THE EXTENT OF DREAMS

   In Scripture there are dreams. Hidden within the dreams of scripture are immediate prophecy, but much in scripture is hidden prophecy. In other words, the reader cannot see the far-future for the near-present! For Egypt, the Pharaoh’s dream was seven years of plenty followed be seven years of famine. That dream came true when Joseph, called Zaphnathpaaneah, was thirty years old.

  The first thing that struck me is, Why the importance of Joseph’s age, and secondly, Why a new name? The name may mean, “He speaks; God lives”. His age matters because he was the age of Jesus, and perhaps the age of maturity of Adam, the former during His ministry, and the latter because of his creation as a man. A second thought for the name is “Revealer of Secrets”. Perhaps both names apply!

  “The Word” in scripture is pre-incarnate Jesus. The Word became flesh; to wit: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Joseph’s new name revealed a theretofore secret; that the Word speaks, and God lives in the flesh. The Pharaoh saw Joseph as God in the Flesh who even had dominion over the weather and crops.

  John beheld Jesus as the Word; he “beheld His Glory”!

  In like manner, “And Pharaoh said unto his servants, ‘Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?’” (Gen 41:39) In other words, can we find a man with the Glory of God in him? He answered the question himself: “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art’” (Gen 41:40). Pharoah, the good one, found Glory in Joseph. Of course, that means that Joseph is an antitype of Jesus. It was him who saved the pagan Egyptians from perishing, and it was Jesus who saved pagan mankind from the same destruction!

  Now this is my opinion based on scripture: That the seven prosperous years were the days of creation, and that the seven years of famine is the seven thousand years of existence. In the former, God planted the Garden — a “Garden” seeded with human seed: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Gen 2:8).

  My guess is that you never thought of it that way… that God’s “garden was not only trees and vines that he seeded there, but the seeds of animals and adam (man). Of all the kinds (species), man had dominion over them all. He was the prime crop with which God took special care, Him personally breathing life unto him — Virtue and Spirit — that none of the others had.

 The seven days of creation were the “seven good years” before the crop failed. But that is all the crop that was good. Tares grew among the crop, and those were the seed of the Wicked One fathered by Cain. Cain was born and subsequently “crop failure” occurred when Adam sinned. The time clock was then reset from “days” to “years” since God’s time is not our time. Jesus later said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power” (Acts 4:7).

  There it is: Jesus is the “Revealer of Secrets” that Pharaoh named Joseph, “Zaphnathpaaneah”. Who cares what Pharaoh named Joseph unless it was significant? Pharaoh saw Joseph as a type of Jesus who would save them from drought in the hellish place of Egypt. Not only that prophecy but the long-range purpose for Joseph; to save the seed that would grow Jesus. By that, I mean the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who planted a new smaller “garden” that would grow immensely.

  The new “Garden” would grow to spread over all the Earth. The seven thousand years after the creation would be the “seven years” of famine. During those seven years, God would preserve mankind just as Zaphnathpaaneah did Pharaoh’s kind and with Jacob’s kind.

  God would not be a respecter of persons [i] when it came to preserving the entire crop planted from Adam! All the Egyptians would be “Jews” inside, as Paul later explained: “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart” (Rom 2:29).

  What made this Pharaoh a “Jew”? He blessed Joseph with distinction as the representative of God, and even made Joseph his son by law. Joseph found grace, both from God and from Pharaoh, and then Pharaoh became a “spiritual Jew”.

  What about the end of the seven years of famine? “And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands” (Gen 41:57). “All the countries came to Joseph” to preserve themselves.

  The seven “years” of the curse will end. What is the curse of mankind (adam-kind)?

  And unto Adam he said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen 3:17-19)

  The curse would last “seven years”, or seven millennia, and then it would end. The curse was a seven- thousand-year famine, commencing with the original sin of Adam. With that said, this year, 2021, is anno mundi (year of the world) 5782, and near the sixth day when the “famine” ends on the seventh. Based on original sin, before Adam began to perish, then the “famine” will end in about 218 years or so, or it could be eminent since there are two ways of calculating biblical time.

