Meltdown at Mount Sinai

When God appeared to Israel on Mt. Sinai, the people quickly concluded that hearing God’s audible commandments directly from the source – the great thundering voice, the raging fire, the billowing smoke, the cloud and gloom, the blasting trumpet, the boulder-splitting earthquake – was far too terrifying for them to deal with. Trembling, they petitioned Moses that God would speak instead through him and not to them directly.

What was behind God’s purpose in taking Israel through such a difficult experience all those years in the wilderness?

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2 nasb).

God was testing His people to humble them and to reveal what was in their hearts! But what was their response when they literally encountered God “face to face” at Sinai prior to going into Canaan?

“…If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die” (Deut. 5:25 nasb).

In contrast, Moses was not only greatly blessed to be allowed into God’s intimate presence and to communicate directly with Him, but because of his favor and friendship with God, he was given the amazing privilege of seeing God’s glory with his physical eyes (although – as you will recall – God could not fully reveal His actual countenance even to Moses). Moses also trembled at Sinai (Hebrews 12:21), but he was not “afraid” to approach God, because he had received a revelation of God’s great redemptive LOVE that had been demonstrated and proven time and again through the trials in the wilderness.

For a combined total of eighty days and nights Moses was before the God of Israel on Sinai, receiving the law and instructions God had outlined for His chosen people that would enable Him to bless them once they entered the promised land of Canaan. Moses was so enraptured and enveloped in that holy, sustaining presence that he required neither water nor food during his extended stays on the mountaintop, and thereafter his face would shine whenever he had approached God.

“Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29 nasb).

Do I have a desire to be more like Moses, or more specifically, more like Jesus, whom Moses foretold as the future incarnation of “a prophet like me” (Deut. 18:5), or am I content to remain more like the fearful, doubtful, and stubborn multitude that the faithful servant Moses struggled to intercede for, to shepherd, and to lead?

Do I have an ever-increasing passion to know God for myself and a growing desire to enter daily into His presence directly through the sacrificial blood of my great high priest, Jesus Christ? Or do I prefer, like Israel, to have God’s Word “filtered” through another human being, or perhaps through some compromised or even worldly context in a way that I find more “palatable”; a way that does not really call me into account when the Holy Spirit reveals something in my heart that needs to change.

Concerning the recorded narrative of Israel’s experience in the wilderness, the apostle Paul wrote:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11 nasb).

God admonished the people through Moses:

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell” (Numbers 33:55 esv).

The Old Testament still speaks to us. For those of us living today, those “inhabitants” represent our enemies of sin and unbelief; those residual areas of pride and self in the promised land of our hearts that still remain to be subjected to the lordship of Jesus.

“If God speaks to us, we will die.”

How prophetic those words were, because that is exactly the point! The Cross of Jesus Christ calls us to complete and unconditional identification with both His death and His resurrection; an ongoing, daily surrender to His life and His leading through a constant “dying out” to ourselves and a growing appetite to feed our spirits with a steady diet of His Word. The prophet Amos spoke of a time when there would be a “famine” for the “hearing” of God’s Word (Amos 8:11). We are clearly living in such a time, but Jesus is still looking for followers who will simply trust Him, persevere, and be available to make a difference in a dark world.

It’s all about Jesus!

“And they overcame him [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:11 nasb).

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*Recommended blogs:

https://123hallelujah.wordpress.com/ by Margaret

https://unshakablehope.com/ by Bill Sweeney

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Image attribution: By Mohammed Moussa – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28338950

Birds Or Branches?

Apart from the Bible, the inspired, anointed, and eternal Word of God, I have a fairly short list of recommended reading…books that draw me back time and again because of their insights and wisdom. Of course, everyone’s list is different, but I thought I would share three which are at the very top of my own, books that I would categorize as “must-reads” if I were ever qualified to teach an “advanced” course in discipleship!

The three writers all have something in common. First of all, none are household names in the realm of Christian non-fiction literature. Second, each of these men had a depth in their knowledge of scripture and a passion in their pursuit of Jesus Christ that I can only aspire to. Finally, they are all deceased. Am I suggesting that some of the “old-time” (prior-generation) Bible preachers and teachers may have had a grasp of some spiritual truths and realities that have been lost to many of the modern church mentality?

Well, actually…yes!

But before I share my list, there is another distinction we should be reminded of.

