. The phrase Jesus Christ is not a name. Jesus is His human name, while Christ is His title. He is Jesus the Messiah.

Jesus was born a true human male, yes. A Jewish virgin, Mary, was His mother. But Jesus had no human father. The Holy Spirit miraculously impregnated Mary with the eternal Son of God. This is inexplicable to our finite minds, but the Bible teaches it straightforwardly enough. Either we believe it, which is the meaning of having Biblical faith, or else we don’t and remain in our sins.

In this context consider how much more is stated by Isaiah 9:6 than is at first blush ostensible. “A child is born”—that occurs every day, so we wouldn’t put much stock in the phrase if it stood alone. But it doesn’t! It runs parallel with “a son is given”. In light of the further revelation we have from the New Testament, consider Who this child is.

The “son” of Isaiah 9:6 is the eternal Son of God, which makes Him God. He exists from all eternity with God the Father. Our heavenly Father gave him to us. The “child” of Isaiah 9:6 is the human Son of Mary through a miracle by the Holy Spirit. This Person is both God and man simultaneously, fully, and thenceforth eternally.

The Old Testament presented many mysteries which could not be understood back in the day. The revelations in the New Testament explain them to us. Isn’t God good? Yes, He is…all the time. Let’s go visit with Him now and tell Him so.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Apples and Oranges – Part 1

NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace [Isaiah 9:6].

It was one of the most memorable days of my life, the day my son was born to my wife and me. Yes, on that day “a child was born to us”. It was not so memorable a day to me, the day presents were given to us for our child. Yes, on that day presents “were given to us”. It’s not that the gifts were unappreciated. Not in the least! It’s just that, well, on the one hand we had a son and on the other we had presents. I believe the distinction should be clear enough to everyone, don’t you think?

In the context of that distinction, read Isaiah 9:6 once more. On the one hand a child will be born to us. On the other hand a son will be given to us. I fear the words are often understood to mean the same thing. But we know by the distinction we presented in the first paragraph that this is not necessarily so. Truth be told, in Isaiah 9:6 it is definitely not so!

We’ve descanted on the idiosyncrasies of Biblical Hebrew poetry in a prior post. We’ve also done this much more extensively in Volumes 1-9 of our Heavenly Citizens series. I encourage you to go to the Amazon website listed at the end of this post and purchase your copies. Dig into the solid meat and stuff your spiritual appetite until you are surfeited! You will mature spiritually much fuller and much quicker, if you study entire books of the Bible in context, chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse.

But I digress. Let’s backtrack to Biblical Hebrew poetry’s idiosyncrasies. Today we write poetry by making the words at the end of lines rhyme, and by making the lines to have the same number of beats or measurements. For example,

Roses are red, violets are blue;

Sugar is sweet, and so are you.

That’s poetry to the average Occidental today. Not so with Hebrew poetry however! Hebrew poetry didn’t rhyme the words at the end of lines: it rhymed ideas between one line and another. This is another way of saying two lines run parallel to each other in some way. Sometimes the ideas are the same or synonymous, giving it the name synonymous parallelism. Other times the ideas are opposite or antonymous, affixing it with the name antonymous parallelism.

The day has been long and the sun is now setting. Let’s pause for supper at the Lord’s table and take our rest. We will continue on the morrow, if you please.

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Interstate Billboards – Part 2

NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

When they came to the place called “The Skull”, there they crucified Him and the (two) criminals, one on the right and the other on the left [Luke 23:33].

Here’s the thing. Just as in the Old Testament God wanted to call sinful man back to Himself, so too does He in the New Testament. Just as in the Old Testament God employed the Law to do this, so too in the New Testament does He employ grace to do this. The word grace refers to God’s free gift of salvation to sinful man, which was earned by His Son Jesus on the cross. Just as in the Old Testament God created the earthly nation of Israel to be His witness to sinful mankind, so too in the New Testament did He create a spiritual nation, the Church, to be His witness to sinful mankind.

And this is where the story or the three crosses on Calvary comes in. Just as the Promised Land was smack dab at the crossroads of the two world empires back in the day, so too was Jerusalem smack dab at the crossroads of the Roman Empire back in the day. Calvary was located on a main street outside the gates of Jerusalem, where everyone passing through the city would witness the crucifixion.

Israel in the Promised Land was a gigantic neon billboard along the interstate, advertising God’s righteousness and man’s sinfulness. Jesus on the cross was a gigantic neon billboard along the interstate too, advertising God’s righteous judgment on man’s sins and His offer of grace for whoever will receive it, His forgiveness through the substitutionary death of His one and only Son.

Let’s take a gander at this billboard. In the center was a cross with Jesus dying on it. Jesus being God, He has no sin. He is holy. His death wasn’t for His own sins. He willingly laid down His life in order to pay the penalty for mankind’s sins. That was the purpose of God taking on flesh in the first place, viz., so that He could die on behalf of sinful man. Therein lies real love, dear friends.

