Don't Be Deceived by Chris Whitcomb - HTML preview

CHAPTER 6.

ADAM TO THE BIRTH OF JESUS IN BETHLEHEM.

 

In this chapter, I am going to try and explain a lot of words, concepts and items commonly referred to in scripture and in churches and religious content, but with a lot of different interpretations and understanding even misunderstanding. This is an area which Satan uses a lot to spread his deception.

In Genisis 3:1 we read” Now the serpent was more subtill than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

For Satan to be in the garden of Eden, Lucifer should have become Satan by then already. This means that he was already cast down on earth before kings. Kings that were there even before Adam and Eve? Something does not make sense here or is this a deception of Satan at work again? Or what non-believers will say, see the Bible does not make sense and is totally confusing.

We all know the rest of what happened after the lie told by Satan was believed by firstly by Eve and later by Adam as well. Even today, many people still believe the same lie. The lie that people will not die but will keep on living as gods. God said if you eat of that fruit, ye shall surely die. Adam and Eve both ate of the tree of good and evil and the result is, they will surely die, and they did. The outcome of this wrong choice, firstly made by Eve as the weakest human link at the time, then Adam had the choice to submit to her or to God and he also made the wrong choice. The outcome of their choices is, they will surely die.

What the devil hides from a lot of “the chosen ones” or the” elect”, whatever Christians like to call themselves, is what follows in Genesis 3: 22.

“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 for ever: therefore, the LORD GOD sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

So, he drove out the man; and he placed at the east the garden of Eden Cherubism and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

It is clear from these scriptures that it was God’s intentional will for Adam and Eve to have eternal life. God did not prevent them from eating from the tree of life before they have eaten from the tree of good and evil. God prevented them to eat of the tree of life, only after they have eaten from the wrong tree. After they made the 30

wrong choice, God prevented them to also became like “us” to also have eternal life, by eating from the tree of life as well. Who did God referred to as “us”. Accept God himself. From the Bible we know that Jesus was there, possible the Holy Spirit, but also Satan who we know by now who was a Cherubim and possibly are immortal.

So, it can be argued that God prevented man to become like Satan and his fallen angels and become Satan’s children and enlarge the army of Satan. God in His grace and eternal wisdom knew that this was going to happen and had a plan in mind.

I started comprehending this time on God’s timeline as a scene from a film, with

God been the author, director, producer, whatever position there is in His film; to glorify His son Jesus Christ as the leading role player in the film of HIS PLAN. The scripture that came to mind was John 1:2. “The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

God knew, and He at the time allowed me to see what the darkness, Satan, could

not see. It also became clear that the whole Bible is all about the great battle between Satan and God. God had a plan to end Satan’s rebellion, and Satan did not know anything about God’s plan.

From the time of Adam and Eve, Satan was all the time busy trying to intervene in what he thought God’s strategy was. Satan knew that Jesus was there because Jesus was there when Lucifer was created. (John 1: Proverbs 8; John 17:5 and many more).

Satan was involved when Cain killed Abel, and with every bad thing happening on earth originating from the descendants of Cain. When God asked Cain where his brother was, he answered God that he is not his brother’s keeper. God then cursed him so much that Cain said to God that his curse is too much to bear. Cain then went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land Nod, on the east of Eden. God later made a mark on Cain to howsoever harm him, vengeance will be taken seven-fold. Adam and Eve then had Seth, who had a son Enos from whom the men came who called upon the LORD. The descendants from this, the good side, and Cain, the bad side, were on the earth until the following event came to pass on the earth.

In Genesis 6:1 to 12 we read about the sons of God having children with the daughters of man. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on earth; and it grieved him at heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it

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repenteth me that that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

The rest of Noah’s flood is well described in the rest of Genesis 6 to Genesis 11: 9 where God scattered the ungodly people of the earth by confusing their languages at the Tower of Babel. If we follow the history of God’s chosen people, we see how Satan was trying to interfere in history to prevent God’s plan to be successful. It was war between God and His angels and Satan and his angels. From Adam to Seth to Noah, Satan was always trying to deceive the people away from God’s plan. When God destroyed the earth for a second time during Noah’s days, Satan was after the flood continuing to deceive the people who survived the flood. Noah’s son Ham’s son, Canaan, laugh about his grandfathers’ nakedness, instead of covering it and was cursed by Noah and send to be a slave to his uncle Shem and his descendants. One of Canaan’s descendance was Nimrod the mighty one, who later became the King and ruler of Babel. The enemy of God’s chosen ones. The descendance of Japheth included Gomer and Magog who we all recognise as enemies of God’s people. Especially with Gog from Magog who will be leading the famous, soon to take place, battle of Gog and Magog.

From the descendance of Shem we found Terah who was the father of Abram, Nahor and Haram. Haram was the father of Lot. Haram died when he was young, and Abram adopted Lot and his mother as his own. Nahor married Harams daughter.

