Study of the Bible Community Group
The Bible unfolds like literature, and we follow the instructions like marching orders. The last orders supersede the previous ones. So the New Covenant (Testament) gives the design of who we are, what we do, and how we meet. What do you see in it, that can help us live better?
Part 1
The Return of Christ. Many people dont realy believe that Christ will actually return to earth. We'll start with, what happens when he returns. Let's see what the bible has to say on this. This will also be in parts too. That way, it will be easier to read and study.
At Christ's return, "the kingdoms of this world (will) become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). Then God's will and desires will be completely and openly performed in this earth. Hence Jesus' command for us to pray: "Thy kingdom come (that) Thy will be done in earth, as it is (now) in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Because of this, the "kingdom of God" is a phrase interchangeable with "the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13:11 cp. Mark 4:11). Note that we never read of "the kingdom IN heaven", it is the kingdom OF heaven which will be established by Christ on earth at his return. As God's will is completely obeyed by the angels in heaven (Ps. 103:19-21), so it will be in the future kingdom of God, when the earth will only be inhabited by the righteous, who will then be "equal unto the angels" (Luke 20:36).
The present balance of power in the world is split between many nations, some strong and some weak. Daniel then saw a little stone hit the image on the feet, destroying it, and itself growing into a great mountain which filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:34,35). This stone represented Jesus (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:4-8). The "mountain" which He will create all over the earth represents the everlasting Kingdom of God, which will be established at his second coming. This prophecy is in itself proof that the kingdom will be on earth, not in heaven.
That the kingdom will only be fully established in reality upon Christ's return is a theme of other passages. Paul speaks of Jesus judging the living and dead "at his appearing and his kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:1). Micah 4:1 picks up Daniel's idea of God's kingdom being like a huge mountain: "In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established"; there then follows a description of what this kingdom will be like on the earth (Mic. 4:1-4). God will give Jesus the throne of David in Jerusalem: "He shall reign...for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32,33). This necessitates there being a certain point at which Jesus begins to reign on David's throne, and his kingdom begins. This will be at Christ's return. "Of his kingdom there shall be no end" connects with Dan. 2:44: "The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, it shall not be left to other people". Rev. 11:15 uses similar language in describing how that at the second coming, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever". Again, there must be a specific time when Christ's kingdom and reign begins on earth; this will be at His return.
We see that on these verses that Christ will be on earth reigning forever and ever.
The Return of Christ. Many people dont realy believe that Christ will actually return to earth. We'll start with, what happens when he returns. Let's see what the bible has to say on this. This will also be in parts too. That way, it will be easier to read and study.
At Christ's return, "the kingdoms of this world (will) become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ and he shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). Then God's will and desires will be completely and openly performed in this earth. Hence Jesus' command for us to pray: "Thy kingdom come (that) Thy will be done in earth, as it is (now) in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Because of this, the "kingdom of God" is a phrase interchangeable with "the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 13:11 cp. Mark 4:11). Note that we never read of "the kingdom IN heaven", it is the kingdom OF heaven which will be established by Christ on earth at his return. As God's will is completely obeyed by the angels in heaven (Ps. 103:19-21), so it will be in the future kingdom of God, when the earth will only be inhabited by the righteous, who will then be "equal unto the angels" (Luke 20:36).
The present balance of power in the world is split between many nations, some strong and some weak. Daniel then saw a little stone hit the image on the feet, destroying it, and itself growing into a great mountain which filled the whole earth (Dan. 2:34,35). This stone represented Jesus (Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; 1 Peter 2:4-8). The "mountain" which He will create all over the earth represents the everlasting Kingdom of God, which will be established at his second coming. This prophecy is in itself proof that the kingdom will be on earth, not in heaven.
That the kingdom will only be fully established in reality upon Christ's return is a theme of other passages. Paul speaks of Jesus judging the living and dead "at his appearing and his kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:1). Micah 4:1 picks up Daniel's idea of God's kingdom being like a huge mountain: "In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established"; there then follows a description of what this kingdom will be like on the earth (Mic. 4:1-4). God will give Jesus the throne of David in Jerusalem: "He shall reign...for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32,33). This necessitates there being a certain point at which Jesus begins to reign on David's throne, and his kingdom begins. This will be at Christ's return. "Of his kingdom there shall be no end" connects with Dan. 2:44: "The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, it shall not be left to other people". Rev. 11:15 uses similar language in describing how that at the second coming, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever". Again, there must be a specific time when Christ's kingdom and reign begins on earth; this will be at His return.
