"a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."(13.1) Of this we shall we take up the ten horns of which we find associated with the fourth east. "and it had ten horns./I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots"(Dan.7.7-8)
The beast here rising out of the sea is a composite of the other three beasts mentioned in the night vision. St John sees the beast,"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion."(13.2). From these two visions the ten horns serve as a link to the end times. The Spirit in Gen.1.2 supplied us the hint of the waters serving generations of men in the direct frame of reference of the generation of Jesus Christ. On the hand darkness was upon the face of the deep signifying the generations of sons of perdition who are children of disobedience.
"and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."(13.2) Rising out of the sea he is heading to the land where the vision of the flying ephah in Zechariah's vision has set up a base. It is spiritually called Babylon, "and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev.18.2-6) Remember the two women, 'and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork' (Zec.5.9) It was to set up her own base a mercantile city. It is nothing new, for the dragon gave him 'his power, and his seat and his authority.' The devil sins from the beginning and the beast is there to do his bidding.
These ten horns have ten crowns referring to ten kings,"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,"
Is this "Free" from Sweden? If so, I have missed you on here and am glad to hear from you once again. If you are a different "Free" then welcome to this forum, if you are new here.
The plains signify a great enterprise as with the building of Babel and wickedness is in that weighted lead of one talent. Why the Spirit is giving us these details? The tower of Babel overarches to the last days and wickedness of Babylon is not simply that of a city becoming an epitome of depravity but spiritual wickedness where Babylon shall fall as other cities so spiritually Sodom,Egypt Jerusalem and Babylon are merely names and interchangeable.(Rev.11.8)
Rev.18.19-21
"Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate./Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her./ And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." Notice that the angel drops the stone into the sea and not on the city itself?
The same we see from the POV. "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God" God has no need to remember but it is the Spirit's way of setting destruction in terms of the everlasting Covenant, "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent."(Rev.16.19-21 The same weight as was in the flying ephah.
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,"
What does out of the sea conjure up? The same vision of Daniel described in Ch.7, It was a night vision signifying what was in the Will of God. Whereas St John "was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ./I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,"(Rev.1.9-10) The day refers to the day decreed for the Son, and narrowing it further it is in the now, the day of salvation. The revelation is total since word of God has framed worlds where God has established his Will and in the day decreed for the Son all these must come to pass. Foolishness of man sets him quibble over the day of Sabbath or was it the first day of the week.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."(Dan.7.3) Whereas St John sees a beast rising out of the sea. The sea represents nations (Isa.57.20) and waters of wrath as was in the case of Noah.(Isa.54.9) The beast reenacts the same as mentioned after the great flood, "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there." The tower of Babel was an open challenge to God and we see in the vision of Zechariah, its spiritual significance has a bearing on the beast. In the vision of the flying ephah the prophet asks for the meaning. "Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." ( Zec. 5. 10-11) The ephah signifies the world of mart and wickedness associated with it is to be established. "And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah./And he said, This is wickedness.'(vv.7-8) The plains signify a great enterprise as with the building of Babel
Hello Shimarafa. I am unable to properly grasp your question: "how to last on my prayer alter?" Are you asking about persevering in prayer, or something else? Maybe you could add more information to your request. Thank you.
That is very true Azzan77 (in quoting James 2:24,26). Works (the product or fruit of genuine Faith) must follow saving Faith. But saving Faith can never follow (or, be a product of) Works, or else that Faith is not genuine, but based on works, which cannot save.
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."(2 Cor.3.18)
Darkness was upon the face of the deep. This deep is the bottomless pit for the simple reason the sons of perdition has chose not to be bothered with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. It is to this St John in his gospel writes, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil./ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." ( Jn 3.18-20)
The Spirit in the first two verses inform us what was in the Will of God. He commanded the light to appear. Here we see the true Light as distinct from darkness.
Thw worlds framed by the word of God begins from v.4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
The beast who makes war against the testimony of Jesus Christ is a man of the people, a demagogue. "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,"(Rev.11.7) He shall arise in the end times.
