Posted by: biblestudyseattle | October 10, 2014

One Flesh

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:24-25

Many see the one flesh as sex, but is there a more literal meaning? Yes. Children. Kids are the literal fusing of man and woman into an embryo that matures into a full person.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5:31-32

So then, if Jesus is to marry the church in heaven, will their one flesh also be children? What kind of children? Could heavenly parents have earthly children? Why does Revelation say: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | October 9, 2014

The Almond Tree

“Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. Six branches shall go out from its sides; three branches of the lampstand from its one side and three branches of the lampstand from its other side. Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand; and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers. A bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand. Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold. Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it.” Exodus 25:31-37

The almond blossoms were a huge part of the lamp stand in the holy place of the tabernacle/temple.

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father’s household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers’ households. You shall write each name on his rod, and write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers’ households. You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you. It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I will lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you.” Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers’ households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods. So Moses deposited the rods before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

Now on the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Moses then brought out all the rods from the presence of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.” Thus Moses did; just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did.” Numbers 17:1-11

By this method, God chose Aaron’s clan as the priests. The preists represent the bride of Christ, who will have intimate part in bringing light to the world through the resurrection.

“The word of the Lord came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:11-12

Here God equates the rod of an almond tree to His Word.

“Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand [picturing an almond tree] and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod [of almonds] which budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” Hebrews 9:1-5

So we have a rod of almonds in the Holy of Holies. This pictures heaven itself with God’s miracle light between the cherubim. Jeremiah was a priest whose call involved the equating of an almond rod with God’s word. The lamp stand, which is the light of the world, is like an almond tree.

Because of these symbolisms, some have speculated that the tree of life was an almond tree. Will it be among the trees of life lining the river that comes out from under Ezekiel’s Millenial temple? Even Mount Sinai where Moses was given the Law is named Jabal Al Lawz [Almond Mountain] in modern day Saudi Arabia.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | October 8, 2014

The Law

The Law is an interesting thing. Most Christians believe the Law was nailed to the cross, totally done away with. But the scriptures declare that God will write the Law in our hearts. What? Law or no law? Some even quote Galatians where it says anyone trying to keep the Law is under a curse. But there’s a distinction. The Ten Commandments were written by God himself and put into the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies represent heaven. The extra laws expounded in the Torah were not put there. We realize that the Law will never justify, but those touched by the Spirit naturally fulfill the Law. Why did Jesus he say emphatically that he came NOT to abolish the Law but to fulfill it? We have to be careful how we interpret. For more: http://www.angelfire.com/la2/prophet1/WhatLawWasNailedToTheCross.html

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | October 4, 2014

Barabbas

“[Now he was obliged to release to them at the feast one prisoner.]. But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.)”. Luke 23:17-19

Barabbas means ‘Son of the father’. Furthermore, some manuscripts have his first name as Jesus. Isn’t that amazing! So here we had Jesus, the real son of the Father, and Jesus, son of the father the criminal. One was released and one was killed. This matches one of the temple rituals:

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. The Lord said to Moses:
“Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.” Leviticus 16:1-10

Jesus Barabbas was the scapegoat.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | October 1, 2014

Jesus’ problems

“Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,”. Isaiah 28:11

Did Jesus stutter?
“Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Exodus 4:10
And Moses also stuttered?

“He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:2-3

Was Jesus also ugly? Yes. He stuttered, was unattractive, sorrowful, and sickly. He was not one of the beautiful people. This was so that the truly humble would be his followers, and not those that want to hang out with the stars. You could also say he was a redneck:

“They answered him, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” Everyone went to his home.” John 7:52

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | September 30, 2014

The crucifixion

Ernest L. Martin also makes a good case that not only was Jesus Crucified, he was also stoned. The question occurs: why did Jesus die while the two robbers were still alive? Also: the scripture ‘by his stripes we are healed’ could refer to more than just the Roman scourging.