  What happened at the end of the famine? The wholesale perishing ceased and there became a new day and year.

  What happens when the famine ceases in the “seventh year”; AM 6000-7000, or the seventh “day”? Jesus comes to reign a thousand years! Did the good Pharaoh see times of good harvest in the end of those 14 years, or was he looking from the beginning to the ending; when Jesus reigns for the last day?

  After the seven years of famine, a “day eight” began with Moses. The “eighth day” in spiritual terms is eternity. After Jesus reigns, eternity begins with a new heaven and a new earth. John saw that; perhaps Pharaoh did as well:  

And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Rev 22:1-3)

  In the end, the curse of the famine in the countries of Egypt and all over the world ended. The “countries”, or nations, were healed, and the land again became plentiful and the crop prosperous. Joseph was a Jesus type; in typology, to Pharaoh, he was the Tree of Life. “He speaks; God lives” (Zaphnathpaaneah). Joseph was the living representative of God; He spoke and God lived in the hearts of men. The good Pharaoh got it right.

  Jesus died. God spoke and Jesus lived. Egypt was resurrected from the famine, the world from sin, and Jesus from the dead.

  Now you know the rest of the story of Zaphnathpaaneah. 

(picture credit: Michigan Drought Mitigation Center; "The Dust Bowl")

 

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[i] Acts 10:34

SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME - Part 2 of 2

 

PART 2

 

  I have written before about the butler and baker of the Pharaoh… the good Pharaoh of Joseph in, “In Search of the Holy Grail”. [1] The focus on that was that the silver chalice of the Pharaoh represented the “cup” of Jesus’s person. Everyone is in search of the Holy Grail because their own “cups” are empty. Specifically, the cup of Jesus that he desired to be passed was a vessel. [i] The vessel of Jesus is His Soul, and that vessel was filled with the Holy Ghost when John baptized Him; to wit: “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:22).

  Several remarkable things are in that verse: (1) The Holy Ghost (hagios pneuma) was sent from the heavens to Jesus. The Father poured His Living Water, from His “belly”, into the vessel of His Son.

  Hagios, “The Most Holy Thing” came forth pneumatically, as the movement of air (Strong’s Dictionary). Its appearance was not that of a dove, but its glidepath was. Of course, the Father is the Most Holy Thing as “I AM THAT I AM” (Yahweh). So, God is Spirit, but look what else: He is “Voice” speaking the Word and the Father has “bodily shape”. In other words, the Father sounds as Jesus would sound in Word, and looked like Jesus would look. The bodily shape of God would appear as the vessel of His Son. Truly, Jesus is the Image of His Father, and like Father, like Son.

  The difference between the Father and Son is “substance” alone. Jesus has the Voice of His Father and speaks the Father’s Mind, but the Father is of different “Flesh”. Nobody can explain the substance of the soul, but sacred literature describes it as the shape inside and including the epidermis. The soul of Jesus was His “cup”, and it was filled with the substance of the Father from head to toe, from front to back, and to all His extremities. The cup of Jesus could not be passed because it is His Cup.

  With that said, the soul of each person would look like them except it is of a different substance. Adam, for instance, was molded of clay. The hagios pneuma from God could leak out. “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). The physical substance of Adam was flesh made from the elements of the Garden. God formed that substance into clay and made the physical image of Himself. Adam would have looked like Jesus because their spiritual image is the same. Hence, Jesus is the Son of Man.