"And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Firstly we shall explain what does the Spirit mean by the face. Three areas we shall consider where the term applies namely the deep, the waters and the face of heaven which is set in terms of the heart of man. God fashioned all hearts alike. (Ps.33.13-15)
We shall begin with this verse which shall determine the quality of the other two. " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Cor.4.6) The glory of Gof is imparted to all hearts alike for the simple reason that 'God fashioneth their hearts alike.' So a son of perdition defines the one who by choice remain impervious to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The living soul implies that soul presents a face where God can work with man. This idea we have in this famous quote.' The heavens declare the glory of God.'. It is thus heart of man interface with heaven as if the face of heaven were a glass. This idea is expressed in this passage. "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:/ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was./ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (Jas.1.23-25)
Faith with works means 'he beholdeth himself and knows what manner of man he is. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:"( 1 John 5.10). There is a growth implied here. We are growing in the knowledge by abiding in his Son, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, ..."
Sometimes its heavy for everyone. Honor God. Try to focus from words in the Bible. The Bible is Alfa and Omega. And always remind the spiritual world from Efesians chapter 6. Put on the Gods Armor.
God bless u with understanding and wisdom if u ask for it. God bless all ppl who is righteous. Rom 5,1
Standfast in the name if the Lord Jesus Halleluja , Amen!
The time of Christ had the religious leadership and scribes as a sort of unstable partnership with the rest of the Roman society. Christ was the polarizing force so that the Herodians; for instance were in league with the Pharisees when it came to crucifying the Son of God. Such situations made for strange bedfellows it seems.
Such is a warning to exercise caution with too much assimilation with any political party; no matter how much they may seem to or claim to adhere to our Christian values. We can vote for or support a candidate without worshipping them; or selling ourselves out to a cause at the expense of the eternal mission for the Kingdom of God which we are as the true church called and commissioned for.
It is an interesting thought in light of the fact that we don't see yet believe today ( John 20:29). The Lord may withhold miracles to avoid having someone commit this unpardonable sin; but that could be conjecture on my part. It is certain though the hearts of many; in fact most were indeed blinded to recognize when their Messiah came whether it was by ignoring the prophecies of His first coming and being obsessed with Him coming back to smite the nations; or just thinking He was a great teacher; or not giving up all to follow the Lord and conveniently downplaying who He was or the fact that we have to surrender ALL to follow Him and die to our old self.
I have also said before that whenever there are true miracles today you would expect as with any Godly people in Christ to be persecuted. You also would expect the enemy to produce similar but false effects along with the many false Christs to follow whenever the Lord is truly at work. This is why true doctrine is so important. If the Disciple's minds were dull ( Matt. 15:16) we shouldn't expect anything better on our part if we aren't walking with our minds being constantly renewed. Also see 2 Cor. 3:14 on the nation of Israel having a veil.
Further thoughts on Matthew 12 in light of Christ's unique position as perfect man and a member of the Godhead.
We need to take some time here to consider the sheer scope and magnitude of what's going on here. In the midst of miracles after several hundred years had passed since the Old Testament scriptures had been written and in reality at least 1000 years since any real miraculous signs and wonders occurred other than the Prophetic warnings of the destruction and exile of Jerusalem and the other Apocalyptic scriptures a person would think there would be rejoicing especially among those who were most familiar with the Old Testament; the Pharisees and other religious scholars. The exact opposite was true.
It was clear who Christ was; you would think at this point. Miracles even unknown from the time of the book of Kings such as blind receiving sight not to mention specific prophecies about Christ did indeed start to win over the common folks. We never see such miracles that do occur in the Old Testament attributed to demons that were of God so this was damnable verbiage and Jesus had to confront it. First of all God Himself was being slandered as well as the Holy Spirit and the unique aspect of the Holy Ghost was that blasphemy against Him CANNOT be forgiven while that of the other members of the Godhead could be.
Jesus had to make sure no one else was led astray by this blasphemy; but also had to spend a lot of time defending those who these religious hypocrites were oppressing. Jesus never asked for anything in the law to be ended; but it was the vain traditions of men adding to the law or bending the rules in the favor of the Pharisees for their greedy gain was the focus.
To be jealous for the Lord is something we need to see today. To maintain fellowship in churches still involves discipleship and at times rebuking others. Leaders need to stand against false teachings and heresy from both within and without. Love takes action against error
General thoughts. By this point in the Gospel of Matthew we see that Jesus had almost constant issues with the Pharisees.
Verses 1-8The interpretation of working on the Sabbath was being exaggerated no doubt; as gleanings from crops were indeed allowed on someone else's field; but not the work per se of using a sickle; same concept applied to grapes or olives; picking as you walk along; so to speak. Jesus brought up the Old Testament rather than extrabiblical additions that the Pharisees were so used to using to demonstrate the illustration of David and the shewbread to justify the Disciples actions eating the grains in the field.
