DID SIMON JUST HAPPEN TO BE THERE?

 

 Simon the Cyrene just happened by... or did he?

The tenth chapter of Matthew is chocked full of insight of the things that Christians must both watch out for and to do. They are things of sobriety and vigilance. Foremost among them is, “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me” (Mat 10:38).

The Calvinistic Doctrine is that none are worthy; however, it can be seen that some are worthy and some are not. The ‘red line’ on the ground is who takes up the Cross of Jesus.

Worthy is ‘axios” in the Greek; it is a balance on which two masses are placed to see which is the heaviest in the world. That scale only works in the presence of gravity otherwise it will always balance. Hence, worthiness is a scale that is useful only in the material world. Therefore, worthiness is a balance of things that have weight. It is what is important to a person here and now, not after death nor in another realm wherein there is no mass as we know it.

Again, considering the Greek, where “cross” comes from stauros — it is an upright stake (Strong 2006). A stake is pointed, often on the bottom side to penetrate the ground, and on the top to ward off predators when used in a fence or even a spike to kill animals for their flesh (i.e., a trap).

The Holy Cross is thought of as an image. Close your eyes; what do you see? Jesus on the Cross if you are Catholic or an empty pyre if you are a protestant. The Cross is symbolic of how you see it.

The only obvious incident of anyone taking up the Cross of Jesus and following Him was by a practically unknown man, to wit: 

³¹ And after that they had mocked Him (Jesus), they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify Him. ³² And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. (Mat 27:31-32)

 What is known about this Simon? Firstly, he was not Simon Peter who not only would not bear the Cross of Jesus but denied Him. Scripture calls out Simon as a ‘Cyrene’ to prevent any other Simon being worthy to do that.

What did Simon do in reality? He became the stauros himself. He balanced the beam on his shoulders and followed Jesus. He was worthy because he carried the weight so that Jesus need not.

Jesus is God. He could have carried the weight of the Cross Himself; is that not so? He needed Simon the Cyrene there to show that at least one man would take up the Cross and follow Him. The body of that Simon became the ‘Cross’ so to speak because both were heavy masses in this world. Like Jesus who came before him, Simon the Cyrene showed that he could overcome the burden of the world. Hence, the True Cross represents Simon carrying the burden of the world for Jesus. He, however, could not do that long, only as far as Calvary (Mat 27:33), but Jesus bore the Cross all the way to His death.

What is in a name? The name Simon (Simeon) means “to hear and obey.” Simon could have made excuses, but they commanded him, and he obeyed without question. That applies to everyone who must hear the gospel of Jesus and obey without questioning.

Now think of the transformation of Saul. His name meant ‘Questioning.’ He was converted into the new creature ‘Paul’ whose name means ‘humbled.’ Names mean things. Why would Simon take up the Cross of Jesus and follow him to Calvary? Because he was humbled, and because of that, he was worthy.

If Simon had viewed the Cross only like an ox (a bullock), then he would have been little more than the golden calf of the Israelites. He would have been the beast of burden who the Israelites would worship. Perhaps Simon represented that calf who had no power to save even though it could carry away the burdens of the Israelites. If so, then the ‘golden calf’ in a sense bowed to Jesus! Simon could only take up the Cross and follow Jesus when commanded to do so, but that is only thing he could do; Jesus had to bear the weight of the world; Simon could not go all the way there but as far as the Cross would allow.

That he was a Cyrene delineated him from the other Simons, both the apostle with that name and Peter.

The noun ‘Cyrene’ indicates power as well as high social standing. Simon was likely not just any every day ‘Simple Simon’ but represented both sophistication and authority. What did the Cross do for the Cyrene? It humbled him in the same manner as Saul who questioned Jesus was humbled into Paul.

Those names were no accident. God planned the sacrifice of His Son back in the Garden of Eden. The Romans did not control Simon to do anything; he was born to be there and do that!

Adam — his kind — was cursed because of the original sin; when God spoke to Adam, it was not just the man but his gens — the family of Adam that would come. The penalty was this: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen 3:19). That is the English version. Why would Adam sweat when only eating bread? I submit that was for Adam-kind, to be worthy of God, both him and his kind must take up the Tree of Life and follow Jesus. Adam’s kind must “keep the way of the Tree of Life” (Gen 3:24). The Dolorosa Way was the Way to the Tree of Life — to Jesus and the Cross.

Simon the Cyrene kept the Way by carrying the Cross. He submitted, not because he was commanded, but because he was willing.

‘Eat’ (English) in Gen 3:19 is akal in the Hebrew. It is not so much consuming as it is burning up, or expending calories. It is work… work by sweating.

The ‘bread’ in that same passage is not bread as is thought, but literally battling. As such, God was not talking about eating at all but overcoming the world. Simon the Cyrene battled the burden of the Cross of Jesus to overcome the world. It was not his strength whereby he was able to carry the Cross but because his eyes were on Jesus as they both crossed the finish line. Jesus said, “It is finished,” and they both finished the Way to Calvary.

Keeping the Way to the Tree of Life (Jesus) defines the worthy. Simon did not go all the Way by himself, but Jesus was leading Him. He apparently did not see the Dolorosa Way as the Way to death but the life.

So far as Simon knew it might be his own cross that he was bearing for Jesus. That day, Simon was worthy of going with Jesus. Whether it is recognized or not, there was a ‘Saint Simon of Cyrene.’ He fulfilled his purpose, and like Nathanael, Jesus saw him under the fig tree (John 1:48), for just like Nathanael, Simon’s walk was planned in the beginning. Jesus surely saw him under the fig tree when he ordained Simon to walk the Way to the Tree of Life.

Did Jesus see you under the fig tree? Are you walking all the way with Jesus or just part way like so many who merely stood around the Cross?

Carrying the Cross of Jesus was done both physically and empathetically by Simon. He felt the pain that Jesus felt. The agony of the Cross was not the physical pain that Jesus suffered but the burden of sin. Simon, although not the Christ, felt the weight of sin that Jesus carried, and he carried it for Jesus.

While on the Cross, Jesus became undone. His Father figure seemed to have abandoned Him because God cannot co-exist with sin, His flesh suffered death, and His Spirit was given to save the world from sin and to Comfort Christians in a world of sin.