Two criminals were crucified with Jesus, one on Jesus’ right side and the other on His left. People passing along the road stopped and mocked Jesus. The Jewish authorities stoked the fire by mocking too. The Roman soldiers thought it was funny and joined in. What with all this mocking going on, even one of the crucified criminals took part in making fun of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was the laughing stock of the day.

The second criminal also spoke up, but not at all like the first criminal. He rebuked the first criminal for mocking Jesus. He confessed that Jesus had done no wrong and didn’t deserve to be on the cross. He admitted his own sins and chided the first criminal for being a sinner himself. How could he mock the holy Jesus, all the while he was so sinful and deserved to be on the cross?

That is the billboard the Lord set up along the world’s interstate, dear people. During the times of the Gentiles it replaces the billboard of Israel in the Promised Land. Israel as a nation is temporarily set aside as the Lord’s witness to the world. During the Church Age His spiritual nation, the Church, fulfills this function.

The billboard of the Law fulfilled its purpose and is no longer in effect. The billboard of God’s grace through His Son Jesus the Messiah is now in effect. That is the picture story painted on Calvary. At the center of it all, as the axis of God’s grace, is Jesus Christ. His cross was situated at center stage on Calvary.

Two criminals were crucified alongside Jesus, one on His right and the other on His left. Every human being aside from Jesus is born a sinner. Each one of us is a criminal, a rebel against God’s righteous rule. Each and every human being has, does, or will fit into the mold of one or the other of those two criminals. Either we mock Jesus and die in our sins; or we confess that Jesus is sinless, is holy, and ask Him to receive us into His Kingdom.

All that’s left for us to do now is to decide which criminal we choose to be. The billboard paints the picture, my dear friends. What response will you make to it?

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86

Interstate Billboards – Part 1

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.

 When they came to the place called “The Skull”, there they crucified Him and the (two) criminals, one on the right and the other on the left [Luke 23:33].

Israel in Old Testament times was a nation ruled by the Law of Moses. The Lord (aka YHWH) was her King, and He gave Israel her Law through His prophet Moses. King YHWH also gave Israel the Promised Land as her terrestrial abode.

In other words the Lord created a new nation. He began with one man, Abraham, and grew him and his progeny into a multitude. Then the Lord delivered them from Egyptian slavery, took them to Mount Sinai where He gave them the Law to govern their lives, and brought them into the Promised Land and gave it to them as their inheritance.

There was a purpose for the Lord doing all this. He created the heavens and the earth and planted man in His beautiful garden to tend it for Him. He looked over His creation and saw that everything was very good. That sly critter named SIN didn’t exist in man. Everything God made was very good.

Alas, but it didn’t stay that way. Satan was at odds with God, thinking to elevate himself to the throne of God. He wound up being “elevated” downward—far, far, downward—when the Lord booted his sorry rump out of heaven. Satan’s behavior made him a sinner. When the Lord created the heavens and the earth, Satan brought his sin along and shared it with Eve. She in turn shared it with Adam. Thenceforth mankind universally has been comprised of sinners.

That was where the Law of Moses and the nation of Israel came in. The world was filled with sinners, peoples and nations who shook their fist at God and refused to submit to His rule. The two major civilizations back in the day were Egypt and Mesopotamia. If you take a gander at a map of those times, you will see Mesopotamia on the east and Egypt on the west, and…the Promised Land smack dab in the middle.

Yes, the Lord created a new nation to represent Him to the world, to show sinful men that they were sinners, separated from Him and needing to return to Him. He gave Israel the Law and His tabernacle worship structure to accomplish this feat, and He planted Israel smack dab in the middle of the civilized world of the day so everyone would see this.

Israel, you see, served as a gigantic neon billboard along the interstate between Egypt and Mesopotamia. All commerce passed between those two civilizations, so everyone learned the truth about God from Israel—even during times when Israel wasn’t much to look at righteousness-wise. Israel was God’s witness to the world, sometimes for good and other times for ill.

Well, the Law was in effect only until the fullness of the time had come (Galatians 4:4). That time came when the eternal Son of God became a man named Jesus. Jesus is the God-man, fully God and fully man simultaneously. He came to earth to fulfill the Law for mankind. He then went to the cross and died to pay the penalty for all mankind’s sins. He rose out of death on the third day and ascended into heaven.

From heaven Jesus sent the Holy Spirit on Pentecost to create a new nation, a spiritual nation, known as the Church. Whoever will call upon Jesus, in order to accept His payment for the penalty of their sins, receives forgiveness of sins and is born again into the family of God, the Church of Jesus Christ. Originally this offer was given to Israel, to the Jewish people. Since then it has also gone out to the Gentiles, i.e., all non-Jewish people.

Let’s pull off the interstate into this shady arbor along the road. It’s time to take a breather and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus a while. We will continue this study in our next post. See you then!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:

http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86