Matthew chapter 13 begins with the well known parable of the sower, but goes on to include various similies pertaining to the kingdom of God on earth, including the tares and the wheat, the leaven and the flour, the nesting birds and the mustard tree, and the net filled with bad fish and good fish harvested at the end of the age. Most discerning teachers of hermeneutics (Bible interpretation) agree that these particular images represent the mixture of evil and good that will coexist within the Church, i.e., the kingdom of heaven on earth, prior to its being separated out – like the sheep and the goats – upon the return of Christ and the Day of Judgment. (I once read a Bible commentator’s peculiar declaration that the “leaven” represents Jesus. A thousand times…NO! I also once heard a seminary-trained pastor state that “WE…are the birds of the air” [nesting among the branches of the mustard tree]. For his sake, I hope he was wrong! Branches, yes. The birds, or “fowl” of the air? Not in this passage!)

Jesus told us who the “birds of the air” represent in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:19). If we apply a standard of interpretation to a portion of the scripture, we must do so consistently. Imagery cannot logically be something “clean” in one verse, and something “unclean” in the next.

Like a cacophonous flock of grackles in a grocery store parking lot tree, the “birds” are the most attention-getting things about that tree. They may have completely taken over the tree, and invariably leave a mess on the ground below them. The same is true of the great tree, or Vine (Christ) that grew up from a tiny mustard seed (the Word), and puts out branches (born-again believers). The “birds” may be the noisiest, most visible thing about the tree; they may receive shelter, food, and protection from the tree; they may build their “nests” in the tree; they may even make their “living” from the tree (“Sow a faith-seed of $$$ to MY ministry so I can indulge my pet projects for God, fly my private jet, and live like a king on this earth”)…

The problem is, the birds are not part of the Tree!

(See a recent post related to this topic, “The Counterfeit Conception”).

The good news is, because God is merciful, there is hope for “tares.” I know. I spent many years in the Church as a tare, thinking that I was a child of God until Jesus mercifully opened my eyes through His Word (following a considerable period of personal and spiritual crisis) . It requires an absolute miracle for a tare to be transformed to wheat (or for a fowl to become “foliage”), but thankfully we serve a loving Savior who is in the miracle business! But there is a prerequisite: do I really want the truth, no matter the cost?

Oh, my recommended reading list…I will likely quote from these in the future:

1) The School of Christ ~ T. Austin-Sparks (re-printed by World Challenge)

2) Born Crucified ~ L.E. Maxwell (a Moody Classic)

3) Remarkable Incidents and Modern Miracles through Prayer and Faith ~ G.C. Bevington (Kingsley Press)

Psalm 119:105 KJV “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

*Recommended blogs:

https://123hallelujah.wordpress.com/ by Margaret

https://unshakablehope.com/ by Bill Sweeney

The Titanic: A Sailor’s Story

In your opinion, which is the more challenging: diving headfirst into the frigid water of the deep end of a swimming pool and acclimating quickly, or creeping tortuously down the steps of the shallow end – an inch at a time and shivering the entire way – until your whole body is finally submerged?

I recall reading the account of a British second officer aboard the RMS Titanic who had been working furiously on the boat deck helping to get passengers, beginning with women and children, off the doomed ocean liner and into lifeboats. After all of the boats had been lowered and were away, he watched as the water began to overtake the clustering crowds of people who had retreated toward the stern of the badly listing ship. Instead of an agonizing wait for the freezing black depths to overtake him, he made a choice. He decided to take a “header” and dove headlong into the icy surge!

His decision at first appeared to be a mistake, as he was pulled down and pinned against a metal grate by the force of water rushing into the ship through a ventilator. As he held his breath, hoping that the grate would not collapse, a boiler explosion well below the deck sent a burst of hot air to the surface and blew him far enough from the maelstrom that he was able to swim, gasping, to an overturned collapsible lifeboat to which several other men were clinging. He was later rescued.

I remember being impressed at the time with the spiritual symbolism of this account, and it has stayed with me ever since. The decision of the disciplined sailor to go “all in” was for him the difference between life and death.

Am I “all in” with regard to my relationship with Jesus?

The answer will often require some serious, and sometimes painful, introspection. The times we as believers find ourselves the most miserable are those when we have merely dipped a toe into the icy water of the unknown and are vacillating over our next step and our intended level of commitment, considering even the possibility of waiting until the weather gets “warmer”; until conditions “improve”, and the “water” is more conducive to taking that imposing “leap of faith.”