Jesus did not really give up the Ghost. As is soon discovered, Jesus gave up the tainted flesh in the likeness of Adam for a likeness of His Father. That ‘Image’ (selem in the Hebrew) was a ‘shadow’ or ‘phantom’ (Strong 2006). The ‘flesh’ was the image of Lucifer, (nahas). It was the fleshly image of the first man after original sin. Jesus as the ‘last Adam’ (1 Cor 15:45) really gave up the flesh of Adam’s kind, all the while most of us thought that Jesus gave up the Holy Ghost.

It was the flesh of mankind that Jesus freed because the Spirit was confined in a ‘prison’ of sorts. Making free is emancipation from the constraints of the flesh. Taking up the Cross and following Jesus is leaving the flesh behind to remain in the world so that the soul is free to go to God’s realm.

Glorification is not only a process but a coming to equilibrium in a higher state. The soul is set free from the old flesh and a new creature with glorious, incorruptible flesh results.

Note that Simon did nothing but obeyed out of goodwill for God (love). Simon carried the Cross, but Jesus lost virtue to him. As they walked, Jesus would have been made weaker as was revealed with the drink. Simon required no drink because it was the Holy Ghost of Jesus that none saw that was bearing Simon’s burden.

That is not stated; how would I know that? It all in the name, ‘Simon’ — he was humbled, going from prestigious to merely a beast of burden. He had no power; it was Jesus who was still bearing the Cross and Simon merely followed, given no direction, but much power.

What credit did Simon get for bearing the Cross? None. Jesus got all the credit, and it was His Power that kept Simon all the Way.

Now let’s go back to the beginning. “And the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever’” (Gen 3:22).

Again, Simon did not eat of the Body of Christ as in Holy Communion. He burned up what we call ‘calories’ in modern times. Eating is consuming calories, whereas work is burning them.

God said ‘man’ (Adam), not the person Adam but his kind, homo sapiens.

Simon was an upright being without a tale. He was ‘Adam’ in that he was man. He was bowed as he carried the Cross. Blessing in the Hebrew is literally bowing. He blessed Jesus by lowering himself a little lower than the ‘Angel of God,’ to wit: “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor” (Heb 2:9).

Simon was made a little lower than Jesus for Jesus’s sake, for it was Him that was made lower than the angels. Whereas the soldiers kneeled to God in mockery, Simon kneeled to Him in submission. He was carrying the same burden that Jesus would carry but it was made easy by the virtue (dynomos in the Greek) of Jesus.

As such, the Passion Play was written long before, in the Garden after sin, or so it appears. Simon the Cyrene just happened (sic) to be there doing things that were pre-ordained for him. Nothing is never by chance and because he was named specifically ‘Simon’ and a ‘Cyrene,’ God planned his appearance at the real performance and all the ‘actors’ were real life people.

 (picture credit: Church in Toronto; "Simon the Cyrene")

 

 

THE ANCIENT DEEP STATE THAT SUICIDED JESUS

When Jesus spoke to His apostles, it was about a forthcoming calamity. In modern terms, Jesus was forecasting a ‘Great Reset’ or as theologians might call it, a “Great Tribulation.” Prior to the coming of Jesus, there had been order in Judea and the surrounding areas that once encompassed all of Israel. In effect, Herod the Great was as much a king as David had been. He was even allied with the kings around him much like David had been.

Then came Jesus. The kings from the east came to see Jesus asking, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews” (Mat 2:2). That one question set off the most intense political intrigue ever. (Herod even sought to kill both Jospeh and Jesus and wrote it in his will, along with the names of all the other contenders to replace him.)

According to Josephus, even the priests had established a priestly dynasty beginning with Annas, including his sons, and finally fifth, his son-in-law, the chief priest Caiaphas:

 

John Hyrcanus II (died 30 BCE), a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was for a long time the Jewish High Priest in the 1st century BCE. He was also briefly King of Judea 67–66 BCE and then the ethnarch (ruler) of Judea, probably over the period 47–40 BCE. (Shatzman 1991)

 

The chief priests thought of themselves as heirs to the throne of Judea when Herod was about to die. There was a scurry for the throne. Also portending to the throne were Herod’s gens, their ‘congress’ — the Sanhedrin that was led by the Sadducees, not to forget that the chief priests who were likely all Sadducees.

Annas (Ananias) was chief priest who the legate, Cyrenius, appointed in AD 6 soon after King Archelaus had been deposed as ethnarch king of Judea. Without a king, Annas had essentially been a king, especially since he would have been head of the Sanhedrin.

In the past, even the Pharisees had sought to rule Judea.

Like it or not, the gospels are not only about the souls of men and the Redeemer, but also about politics.

When the ‘wise men’ inquired about the newborn king, Jesus, they put a target on His back. If they had asked Where is the Messiah? then there may have not been so much killing because the Jews were expecting a Messiah and not a king.

Jesus was not really killed because He claimed to be God; the masses considered that crazy. Jesus was crucified because He, through his supposed father (Luke 3:23), Joseph, who was also the ‘son of David,’ not a direct son, but of the lineage of King David. As such, both Joseph and Jesus were heirs to the throne of Judea, and the Romans would have recognized Jesus as the gens of David.

Gens is the Latin term indicating family. Just as Julius Caesar was the gens of Julii, his ancestor, Jesus was thought to be of the gens of David, and was called, ‘the son of David’ (Mat 1:1) in His supposed genealogy.

The genealogy of Jesus is included in the Book of Matthew to reveal that, even though Jesus was not of the blood of Joseph; as the supposed son of Joseph, Jesus was the legitimate heir to the throne of David.

Missing from their accusations was that Jesus was also the supposed ‘Son of God’ and the provenance for that was in Luke chapter three.

The court intrigue did not stop there; everyone sought to be royalty, to wit:

 

³³ And He (Jesus) came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, “What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?” ³⁴ But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. ³⁵ And He sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” (Mark 9:33-35)

 

Jesus crushed their ambitions! Even the apostles sought greatness, maybe one of them would be ‘king’ to Jesus’s ‘Caesar’!

Jesus finally made it clear, His was not a dynasty that would rule but a dynasty of servants: “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve Me, him will my Father honor” (John 12:26). Jesus came to serve, not to rule, and his kingdom would be a multitude of servers. Jesus was not a respecter of persons, but a respecter of ‘lovers’ — those who had goodwill toward Himself and others!

Jesus came to restore Paradise, knowing full well that it was so corrupt, that it would take much time. Jesus will come again to finish the process — to regenerate a new heaven and a new earth in the same manner as He had done in the beginning (John 1). That would take time, and time would begin again with his birth, and that was begun with BC; when the ‘clock’ was reset.

