Bible Study Seattle

“And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Ephesians 5:21 NLT

Does this mean everyone should submit to everyone else?  How about a mother submitting to her daughter?  A boss submitting to her employee?  A principal submitting to her students?  A husband submitting to his wife?  No!  Isn’t it obvious that this would be a disaster?  It’s no different with marriage.  Let’s try this verse again:

“Submit to other Christians of authority out of reverence for Christ.”  BSS blog version

Why did God create Adam first?  Could he just as easily created Eve, then taken the rib from her and fashioned Adam?  And why did God create men larger and stronger than women?  So that they could threaten and intimidate the women?  No!  Why did God create mothers larger and stronger than their babies?  So that they could threaten and intimidate their own children?  By no means!  He created these strength differentials to emphasize the order of authority and enable the stronger to help the weaker.  Granted, some mothers abuse their babies, and some husbands abuse their wives.  But all recognize such cruelty and rightly punish abuse.  God created mothers stronger than babies so that babies would have proper fear and respect for their mothers, and mothers can protect their babies.  Likewise wives to husbands.  Likewise people to God.  There must be order or there will be no order.

“He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”  Revelation 2:26-28

Most people assume the end is the end of their earthly life.  But what if it’s later than that?  What if the end is the Day of Atonement when Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives?  Or what if the end is the end of Satan’s release at the end of the thousand years?  What if we’re resurrected, and more work of grace needs to be done in a second life?

This is almost surely the case.  People will be surprised to find their life still a work in progress when they wake from the sleep of death.

Excellent thoughts on Malachi 3:3:  http://www.sistersforyah.org/BibleStudies/Malachi3.html

The bible really does have insight:  “Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”  Genesis 3:16 NASB

This translation really isn’t helpful even though it’s accurate.  The Hebrew word for desire is Tashuqah, Strong’s number 8669.  It is only used three times in the bible, and always as a strong, almost controlling desire, whether good or bad.  Another translation is:  “Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband, And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you.”  Genesis 3:16 AMP

The idea seems to be that Eve would be cursed longing for Adam as she should only long for God.  When they disobeyed, their relationship with the Lord God was forever tainted and the relationships became muddled and misplaced.  The curse includes that Adam would react to this inappropriate desire by ruling over Eve – a way of rejecting this misdirected desire.  The tendency for wives to attempt to elevate their husbands to God status can be seen when they expect their husband to read their mind.  Cannot God read minds?  Then so should my husband.  Another common fault is trying to make God (or husband) into the wife’s image by changing him.  Do not most women expect to be able to change their man?  Let’s see if we can reframe this verse:

“You will have a strong, worshipful desire and longing for your husband, yet he will disappoint you and try to deflect this controlling desire by ruling over you.”  BSS blog version.  We see this dynamic all the time in marriage.  Psychologist John Gottman calls this negative marriage pattern ‘the four horsemen of the apocalypse’.  It starts with what he terms the ‘harsh startup’.  This is usually begun by the wife.  She is bringing up an issue and using disrespect.  This is her desire gone wrong.  She is trying to control her man.  Men usually get defensive; that is him trying to rule over her disrespect.  And this pattern was started by Adam & Eve!  We must not look to our spouses as our savior, we must look toward our real savior!

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—  in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.”  1 Corinthians 15:51-53

When does this happen?  Some say before the great tribulation, some – after, and some – after death has been abolished.  “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  1 Corinthians 15:25-26

Is death abolished all at once?  Is it abolished one resurrection at a time?  Is the mystery (or secret) in verse 51 occurring at the end of the Millennium?  When we try to unveil the timing of the events we run into difficulties.  Much like the Jews did concerning the Messiah.  They couldn’t reconcile the powerful Messiah with the suffering servant Messiah.  So they came up with the concepts of Messiah ben Yoseph and Messiah ben David.  The modern Christian runs into similar difficulties.  Are all people resurrected before the grand appearance of the Messiah in the clouds?  This author thinks so.  Might the change to imperishable happen after resurrection?  When is the last trumpet?

The last trumpet is associated with Yom Kippur – the day of Atonement.  This is also the beginning of the Jubilee, a very good candidate for the Millennial reign.  There is also the Sabbath Millennium, which precedes the Jubilee.  And as far as when immortality is imputed – why does 1 Timothy 6:16 say only the Father is immortal?  “ For,

Who were the Sons of God who married the daughters of men in Genesis 6?  Some say they were fallen angels who bred with women to create a race of giants.  Others say that angels cannot procreate although they can possess a person.  YAIY has a good article:  http://www.yaiy.org/literature/WhoAreSons.html

But what about Jude 6: “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”  And 2 Peter 2:4-5:  “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell [Tartarus], putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people.”

This is why its good to read different viewpoints.  So that we can really drill down into what we believe and why.  If we are going to give a reason for the hope that is in us it helps to be versed in the various controversies.  We need to be like a good lawyer who has studied all the angles.  Jesus certainly did.

The origin of the name Jesus is interesting.  Apparently, it is a Latin-Greek hybrid.  Here is much detail:

http://www.yaiy.org/literature/HowTheSaviorNameChanged.html

Ezekiel 40-48 poses interesting problems for the Christian.  How is it that there will be a future temple with animal sacrifices?  Wasn’t Jesus the ultimate sacrifice.  Paul says, “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.  Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.  But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.  It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law.  Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.  And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”  Hebrews 10:1-10

It is possible that this animal sacrifice system is needed since there may be people born during the Millennium who haven’t lived before.  Or it could be that repentance and forgiveness need to be conveyed with a personal sacrifice.  Jesus’ sacrifice quarantees or resurrection.  But once resurrected, we need to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”.  Salvation is a joint effort between Jesus and us.  Some commentary:  http://pauls-post-crucifixion-temple-sacrifices.info/sacrifices-in-the-future.html

Christians are no longer under the law.  What does that mean?  Can we now steal?  No.  A good explanation:

http://www.yaiy.org/literature/BornAgain.html

When a person repents and is baptized, confessing Jesus as Lord of his life, God bestows his holy spirit in part in them.  In Ephesians 1:13-14 the holy spirit is likened to a down payment.  But does a down payment guarantee that the whole property will be purchased?  No.  It is possible to walk away and forgo the down payment.  God wants to see if a person will grow in grace and truth or stagnate and return to his old ways.  A good explanation of this is;  http://www.yaiy.org/literature/BornAgain.html