  But when the Father breathed life unto Adam through his nostrils, then the pneuma took the shape of Adam’s body. Aph (nostrils) is the face, the countenance, or the forehead; and even all of those things. With Jesus, the Father would have done the same thing as with Adam. He would have come down like a dove on the forehead of Adam, his countenance would be the countenance of His Father as His Mind would become the Mind of His Father, and likewise Jesus would take the mark of God on His forehead. Paul wrote about the mark of God:

¹⁶ Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. ¹⁷ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (Phil 3:16-17)

  The mark of the Beast is on the forehead or in the hand. [ii] It appears that the mark of God is in the mind, and those so marked have a changed countenance that Jesus referred to as “born again” [iii] The mark of the Beast may not be a physical mark upon the flesh, but an invisible mark upon the soul… the bodily-shaped substance preserving the flesh and containing the Spirit. It can be seen who is marked and who is not! Marked persons walk the same rule as Jesus. The “rule” is “good will” or agape love.

  Those with the mark of the Beast can be identified, perhaps, by the mark of the same substance — by the rule of the Beast… the Law of Sin. [iv] Ezekiel saw the mark that would be put on the abominable, but he saw it as ink, [v] not with a literal inkwell but as a “cup” (ibid). Ezekiel saw the “cup” of Jesus marking the abominable, not for the Besst, but to mark them for God. Jesus would look for the beasts, then mark the abominable ones with Living Water, as all those who would not take the mark of God would perish.

 If anyone is looking for physical markings, both the Mark of God and the Mark of the Beast are on the cranium, which, by the way, is “Calvariae” in the Latin. The place of the cranium (cranion in the Greek) is Calvariae Locus in the Latin.

  The mark is not on the flesh of the forehead, as most expect, but inside the cranium. Just why do you suppose “Calvary”? Why “The Place of the Skull”? Because the mark is in the mind and the cranium is the preserver of the brain; the part of the body housing the mind.

  Why do you suppose that Paul endeavored to persuade Agrippa and all the others to become a Christian” To take the Mark of God… that unseen mark that is only detected by a changed countenance.

  Adam was marked as entirely good. He would have been the perfect man if not for the Serpent. Since sin, like Adam, we have all missed the mark: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. The Mark of God is “glory” — in His Image and existence in His Presence. Coming short of that is missing the mark, and that is one of the definitions of sin.

  How can the Mark of God be detected? By whose way people walk; walking the Way of Jesus with the Law of God or the way of Satan with the Law of Sin?

  In other words, the flesh is a reflection of the soul. Certainly, if the cup is cracked on the outside, what is inside will seep out. Satan’s way is a gradual seeping out of the Holy Spirit into the world so slowly that it goes unnoticed.

  Now what has this all to do with the butler and baker? It is about which will perish. Which has the Mark of God, and which has the Mark of the Beast.

  Nobody took the mark, but Joseph saw their countenance. He saw just whom carried the true cup and who carried the permeable basket. Joseph saw their marks!

  At the crucifixion, who would take the Mark of God? Those who were near to Jesus; the abominable thief on the cross and the abominable centurion who pierced him.

  The apostles stood at a distance. The did not receive the Mark of God until after Jesus ascended, then the Holy Ghost of Jesus came down and marked them as with fire. Their souls were singed and they were branded by the Holy Ghost and all their countenances changed!

  I am inferring that the Living Water from the belly of Jesus sprinkled on those two sinners, and they were baptized by Living Water, the true and only efficacious baptism! [vi]  

  The centurion and thief were born again the same way that Adam was created a new creature. God breathed life into their craniums at “The Place of the Cranium” and their minds were changed. Calvary should change the mind of us just as it did for those two men.

  Before, Longinus (the centurion) had only seen the flesh of Jesus, but he marveled: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39). He saw the man (flesh) of Jesus but when he pieced the man, the “cup” spilled out Living Waters from His belly just as he had said to the woman at the well — that abominable woman!

  What did Longinus see? Perhaps the Spirit of God in bodily shape. He saw the Ghost of Jesus leave Him just as the apostles did when He was baptized. Longinus was marked by water from the Cup of Jesus.

  When Jesus was baptized, He alone had the Holy Ghost remaining on Him. [vii] It would remain in Him since the pneuma permeated the soul of Jesus and would still be there when He gave up the Ghost at His death. Longinus saw that! He saw the vessel of Jesus emptied of the Spirit of God, perhaps in bodily shape, just as it had entered!