“Behold, My servant will prosper,
He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.
Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred more than any man
And His form more than the sons of men.
Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
For what had not been told them they will see,
And what they had not heard they will understand.” Isaiah 52:13-15

If Jesus was stoned for six hours by the Jews, his appearance could have been marred beyond recognition. Verse thirteen shows the Glory of Jesus after his resurrection. These kings are in the future understanding what actually happened to Jesus. This is when they have risen from the dead.

Many times the Jews tried to stone Jesus, but it was not to happen before the appointed time. “Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” John 8:59

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.” John 10:31

“The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” John 11:8

Stoning was the only method of capitol punishment in the Law of Moses. “The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.” John 19:7

Because of the stoning, Jesus’ blood was sprinkled very liberally. This fits with the requirements of the sin offering. The blood had to be sprinkled all over the altar. And Jesus was crucified very near the Mishkan Altar.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: ,

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | September 26, 2014

Crucifixion site

Ernest L. Martin makes a convincing case that Jesus was crucified near the southern peak of the Mount of Olives. That this was the site of the altar where the red heifer was burnt. The church of the holy sepulcher was founded about 326AD by Constantine’s mother as the result of visions. He also points out that the garden tomb has only looked like a skull for about the last 150 years, because the rock face has been changing due to erosion.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: ,

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | September 23, 2014

1 Kings 6:1 Revisited

“Now it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” 1 Kings 6:1

This passage is one reason the vast majority of people get the biblical chronology wrong. The actual length of time was 597 years. At various times Israel was not in control of the land, for a total of 117 years. 597-117=480. But why is this scripture this way? Is it a mistake? Or is God trying to show us something?

When we read on through chapter six and into chapter seven, we see that Solomon spent seven years building the Temple, but thirteen years building the buildings of his palace, for a total of 20 years. 480+20=500. Isn’t that interesting? Is this what will happen in the Millennium? We start with the Exodus, which seems to be a picture of the resurrection. The Israelites were figuratively dead in Egypt as slaves. They came out by miraculous providence to enter the promised land, which is figuratively paradise. Now if we scale the Jewish year up to a thousand years, we see that the fall feasts start just at and after the half way point, 500 years. Solomon is picturing the Temple starting construction before these fall feasts. Zechariah 14 tells us that all nations will be forced to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles or else they will be cursed. This is just past half way through the year. The story of Noah shows us that an altar is built after they come out of the ark. Noah and family and the animals came out after 370 days in the ark (370 years?). Will Ezekiel’s temple commence construction 480 years after the return of Christ? The first resurrection happens in secret from Earth’s point of view. This is the first 370 years. Remember that Solomon was crowned twice: once privately with only key officials, and a second publicly before the whole nation. Isn’t this incredible?? God has shown us what will happen in our day and beyond. The first second coming of Jesus is in secret with only key angels knowing. Then, much later is a huge public ceremony when “all eyes will see him.” This will most likely be when he descends with a huge earthquake to stand on the Mount of Olives, from whence he had risen to heaven before the disciples eyes.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | September 20, 2014

Tithing

The word comes from tenth, which is what it means. There is an interesting history. The first tithe was established after the Hebrews crossed the Red Sea. The tithe was modified when the Jews crossed into the promised land so that the Levites wouldn’t become more prosperous than their brothers. Only the tithe of the third and sixth years went to the Levites. On the first, second, fourth, fifth, and seventh years it went to the poor.

It is interesting to note that Jesus and the disciples never demanded the tithe. They were not Levites and not authorized to receive it. They depended on free will offerings and never even asked or passed the plate! The tenth Abraham gave to Melchizedek was purely voluntary. Yet the disciples spread the good news throughout the entire Roman world in less than three years without a budget!

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized | Tags:

Posted by: biblestudyseattle | September 19, 2014

Ephesians 6:4

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them.” Ephesians 6:4

“Fathers” can also be translated “parents”. Another word for provoke could be exasperate. There are many ways to exasperate children, but some of the less obvious are too many rules and excessive carrots and sticks. This makes behavior dependent on the carrots and devalues the relationship. Children will act up when they’re constantly jerked around this way.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Categories