So far, this discourse has been on the political intrigue that would culminate in the death of the man that they thought portended to be king of Judea.

Jesus made clear His claim; Jesus made it plain to Pilate that He sought not the kingship of Judea or even to insult Caesar whose authority was over the Roman Empire, “My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36). Jesus made it clear that He was not seeking ordination from Caesar, which was a must be to be king, but that it was Himself that would be ‘Caesar’ in another far, far away realm.

I have heard preaching and teaching all my life. Not one time have I heard that the crucifixion was a political insurrection against the legitimate ruler of Judea.

Jesus was describing to His apostles what would happen during their time; the crucifixion of Jesus revealed the most complex conspiracy of all time!

None of those people nor organizations knew what they were doing. Jesus said that (Luke 23:34), but there was a conspiracy, and they all were either players or collaborators. The multitude had praised Jesus on Palm Sunday, but on ‘Good Friday’ they remained silent; they had become co-conspirators in the assassination of the legitimate king.

No wonder, out of guilt, the apostles finally decided to follow Jesus, but it took a drastic action for them to believe; their so-called king had to be killed for them to believe! Even with that, only the Resurrection of Jesus made them true believers.

Early in the Book of Matthew, Jesus gave the apostles a glimpse of what would happen, when He said, “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Mat 10:26).

There was and had been a hidden conspiracy since time began. It was not a well-known conspiracy but well-planned and kept secret by the master ‘Illumined One’ — the all-seeing eye of Lucifer and the real ‘Illuminati’ who had a long-term plan:

 

¹¹ Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you. ¹² How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weakened the nations! ¹³ For you had said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isa 14:11-14)

 

None of the players at the crucifixion would have any idea what they were doing. They played the roles that they were assigned in the beginning. “Beginning?” you ask? Yes, in the beginning after Eve sinned, “The Lord God said unto the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life” (Gen 3:14).

The ’Serpent,’ Satan went that way! Satan entered Judas, the traitor who sought glory, not so much the silver, and that did not end well. On his belly, Satan the Serpent went, “This man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18). That was Lucifer falling from ‘heaven’ that Isaiah saw repeated.

Judas was buried, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, “Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you.”

Jesus had to die! The prophecy of Isaiah required it to be fulfilled. The crucifixion of Jesus ended all the political shenanigans of all those who aspired to the throne of Judea. Only King Agrippa would serve Caesar until he fled Judea with the Jewish uprising. The crucifixion of Jesus undermine Satan who was cast into Hell (Gehenna was the burial place. His burial was in the place of burning refuse.)

Israel, the country, died in 70 AD after withering since it began. The conspiracy of Lucifer had failed with him vicariously dead, but like David, the gens of Lucifer remained. All types of Jewish and miscegenated deviates fulfilled the Luciferin conspiracy; Israel would be brought down, but Jesus would remain ‘King of the North.’

North in that expression is not a place north of Judea but sapon in the Hebrew — hidden places, perhaps referring to Heaven itself.

The Luciferin conspiracy added another dimension; no longer would Lucifer seek to be satisfied as ‘Prince of the Power of the Air’ (Ephes 2:2) here on Earth, but ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ in Heaven.

Lucifer would not be content with the death of Caesar, as Caligula, his successor, was surely an ‘antichrist’ with Satan in him that would be passed down to Nero. Lucifer still seeks to replace God. That and that alone is the archetypical conspiracy and the mother of all living — the ‘Eve’ in everyone. As such, all sinners are co-conspirators against God, and politicking has always been the waging of that war.

There is no wall of separation between Church and State. The ‘State,’ meaning those contending for power, almost always undermine God in some manner. Even today, Christianity puts targets on the backs of Christians for them to be vicariously ‘crucified.’

Truth is the enemy of Lucifer, and as such, those who reveal the truth are certain targets for persecution. Jesus had revealed to the apostles that some ‘hidden deep state’ would not only get Him but get them as well, and that holds true to this day. (That State did get Jesus and all the apostles, save John.)

All the players at the crucifixion, excepting Pilate, were out to get Jesus because He was in their way for power. That has remained hidden, perhaps, until now. Pilate was the ‘State’ and the rest were the ‘Deep State.’

Jesus was promising that the Deep State would be revealed when He said, “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.” His crucifixion revealed to the apostles just how deep that ancient Deep State was at that time.

It was Jesus who illumined them, and the Luciferin ‘Illuminati” who concealed the plot. Lucifer remains the false illumination to this day whose lies so many takes as truth!

All the while, they thought they were killing Jesus; it was God who was sacrificing Himself. As such, the Luciferin Conspiracy 'suicided' Jesus as the ultimate way of gaining power.

(picture credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art; "The Crucifixion")

 

THINKING RIGHT THOUGHTS

Christians are representatives, or messengers, from God. Because of that, how we speak and act either glorifies or unglorifies God. James said it best, “Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (Jas 3:10), and Paul added to that, “Now you also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Col 3:8).

Do it now; cease your vile language and disrespectful behaviors.

Luke explained why the mouth should speak only good things; it is because the mouth is the organ of the brain, as it is written: 

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45)

 It is not the mouth that is speaking but what the heart treasures.

The heart cannot speak. Of course, Luke did not refer to the organ, but the entire organism — what is inside the person! The ‘heart’ is the nature of the person. What comes out of the mouth reflects what is going on in the mind.

Jesus, speaking to the apostles, said this: 

¹⁸ And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. ²⁰ For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. (Mat 10:18-20)

 For now, forget their audience; people should speak truth regardless of the audience.

The apostles would appear before kings and Caesars, but God is not a respecter of persons. It is not appropriate to gear the conversation to the audience. Some Christians speak like the prophets in church but like cussing sailors when in the world.

The apostles were to go unto the world. That was their ‘Great Commission.’ What if they spoke like the world speaks? Then their mission would have been to no avail. Suppose they went to Caesar’s party island of Capri. How should they present God to the revelers? Just like another reveler?

The apostles, according to Jesus, would be brought before regals. God arranged that for them once Jesus’s own mission was accomplished.

The mission of Jesus was to present the ‘Good News’ — the gospel message — the truth. Like Jesus would do before governors and kings himself, they would also offend those to whom they spoke.