In his daily devotionals Oswald Chambers wrote often of the need for “total abandonment” of ourselves as believers to God. That is, by far, the most difficult thing for our (my) flesh to contemplate. It was this same voluntary self-abandonment that enabled the Son of God to brave His own dark descent into death, relinquishing His authority to summon 10,000 angels to His rescue, and believing that His Father would raise Him back up again. Am I willing to be accused by others of going “overboard” in my passion for Jesus? His sacrificial choice to be “all in” became our very salvation, and we are faced with the exact same choice as our Lord: to cast ourselves with abandon upon the unfathomable love, grace, and mercy of our heavenly Father!

Philippians 2:5-11 NASB “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

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The best preachers are the ones who will tell you, with honesty, that God preached the message to them before they ever preached it to their congregation. Before you or I can proclaim God’s Word to God’s people with any sense of power or authority, the Cross – the pangs of Holy Spirit conviction and the healing result of Self-surrender – must first be applied to my own heart and life.

Bryan

Do You Think They Will Like Chocolate?

A cosmic, allegorical, Three-way conversation…

The Father (Chief Architect and Designer): “Well, it’s ready! By the way, they will eventually come up with an odd name for it, ‘The Big Bang.’ So…who wants to light it?”

The Son (Chief Engineer and Builder): “I enjoyed building it!”

The Holy Spirit (Chief Technician and Quantum Mechanic): “I WILL!”

Genesis 1:16-18 NASB God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; [BTW] He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

John 1:9-14 NASB There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“We’re talking about a lot of people on that tiny blue planet, Father. How are We going to keep them all occupied?”

“We will put it in the hearts of some to invent the wheel, others to discover electricity, and still others to achieve powered flight. Some will serve their fellow humans with nursing care and by performing complex surgeries. Others will love to entertain with dance, or by writing poems and children’s books, while others will inspire with the gift of making music. Some will have a passion to grow plants and harvest crops for food. Many will have the gift of working with their hands and go on to build houses and huge skyscrapers (not to mention My Tabernacle!) Others will thrill to explore Our magnificent creation – the home especially prepared for them all – through mathematics and science; they will build great ships and computers and rockets. Photographers, fishermen, truck drivers, soldiers, artists, lawyers, salespersons, dishwashers, stay-at-home moms. (Of course, We will call out apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers from among them). It’s a very long list!”

“But what about your Law and the free will prerogative? What if they make bad choices?”

“My Son…You and I need to have a good talk about that.”

“Do you think they will like chocolate?”

“You have no idea!”

: ) Bryan

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The Ultimate Logic: GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE > GOD IS LOVE > THEREFORE, LOVE CREATED THE UNIVERSE! : )

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Salvation and sexual reproduction? The new, revised 2019 paperback edition of my (ghost-written) book, Born of the Water Born of the Spirit, can be found at the following link. It is also available as a Kindle ebook download:

The Counterfeit Conception

Something very disturbing had happened in the hearts of many of the religious “elite” of Jesus’ time – including priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees – that caused our Lord to categorize them very differently from the common people, even contrasting them in a negative light vis-à-vis the prostitutes and tax collectors, the “dregs” of Hebrew society!

Matthew 21:31-32 NASB…“Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.”

According to Jesus, not only were these privileged “sons of Abraham” NOT God’s children, but they had been, in fact, spiritually sired by the evil one, Satan himself! These “converts” were not growing up into the image of Christ. Instead, they were being transformed into the image of the “father of lies.”

John 8:44 NASB “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Even more terrifying, some very self-righteous and pious among these “counterfeits” had descended so far into Satanic deception and demonic control that they had consciously and deliberately blasphemed the Holy Spirit by declaring – in their jealous rage – that the Son of God and His disciples were casting out demons in their midst by the power of the prince of demons himself, “Beelzebub.” For this sin, Jesus said, there was NO forgiveness, either in this life or in the life to come!

Matthew 12:32 NASB “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

It is odd to think that Jesus would pray and ask God to forgive many of the very people who persecuted Him, accused Him, and brutally nailed Him to the Cross, but that there was another class of “religious” persons who had become so blinded and perverted by darkness that they had already sealed their own doom for all eternity, by denying the true source of exorcism by the power of the Holy Ghost working through Jesus and also through His spiritual descendants. By contrast, others like Nicodemus and some of his peers – though in the beginning unregenerate – turned to Jesus, having recognizing the source of His spiritual authority.