  That invisible “shape” of Jesus is in true Christians who have been persuaded to take the Mark of God. The Place of the Cranium, Calvary, is where the Persuasive Mind of God shares His Spirit and marks the “beasts” (the abominable) as adopted children of God.

 (picture credit: Wikipedia; "Eye of Providence")

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[1] (https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2021/03/in-search-of-theholy-grail-part-2-of-2.html).

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[i] Mat 26:39

[ii] Rev 13:6

[iii] John 3:7

[iv] Rom 7:23

[v] Ezek 9:3-4

[vi] Ephes 4:5

[vii] John 1:33

SHADOWS OF THINGS TO COME Part 1of 2

  ‘Antitypes” are things or persons that foreshadow a futuristic event or person. Antitypes can either be alike or opposite in typology. Paul wrote:

¹⁶ Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: ¹⁷ Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Col 1:16-17)

  Those things — meat, drink, etc. — and events foreshadowed Jesus. They are statutes of the Law of God… “the Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things” (Heb 10:1).

  The Pharaoh of Egypt is an antitype. The Pharaoh, in the time of Joseph, was a good Pharaoh who was likely not Egyptian but a Hyksos. The latter were rulers from foreign lands, and specifically the Levant. If my hypothesis from scripture is correct, the Levant — Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordon — was about the middle of Eden. Nobody knows the origin of them but that they were Semitic peoples, and thus “cousins” of the Hebrews.

  Pharaoh welcomed Joseph into his dynasty as second in charge because he saved Egypt from perishing. Egypt is generally the antitype for sin, but it too can have opposite connotations. The good Hyksos Pharaoh is and antitype of Jesus, and the evil Pharaoh of the time of Moses was the antitype of Satan.

  The story of the Exodus begins, “Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph” (Exod 1:8). In the interim between Joseph and Moses, the population of the Hebrews grew as well as the degree of sin. Egyptians had regained Egypt and a new dynasty prevailed; a dynasty wherein Pharaoh (now let us say “king” to distinguish them), was the antitype of Satan and Egypt sin.

  What had happened through the years? God preserved Egypt because inside there were Jews at heart (and by blood), just as in apostolic times: “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter” (Rom 2:290.

  Pharaoh was a Jew inside although by blood he was a Semite, and not a Hebrew per se (from Eber, Shem’s son). The new “King” would be from Ham’s son Mizraim.

  To the Hebrews, the name Mizraim would mean “double distress” (Abarim Publications). Spiritually, that is certainly true — they went from evil in the days prior to Joseph’s Pharaoh to good in the days of Joseph to evil again with Moses’s king.

  God preserved Egypt but Satan restored his little kingdom there. Always, when God preserves, the righteous person or nation becomes even more jeopardized. And like Egypt is “lost” to this day, any of God’s people that He preserves can fall away.

  Paul said it well: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thes 2:3). That day came for Egypt when the Jews there fell away from the true God. The king of Moses’s time, by then, was a self-anointed “god” and to this day, the god of Egypt is an unknown God that they call, “Allah”. Thus, Egypt also foreshadows the dangers of falling away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to any other false god.

  “Falling away” in that passage is apostasia in the Greek. (Strong’s Dictionary). It means “to forsake” God. Note that it does not mean that God would forsake them!

  By the time of Moses, the Hebrews had all but forsaken God. They lived in sin much as if they were Mizraimites, and not Semites. I have written before that the genes of Cain somehow overcame the flood. Since Ham was disrespectful of his father, Canaan was cursed. His mother was most likely one of “the daughters of men” (from Cain in Gen 6:4). Egyptians, as Mizraim, would be of the Wicked One just as Cain. [i] During the time of the Joseph’s Pharaoh’s dynasty, Egypt was ruled by Semites. The Wicked One had been overcome by the seed of Shem.

