Bible Study Seattle

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  Ephesians 5:25-27

Paul is comparing the husbands’ duty to Christ.  The husband is to wash the wife with the word.  Bible study or reading is essential.  People often have to hear things many times to sink in.  For example, if someone tends to think about negative things, they need to be reminded of, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”. Philippians 4:8. If someone has trouble with honesty: “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”  Matthew 5:37

This is a hint at how we all will be cleansed.  Remember when the disciples were confused after the crucifixion Jesus enlightened them.  “Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”  Luke 24:27

If a person has no interest in religion or the bible, they will not be able to escape it in the resurrection.  All errors will be corrected.  But even so, some will still turn away from God to make war with the saints.  It will not end well for them.  “Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth.”. Zechariah 14:12

I’ll take God’s rules instead, thank you very much.  Unfortunately, some wives are like these rebels.  No amount of washing will keep them from ultimate folly.  Pray that this is not your wife.

Here is a great article with some history from the 1500s:

http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/luther-tyndale.htm

When researching current Jewish belief, a great resource is jewsforjesus.org.  It is also helpful to read Jewish sites like whatjewsbelieve.org.  Reading both sides is a very helpful exercise.  Some of the current Jewish objections today are the same ones that the Pharisees had 2,000 years ago!  Not much has changed!  The whole thing shows the immense genius of God, who is able to hide the truth in plain sight in order to take out a people for his name until the Gentile church is complete, whereupon he will return his focus to the Israelites, whom him will raise up to splendor.

Why is Hebrew read right to left?  I don’t know for sure, but it fits a pattern in the bible:

“So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”  Genesis 3:24

The garden of Eden was entered from the east – right to left.

“Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.”  Leviticus 16:14

The Tabernacle could only be entered from the east – right to left.

“and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets”  2 Chronicles 5:12

The Temple could only be entered from the east – right to left.

“When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.”  Ezekiel 10:19

Ezekiel’s Temple is entered from the east – right to left.

“And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate facing toward the east.”  Ezekiel 43:4

The glory of the Lord enters from the east – right to left.

“In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.”  Zechariah 14:4

The Messiah will stand on the Mount of Olives facing the Temple – he will come from the east – right to left.

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,”  Matthew 2:1

The Magi arrived from the east to visit the Messiah – right to left.

“For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”  Matthew 24:27

Jesus will come from the east – right to left.

“[ The Sixth Trumpet—Army from the East ] Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.”  Revelation 9:13

God’s army comes from the east – right to left.

What will happen in 2015?  Here are some guesses:

Per the blood moons landing on Jewish feast days, Israel will have trouble from her neighbors, but will ultimately come out on top.  Joseph has her back even though they don’t realize it.

China’s real estate market implodes sending waves throughout the world.  Japan continues to deteriorate.  A deflationary wave hits in October causing several large banks to fail and crazy new measures to stabilize markets.  Banking is further consolidated as the powers-that-be continue their course toward one global banking monopoly.  Civil unrest strikes causing governments to enact severe measures.  In the U.S. The elites lick their chops at calling a constitutional convention of the states (article V), to formally rewrite (i.e. Gut) the Constition.  The people become alarmed and the elites do not make as much progress as they’d like.  Organic movements such as homeschooling, etc. gain momentum as public confidence in institutions continues to decline.  Obamacare gets its first major setback from one of the dozens of lawsuits against it.  Banking stimulus grows ever larger halting the decline in commodity prices at the very end of the year.  Although the first part of 2015 will be relatively smooth sailing, people will be mad to face another financial crisis.  In the distress, many will gaze heavenward wondering if God cares.

Here is a summary of why some Jews believe Jesus is not the Messiah:

http://whatjewsbelieve.org/explanation3.html

The prophecies cited are very legitimate.  The article states that God abhors human sacrifice.  True enough. But then why did God command Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?  Was that not a real test and not just some cruel joke?  It also states that no one can die for the sins of another.

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.”. Genesis 3:21

Why did God kill an animal to cover Adam & Eve?  Was that not a sacrificial death hinting at a future atonement?  Also, the article compares Jesus’ birth to pagan traditions of human-God matings.  But what about Adam?  Was he not born of God directly?  Wouldn’t that put the Jewish creation story also in league with the pagans?

After this, the first bullet point in the article states that Messiah must be born of two human parents in the lineage of David.  If the Messiah is of the seed of Adam, how could he redeem mankind? He would be sinful like the rest of us. It is similar to when Jesus said John the baptist was Elijah. John the Baptist filled the role of one calling the way in the desert, but he was not the complete fulfillment of the Malachi prophecy. For that, Elijah must be raised from the dead or brought back from where ever God whisked him too.

According to some Jews, they believe that no one can die for the sins of another:

http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/explanation1.html

Ezekiel does prophecy a time when everyone will die or live based on their own sin or repentance.  Yet, that must be in the future.  Does not everyone die now??  And what about the Hebrew sacrificial system?  Did they not use animal sacrifices to atone for their sins?  Is that not one dying for another??

“But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.  All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live.  Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”  Ezekiel 18:21-23

If the wicked turns, how can he live?  Everyone still dies!  So what hope does this leave the Jew?  How is the Messiah going to bring age-lasting life to anyone?  Is he just going to replant the trees of life and say the all-you-can-eat buffet is now open?  But how could that bring back David or Isaiah or Daniel?

The most important thing in this first life is relationships.  Nobody thinks on their deathbed, “Boy, I’m sure glad I bought that 1987 FX Acura with the red trim and saved $1,231.”  No.  You think of family and close friends.  And God.  There’s an interesting scripture:

“The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after.” 1 Timothy 5:24

Now,

“each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work.  If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.  If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”  1 Corinthians 3:13-15

How can sins follow after a man?  If someone succeeds in taking secret sins or crimes to the grave, they will be surprised when they wake up.  The ‘day’ will expose them.  That ‘day’ is 1,000 years long.  This shows that there will be memory from the first life to the second.  The Millennium will not only consist of judgment of sins committed then, but it will also include judgment for sins committed in the first life.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”  Numbers 6:22-27

Is this a prophecy?

“And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”.  Matthew 19:28

Christians will be priests from heaven.  Jesus is our high priest; Christians are the regular priests.  And they will be the agents to proclaim God’s favor upon individuals.

“Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.  And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.  And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.  These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.  And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.”  Revelation 14:1-5

These 144,000 are the wives of Jesus, the Bride of Christ, the church.  They will have direct counterparts among the Israelites:

“And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”  Revelation 7:4-8

These two groups will likely get to bless the throngs of mankind as they come up year after year to the Feast of Tabernacles:  “Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.”  Zechariah 14:16

Most likely, the blessing will flow from Jerusalem, from Zion.

Here is a great article summarizing the situation of Jesus’ birth:

http://www.endtimes-biblereport.com/Issue_6.html