Matthew 6:23 NASB “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

Hebrews 10:26-31 NASB “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted 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 terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Satan is now, more than ever, in the business of seducing followers, but we need to realize that until we are convicted of sin and make the choice to surrender ourselves fully to Christ, we are all prisoners of death and darkness. But for those even in our darkened generation who desire to know truth and whose consciences have not been permanently seared by an appropriation and subsequent rejection of the “Spirit of grace”, there remains great HOPE!

How great is God’s love for us?

Romans 5:8-11 NASB “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Bryan

Did Signs & Miracles Die Out With The Apostles?

“The Gift of the Mismatched Shoes” (A TRUE Story)

If I am convinced that all supernatural signs, wonders, healings, and miracles fizzled out when the last of the early church apostles departed this life for their heavenly rewards, then it is very unlikely that I will ever see those things in my lifetime. Or, if I do, I will find some “natural” explanation. What is often called “faith” in the modern church is actually just “wishful thinking”, or “claiming” something we want from God. For those rare Christ-followers who have learned to be still, to ascertain God’s will, and then wait to “hear” the faith from God, it is “as good as done” when He finally impresses, or “speaks” that “Word” into their spirits.

John 14:12 ESV “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

The following is just one excerpt from the biography of G.C. Bevington, a “holiness evangelist” in the areas of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee during the 1920’s, a time when – depending upon your age – your parents, grandparents, or perhaps great-grandparents were living. Reading Bevington’s life story is a good “antidote” for the unsettling influence of the many fake “healing evangelists” of our time. This account is only one of the “lesser” miracles that attended the life and ministry of this godly man:

“…I will give another incident in the [missions outreach] work in Cincinnati. There I received clothing for the poor, and distributed it. I was out at Mt. Lookout, a suburb of Cincinnati, and a sister there gave me some clothing. In a few weeks I noticed that one of our strong members was not out for a week or so, so I went out to see what was the matter. I found her washing, and reminded her that several services had passed without her presence, which was rather an unusual occurrence. She was a poor woman, with three children, and had to pay her rent, but never allowed us to help her, as we were accustomed to help many others in similar circumstances. As she seemed loathe to give a reason for being absent, I noticed that she had on quite poor shoes, and finally I said, ‘Sister, are those the best shoes you have?’ Blushing, she turned her back on me, making me feel that those were her best; but she finally said, ‘Now, Brother Bevington, I will have to admit that they are. I am expecting to get a pair next week, as I am to keep the children clothed and fed regardless of my need.’

So I returned to my room; and that being Thursday evening, I began to plead a new pair of shoes for her, as I had none that I felt were good enough for her, and therefore I prayed the more. I just held on. Finally, I looked at my watch, and it was two minutes of 4:00 a. m. I had been there ten or eleven hours. Then I dropped on my face again, and inside of thirty minutes I saw a pair of ladies’ shoes, and new ones, too. That was Friday, nearly 7:00 a. m. I went to my breakfast satisfied that all would be all right for a pair of shoes for the Friday night meeting; that was our regular evangelistic night service. When I came back, I was detained some, and did not get to the mission until about 10:00 a. m, and went into the prayer room. One of the kindergarten teachers came out, and said, ‘There is a lady wanting to see you.’ She came out into the main hall, and said, ‘Brother Bevington, I bought a pair of shoes this morning, but one is at least two sizes larger than the other. They look like mates, but they cannot be. The ones I tried on at the store fit me nicely. Then, as I was near here, I thought that I would run in and see the kindergarten children work; and while waiting to see you, I thought I would put on my new shoes and wear them home, but found one to be entirely too large.’ I said, ‘Praise the Lord. I prayed all night last night for a pair of shoes, and I guess these are the ones.’ ‘Yes, but, Brother Bevington it seems too bad to give such a pair of shoes as that to anyone, and I don’t want to take them back.’ (She was most too proud to do that so she concluded to see if I could work them off to a good advantage.) I said, ‘She is a poor woman, and needs the shoes, and she can easily put cotton batting in the larger one, and the smaller one, I think, will fit her all right.’

‘Here they are; you take them up.’