  Between Pharaoh and king, the nation of Egypt had returned to the seed of Mizraim. It had fallen away from Pharaoh and accepted a “king” that was not of the same blood nor spirit. Never can anyone have two masters; they must choose one above another. [ii]

  The Egyptians accepted the king as Pharaoh. What is in a name anyway? In doing that, the Egyptians were apostate. On the other hand, the Hebrews who would follow Moses and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were reprieved. They had not, at that time, completely fallen away. There remained hope for them, and the Book of Exodus was what the Hebrews did with that grace. Eventually, all but a few lost hope, and were either slain by God using vipers and such until none made it to Paradise.

  Satan, in the body of the king, endeavored to snatch them back. After all, he was a god! He insisted that the Hebrews be as the pagans, and he would be their god and not Yahweh. Whereas Yahweh removes bonds and makes men free, kings chain their servants to their thrones.

  That describes the periods leading up to the exodus, and the exodus describes the journey of Christians once they were safe in the hands of God. Nowhere did God use force like the king did. The Pharoah of Joseph’s time allowed the Hebrews to come and go as they pleased!

  Hence, Egypt represents the world as well. The Hebrews there were symbolic of Christians who must live in the world and are chained to its customs and the law of sin. Paul explained that dualism to the Roman Christians:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members… I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Rom 7:23, 25)

  Original sin was also in Paul. Neither was he without sin. He described the dualism inside himself — his mind served God, but his flesh was bound by the law of sin. His mind was free, along with his spirit, but his flesh belonged to another. That is the situation in which the Hebrews in Egypt found themselves — they were willing to serve God but even after exiting from the place of sin, they still served sin.

  The flesh can be moved but the spirit must follow. In spirit, the Hebrews of the exodus were “spiritual Egyptians”. Their blood had become tainted by mingling with Mizraimites, and their spiritual DNA, by then, had been with the Wicked One and not with The Righteous One!

  In the next installment, I will continue with the baker, the butler, and the dream that Joseph interpreted. He told them of its immediate meaning but inside the interpretation was so much more!

(picture credit: Bigstock; "Shadow of a Man")

 

 

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[i] 1 John 3:12

[ii] Mat 6:24

ON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

   Calvinists, although Christians are predestined by divine election (in their dogma) still endeavor to persuade Christians that their eternal destiny is set in stone. They still use persuasion against your beliefs but deny the persuasiveness spoken of in scripture.

  I have known of those persuaded to be Calvinists who turn their backs on missions. Missionary Baptists were organized to combat the anti-missionary view of Particular Baptists (Calvinists). Why would Calvinists waste time persuading the elect if they were predestined as already elected? The answer is they would not, and some of my Calvinists friends ceased The Great Commission. Why? Because the commission had no value, and the words of Jesus were vanities, in their viewpoint.

  The King James Version of the Bible is the translation of the “reformed church” — the Calvinists. Their primary doctrine is that only God is sovereign. However, the word “sovereign’ does not even appear in their own version of Holy Scripture. Sovereignty means that God is the supreme Authority, and that is certainly true.

  Pilate thought himself thought he was supreme to God because he was Caesar’s governor who had authority over Syria, include all of Judea. Caesar himself had authority over the Roman Empire. Caesar was Pontifex Maximus — the High Priest of the pagan Roman pantheon of gods. Pilate had power over the body of Jesus, he thought. Jesus set him straight:

¹⁰ Then saith Pilate unto him, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” (John 19:10-11)

  If Caesar had been there, Jesus would have said the same thing because Pilate was merely a servant to Caesar. Pilate was a Samnite, a nation that was defeated and subjugated by the Romans. His power was delegated by Tiberius Caesar.

  Pilate had no power of his own but only what he was allowed to have. The mob was feared by Caesar, and Pilate did their will! With that, Tiberius held no power over the life of Jesus. Jesus rightfully pointed out to Pilate that he was not the supreme authority, and neither was Caesar! He also denigrated the power of the mob.