Jesus led kings and governors to believe that He was King of the Invisible Empire. They surely believed that but would have hated that thought! That notion would have offended them because in Roman times, Caesar was ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ because kings bowed to him, and he appointed himself Pontifex Maximus — the supreme high priest.

Think on that; Jesus at His numerous trials revealed to them that He was not only the high priest only of Judea, but the Supreme Priest of the Cosmos! He revealed to them that He was the true Caesar, not of the Roman Empire, but the entire universe; that it was Himself that was ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords.’

 Paul said it would be revealed in the millennial reign of Jesus; “Which in his times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim 6:15).

Now think of the apostles; they were the ‘Court’ of King Jesus. Not only that but they were of the ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Pet 2:9). That itself would offend kings and governors, and most certainly the two high priests who had created an Annas dynasty with five priests ready to be kings like John Hyrcanus long before.

When He spoke those Words, Jesus already knew that He would speak before Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin, Herod Antipas, and Pontius Pilate, the latter of whom was ‘Caesar’ in absentia since Caesar had been secluded on the island of Capri for several years, leaving the governors to run the empire.

Jesus had already referred to the priesthood as ‘vipers’ and ‘thieves.’ He implied to Pilate that Pilate had no authority, that only Himself called the shots. Think how offended all the dignitaries would be when this man of plain countenance and unbecoming appearance claimed supremacy to them! Think of Joe the Plumber who had the audacity to challenge President Obama! That was what Jesus would do and what He expected the apostles, and all Christians, to do.

Jesus never prepared for what He would say. He needed not to because He was the ‘Mouth’ of God as the Living Word (John 1:1-14). Jesus spoke from experience and all that He said was emanated from the Mind of God. He need not ask God what to say because it was God who spoke, using the mouth of that Person.

Jesus spoke the Mind of God, and since God is Mind and Spirit, then it was the Thoughts of God that Jesus spoke in the Spirit — the bodily shaped phantom of God of an invisible Substance that was revealed at His Baptism (Luke 3:22), as well as at the Transfiguration and Crucifixion.

Jesus never needed to think because when He spoke it was the Truth. Thinking is a process; the input of knowledge (or data), reasoning, logic, and conclusions. Jesus’s Thoughts were the Thoughts of God. No processing of the knowledge was required because God is good. There was no decision making because truth is absolute and requires no processing. Jesus was the ‘Mouthpiece’ of God as the ‘Word’ as He appeared in the Old Testament, and “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14).

Hence, the nature of Jesus, if a supra-nature can be called ‘natural,’ was goodness and truth. His Thoughts were the Thoughts of God.

In the Old Testament, Moses could not speak well. God assigned Aaron as the ‘mouthpiece’ of Moses, but Moses ended up speaking well because it was God who was speaking through the mouth of Moses. The thoughts of Moses were identical to the Thoughts of God but Moses vocalized God’s will but did not claim those Thoughts as his own.

God as much said to Moses what Jesus said to the apostles, “Take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.” The way to do that is through the spoken and written Word.

The apostles were so familiar with Jesus that they thought like Him. His Words were an everyday event and so theirs should be… as well as the words of all Christians. In other words, the nature of the Christian should be like the supra-nature that is called ‘in Christ,’ but not just in word but in spirit and behavior as well.

The mouth reveals the nature of the person, whether it is good or evil. However, so do the other organisms: the personality, countenance, ambulation, and such things. It is not just things that are said that reflect the innermost person, but things that are done.

The flesh is the outward manifestation of the innermost being. For instance, if you view pornography, your innermost man (or woman) is a fornicator. On the other side, if you focus on the Word, your innermost man is righteous in spite of the fact that you sometimes trip over things in the world — the high hurdles of Satan — to make you fall away.

Consider a preacher man that I know, He is neither well educated nor of an impressive vocation, but when he speaks, it is not his thoughts. When I hear his sermons, I am certain that he is expressing thoughts that God instills in him. He is so familiar with God and the Word that he needs not think much on what he says, it just comes out, maybe because it is nothing more than the thoughts of God that he speaks, and he concurs with them! (My friend, Bro. Steve Moore).

Preachers are now the ‘apostles’ who perform the Great Commission and Christians are ‘royal priests’ under them. All Christians, regardless of status or even personality, are to speak truths from the Word.

How can the untrained do that? “For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.” If you have the Spirit of God in you, then it is God who speaks through you. To speak well the Thoughts of God, it is necessary to be familiar with the Word of God. If you do not study the Word, how could you ever speak the Thoughts of God.

The apostles knew the Word because they followed Him day in and at night. They considered all that Jesus said, and His Thoughts became their thoughts, of course excepting Judas whose thoughts were on monetary gain.

Judas knew the Word and the Thoughts of God but weighed them on untrustworthy scales. His thoughts were that money was worth more than life itself for he died for the love of money.

That should be a lesson to everyone. Never focus on money nor things that money can buy; focus on the Words of Jesus and your thoughts may soon be the Thoughts of God.

For example, when I study the Word most days, much of the day, my thoughts are about God. However, if I fail to study the Word in the morning, during the day my mind wonders, often leading me to sin because the thoughts of demons sneak into my mind just as Satan sneaked into the minds of the two in the Garden of Eden.

Demon possession is not only having the evil spirit within but often their ‘stand ins’ — their thoughts. The Word of God blocks the thoughts of demons within our minds.

Our thoughts do matter because the body in general — the flesh — is just the executor of our thoughts.

That should make sense because the Word, or Scripture, is the Will of God, Jesus was the ‘Executor’ of that Will, and as heirs, then Christians are co-executors!

(picture credit; FAVPNG.com)

 

 

 

 

 

THE SPARTANS IN US/THE TROJANS AGAINST US

 Jesus was warning the twelve apostles, one of whom was like a lamb in sheep’s clothing, to beware. He was warning the eleven apostles about the twelfth, but they had no idea of whom He was speaking when He said to them, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Mat 10:16).

Jesus was designating the kinds that are referred to in the beginning. He was not talking literally about sheep, wolves, snakes, or even doves; He was referring to the nature of people.

He commenced by saying “behold” (in the English), meaning to look at or observe the danger that lies ahead. That warning was never withdrawn. Anytime anyone goes forth for Jesus, amidst them are malevolent people. They would not be paranoid but vigilant… Behold!

Satan works by deception, by lessening the vigilance of the person. Compared to the vigilance of wolves, seeking their prey, sheep are innocent because their food is vegetation.