( 1 Samuel 21:1-6).
Verses 8 through 14 show a man in the Synagogue with a withered hand being healed. Interestingly we see no request mentioned for this man to be healed by either himself or others there. Once again they were plotting to kill Jesus for doing "work" on the Sabbath.
Verses 15-21 show that once again Jesus wasn't seeking any more noteriety but instruction not to tell anyone else about Him (verse 16); along with the prophecy about this concept from Isaiah 42:1. It also showed that God drew who He would; and that at least temporarily the crowd wanted to be there with Him (at this point no food was being miraculously produced which would give incentive to those who were merely seeking to have physical needs met). They were at the end of this section asking could this be the Son of David (verse 23). The new section actually begins in verse 22.
Verses 24-37 Verses 31-32 show that the Pharisees indeed were promising the "prince of demons" as being Christ's source for healing and that this was the unforgiveable sin. This whole section is a scathing rebuke for their wickedness in thoughts; words and deeds.
Verses 38-45 show Jesus answering the request of the Pharisees and others for a sign; again harsh rebuke.
Finally the end verse 46-50 shows how the Lord has to trump family.
Hi Jingledue. Since this Site has temporarily altered how responses to questions are viewed, I'll quote a part of your question so you know that this is directed to it. "As a Christian, is it wrong to still consider myself a sinner saved by grace?"
No, it is not wrong to believe that your are "a sinner saved by grace", even though this phrase is not used in the Bible. As you know, in the Church today we use phrases or words to describe a Truth that is evident in the Bible but not the actual words used. Ephesians 2:8,9 is the Scripture that reflects the phrase "a sinner saved by grace". We could say the same about the Triune Nature of God (otherwise, referred to as the Trinity): where there are many verses that describe this profound Nature yet not using that word, Trinity (e.g. Matthew 28:19; John 17:3-5; 1 John 1:1-3; etc.). We use the word 'Rapture', which is derived from the Latin form from the Greek, which means 'to seize or to snatch' (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17). So, there's nothing wrong with using words or phrases not found in the Bible, as long as it correctly & clearly expresses a biblical Truth. But if someone is against using such words or phrases, then I would be equally comfortable in using the direct biblical quotations in lieu.
But the main point of Ephesians 2:8,9 is that our salvation is all of God's Grace & Mercy afforded us - nothing we have done or ever can do could replace or even complement God's Work for us and in us. It is truly God's Gift to us - and a gift cannot be received in exchange for something else, or else it's no longer a gift.
When you say "something is drawing you out"
do you mean to cease from praying or perhaps focus?
Can you explain what you mean by how "to last on your prayer alter"?
Thanks and God bless.
"a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."(13.1) Of this we shall we take up the ten horns of which we find associated with the fourth east. "and it had ten horns./I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots"(Dan.7.7-8)
The beast here rising out of the sea is a composite of the other three beasts mentioned in the night vision. St John sees the beast,"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion."(13.2). From these two visions the ten horns serve as a link to the end times. The Spirit in Gen.1.2 supplied us the hint of the waters serving generations of men in the direct frame of reference of the generation of Jesus Christ. On the hand darkness was upon the face of the deep signifying the generations of sons of perdition who are children of disobedience.
"and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."(13.2) Rising out of the sea he is heading to the land where the vision of the flying ephah in Zechariah's vision has set up a base. It is spiritually called Babylon, "and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." (Rev.18.2-6) Remember the two women, 'and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork' (Zec.5.9) It was to set up her own base a mercantile city. It is nothing new, for the dragon gave him 'his power, and his seat and his authority.' The devil sins from the beginning and the beast is there to do his bidding.
These ten horns have ten crowns referring to ten kings,"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,"
Is this "Free" from Sweden? If so, I have missed you on here and am glad to hear from you once again. If you are a different "Free" then welcome to this forum, if you are new here.
The plains signify a great enterprise as with the building of Babel and wickedness is in that weighted lead of one talent. Why the Spirit is giving us these details? The tower of Babel overarches to the last days and wickedness of Babylon is not simply that of a city becoming an epitome of depravity but spiritual wickedness where Babylon shall fall as other cities so spiritually Sodom,Egypt Jerusalem and Babylon are merely names and interchangeable.(Rev.11.8)
Rev.18.19-21
"Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate./Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her./ And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all." Notice that the angel drops the stone into the sea and not on the city itself?