  The “Power” that crucified Jesus was from above. His Father, JHWH, is the Supreme Authority and the Father alone is sovereign. In that Jesus is the face of God, then Jesus authorized His own crucifixion. Jesus was sovereign that day and still is.

  With that said, if you are a Christian, just what did you do to redeem yourself? Nothing… Jesus did it all and paid it all! Pilate, after Jesus was hung on the Tree, confirmed to the High Priests, that Jesus is “King of the Jews” [i] Of course, he was born to be King of the Jews. That was the Abrahamic Covenant that was about to be finished!

  Just who are the Jews? Are they a race of people or a nationality? We think of them that way, but Christians are “Jews” inside because they too are the seed of Abraham:

²⁸ For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: ²⁹ But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Rom 2:28-29)

  Thus, Jesus is King of the Circumcised; not of the foreskin but of the heart and they are those who praise God. Indeed, God is sovereign. We were not even there the day that Jesus redeemed all the sins of mankind. Only a fool would think that they had any part in the redemption when not even Caesar himself the power to kill the Lord God!

  Judas Iscariot felt extre  me guilt and he committed suicide to relieve the guilt resulting from his conviction. Neither did Judas really orchestrate the mob. When Satan left him at his suicide, Judas was rendered powerless. That leaves Jesus alone as the Sovereign.

Satan only guided the mob to Jesus and incited them, but God allowed them to do His Will, and God willed that Jesus would die in the place of all mankind. Everyone is responsible for the crucifixion but only God allowed Himself to be crucified in the flesh. He even created Flesh for Himself for that purpose!

  Just what part do people have in salvation? They were and are still not killed for their sins; Jesus was. Jesus described very well what it takes from people. We are to be Jews inside and do as the Hebrews did during their exodus from Pharaoh (an antitype of Satan) and Egypt (a symbol of sin).

  Jesus was explaining “born again” [ii]. He gave an example of what rebirth entails: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Not that we lift up Jesus again to crucify Him, but that Jesus be honored as Sovereign.

  Why, then, the pole with the lifeless brazen serpent on it? [iii] The Jews accomplished nothing when they tried to avoid the serpents and could not heal themselves after they were bitten, but what could they do? Foresee what Jesus would someday do to Satan. The brazen serpent on the pole was not a symbol of Jesus on the Cross, but Judas hanging from his tree that symbolized the Tree of Knowledge of Evil; with him hanging there with Satan in him. [iv]

  What did those who survived the poison from the serpents do? They trusted what God alone would do much later. They could not be sovereign over their own lives, but Jesus would be! When they looked at the Serpent as dead, they saw Jesus hanging from His Tree, the Cross. [v]

  Not only would they see Jesus, but they would trust God to save them from the Serpent. So, what is it that Christians do to be born again? Trust Jesus for safety and deliverance from the Wicked One!

  The Jews of the exodus worked out their salvation. It was not ergonomically in that their actions did nothing to save them. What saved them from perishing? They looked at the Serpent as dead and thought about the meaning of it — that they were powerless but God is Supreme.

  They realized the sovereignty of God. Their thoughts were not the Calvinistic “works” (ergo in the Greek) but another kind: Paul wrote, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12).

  Was Paul speaking of ergonomics, to work efficiently and Jesus would respond? No! “Work” in that context is katergazomai in the Greek. Elsewhere “work” is ergon in the textus receptus. “Work” in that context is to render something to a conclusion. Thus, it is thoughts, or works of the mind that is the circumcision of the heart.

  “Circumcision” comes from peritome; “the extinction of passions (lusts) and the removal of spiritual impurity” (Strong’s Dictionary). “Heart” is kardia — the soul or mind, as it is the seat of thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors” (ibid). In other words, the minds of Christians are circumcised, and old thoughts and passions are cut off to make a new creature in the image of Christ.

  Paul almost persuaded the Jew in authority in Judea. After Paul tried to persuade King Herod Agrippa to become a Christian, “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, ‘Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian’” (Acts 26:28).