Now vigilant people are called ‘conspiracy theorists’ but there is one conspiracy that is the mother of all conspiracies, the ‘Luciferin Conspiracy,’ to wit: 

¹³ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isa 14:13-14)

 According to Jesus, “On these two commandments,” loving God and others, “hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat 22:40). In like manner, on that one conspiracy, hang all the lawlessness and misinformation.

Just as truth is fruit of the ‘Tree of Life,’ conspiracies are the fruit of the ‘Tree of Death.’ On that one conspiracy hang all the other conspiracies.

“Behold” them, Jesus said! For some reason, the New International Version of the Bible omits the English word “behold” that was in the Greek. It is like saying, what follows is insignificant although it is most significant!

One thing that is misunderstood is that Lucifer aspires to sit “in the sides of the North.” He will, literally speaking, reside in the extremities of hidden places (Strong 2006).

Why did Jesus say to “behold”? Because Lucifer is so well hidden from view. He is like the creature in the Swarzenegger movie, Predator; he is there stalking all the time but invisibly so. He can only be seen by the movement of his surroundings. Jesus was saying, Behold of the things you see, because they may be invisible, but are powerful beings!

Demons may not be in most of mankind, but they certainly are in the minds of men in their thoughts. How would invisible creatures get to you? In your mind?

Behold, they might be messaging you with you even unaware of it. That’s what angels do, even demon angels; they message and a person with ‘demons’ just may have demonic thoughts that are characters from their archetype, Lucifer.

When Jesus warned to “behold,” He was warning of things that you would not normally see; you must look for them.

Jesus went on to tell the apostles, “I send you,” or in the Greek, “Ego apostello hymas” Jesus literally set them apart as apostles (ibid). ‘Hymas’ indicates “for your sakes” (ibid). They would be like sheep, not other walking, stalking creatures because Jesus is the ‘Good Shepherd” (John 10:11) who would protect them.

Next comes a surprise; those sheep would cavort, not literally with wolves, but more so demons. The base of the Greek word translated “wolves” is “leukos” It pertains not to four-legged carnivores but to brilliant, or light-bringing, entities (ibid).

It is not wolves that we should fear but creatures who reside in extremely hidden places, ala Lucifer from Isaiah’s vision.

 The apostles were represented as ‘sheep’ because they are the most domesticated of all God’s creatures. They have no guile in them at all. Just as the apostles were not literally sheep, but that was their nature, the wolves are not literally wolves but the demonic spirits that seek to devour our minds one thought at a time! Like buzzards, those creatures of darkness are invisible to the dead, so people must remain alive in Spirit to see the vultures from another realm pecking away at them bit by bit, or one thought at a time!

It begins this way; one filthy word in a book or movie can be overlooked; even one sex scene. Ignore that if you choose!

Next comes two events in movies or books that cannot harm you because that first one did not seem to.

Next it is how about three or four? How about ten or even numerous? Before long you have been ravaged, but you have enjoyed being pecked apart — your righteousness — one moral at a time. Real demons did not attack you, but unawares, the thoughts of demons gradually possessed your own thoughts. Gradually, you have become addicted to sin and often fail to recognize sin as sin!

Jesus continued, “Therefore, be as wise (phronimos) as serpents (ophis).”

Serpents are not wise, but they are perceptive. Snakes cannot hear. They perceive danger by vibrations carried through the ground. In like manner. The apostles, and even us, should perceive dangerous beings. Ironically, thoughts nor demons can be seen, but they can be detected if the Word is perceived.

This immediate commentary is about perception. Jesus was telling the apostles not to depend on their “own lying eyes,” as the saying goes, but on what or on whom lies behind their thoughts. That is sobriety and vigilance (1 Pet 5:8). Question everything and hang onto what is good!

For instance, viewers might say, “That movie was good.” On the other hand, it was probably quite entertaining, but it was far from good. Movies, poetry, songs, and such always present  a message. All entertainment has either an obvious or hidden message.

How many get the hidden messages that wicked writers write? They see the light on the screen but fail to receive the hidden messages. Jesus was asking them to examine everything closely because they might encounter dark angels unawares in the same manner good angels might be entertained unawares (Heb 13:2).

Sin is basically angels entertaining you, not angels of light, but dark angels who transmit sinister messages to your mind as you are entertained! That was the first and original sin and like all other sins!

Now consider the “serpents” (ophis) of which Jesus warned. Ophis literally means something that allows itself to be seen (Strong 2006).

The original ‘Serpent’ was not a crawling creature but a cunning invisible one who showed Eve its image (nahas) that differed from the Image (Selem) of God.

Lucifer’s inner, or revealed image, was cunningness (Gen 3:1). On the other hand, the Image of God was His ‘phantom,’ or Ghost. Adam was made like the Ghost of God — the Holy Ghost — whereas after sin, both he and his wife were reimaged in the likeness of Lucifer. (I believe those two very different ‘images’ were the genetic code, or DNA, encoded from God and from Lucifer, two very different extremes of the kinds of the unseen domain.

As such, the ‘serpent’ of which Jesus warned is another being that reveals itself in much the same manner that a snake might be encountered when gardening. There is no fear if the snake remains hidden, but once it shows itself, danger is imminent. A rattlesnake will even give an audible warning and a copperhead a distinct odor. Christians, all apostles of Christ, must beware of those sounds and aromas to stay safe.

When scripture refers to a ‘serpent,’ it is most often not a snake, but some other being that is encountered in the manner of a serpent.

Jesus was telling the apostles, although they are more like sheep, to use the same tactics as the ‘serpents’ that they would encounter; to strike first before they are stricken, but to be “harmless as doves.”

Serpents strike for protection, not because they are mean-spirited. So should the apostles strike; not to harm but for preservation. Serpents emit venom; on the other hand, Christians should have the nature of “doves” (peristera), or in Greek mythology, like a nymph — like nature itself.

For protection, many animals conceal themselves in camouflage to blend in with nature so as not to be seen. They do so to avoid adversarial creatures. Jesus was not suggesting that they be doves, or even nymphs, but humble creatures who avoid confrontation and physical engagement.

An example is that the Holy Ghost entered Jesus in “bodily shape” with the motion of a “dove” (Luke 3:22). That does not mean that when Jesus was baptized that they saw the Holy Ghost enter Jesus but that the Spirit just appeared as if from nowhere, even though that Spirit was a phantom that looked like Jesus in form! The others perceived that the Holy Ghost had entered Jesus.