We see that on these verses that Christ will be on earth reigning forever and ever.
Wow. I dont understand something... Dont you believe strongly in your faith? Dont you want to share with the world on what you know and believe? Do you feel that your "wrong" with your knowledge on scripture? I dont think you do. I think you feel that you know the truth on the bible and I think that's great. What's wrong with that? I dont think there's anything wrong with that. So I really dont understand what your trying to say here. But that's ok, dont worry about it my friend. I realy enjoy our posts, esp. yours. I realy do.
.....Here are my basic principles that I have acquired...
...1) We are STILL under the rule of satan and are in his kingdom.
...2) To become acceptable to God sin must cease opening the ability to get the Spirit of God.
...3) Israel has been brought back to their land per bible prophecy.
...4) Per bible prophecy just Israel's existence was to be a problem for the world.
...5) Christ must first return before the Kingdom is set up and handed to him, as satan is locked away 1000 years...
...6) After this 1000 years of living under the throne of Christ, satan is let loose and gets hoards to come up against God's chosen and Christ....
...7) The enemies one last time get wiped out and all bible prophecy is now fulfilled.
...8) We are to be changed from corruptible to incorruptible; as like the angels are.
...9) There will be no marriage.
...10) Anything in-between is not fully known; to me at least.
Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Apart from humility we can never see God or his kingdom. You stated you try to humble yourself. How do you practice humility? Alot of people will tell me humility is an attitude. Well humility sort of begins with an attitude, but that is the beginning, not the end. Confessing our sins is an act of humility. So is praying(but not always). HUmility is like love, you only have as much as you give...if you dont practice it actively you dont have much.
SEveral things I practice which I consider to be acts of humility(feel free to correct me if you dont consider these things humble acts, nevertheless you can not say I do not practice them unless you have some evidence of this)
It is written, a good saying is this, "Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the worst." It isnt only a good saying, it is a good thing to adopt as a way of life.
Got tells us in several places, to always give thanks for all things. This doesnt mean thank God when we recieve what we want. It means thanking God for everything we recieve, everything that is taken from us...everything we feel...everything we think. IT even includes me thanking God for every message kingsent puts on this board, no matter how far out in left field he is. The blessings of his posts is that he continually reveals his heart...as does everyone else here.
Not only do I thank God for all things, I recieve everything with JOY! This amazes me. I spent alot of years unhappy and hopeless. People take notice of this all the time. I do not react to life the way others do. IN my mind these tings take very little humility because of God's promise. WE know that in all things God works for the good of those who love HIm who are called according to his purpose. My lawnmower broke today. The deck has been rotted throu from years of being outside in the wet humid climate of louisiana where I live. My reaction? Thanking God, praising God trusting God...and pure joy! OF course right now I have no idea how it can get repaired, I have no money for it and my grass is half cut! lol! I do not worry. I pray with thanksgiving. However I am not praying for the lawnmower. It belongs to God just as I do, and does everything I own and use. It is all God's to tear down or build up.
I continually offer my body to God as a living and holy sacrifice. This is my spiritual act of worship. It is completely up to God what my body goes throu, whether or not I am sick or healthy, comfortable or not, rich or poor. What do I do? Praise God, thank God, worship God, and I trust God even to teach me just how to humble myself, as God knows I am eager to follow HIm. (I wasnt always so eager but I have been like this for years now)
NO one can understand God's word using their own mind. This is why it was written, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. This does not mean we can not understand, but it does mean the proud will always be blind. I refuse to take offense, I refuse to be angry I refuse to be impatient. I refuse to stop thanking and praising God for all things.
I do not practice any of these things perfectly. But it obviously has been enough of a start because I am continually feeling God lifting me up. God is continually making me feel as tho I am HIs very favorite child. (I expect God would like to make all of us feel HIM this way too) It is more wonderful than any words could express.
