KEY VERSE: Every
word (utterance) of God (true God) is pure (fine): he is a shield
unto them that put their trust (confidence; hope) in him. (Prov 30:5)
The words in parentheses in the key verse are further explanations from Strong’s Dictionary to clarify the intent. Utterance is whatever God says; not just words. For instance, what we know as the “Ten Commandments,” are known to Jews as the “Ten Words” in English, which would be the Ten Utterances of God.
Usually, El or Elohymn is used in the Hebrew to describe either the true God or pagan gods. For clarity, Elowahh is used in that passage to delineate the True God, not just any gods. The One True God is not of gold, silver, stone, or any material other than flesh. The True God in that Proverb is Jesus the Christ whose finger wrote the Ten Utterances of God.
Generally speaking, to be disciples of Christ requires belief in Jesus – “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved” (Acts 15:11). “Shall be” is a future event, and not necessarily immediate salvation.
Hold onto that thought for a moment as “believe” is considered.
Pisteuo is the Greek word in the latter verse. That is faith enough to entrust oneself to God’s care. It is the same confidence and hope that is in the key verse, not just believing in the Lord’s Existence, for even the demons know that he exists as the manifestation of God (Jas 2:19).
Now, back to “saved.” What is it that Christians are saved from? “He that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). Damned is the judgment of those who are deserving of punishment. The place for the damned is Hell. Therefore, salvation is for those who shall be saved from the punishment of Hell. If faith is so intense to endure to the end, then the Christian “shall be safe or saved (sozos; Mat 10:22).
Then, it would be great to know at what time is the end, because people must endure to that time. The end is when people ceases “to be” or to no longer physically exist (Strong’s Dictionary.) Existence is living as a mortal being. Therefore, if disciples of Christ – those who trust Jesus for salvation – endure to the termination of their life, then they shall be saved. Salvation, then, is not immediate upon belief. The Greek word for that is sosos, which is “safe” (ibid).
How is it that Jesus and Paul often referred to the redeemed as “saved?” Because those who have no need to doubt Jesus, are as if already saved. Theologians call that the “assurance of salvation.” That’s what the “hope” part of the definition of “trust” is in the key verse. Christians don’t hope they shall be saved, but the reward at the end provides hope for enduring to the end. Hope does not mean doubt, but a vision of the time of glorification when the body is terminated. A glorified body is the hope of Christians.
I am fascinated that I see myself in my dreams. That vision is called a dopplegänger – a non-related look-alike which is merely a vision. Some see themselves as an evil dopplegänger. Not me, I see myself as a perfected human apparition in the same image as Adam was at the Creation. Adam was generated a glorious being in the image of God… until he willfully denied His Maker. The image that I see of myself – my good dopplegänger – is glorified me. I am Adam-like and Christ-like. I shall be regenerated into Adam’s generated condition. I see regeneration as a process lasting from the time we first believe (born again; John 3:7) until glorification, when our bodies are saved from damnation.
Indeed, the flesh will suffer just as Christ’s suffered if we are damned. Likewise, the damned will be scorned and humiliated by the forces of evil. Damnation is both a spiritual and physical punishment. The end of sinners should have the vision of an evil dopplegänger. Perhaps, dopplegängers are all evil, and righteous spiritual doubles are Christusgängers; not double-walkers at all, but Christ-walkers, and are those who are glorified!
Once the old persons are born again, they become new persons: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17). The old creature is replaced by the new; there should not be two creatures, or dopplegängers, at all! The new creature is one with Christ in Christ and as Christ, but not Christ. If a dopplegänger, then the creature is two, serving two masters (Mat 6:24).
The problem with many who claim to be disciples of Christ, is that they are truly dopplegängers! They end up being two very different persons. In jest, sometimes I refer to a woman, “and her evil twin.” The evil twin is her dopplegänger. Christians cannot have an evil twin; they must choose which master to serve!
Commencing with rebirth, Satan doubles-down. The reborn person is no longer a child of the Devil (John 8:44), but an eventual adopted son or daughter of God. When does God adopt those born again? “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23). Adoption is when the body is saved from the Devil’s reach and damnation. That is at the termination of the Christian’s iniquitous existence – at glorification. Born again is not “regeneration” but the “first fruit” of the Spirit. In other words, change is a process, and trust in Jesus for the change is the first fruit of the Spirit.
Salvation is at the end: “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed… (Rom 13:11). The Spirit is safe at death, and the body is after the rapture when the body and soul is reunited. Now let’s return to the key verse for clarification – “He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.”
We have defined “trust” but who is “Him.” He is Jesus Christ – the One True God who we can see. I see Jesus. He is not seen as an evil dopplegänger with a body and Holy Ghost, but a Glorified Presence at one with God. I don’t see him physically sitting at the right side of God as another Existence, but as the authority with the honor of God (ibid). Jesus is the manifestation of God and now in death is the glorification of Jesus to the Glory of God in one Existence. God maintains His Personhood in Jesus Christ; not two or three Persons, but the One True God who has a Glorified Presence!
Judas iscarot had a dopplegänger because Satan entered into him (Luke 22:3). His dopplegänger is the Antichrist. Christ is in us, if we are Christians. We are not two but one with him. Christ in us, is our shield as Christians (from the key verse). Where have we read that before? “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph 6:16). That “trust” in the key verse, is the “faith” in the verse from Ephesians.
The Lord, in the proverb, promised positive action with His Word (that’s what “proverb” means.) That was the promise of THE WORD, Jesus Christ (John 1). From the time of the first fruit until our termination, Christians are safe from the evil one because the Holy Ghost of Jesus shields us from the fiery darts of Satan’s demons.
Job is the example of that safety. He could have relinquished his soul, but God assisted him by providing an invisible shield of confidence. Satan called the shield a hedge about him. Job trusted the Lord to keep him safe from the cunning devices of Satan, and the Lord followed through! That’s the condition that those who claim Christ as Savior are in. We depend on that “shield” and it is the gift of faith which is not of ourselves, but from the Lord (Eph 2:8).
The proverb from some inspired wise man several millennia before was the same promised shield that trusting Jesus delivered with his death. The Lord promised a Savior for those who would trust Him to save. “Safety” is from the first fruit to the harvest when Christians are taken up, and made “ripe” as they are glorified in the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
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