The same we see from the POV. "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God" God has no need to remember but it is the Spirit's way of setting destruction in terms of the everlasting Covenant, "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent."(Rev.16.19-21 The same weight as was in the flying ephah.
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,"
What does out of the sea conjure up? The same vision of Daniel described in Ch.7, It was a night vision signifying what was in the Will of God. Whereas St John "was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ./I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,"(Rev.1.9-10) The day refers to the day decreed for the Son, and narrowing it further it is in the now, the day of salvation. The revelation is total since word of God has framed worlds where God has established his Will and in the day decreed for the Son all these must come to pass. Foolishness of man sets him quibble over the day of Sabbath or was it the first day of the week.
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."(Dan.7.3) Whereas St John sees a beast rising out of the sea. The sea represents nations (Isa.57.20) and waters of wrath as was in the case of Noah.(Isa.54.9) The beast reenacts the same as mentioned after the great flood, "And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there." The tower of Babel was an open challenge to God and we see in the vision of Zechariah, its spiritual significance has a bearing on the beast. In the vision of the flying ephah the prophet asks for the meaning. "Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." ( Zec. 5. 10-11) The ephah signifies the world of mart and wickedness associated with it is to be established. "And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah./And he said, This is wickedness.'(vv.7-8) The plains signify a great enterprise as with the building of Babel
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."(2 Cor.3.18)
Darkness was upon the face of the deep. This deep is the bottomless pit for the simple reason the sons of perdition has chose not to be bothered with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. It is to this St John in his gospel writes, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil./ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." ( Jn 3.18-20)
The Spirit in the first two verses inform us what was in the Will of God. He commanded the light to appear. Here we see the true Light as distinct from darkness.
Thw worlds framed by the word of God begins from v.4 "And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."
The beast who makes war against the testimony of Jesus Christ is a man of the people, a demagogue. "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them,"(Rev.11.7) He shall arise in the end times.
"And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Firstly we shall explain what does the Spirit mean by the face. Three areas we shall consider where the term applies namely the deep, the waters and the face of heaven which is set in terms of the heart of man. God fashioned all hearts alike. (Ps.33.13-15)
We shall begin with this verse which shall determine the quality of the other two. " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Cor.4.6) The glory of Gof is imparted to all hearts alike for the simple reason that 'God fashioneth their hearts alike.' So a son of perdition defines the one who by choice remain impervious to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The living soul implies that soul presents a face where God can work with man. This idea we have in this famous quote.' The heavens declare the glory of God.'. It is thus heart of man interface with heaven as if the face of heaven were a glass. This idea is expressed in this passage. "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:/ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was./ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." (Jas.1.23-25)
Faith with works means 'he beholdeth himself and knows what manner of man he is. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:"( 1 John 5.10). There is a growth implied here. We are growing in the knowledge by abiding in his Son, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, ..."
God bless u with understanding and wisdom if u ask for it. God bless all ppl who is righteous. Rom 5,1
Standfast in the name if the Lord Jesus Halleluja , Amen!
"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."
James 2:26
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
Blessings
The time of Christ had the religious leadership and scribes as a sort of unstable partnership with the rest of the Roman society. Christ was the polarizing force so that the Herodians; for instance were in league with the Pharisees when it came to crucifying the Son of God. Such situations made for strange bedfellows it seems.
Such is a warning to exercise caution with too much assimilation with any political party; no matter how much they may seem to or claim to adhere to our Christian values. We can vote for or support a candidate without worshipping them; or selling ourselves out to a cause at the expense of the eternal mission for the Kingdom of God which we are as the true church called and commissioned for.
It is an interesting thought in light of the fact that we don't see yet believe today ( John 20:29). The Lord may withhold miracles to avoid having someone commit this unpardonable sin; but that could be conjecture on my part. It is certain though the hearts of many; in fact most were indeed blinded to recognize when their Messiah came whether it was by ignoring the prophecies of His first coming and being obsessed with Him coming back to smite the nations; or just thinking He was a great teacher; or not giving up all to follow the Lord and conveniently downplaying who He was or the fact that we have to surrender ALL to follow Him and die to our old self.
I have also said before that whenever there are true miracles today you would expect as with any Godly people in Christ to be persecuted. You also would expect the enemy to produce similar but false effects along with the many false Christs to follow whenever the Lord is truly at work. This is why true doctrine is so important. If the Disciple's minds were dull ( Matt. 15:16) we shouldn't expect anything better on our part if we aren't walking with our minds being constantly renewed. Also see 2 Cor. 3:14 on the nation of Israel having a veil.