With that said, because the Holy Spirit would be in the apostles, and in Christians, the ‘dove’ characteristic would be to encounter the serpents as they would encounter you when in the Garden. They would conceal themselves and the Spirit within them would reveal itself — as the inner person in the soul of the Christian.

The Greek-speaking world knew exactly what Jesus was saying, but here we are in English, so misinformed because of the language barrier, so unwise that the translators have to use figures to describe invisible characteristics. We are as bad as the psychologist, Carl Jung, who did that exact same thing!

If what I write is correct insight, then we must beware of unseen forces and resort to their tactics while we are on their ground. When fighting Trojans, we must act as Greeks!

(picture credit; Fredrik Posse; "The Trojan Horse Statue in Turkey)

 

ENDURE TO THE END

Speaking of great tribulation, Jesus said: 

²¹ And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. (Mat 10:21-22)

 Jesus is describing a very serious time! Soon, all twelve would suffer tribulation, primarily from Nero Caesar, but this must be something greater than that occasion. Think now of Nazi Germany wherein this was commonplace, but Jesus is speaking of the end.

So, what or when is the end? Was the end the death of the twelve apostles? The ‘end’ is telos — when a thing ceases to be. It could mean when the apostles cease to exist, and indeed they endured to the end, but scripture was not written just for them, and neither was it written for only the Jews!

To answer the question, When is the end? Jesus spoke of the end: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell” (Mat 10:28). The end, end is the destruction of your existence. When it is the end for others, for the Christian, the end is a beginning.

That ending is when certain events happen. Of course, some might say it is ‘Judgment Day’ but that is appearance of the dead in the Court of God to reveal why they are guilty.

Paul, on behalf of Jesus, judged sinners at Corinth for in his absence, his Spirit (Jesus) was there for a reason: “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Satan would destroy the flesh, but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus would save their Spirits, or souls.

When will that occur? “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” (1 Thes 4:16). That is the ‘Day of the Lord’ and ultimately when the flesh perishes, just as when Paul condemned the sinners at Corinth to die on behalf of Jesus because they did not cling to Will of God.

Submitted for your consideration is that the ‘end’ is on the real ‘Judgment Day’ when Jesus leaves the dead in their graves and saves both the body and the souls of those who were righteous in life, counter to the proposition that He will perish the body and the soul in that day.  

It is supposed that the repentant thief was buried in a pauper’s grave as was the custom in those times, so when Jesus comes again, the living soul of that man will be given new flesh and Jesus will save all the substances of that man, Dismus.

Dismus endured to his end, and in the final ending, his flesh will be saved when it becomes incorruptible. Speaking of the ‘Day of the Lord,’ Paul wrote, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:52).

Death is the end for everyone so far as their worldly existence is concerned. Life is not so much that people reside on Earth but that they exist in another realm. Therefore, death is not so much cessation of the body but the perishing of the soul.

The dead shall be judged when Jesus sounds the trumpet. Only the righteous shall stand upright before the Lord, and those who remain in the grave will be told why when they appear before God on the classical ‘Judgment Day.’

Praying for the dead is not efficacious as Luke chapter 16 reveals. The end for them is at their demise. Death delivers the souls of the righteous to Paradise, and the souls of the unrighteous to Hell. Before the time of Jesus, the Jews alone were in Paradise and rested in the bosom of Abraham until Jesus would come for their bodies.

The end for those Jews who had been faithful to God was on the Resurrection Day of Jesus (Mat 27:53). That was the end for them for at that time, their bodies were made alive and joined their souls in Paradise.

The point to this discourse is that the ‘end’ is the end. The end comes when endurance (hypomeno) ceases — bearing the trials prepared for us in the world (i.e., tribulations). Christians shall have tribulations as the apostles did under Nero, and all Christians must endure what is obviously greater tribulations during the period preceding the ‘Day of the Lord” for those who remain alive until that time!

The popular belief is that Jesus will come like a mighty man to save the damned right before they are doomed. That may be the case, but it is far from certain. Jesus spoke of the time, when Christians are in a vicarious prison, afraid even to speak because even their own families will reveal their thoughts. It is in an age when the thought police are everywhere and nowhere can they be avoided. I submit that now is the ‘end’ for you cannot escape detection.

The end, end is when the death angel comes for you if you are not covered in the blood, as in the Passover of the Exodus. That was their end. Those who did not obey the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb were damned. Those who trusted the blood from life provided by God were save from Pharoah and went on their way toward Paradise.

All but a few died before arriving in the land of milk and honey because they suffered great tribulation even as they followed God most of the way. They failed to endure to the end. Endurance is not part way but all the way to the end!

Now consider the days of Noah which is the example for the ending. The test was 120 years of tribulation (Gen 6:3). Their tribulation was wickedness (Gen 6:5) of all sorts, but worst of all, miscegenation by mixing of the kinds (Gen 6:4).

Their end was what seemed to be pleasure, but the result was great tribulation. God shut the door to the Ark and no longer could the wicked enter in and consequently, they retained their wicked natures, even as they would scream for the door to be opened. In His silent manner, God was saying to them, “I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Mat 7:23) as will be the case on judgment day. (Note that the Ark was a snatching up of the righteous in the same manner as in the end.) That last moment when God sounded His ‘trumpet” ever so silently that only eight entered in and the world was the end of mankind.

That is another way of looking at the end. It is the end of existence in this world whoever it is and whenever it occurs. For the twelve apostles, the end was in the reign of Nero, for us, it is the end of our lives, and for those living in the last days it is when they miss the rapture because of the love of this world.

The ‘rapture’ is when Jesus comes in the sky to gather the harvest. Do not expect many of the righteous to remain because Satan is the fool who sorts them out for God just as he was to do with Job. Yes, Satan is God’s ‘useful fool’ who does all the work for Him. He kills the body by imbuing it in sin, but God ends it for both the body and the soul, just as Jesus revealed.

The end, end is the rapture when God comes for the bodies to rejoin their souls. After that, nothing more can be said or done because those who were righteous shall be saved because they endured to the end, and those remaining shall perish because they did not.

What was it that Christians must endure? The world itself! Jesus came to overcome the world. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

How is the world overcome? To trust that Jesus did it for us. We merely lean on the Power of His Spirit and the world is overcome! That is how to endure to the end! The minute we cease to no longer trust Jesus (apostasy) is when we fall (Heb 6:6).

