KEY TO UNDERSTANDING

THE KEYS OF UNDERSTANDING

                “Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward He said:

                “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” Numbers 12:5-8

                “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He (Jesus) explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Luke 24:27

                “Now He (Jesus) said to them: ’These are My words which I spoke you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

                How do we know that the Bible is true? How do we know that Jesus is who He claimed to be? How do we know that He hears our prayers and answers them? How do we know that God created us and that He loves us enough to redeem us from our rebellion? How do we know that He will come again and receive us unto Himself?

                We know these things because the Bible tells us so… and there has never in the history of the world been a book more thoroughly authenticated and verified than the Bible. The New Covenant perfectly fulfills the Old Covenant and the Old Covenant is the perfect foundation for the New. And God did not just give us a book full of platitudes. He wrote His story in history and that is why it is called “History,” His Story.

                Try as they may to prove the Bible wrong, Archeologists keep digging up proof that it is true. Every time they are looking for something the Bible talks about and they can’t find it, the gleefully exclaim that the Bible isn’t true after all. Their exaltations make the news… but when they later find out that they were looking in the wrong place and they do find the evidence… well that doesn’t make the news.

                Key points in biblical history such as the crossing of the Red Sea, the encampment of about a million and a half people at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Noah’s flood and the Ark of the Covenant… these things have all been verified. Chariot wheels and men’s bones on the floor of the real crossing point in the Red Sea complete with pillars on either bank placed there as a memorial by Solomon… massive amounts of evidence for Israel’s encampment, fire on Mt. Sinai, water from the rock and their rebellious worship of the golden calf… all of these things are abundantly evident now that the correct Mt. Sinai has been found in Arabia, just as Paul said.

                Noah’s ark has been found along with many stories told by the tribes and villages that surround Mt. Ararat even to this day. And there are stories of a great flood in nearly every ancient culture and even among those remote cultures that dot the world and the jungles to this day. And everywhere Archeologists dig, when they get to a certain depth they encounter a 5 or 6 foot layer of sediment and every time, no matter where it is in the world, they always say the same thing. “Evidently there was local flooding of some ancient river in the area.” And they never bother to provide evidence of a river.

                Mankind has created an evolutionary story in defiance of God and no matter what the artifacts say if it doesn’t fit their evolutionary story, they boot it out, or store in and the deep vaults of the Smithsonian Institute. The movie “Indiana Jones” was telling the truth about that.

                Thousands of bones of giants found in the burial mounds in the U.S. and around the world are routinely taken from public sight, because they would prove the Genesis 6 story of the Nephilim and so they confiscate every bone and they try to tell us that normal everyday natives built structures out of stones weighing 100,000 or 200,000 pounds being quarried from one place and hauled over mountains and valleys to a location on some distant mountain peak by normal people using normal ancient means, in spite of the fact that we still can’t do so with our best equipment today.

                I have been to Machu Pechu in Peru. I’ve been to Cuzco and seen the ruins of massive stones fit together with such precision that you can’t slide a knife or a piece of paper between them. I’ve been to the pyramids to the sun and moon outside of Mexico City and Belize. And what about Egypt? Who really built the pyramids and the sphinx? We couldn’t build them now, so how did they build them then? The true story has been covered up on these things simply because it doesn’t fit their evolutionary script. They were built before the flood.

                Even Christians give way to science. They join with the evolutionary story and yet claim to believe in Jesus… but Jesus based His authenticity on Moses and He quotes Daniel, whom they say never existed and He is the Son of David whom they say was only legend and He refers to the Wisdom of Solomon whom they also write off as legend.

                Friends the rebellion of mankind is about to come face to face with the truth of God’s Word and it isn’t going to be pretty. This clash of two histories is about to meet on the battlefield and when they do, the Lord says that the whole world will know that He is God. Think of Muslims saying that Jews never lived in Israel historically as the United Nations chooses to agree with them… even as the city of David and the palace of David and thousands of artifacts from both Jewish history and early Christianity are unearthed. How can mankind be so willingly blind?

                What about Christians today that deny that there is any significance to Israel being in their own land today in spite of dozens of Bible promises to that effect? Willingly blind.

                “And you will come from your place in the remote parts of the north, and many peoples with you, all of them riding horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It will come about in the LAST DAYS that I will bring you against My land, in order that the nations may know Me when I shall be sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog.” Ez. 38:15, 16.

                “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on the day of battle, and on that day His feet will stand on the Mt. of Olives …” Zech. 14:2-4a.

                Did not Jesus depart this earth from the Mt. of Olives and did the angels say that He would return in like manor as they saw Him go? Jesus will return to the Mt. of Olives and it will split in two making a broad plain and then He will ride into Jerusalem to take up His millennial reign.

                But look at what Satan is doing right now in fulfillment of these texts: Are not the armies pushing against the borders of Israel right now. Are not the leaders of the Magog Invasion (Putin, Erdogan and Rouhani) meeting right now to discuss strategy under the guise of bringing peace to Syria? And what about the city of Jerusalem being divided? Do not the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as their capital? Isn’t that what the coming war is partially about?  