I am confident that I do know the truth. My confidence is not in myself or in my mind. It is in my God whom I worship and trust to teach and guide me.
I am continually praying for you that God pour HIs spirit out on you but even in this it will not help if you are hindering God's spirit. You are so very close to the truth! It is practically breathing down your neck! It will be amazing when God opens your eyes because you will grieve and rejoice simultaneously. I do say when, not if.
I actually see many tings that seem like humility coming from you. YOu are not disturbed as most people who think they are christian get so easily disturbed. You do not argue you just discuss. It is really a pleasure to share discussions with you but, not so much as it is a plesure to share with others who are as filled with God's spirit as I am. There are some few people I know, that when we speak the spirit of God within me leaps and bounds and somersaults for joy. I feel as tho joy is coming out of every cell of my body. These people are thirsty for every word that I speak...which is incredibly humbling. To imagine, God is using me to give to others what he has given to me. When we discuss things, the spirit within me is quiet. At least you arent grieving it like many others do.
Oh by the way, you said God doesnt grieve. You are wrong. Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father, and Jesus wept. God does grieve. God grieves every time we sin against one another. EAch time one of His creation harms another, God grieves. EAch time any whom God loves is suffering, God suffers with us.
The apostles worshipped Jesus. Jesus even quoted to satan the verse(when satan asked Jesus to worship him) it is written worship God and serve HIm only. Yet Jesus did not rebuke his disiples for worshipping him! Saul understood exactly what the christians were preaching, that this man Jesus was the messiah, God with us. The jews expected something different, just as you do. YOu do not understand but the jews and saul understood. When Jesus said I and the father are one, they picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy.
You talked about the parable...one after Jesus was presented as king, but there are several things inbetween. One you over looked, the chief priests asked jesus, dont you see what they are saying? They expected Jesus to rebuke the children because they were actually praising HIm as tho He were God. The phrase Jesus quoted came from psalm 8vs 2. If you dont know the psalm by heart...read it. Dont try to explain all of these things with your mind, let God explain them to you.
Even in the parable, what does it say? He sends his son, expecting they will respect him, but they kill him. Jesus told that parable before his death. You keep saying the kingdom wont be here until christs return, but you are talking abou the second coming of Christ. His first coming was being resurrected from the dead. He allready left. Death is about as far gone as a person can get isnt it? Where i am going you can not follow!
He came back. This never happened before. Jesus wasnt raised by someone praying, or by an apostle calling him out of the grave. DEAth had no hold over him...he was without sin. Death is a the wage of sin, a wage Jesus paid for all of us, but was not guilty of himself so death could not have any hold on him. Satan figured, ill kill him, they will have no king. Satan knows God's word throu and throu but he has no understanding of it. The proud can never see the truth that is revealed only to the humble.
God wrote all things this way so that only those who love God can know Him.
If a person is unwilling to be wrong about anything, that person can never know the truth. I am confident that what I believe is from God but God demonstrates to me over and over again that I am walking in the truth. When I go astray(and i still often do) He shows me that too. I am willing to be wrong about anything, before God and before each of you. A person who isnt, isnt worshipping or loving God, they are worshipping and loving their own mind. God is true, I am His.
Philippians 2:5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Apart from humility we can never see God or his kingdom. You stated you try to humble yourself. How do you practice humility? Alot of people will tell me humility is an attitude. Well humility sort of begins with an attitude, but that is the beginning, not the end. Confessing our sins is an act of humility. So is praying(but not always). HUmility is like love, you only have as much as you give...if you dont practice it actively you dont have much.
SEveral things I practice which I consider to be acts of humility(feel free to correct me if you dont consider these things humble acts, nevertheless you can not say I do not practice them unless you have some evidence of this)
It is written, a good saying is this, "Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the worst." It isnt only a good saying, it is a good thing to adopt as a way of life.
Got tells us in several places, to always give thanks for all things. This doesnt mean thank God when we recieve what we want. It means thanking God for everything we recieve, everything that is taken from us...everything we feel...everything we think. IT even includes me thanking God for every message kingsent puts on this board, no matter how far out in left field he is. The blessings of his posts is that he continually reveals his heart...as does everyone else here.