But I wanted her to see this woman, as I felt that she might be able to help her in various ways. So I insisted on her taking them, as she would have to walk near that home to get her street car. Finally she took up the shoes and started for the woman’s home, and found her busy with her ironing. She introduced herself, and said, ‘Brother Bevington sent me here, on a rather embarrassing errand.’ She set the shoes out, not telling the woman that one was larger than the other. All the time she was talking about the shoes and other things, the sister kept thinking, ‘What will I do, as I can’t wear those shoes, as my right foot is nearly two sizes smaller than my left, and I hate to tell her.’ But she concluded to take the shoes, and probably could exchange them. The woman started home, but she was impressed that she must tell the sister, so she returned and she told about the shoes. The sister just laughed heartily, and said, ‘Which is the larger?’ ‘The left one.’ Then she laughed more than ever, and said, ‘Well, well, well! God surely understands all things, as my left foot is nearly two sizes larger than my right. Here it is just as I want it. Oh, praise the Lord.’ Now, I knew nothing about the difference in the size of her feet, but God did, and see how He worked in order to answer my all-night prayer. Isn’t that enough to convince us that God fully understands His business? I say, ‘Yes.’ What do you say?”

(Excerpt: G.C. Bevington bio, c. 1920)

Bryan

What is the Difference Between Grace and Faith?

Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

This verse is often misread and misused by some who have used the “grace” of God as a license to justify sin…

Jude 4 NIV: “For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.”

Grace and faith are both gifts from God, and all men have received a “measure” of both. Yet the Bible says that, “not all men have faith.” Why? Because the faith that God did give to them has not been “activated” by the Word of God. In other words, they have refused to “act” upon their faith by seeking God, and that faith is either dead or is in danger of dying. James wrote, “Faith without works,” or more accurately, “without [action]…is dead.” There is a window of opportunity for all men to respond to God’s loving offer of salvation. It is our choice, but only while that window remains open!

A better reading of Ephesians 2:8 would be, “Because God’s grace has been made available to you, you are saved by the power of faith.” Faith is the active word here!

So, it is faith, not grace, that is actually doing the saving.

How do we know this for certain?

Jesus did not say, “My grace has saved you.” But rather, “Your faith has saved you…go in peace.”

Titus 2:11 NIV “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” Are all people saved then? Sadly, no…

But ALL are partakers of grace, as long as their heart is still beating!

Grace, as distinguished from faith, is as universally present as the mysterious and posited physics phenomena known as “dark matter” and “dark energy”; infiltrating, like the Spirit of God Himself, every conceivable corner of the cosmos, unhindered by time and space! The Holy Spirit – the Spirit of God and His Christ – is the omnipresent “Quantum Mechanic,” maintaining and upholding all things “by the Word of His power”!

Thank God for love, faith, grace, love, hope…ALL His amazing gifts!

Bryan

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Salvation and sexual reproduction? The new, revised 2019 paperback edition of my (co-written) book, Born of the Water Born of the Spirit, can be found at the following link. It is also available as a Kindle ebook download:

Do You Believe in A L I E N S ?

Let’s write a script for a sci-fi movie !

Let us suppose that the mysterious alien intelligence responsible for the genesis of all life on earth returns to our planet in human form with a message warning mankind of terrible impending disaster worldwide: an incoming asteroid half as big as the earth itself! Suppose also that this extraterrestrial being graciously provides a plan of escape for otherwise doomed earthlings by the means of enormous spacecraft that can rescue the entire world’s population by “beaming them up” and ferrying them on to some distant planetary safe haven before the deadly impact.

The problem – as it turns out – is that nobody listens! Unbelievably, no one chooses to heed the merciful warning to get on board, except for a small remnant of people who happen to believe the messenger is true, and that the danger is real and imminent.

Wait…hold on…already beginning to sound like a familiar science fiction theme, isn’t it?

The Bible, a book of historical record, psalm, and prophecy (with a 100% accuracy rate to date) contains just such a message of both hope and warning! It speaks of an infinitely powerful and loving God who in the beginning “created the heavens and the earth,” and then created people like you and me to have fellowship with Him. He created us in His own image with the ability to know and understand the difference between good and evil.

Could a perfect, good, and holy God ever become “alienated” to the very people He created and loved? The sad answer is, “Yes.” Because mankind “chose darkness rather than light” and rebelled against Him, our just Creator had no choice but to bring judgment on all sin. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death.” The consequence of our sin, unless we repent of it and receive God’s loving offer of salvation, is “hell”; an unthinkable, tormented, everlasting separation from God in what the Bible calls “outer darkness.”