Are you anxious? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil 4:6; NIV).

(I spent the morning praying for two that are anxious and spent years praying for another person with anxiety.) The best way to cease anxiety is for them to pray and ask God to allay the fear in their minds, so I pray that they trust God to relieve that tribulation.)

Jesus went on telling the apostles about the end: 

¹⁸ And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. ²⁰ For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. (Mat 10:18-20)

 Jesus suffered those tribulations when He was forced to appear before governors and kings for the sake of Himself. He overcame the world so that you need not!

They — the authorities — delivered Jesus to His death. It was meant to be the end of Jesus! But for God; it was not meant to be! It would not be the end for Jesus because the Spirit spoke for Him.

When Jesus was crucified, His Body gave up the Ghost. That was the silent way that God would speak to Pilate and the repentant thief. They, along, with the centurion, Longinus, heard God ‘speak,’ not in Words but deeds. Jesus revealed His Inner Substance, and it was the Spirit that the Jewish patriarchs had seen so many times before.

Calm Pontius Pilate saw Jesus ‘speaking’ but the anxious chief priests and the governors failed to relieve their anxiety. For them, quick relief, was to execute the cause of their fears; and they would do that, not by welcoming Jesus, but killing Him.

What were their anxieties? That Jesus would be king and reveal their shenanigans, dishonesty, and the multitudes of sins that they were doing. (He called them out as ‘vipers’). Jesus revealed to the world how to allay feelings of anxiety, and it was not to fear those in authority, but to fear the One that can kill both their bodies and souls.

Hence, the world is tribulation! The Word made that plain when in the beginning, Jesus made that clear. Christians, every day, must overcome temptations — the ones that give rise to anxiety. Therefore, everyone alive must endure to the end whatever their end may be. They must overcome, not the gravity of the world itself, but the temptations of the world… spiritual ‘gravity.’

Just as gravity is the adversary that retains people here in this world, spiritual gravity is what retains our spirit at the Earth’s core, or ‘Hell.”

Sin is the pull of that spiritual gravity. The cosmopolitans of Noah’s time could not enter that door because sin would pull them down even when they were swimming against the rising waters with all their strength.

As it turns out, it is not you who must endure all things until the end, but trusting Christ to endure them for you, even all the Way to your Cross.

They are not out to get you, but because sin is of the mind, it is your own thoughts that seek your destruction, The thoughts of Jesus are what saves! Our thoughts are genetic and to whom we belong. It is our thoughts that can kill us, and even the demons know that!

(picture credit; Anxiety & Depression Association of America)

 

THE END

 

THE TIME OF SALVATION

There is much disagreement about just who must endure to the end and who must suffer tribulation.

Yes, Jesus did send the apostles first to the non-gentile cities unto the Jewish people of Israel (Mat 10:6). But was the message different for the Jews than for the Gentiles? God (Jesus) is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). He, however, gave the Jews first chance, even knowing that He would be rejected. If the message was for Jews alone, then would this message even apply to Christians; “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven”? (Mat 10:32).

Jesus did not come to only save the Jews but “men.” The “whosoever” is the same whosoever as in John 3:16. Jesus knew so many Jews would reject Him that the apostles must go on their way until they had exhausted their opportunities among the Jews (Mat 10:23). There is, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephes 4:5), so why would there be another salvation?

The message was always for everyone, and that was the same one message. Paul wrote, “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly” (Rom 2:29). Therefore, the Christian is a ‘Jew inwardly.’

The message from Jesus was always to everyone. Christians were also the ‘chosen’ and ‘peculiar” people (1 Pet 2:9). Gentiles were not just foreign races but pagans whose God was another God. For instance, Simon — the Canaanite — was likely not a Jew by genetics but by choice. The gospels applied to that non-Jewish man as much it did the Jewish apostles.

Now consider the following passages in light of those things: 

²¹ Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. ²² And ye shall be hated of all men for my Name's sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. ²³ But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, “You shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. (Mat 10:21-23)

 Jews of Israel will not be persuaded before Jesus comes again. Jesus already knew that when He said those things, so the message was not meant only for the Jews but “he that endures” whether it be Jew or non-Jew. The word ‘he’ is not specific (peculiar), so it was not only for the peculiar of the Jewish nation but also the peculiar of the Christian ‘nation’ — the Church.

The passages apply in general, and so does the entire book of Hebrews as well for that matter!

Christians, not just Jews, will be persecuted and face tribulation. “Brother against brother” is also terminology for people in general. For the Name, ‘Jesus,’ those who are Christians shall be persecuted, not just the Messianic Jews.

Furthermore, “He that endures to the end shall be saved” references His Name sake, or Christians. Jews will not be persecuted any more or any less for the sake of Jesus. He, in general, who endures to the end shall be saved. Not necessarily now or even tomorrow, but in the end. The question is, Just when is the end? Those who endure persecutions in the world. That either ends with death or with the coming of Jesus for the living and those who were in Christ before they died.

“And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mat 24:31). The ‘elect’ are not just the Jewish people but those of all Christians who are of the gens of Christ. The ‘elect’ are not just the Jews but those who are Jews inwardly and whose God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be tribulation and Christians, as Jesus said, must overcome that tribulation. That places doubt about the pre-tribulation rapture as well as when is the soul saved?

Speaking of the mercies of Jesus Christ, it is written: 

⁵ Who (Christians) are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ⁸ Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: ⁹ Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. (1 Pet 1:5-9)

 The ‘elect’ are both Jews and Gentiles who are chosen. That includes everybody but the angels that rebelled who were not chosen!

Salvation is to be revealed at the end of time. Christians are kept by faith until the end except for those who rebel against God. The “end of your faith” is the “salvation of your souls.” It is the souls of mankind that are saved and live forever in new incorruptible flesh. The old flesh dies and is never saved.

Salvation is the termination of faith for those who endure the tribulations until the end, called “manifold temptations” and “tried by fire” in those verses.

The doctrines of men are tricky; That it takes only five minutes of faith to suffice is a cunning doctrine. Faith must endure to the end, and the end of faith is either rebellion against God, death, or the rapture — “the appearing of Jesus Christ” — for the Christians. Therefore, the salvation of the soul is indeed at the second coming of Christ, but His coming in the sky long before He comes to reign.

 

 

 

HARVEST OF THE GARDEN OF THE LORD

Some say that Jesus cannot be found in the Old Testament, but everywhere any perceptive person looks, there he will find ‘Jesus,’ not by name, but the ‘Name.’