Not only do I thank God for all things, I recieve everything with JOY! This amazes me. I spent alot of years unhappy and hopeless. People take notice of this all the time. I do not react to life the way others do. IN my mind these tings take very little humility because of God's promise. WE know that in all things God works for the good of those who love HIm who are called according to his purpose. My lawnmower broke today. The deck has been rotted throu from years of being outside in the wet humid climate of louisiana where I live. My reaction? Thanking God, praising God trusting God...and pure joy! OF course right now I have no idea how it can get repaired, I have no money for it and my grass is half cut! lol! I do not worry. I pray with thanksgiving. However I am not praying for the lawnmower. It belongs to God just as I do, and does everything I own and use. It is all God's to tear down or build up.
I continually offer my body to God as a living and holy sacrifice. This is my spiritual act of worship. It is completely up to God what my body goes throu, whether or not I am sick or healthy, comfortable or not, rich or poor. What do I do? Praise God, thank God, worship God, and I trust God even to teach me just how to humble myself, as God knows I am eager to follow HIm. (I wasnt always so eager but I have been like this for years now)
NO one can understand God's word using their own mind. This is why it was written, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. This does not mean we can not understand, but it does mean the proud will always be blind. I refuse to take offense, I refuse to be angry I refuse to be impatient. I refuse to stop thanking and praising God for all things.
I do not practice any of these things perfectly. But it obviously has been enough of a start because I am continually feeling God lifting me up. God is continually making me feel as tho I am HIs very favorite child. (I expect God would like to make all of us feel HIM this way too) It is more wonderful than any words could express.
I am confident that I do know the truth. My confidence is not in myself or in my mind. It is in my God whom I worship and trust to teach and guide me.
I am continually praying for you that God pour HIs spirit out on you but even in this it will not help if you are hindering God's spirit. You are so very close to the truth! It is practically breathing down your neck! It will be amazing when God opens your eyes because you will grieve and rejoice simultaneously. I do say when, not if.
I actually see many tings that seem like humility coming from you. YOu are not disturbed as most people who think they are christian get so easily disturbed. You do not argue you just discuss. It is really a pleasure to share discussions with you but, not so much as it is a plesure to share with others who are as filled with God's spirit as I am. There are some few people I know, that when we speak the spirit of God within me leaps and bounds and somersaults for joy. I feel as tho joy is coming out of every cell of my body. These people are thirsty for every word that I speak...which is incredibly humbling. To imagine, God is using me to give to others what he has given to me. When we discuss things, the spirit within me is quiet. At least you arent grieving it like many others do.
Oh by the way, you said God doesnt grieve. You are wrong. Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father, and Jesus wept. God does grieve. God grieves every time we sin against one another. EAch time one of His creation harms another, God grieves. EAch time any whom God loves is suffering, God suffers with us.
The apostles worshipped Jesus. Jesus even quoted to satan the verse(when satan asked Jesus to worship him) it is written worship God and serve HIm only. Yet Jesus did not rebuke his disiples for worshipping him! Saul understood exactly what the christians were preaching, that this man Jesus was the messiah, God with us. The jews expected something different, just as you do. YOu do not understand but the jews and saul understood. When Jesus said I and the father are one, they picked up stones to stone him for blasphemy.
You talked about the parable...one after Jesus was presented as king, but there are several things inbetween. One you over looked, the chief priests asked jesus, dont you see what they are saying? They expected Jesus to rebuke the children because they were actually praising HIm as tho He were God. The phrase Jesus quoted came from psalm 8vs 2. If you dont know the psalm by heart...read it. Dont try to explain all of these things with your mind, let God explain them to you.
Even in the parable, what does it say? He sends his son, expecting they will respect him, but they kill him. Jesus told that parable before his death. You keep saying the kingdom wont be here until christs return, but you are talking abou the second coming of Christ. His first coming was being resurrected from the dead. He allready left. Death is about as far gone as a person can get isnt it? Where i am going you can not follow!