                And when the third temple is built and the angel is sent to measure it, does not Revelation 11:1, 2 tell us that they will leave out the outer court because it has been given to the Gentiles? And is that not their current plans simply because of the Dome of the Rock? How can we not see that these are the Gentiles to which that area has been given to?

                And it is during the measuring of that temple that the Two Witnesses show up and prophesy in sackcloth for 1260 days. (AKA 42 months, or 3 ½ years)

                Some of us have been studying this stuff for all of our lives. We didn’t know how it would happen. We couldn’t have imagined how these things could happen without today’s technologies, or today’s issues in the world, but now we are staring them right in the face.

                In something akin to the clash of the Titans, Truth and error, sin and righteousness, light and darkness, good and evil are coming to a climactic battle and the winner takes all. Will it be the New World Order and the global cabal of Lucifer, or the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that will win the day?

                Well… if history (His Story) is any indication, then I think that the Bible is going to be right on that score as well.

                I tend to believe that before this year is over, these conflicts are going to break into our peaceful and protected lives and many Christians are going to go into panic mode. Their faith has been built upon a presumption of peace and safety. Their only strategy has being escape in the rapture. And I cannot presume to tell you when the rapture will occur, but we know that we will be here to see a great falling away and the man of sin revealed. (2 Thess. 2:3, 4) We will be here to see the antichrist and we will likely be here to face the Mark of the Beast since Jesus warned us not to take it.

                The bare naked truth is that we have not been promised anything concerning tribulation, other than that we will have it… but we HAVE been promised that we will not be here to face the wrath of God. (Rom 5:9, 1 Thess. 1:10, 5:9, Rev. 3:10) But notice that the promise of Rev. 3: 10 has been granted to those of Philadelphia and not Laodicea. And I believe that Philadelphia and Laodicea run parallel to Jesus parable of the ten virgins. Five are wise and enter into the marriage supper, while five are foolish and they must go out and buy oil from those who sell. Likewise Laodicea must buy gold tried in the fire and both of those things seem to indicate being saved yet as through fire. The good news is that if they overcame they would yet reign with Christ.

                Paul gives us a hint of such a situation in 1 Cor. 5:5 concerning an incestuous man in the congregation there. He said: “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

                Let’s review this for those who don’t understand: We are made up of three parts: spirit, soul and body. When we are justified our spirit is saved, when we are sanctified, our soul is saved and when we are glorified then our body will be saved.

                This matter of teaching our soul to live by the spirit rather than the flesh is serious business. And that is why false grace is so devastatingly wrong. Many are taught to presume that if our spirit is saved, then our soul is saved also. Yes, our spirit is saved instantly when we receive Jesus as Savior, but our soul is saved as we receive Him as Lord. We learn to put away the deeds of the flesh and to serve the Spirit. This process is called Sanctification. Then at His coming our body is also glorified and saved. It is all done by His power and not our own, but we must enter into it and cooperate with it, believe it and obey it.

                This is what is meant by Paul in 1 Thess. 5:23, 24 when he said: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you and He also will bring it to pass.”

                This is not taught in most churches, so people glibly say, I got saved 20 years ago when I came to the altar. I got my ticket to heaven. Never mind that they have not grown in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Never mind that they do not walk with Him and talk with Him and serve His Holy Spirit rather than their flesh. Never mind that they haven’t changed one iota and they still cheat and gossip and back bite and fail to display any of the fruit of the Spirit in and through their lives.

                 They may have their ticket to heaven, but they are not fit for heaven and as Paul seems to indicate, they may be saved in spirit only and not be rewarded with a resurrection body. I don’t presume to know how this works, but I do know this. When we die our born again spirit goes back to God and in that spirit we dwell in heaven until the second coming of the Lord when He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep (1Thess 3:13, 4:14) and we will receive our resurrection body then… at the resurrection of the body.

                Well, these are not doctrines to argue over, but thoughts to ponder since we, like the evolutionists, tend to overlook everything that doesn’t fit our predetermined view. But if we want to understand the truth, we need to lay ourselves bare before the Lord and leaving all behind we follow Jesus pressing toward the mark of our high calling in Christ Jesus.

                More than tradition, we want to know the truth and we want to walk with Him who is the Way the Truth and the Life and we want to be transformed into His image, being transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus. Truth and error, sin and righteousness, good and evil, Christ and Satan, are coming onto the battlefield for the final clash of the Titans and we need to know which army we are in and what we are fighting for. We have been given the weapons of our warfare. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

                We may die in the process, but as Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” We simply join the army on the other side… the cloud of witnesses by which we are surrounded. The church of the first born in heaven and the spirits of righteous men made perfect. (Heb. 12:1, 22-24)

                We are not alone in this battle, for all of creation is eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God… the Remnant who overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. 12:11, 14, Rev. 14:12)

                WE WIN FRIENDS! In Christ we win… and it is in the mighty trials that lie ahead that everything that has encumbered us will be stripped away. Our inner wounds will be healed as Jesus cleanses His temple, which temple we are. What we have often failed to do during times of ease, will be accomplished in times of deep distress. It is on the battlefield that the issues of life become clear. It is on our deathbed that we suddenly gain a clear understanding of what life was all about. It is in the heat of battle that the weapons of our warfare are proved.

                “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” Eph. 6:10, 11.