John 13:34
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
John 13:35
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
We need to take some time here to consider the sheer scope and magnitude of what's going on here. In the midst of miracles after several hundred years had passed since the Old Testament scriptures had been written and in reality at least 1000 years since any real miraculous signs and wonders occurred other than the Prophetic warnings of the destruction and exile of Jerusalem and the other Apocalyptic scriptures a person would think there would be rejoicing especially among those who were most familiar with the Old Testament; the Pharisees and other religious scholars. The exact opposite was true.
It was clear who Christ was; you would think at this point. Miracles even unknown from the time of the book of Kings such as blind receiving sight not to mention specific prophecies about Christ did indeed start to win over the common folks. We never see such miracles that do occur in the Old Testament attributed to demons that were of God so this was damnable verbiage and Jesus had to confront it. First of all God Himself was being slandered as well as the Holy Spirit and the unique aspect of the Holy Ghost was that blasphemy against Him CANNOT be forgiven while that of the other members of the Godhead could be.
Jesus had to make sure no one else was led astray by this blasphemy; but also had to spend a lot of time defending those who these religious hypocrites were oppressing. Jesus never asked for anything in the law to be ended; but it was the vain traditions of men adding to the law or bending the rules in the favor of the Pharisees for their greedy gain was the focus.
To be jealous for the Lord is something we need to see today. To maintain fellowship in churches still involves discipleship and at times rebuking others. Leaders need to stand against false teachings and heresy from both within and without. Love takes action against error
General thoughts. By this point in the Gospel of Matthew we see that Jesus had almost constant issues with the Pharisees.
Verses 1-8The interpretation of working on the Sabbath was being exaggerated no doubt; as gleanings from crops were indeed allowed on someone else's field; but not the work per se of using a sickle; same concept applied to grapes or olives; picking as you walk along; so to speak. Jesus brought up the Old Testament rather than extrabiblical additions that the Pharisees were so used to using to demonstrate the illustration of David and the shewbread to justify the Disciples actions eating the grains in the field.
( 1 Samuel 21:1-6).
Verses 8 through 14 show a man in the Synagogue with a withered hand being healed. Interestingly we see no request mentioned for this man to be healed by either himself or others there. Once again they were plotting to kill Jesus for doing "work" on the Sabbath.
Verses 15-21 show that once again Jesus wasn't seeking any more noteriety but instruction not to tell anyone else about Him (verse 16); along with the prophecy about this concept from Isaiah 42:1. It also showed that God drew who He would; and that at least temporarily the crowd wanted to be there with Him (at this point no food was being miraculously produced which would give incentive to those who were merely seeking to have physical needs met). They were at the end of this section asking could this be the Son of David (verse 23). The new section actually begins in verse 22.
Verses 24-37 Verses 31-32 show that the Pharisees indeed were promising the "prince of demons" as being Christ's source for healing and that this was the unforgiveable sin. This whole section is a scathing rebuke for their wickedness in thoughts; words and deeds.
Verses 38-45 show Jesus answering the request of the Pharisees and others for a sign; again harsh rebuke.
Finally the end verse 46-50 shows how the Lord has to trump family.
No, it is not wrong to believe that your are "a sinner saved by grace", even though this phrase is not used in the Bible. As you know, in the Church today we use phrases or words to describe a Truth that is evident in the Bible but not the actual words used. Ephesians 2:8,9 is the Scripture that reflects the phrase "a sinner saved by grace". We could say the same about the Triune Nature of God (otherwise, referred to as the Trinity): where there are many verses that describe this profound Nature yet not using that word, Trinity (e.g. Matthew 28:19; John 17:3-5; 1 John 1:1-3; etc.). We use the word 'Rapture', which is derived from the Latin form from the Greek, which means 'to seize or to snatch' (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17). So, there's nothing wrong with using words or phrases not found in the Bible, as long as it correctly & clearly expresses a biblical Truth. But if someone is against using such words or phrases, then I would be equally comfortable in using the direct biblical quotations in lieu.
But the main point of Ephesians 2:8,9 is that our salvation is all of God's Grace & Mercy afforded us - nothing we have done or ever can do could replace or even complement God's Work for us and in us. It is truly God's Gift to us - and a gift cannot be received in exchange for something else, or else it's no longer a gift.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Please Sign In or Register to post and view all comments...
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?