He came back. This never happened before. Jesus wasnt raised by someone praying, or by an apostle calling him out of the grave. DEAth had no hold over him...he was without sin. Death is a the wage of sin, a wage Jesus paid for all of us, but was not guilty of himself so death could not have any hold on him. Satan figured, ill kill him, they will have no king. Satan knows God's word throu and throu but he has no understanding of it. The proud can never see the truth that is revealed only to the humble.
God wrote all things this way so that only those who love God can know Him.
If a person is unwilling to be wrong about anything, that person can never know the truth. I am confident that what I believe is from God but God demonstrates to me over and over again that I am walking in the truth. When I go astray(and i still often do) He shows me that too. I am willing to be wrong about anything, before God and before each of you. A person who isnt, isnt worshipping or loving God, they are worshipping and loving their own mind. God is true, I am His.
.....The issue is not that people are refusing to do good.....For many do mostly good things but God knows them not....
....My easiest view on this is that claiming Christians are worshiping demons and satan; not as a minority but as a majority.....Most will totally disagree with me on this matter but it really does not change the facts,,,,,
....Biblically it is clearly stated one cannot partake with demons and also be joined to Christ.....
....So if I am bowing myself to idols and jacked with demons; does not matter all the GOOD WORKS I do.....
....For if I give all my money away, feed the poor, help the sick and etc.....But go every Sunday and bow myself to idols, demons and satan.....Did my good works supersede my demon worship?....Or is my good works enough to override bowing thyself to satan?
.....I am not saying doing good is bad.....
....If the doing of good could gain one heaven; what cause would Christ have to die for?....The same for law adherence.....For if Commandment keeping, alone, was enough to enter; no need for Christ then.....
....This world is really fully jacked.....People are praying calling out the name God or Jesus and are in fact worshiping satan.....There is NO way you can tell a Christian who is behaving thyself that a steeple is a symbolic Baal worship marker and that bowing to a cross is a no no.....No one will listen and you will just be blacklisted a lunatic.....
....The world is in complete desolation!!!!!!!
So a physical earth is a fallen earth, to me. Any kingdom, with distant rule and punitive measures, would be obsolete under the Jeremiah 31:31 arrangement.
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
So physical/spiritual bodies like Jesus'? I don't get it. Why the need for gravity, disease, a "throne"- If he says " I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." It would seem needless to let perfect people stumble around in an imperfect world!
Doesnt scripture tell us that there will be a resurrection of the dead? Doesnt scripture tell us that the "dead in the graves" will hear his voice? What is the first thing that Christ will do at his return? Raise the dead and judge the world.
Bodily resurrection Tom is mentioned all thru the bible.
Isaiah 26v19, Dan. 12v2, John 2v28-29, 6v39-44, 1 Corin 15
Jer. 31 is future prophecy when Christ is already here. Isreal restored or being restored at first. God will make a new covenant with them.
[It would seem needless to let perfect people stumble around in an imperfect world!]
The world will be still be imperfect when Jesus returns. It will take a thousand years to finish his work. After the first thousand years, then Jesus hands over the kingdom back to God. And God will be all and in all. And at that time, everyone will be immortal, perfect spiritual beings. No more death or sin.
In Genesis 50
2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, 'I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.' Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return."
6 And Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear."
40 days and swearing. We are told not to swear, which is beside the point. But is it? Where were their priorities? There seemed to be some terror about where and how they were buried:
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."
26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
And when Moses died, God would not suffer all that nonsense. The people may have worshiped his corpse, if they could have enshrined it:
"But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you." Jude 1:9
Deut 34
5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD,
6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.
But in the New Testament, to a man that would have followed him:
"Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God." Luke 9:60
So I think 1000 years may be figurative of these long seasons of delay or improvement. Not that we see much improvement, with the naked eye.
We will be as the angels
Not being given in marriage
Not being restored to former marriages
Abraham and Issac and Jacob are still alive!
Luke 20:34-38
34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,
35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage,
36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him."
Luke 20 says they "live", not "lived", nor will "live". They that believe on Jesus shall never die:
John 10:28 "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
John 11:26 "and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
What???
Tom, look at verse 27, "Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,"
This tells us that the Sadducees didnt believe in resurrection. And they tried to trick Jesus with their question about what are we going to be like when we are raised and in his kingdom. Jesus tells them we will be like the angels. Immortal being. "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead," You see here, he's talking about the resurrection of the dead. All the dead shall here his voice. Where are the dead? In the ground.