“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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Who IS this “Word”?

God, the holy, triple-faceted, eternal spirit comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, chose to be expressed and born into the world as human flesh and blood in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ: His “only-begotten Son,” the “Word.”

So…a superior, divine being who is all-powerful and “dwells in unapproachable light,” takes on human form? Sounds like it belongs in our sci-fi script, doesn’t it?

But this is no fictional Hollywood, CGI, green screen illusion…it is truth!

Jesus, “the Light of the world,” would offer willingly to take our punishment through a cruel and terrible death; nailed to a wooden cross that was erected, in a very real sense, by all who have sinned and rejected Him. After three days and three nights – in a tremendous display of universe-shaking power (see dual prophesy; Psalm 18) – God raised a victorious and glorified Jesus, like Jonah, up from the place of the dead, “Sheol,” where the soul of His sinless progeny, as a “Son of man,” had descended bearing the unimaginable weight of the sins of all mankind. Jesus’ soul was then reunited with His spirit – the same Holy Spirit who had descended upon him at the Jordan and who had departed from Him at the Cross! – and a glorified body in a spectacular resurrection! Thus, God made a way for us to be reconciled to Himself, to be forgiven, and to be “born again” through a “good news” or “Gospel” revelation of His Holy Spirit by believing in Jesus, by trusting in His atonement, and by turning away from our sins.

Jesus, who came from heaven, said, “I am not of this world,” but His heart’s desire is not to be an “Alien”, but your friend, your Savior, and your God. You can read God’s LOVE message for yourself. Start by reading the book of John in the Bible New Testament. All of the quotes in this writing are taken directly from the Bible. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ~ John 3:16

All Bible scripture quotes and excerpts from NAS Bible. They can be easily word-searched online; italics and emphasis mine.

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Where Was Jesus for 3 Days and 3 Nights?

(What the Scripture Says)

In 2010, the eyes of millions of people around the world were fixated on their television sets as the rescue began of thirty-three Chilean miners who had been trapped in desperate, seemingly hopeless conditions a half-mile underground for sixty-nine days. Following the cave-in, during which an aircraft carrier-sized boulder had collapsed in the heart of the mine, the miners survived what appeared to be an impossible ordeal by rationing food and water, praying, reading scriptures, giving motivational talks, and simply holding on to the dim hope they would somehow be reunited with their loved ones. The men had endured high temperatures, unbearable stress, and some had even considered suicide. Through inspired effort and technological innovation, those on the surface were finally able to bring all thirty-three men up from their awful subterranean prison. One of the miners named Mario Sepulveda later said, remarkably, “I was with God and with the devil, and God took me.” His simple statement is incredibly significant for believers!

With this in mind, take the time to read Psalm 18 and ask yourself, and the Holy Spirit, of whom David is speaking prophetically. No scripture is of “private interpretation.” When you have read this blog and the Psalm, I encourage you to get a second “minority opinion” at the following link: https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/power-his-resurrection/. (This link was forwarded to me by an avowed skeptic after he took the time to investigate these conclusions for himself).

There are three different, distinct words in the New Testament Greek for body, soul, and spirit. Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man, which means that in the days of His flesh He was also, like us, tripartite. When He had died on the Cross, His physical body was placed in the tomb. Just as surely as the Holy Spirit had descended and remained upon Him in power when He was baptized at the Jordan, this same Holy Spirit departed from Him to the Father when He breathed His last, and He “gave up the ghost.” But what about His soul, that part of us that makes us all “human”, that part we associate with consciousness, with our mind, will, and emotions? What transpired with that part of Him that was truly a Son of Man?

Remember that, at any point up until Jesus spoke the words, “It is finished!”, Jesus retained the power and authority to call down 10,000 angels to deliver Himself from the sentence of crucifixion on the Cross. As the Holy Spirit departed from Him, Jesus surrendered that power and authority, descending into death as a man with only the FAITH that His Heavenly Father would bring Him back up out of that terrible prison. Knowing that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would depart to be with His Father in heaven at the moment of His death, He could also say with certainty to the thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”

Make no mistake, the Son of Man could add nothing else to His sacrificial and substitutionary atonement for the awful “wages of sin” (death) incurred by rebellious mankind. That debt was PAID IN FULL on the Cross and later confirmed at the resurrection. But in death, what awaited the Son of Man? Peaceful oblivion? How do we account for the “three days and three nights” that the lifeless corpse of the Messiah lay in the tomb? The answer is found in Psalm 18 and in the New Testament beginning with the “sign of Jonah.” (See Matthew 12:39-40).