The first mention of ‘Jesus’ was with righteous Seth, “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26). The Hebrew root word for Enos was ‘Incurable’ in the English. Implied therein is that the genetics of Seth was incurable, but in the “Name’ was the cure!

The ‘Name’ that was called upon was ‘Sem’ also written ‘Shem,’ meaning “to transform” (Strong 2006). The ‘Name’ was to transform Seth’s kind, hence they were the ‘sons of God,’ in a genetic sense — the ‘gens’ of the LORD GOD. The Latins used gens to describe their family line.

Of course, soon came Shem before the flood, but he would not be the ‘Name’ but the gens from which the ‘Name’ would come, according to the Abrahamic Covenant; hence Shemites were God’s “chosen and peculiar people” (Deut 14:2) from which Jesus was born, and Christians reborn.

Speaking of Christians Paul wrote, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people…” (1 Pet 2:9). There you have it, the ‘Chosen One’ Jesus is identified with both Seth and Shem, and Jesus is the ‘Peculiar Man’ who came from the seed of Seth. Just as Seth’s progeny were the ‘sons of God,’ the Name, ‘Jesus’ is the ‘Son of God,’ not in a reproductive context but genetically.

Adam was to “multiply” As God commanded him, both the male Adam and the female of his kind:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” (Gen 1:28)

 Multiplication is to increase Adam’s kind. His family tree would be binary in two respects; it would be genetically male and female but an exponential of two (binary) — 2⁰ =1; 2¹ = 2; 2²=4; 2³=8; 2⁴=16, 2⁵=32; 2ⁿ=infinity. Not only was Adam’s kind to be binary but their numbers would be infinite. That was the Abrahamic Covenant, to wit: “That in blessing I (God) will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore…” (Gen 22:17). (Note that miscegenation, or intermarriage, usurps the binary function. Kit cuts off the infinite series.)

The LORD GOD had repeated the Adamic Covenant to Abraham, making it His covenant as well. Abraham was an ‘Adam’ in the sense that his seed was to multiply. From the seed of Abraham would come the Messiah, and the genesis of the Matthew chapter one accounts the seed of Abraham to Jesus. It is the fulfilment of the covenant, not just some boring list of names!

Adam was to have dominion over all the kinds, not just the fish and fowl, but every living thing. Adam was to have dominion even over angelic kind, but when he sinned, the dark angel, Lucifer thereafter would have dominion over Adam’s kind.

Although Seth was the ‘son of God, even Seth’s progeny would turn to sin and multiply sexually, having carnal knowledge with their new ‘lords’ – the ‘daughters of men’ of Cain’s seed. (Gen 6:4). Until Jesus, the ‘last Adam’ (1 Cor 15:45), Adam’s kind was as dead, but Jesus was the “quickening Spirit” that would save mankind.

All this background is to show that Jesus was the ‘Name’ in Hebrew doctrine, and His Name is most often called, the ‘Word’ (Gen 15:1). Abraham’s progeny spoke to him years before God conceived Him in the womb of Mary (John 1:1-14).

Christ is the Jewish ‘Messiah’ and his genetics are the thread from Adam to Jesus — the ‘last Adam.’ To deny Jesus is to deny both His Spirit and His genetics, also to refute the Abrahamic Covenant!

The Edenic Covenant was to bless with a blessing. God in a figurative sense, ‘kneeled’ to them (ibid). He came down to them and imbued them with His Holy Seed. He did the same with Seth’s seed in Enos.

All the patriarchs even though blessed, came short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Abraham did as well but the Testament of Abraham reveals that Abraham was regenned by God, and on the deathbed of Abraham, even Jacob (Israel) was comforted in Abraham’s Bosom.

Now, we come to today’s passages: 

³⁶ But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷ Then said He unto His disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; ³⁸ Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest. (Mat 9:36-38)

 God had planted a Garden in Eden — in the center of the world. Therein mankind was to grow and multiply. The intention was for Adam to grow the beings that God planted in the Garden. God would be the ‘quickening Spirit’ and Adam the ‘living soul’ that was planted. Adam was the ‘plant’ so to speak and God the life-giver and preserver.

When Jesus came into the world, he saw a scattered Garden of the human beings that were no more than lost sheep. (Quit thinking of the Garden as vegetation but beings of all sorts!)

Jesus had compassion on them. He shared His nature of compassion to engender them with like compassion. Jesus in a sense, corrected Adam’s ‘multitude’ with His genetics. The word, ‘multitude’ means much more than many, but people of different genetics.

They were the living souls that God planted in the Garden when He planted Adam therein, “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed” (Gen 2:9); not that the Garden was eastward of anything, but before time as the Sun comes from the East. God planted the living soul in the Garden before the ‘Clock” — the Sun was made.

Now it was time for the harvest. God did the planting as the ‘Husbandman,’ Jesus was the ‘Vine’ or the family Tree of Life, but now it was time for the branches to produce good fruit (John 15:1-2).

That ‘compassion’ was virtue from the Spirit of Jesus. In a sense, Jesus took a knee to the souls that He had planted before time and quickened them. He took the dead spirit of the beings that He had planted and made them alive again.

Jesus came to replant the Garden that He had planted before time. He made it fruitful again and prepared it for his disciples to harvest the crop of God — the one He had planted from Adam’s seed back before time. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” His compassion was not just for the people of right genetics but compassionate spirits — good will toward God and the multitudes, regardless of who they were or from whose seed they came!

If you are a Christian, your chore is the same as Adam’s — “to dress and keep it,” to plant and preserve the crop of Christians.

Judaism plans to do that, but at the moment, they are neither dressers nor keepers of the Garden of God. Christians do that. Jews cannot make you Judes, and neither can they make you Messianic. Only Jesus can make you chosen and peculiar people and only Christians can dress and keep the Garden.

One way of looking at the entire Bible is that it is all about the Garden of God and the harvest. Jews would, for a time, keep the Garden in the bosom of Abraham, but the harvest of the Garden is for those who Jesus provides to do the harvesting. The harvest is when Jesus comes for His ‘plants,’ “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” (1 Thes 4:16).

Not only is that the salvation of Adam’s kind but the harvest of the crop of living souls, even those who have died. (Note that the patriarchs had been resurrected as Jesus was after the crucifixion; Mat 27:53). They would rest alongside Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, just awaiting the bosom, or genetics, of Christ.