  Subsequently, Paul lived with his fellow tentmakers, “And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Persuaded them of what? To become Christians. He was not successful with Agrippa because he thought that he had authority over all the Jews, but Jesus did. But Paul was successful with humble tentmakers.

  So, Jesus must be recognized as the Sovereign God. You must think that thought: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (Jas 4:10). Humility in that passage is tapeinoo; “to have a modest opinion of oneself” (ibid). “Opinions” are a katergazomai type of work — working smarter, not harder as they say.  Is it not easier kneeling in thought to Jesus as King rather than hanging yourself because of your sins, or even dodging poisonous vipers?

  Paul wrote to Timothy:

¹² I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. ¹³ Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. (2 Tim 1:12-13)

  Jesus did it all and paid it all…What do you do? Believe that Jesus is LORD of all, and that takes persuasion (peitho); “to have confidence” that Jesus is Sovereign and was efficacious in saving the souls of Christians from perishing. God indeed is sovereign, but the Christian must trust that He is King over life and death. Christians are to fear God over Satan; to wit: “Fear not them (demons) which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him (God) which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Mat 10:28).

  Because God is sovereign and Satan not, Christians are to fear God more than Satan. The latter can kill the body, but God alone has power over both the body and soul as He demonstrated with His Son.

  “Fear” is phobeo in the Greek; “to have reverence” for God because He is sovereign. Sovereignty is of God, but reverence is of the mind. The thoughts of people do matter. What if they think that Satan is sovereign? Then their “god” is Satan, and that is what Satan desires, as he said, “I will be like the most High (God” (Isa 14:14). Thus, Satan wants Christians to disregard their thoughts about God and that serves his purpose to undermine God.

  By thinking on their own, Adam and Eve did not become gods. Even Satan knew that. He accused them of being “as God”. [vi] Good knowledge is that they understood that they were a mere image of God, but that God was still Supreme to them. With that thought, God put onto them a coat made from skins [vii] (of lambs) to preserve them from the Wicked One.  Adam and Eve knew their place.

  They were helpless in their nakedness against the Serpent, but God would keep them safe from Satan’s fiery darts because of the thick coats that he provided. They trusted God for safety, and that thought kept them safe from harm.  Think on that: they were preserved because they had in their minds that God was sovereign, and that Satan is not! They turned their backs on Lucifer and looked toward God.

  God did not force them, nor predetermine their response to what hey had done, but their thoughts — their own free wills — persuaded them to turn away from the beautiful tree toward the Word, Jesus! They were preserved until the day of the rapture of the dead in Christ because they believed Jesus to be sovereign.

  With that said, Calvinism, from the beginning, has twisted the Word until even the “elect” shall be deceived. Lucifer is still at work, with the deception that trusting God is not efficacious to salvation; but by some “divine lottery” that God is unjust enough to predestine some to Paradise and some to Hell without regard to whether they see Him as sovereign or not.

  Paul persuaded many to become Christians and with some he failed. Their minds were made up and they would not turn on their true master, Satan.

  Paul was persistent. He went all over the known world trying to persuade heathens that God is Supreme, and that life and death depends on His Power and Grace. He changed minds! As such, many began to diminish themselves and elevate God to His true Lordship. As such “persuasion” is accepting Jesus as LORD of all things and dependence on Him alone for preservation.

  If you are not fully persuaded that God is sovereign, then you just may be your own “god” and that is a dangerous thought to have. Paul wrote, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind” (Rom 14:5). Persuaded of what? That Jesus Christ is LORD of all, is sovereign, and above all. In other words,
“fully persuaded” is that eternal life is dependent on Christ alone.

(picture credit: VirtueOnline; "St. Paul's Application of Greek Philosophy")

 

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[i] John 19:20-21

[ii] John 3:7

[iii] Num 21

[iv] Luke 22:3

[v] Acts 5:30

[vi] Gen 3:5

[vii] Gen 3:17