Jesus had suffered terribly at the hands of the Romans and the Jews leading up to – and then being nailed to – the Cross, but as His Spirit departed from Him, this was the very catalyst of His soul descent into the nether world. His destination was Sheol, sometimes called hell, the “sorting ground” of the dead, where both those at peace (like Samuel) who had died in faith prior to Christ and those in torment (likely King Saul), were groups separated in death by an eternal, impassable gap. It was not merely His dread of the physical suffering to come that caused Jesus to sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane. The scripture says that Jesus “tasted” death for us. The wages of sin is death, but death is not limited to the physical dimension; there is also a “second” death. Did Jesus taste only the “first” (physical) death when He bore the penalty and paid the awful price for the sins of all mankind through His blood?

An infinitely Holy God could not look upon His Son on the Cross because of the unbearable weight of human sin and wickedness that had been placed on His shoulders. “He became SIN for us.” It was in this condition that Jesus’ soul descended into death as a son of man to “taste”, for a time, the terrible penalty of eternal hell that should have been ours. The soul of the man Jesus was not simply biding its time with His corpse awaiting resurrection from the tomb! By no means does this imply that Jesus endured the literal torture of the fires of hell (see Revelation 2:11), but from this agonizing vantage on the “dark side” of Sheol, He could see the awful, final judgment of all those who ultimately reject the great love of Christ and die unforgiven in their sins. For a time upon His descent into death, at the onset of those three days and nights, Jesus stood before His accuser Satan – temporarily, and vicariously of course – as the most unimaginably wicked of beings, a voluntary imputation ordained by the will of His Father and long preached by the prophets who preceded Him.

But Satan and the hordes of hell have one serious problem. Their celebration is way premature. The evidence shows that Jesus, the accused, is perfectly innocent! In Psalm 18 we read the prophecy where hell suddenly reverberates with the mighty voice of God, Jesus’ terrified enemies are routed, and He is powerfully rescued by an angry heavenly Father. He is reunited with His Spirit and a glorified body in a literally earth-shaking resurrection. The souls of those saints beyond the dividing gulf of Sheol, who had died in faith like Abraham prior to the Cross, hear the Good News and all are gathered and led by Jesus up to heaven to be forever with the Lord! Death has been defeated and “captivity is taken captive.” For forty days prior to his final ascension, this glorified Christ makes His glory and His resurrection known to His followers still on the earth.

[Note: I am not a Catholic, but I believe their Apostle’s Creed is correct and fully supported by scripture on this matter of Jesus’ soul descent into “hell”].

Let us consider the following scriptures:

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” ~ Acts 2:24 (NAS) (Note: exactly when did the “agony of death” cease?)

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” ~ Matthew 26:53 (KJV…)

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” ~ Revelation 1:18 (If you want to grab the keys to the jail, where do you have to go to get them?)

“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” ~ I Peter 4:6

“For as [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” ~ Matthew 12:40

“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as [Jonah] was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” ~ Luke 11:29-30

“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.” ~Hebrews 5:7

“I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” ~Psalm 16:8-11 (italics mine)

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” ~ Ephesians 4:8-10

“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” ~ Romans 6:8-10

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” ~ Matthew 27:46

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of [by] the second death.” ~ Revelation 2:11

When the Holy Spirit gives you insight into scripture, that revelation will always be supported with other scripture and by some others in the faith (often a minority, as was often the case with Paul). Be certain, however, that you can absolutely expect to encounter resistance from what the 1920’s holiness evangelist G.C. Bevington referred to as “meeting house” believers (who may also happen to be the ones with the most impressive theological credentials). Always be open to an inspired reassessment of your doctrine, but, in love, do avoid “endless controversies.”

Must reads:

https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/power-his-resurrection/

Psalm 18

Zechariah Chapters 2-4

*NOTE: This is a new blog, “in progress”. Monday posts (weekly) in 2019. Reply or contact Bryan at: happy2bneuless (at) gmail.com