Verse 38 "Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him." Talking about resurrection and eternal life. He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. Eternal life right there. Awsome!
[Luke 20 says they "live", not "lived", nor will "live". They that believe on Jesus shall never die:]
It's talking about eternal life here Tom. When Christ returns, then he will give us our rewards and promises, which is eternal life.
[John 10:28 "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
John 11:26 "and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"]
There you go! Again, eternal life at his coming. And who lives and believes in me shall never die. Again, he's talking about at his return, he will give us that.
He NOT saying there is an after life. That actually contradicts scripture. The bible says that we die. We are like the grass. In death there is nothing. You cannot praise God in death. The dead know nothing.... That is why there will be a resurrection. We will be brought to Christ at judgement. Sin in the flesh has to die. We read that in Hebrews and Romans. We all sin. Death follows sin. Death wouldnt be death if we are still alive somewhere. Right Tom?
I know, isnt it? I'm still trying to figure out where you get your beliefs.
[He is the resurrection. We shall never die.]
He is the resurrection. HOw come you dont believe in that? And we do die. The bible is clear on that. IT says that we all return to dust. When we never die is when we become immortal. But not until then. Remember those verses that I pulled from scripture on death? You might want to re-read those....
.....Some places in the bible it sounds like some of the dead are sleeping in dust.....
.....Other places show God's chosen waiting for something, as these are given a white robe and asked to wait just a while longer......
.....It is in clear evidence that some of the Patriarch's are not dead or are not sitting in wait somewhere by Jesus plain testimony and that He did allow him to see that in fact some of those old timers are in fact up and at it......
.....A resurrection of God's people is given as an assurance...A simplistic train of thought would be a fact that something must be dead in order to re-arise it from such a state.....
.....However against making this simplistic view a in fact; fact, clearly scripture makes a clear point of showing God's people are not dead in the dust.....It makes no sense that God's people are dead and in the dust and he is visiting them handing out white robes....." Hang out in the dust a little while longer my friends; here is a white robe to wear; will keep the worms from a ceasing to devour your dead flesh....."
....Of course such thinking is nonsense......
.....Take the two-witnesses who have not yet been sent.....These 2 die in Rome, lie dead for 3 days +, and God places life into them as they zing off, body and all and disappear in the clouds.....Where are their flesh suits going?....Because flesh CANNOT inherit the kingdom of God.......
.....The other issue to attempt to figure is that once we leave the body we are now in a spirit body that does not deal with flesh desires....So for the saved to be re-shot into the flesh all over again makes not much sense......
.....Because the flesh is subject to death and erosion after time.....So, if I have already shed the flesh and have disposed of it; how is it possible to re-enter a body of death?...For if I am back in the flesh why not marry?...If I am back in the flesh I am most assuredly NOT like an angel....And if I am back in the flesh a sword to me neck will re-send me into death once again which is completely anti-scripture.....
.....However an alternative view to some of the above is that we are clearly told that Christ is returning to the earth.....That His chosen will rule along with Him for the thousand year period.....After satan is locked away he is let loose again and gets throngs to attack God and his people once again.....
.....One issue about this is that if we are not back in the flesh why would these people think to have an ability to kill what cannot be killed?....And why go through this 1000+ year period of time when in the end a new earth and heaven are to created, as God's light is what will shine and not a sun....Heaven and earth will have no separation anymore.....
.....Because of all the above facts....And that the exact how it will be is not given.....An attempted configuration on all of it is impossible because opposing views can be held, as full facts of the full picture is not given.....
.....Since the full picture IS NOT fully given; laying a claim to assuredly know what is not shown is a never ending futile effort....
.....This kingdom focus has no real value and is a never ending non-stop debatable issue....It would have been the equivalent of someone at the age when I was 16 telling me one day God is going to work strongly with you.....I would have thought that person nuts as I would have went back to my beer and bothered my girlfriend about getting some loving.....What I THOUGHT my future was going to be took a super turn I had no clue about....Just the same forcing future events to fit in a must be is a waste of time for certain turns are ahead that are unknown.....