Abram was then called out of his father’s house in Ur to follow God’s plan to move to Cannan.

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God started calling people or started electing people from the rest of the

people of the earth.

 

God then started calling out people, God selected Abram himself when he called Abram in Genesis 12. A very important thing to note in the Bible from this time onward is that God started selecting people from the rest of the people on earth. Note that when the LORD called Abram, he told him the following:

“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that cursed thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. God did not call all of Abram’s people, only him and his closest relations, but Abram took with him Lot as his assistant or right-hand man.

Abram was 75 years old at the time when he took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son, Lot with him and they left his father’s house and move to Cannan where God

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told him to go. There then was a great famine in Canaan and Abram with his wife went to Egypt. Sarai was a very beautiful woman so Abram was afraid that the Egyptians will kill him to get to Sarai. So, he told her that they should say that she is his sister. When they got there, Sarai was taken to the house of the Pharaoh who gave Abram lots of sheep and oxen and asses and men servants and maid servants and she asses and camels. So much so that Abram became a rich man.

God’s plan was to allow this to happen as a quick gift from God to bless him and make him rich because he was obedient to God’s call. God then plagued Egypt and the Pharaoh in such way that he sends them away, giving back Sarai to Abram. They moved back towards the south. At the place where Abram has built the alter earlier, he and Lot separated because there was not enough space for both of them to live. Lot chose to go to the left and Abram went right. The place Lot went was towards Sodom and Gomorrah, which was later destroyed by God, because of the evilness of those two cities. Satan’s deception working to destroy everything.

Abram and his wife Sarai were barren and did not have any children, maybe because of Satan’s interference. Abram said to God that he does not have an heir after he came back from revenging what has happened to Lot. The LORD than came to Abram in a vision telling him that he will receive an heir out of his own bowel. God and Abram then made a covenant, where God gave Abram a piece of land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Gigacities and the Jebusites.

Abram, because of his human nature, and maybe because of the work of Satan, Abram then had a son with Sarai’s maiden. He was called Ishmael. God made it very clear to Abram that this son will not be his heir. At the age of 100 and his wife Sarai 90, she fell pregnant with Isaac. Before that at the age of 99 and Ishmael at 13, both as well as all other close relations of Abram was circumcised as a sign of the covenant with God.

Isaac was also circumcised at the age of 7 days, and he was the father of Esau and

Jacob given to him by his wife Rebekah. Even before they were born Satan has again sowed his evil seeds. This is why the birth of this twin brothers is such a very important occasion to understand in the Bible.

In Genesis 25:23 God told Rebekah the following: “Two nations are in thy womb and two manners of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger”. (one is good and the other bad)

Esau was born first, and the Bible described him as red and hairy and big. Jacob was born second, and he was holding onto the heel of Esau. Esau became a cunning hunter, a man of the field and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. The 33

story of Esau selling his birth right to Jacob and Jacob taking the blessing from Isaac instead of Esau, is a very well-known story in the Bible. When Esau came from the field and was very hungry, he asked Jacob to feed him because he said I am faint: therefore, was his name called EDOM. This name is used in the Bible to refer to almost very thing evil or bad or satanic. Clearly God here chose Jacob to Esau. This is even more clearly described by Paul in Romans 9:10 onward.

“And not only this; but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our farther Isaac; (for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) it was said to her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written Jacob have, I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Paul continues by saying “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with

God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So, then it is not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

From the above-mentioned scriptures, it is very clear that God calls or identified or choose people to be His leaders, people, children whatever we want to call them. Following the rest of the history of Esau and Jacob, the enemies of Jacob either came from the descendance of Esau or from the descendants of Ishmael. Esau then planned to kill Jacob, but Rebekah heard it and she send Jacob to her brother Laban to prevent Esau killing him. Jacob went to stay with his uncle and worked 7 years for his daughter Rachel, but Laban gave him Leah as wife after which he had to work for another 7 years before he got his beloved Rachel. Jacob had 6 sons with Leah as well as a daughter, two sons with Leah’s servant Zilpah and the two sons with Bilhah, Rachel’s slave. He then at last, had two sons with Rachel namely Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel died during Benjamin’s birth.

 

Abram and later Abraham’s blessings

 

What was the blessing of Abram, later called Abraham? His blessings are captured as follows in the Bible:

 In Genesis 12: 1-3 ‘’I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,

and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them

 

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that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”.

 

Summarised his blessings were as follows:

 God will make him a great nation.

 Make his name great.

 The whole world would be blessed because of him.

 God gave him a very big piece of land.

 God told him that his seed(heir) will possess the gates of his enemies.

 After Abraham’s almost offered Isaac to the Lord, he was stopped by an angle

and the following blessing was bestowed on him:

 I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply the seed as the stars

of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and the seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

 

Understanding the meaning of elect and God’s will.

 

At this stage it is important that we understand the meaning in the Bible, when it refers to certain words. There are too many people and mainly pastors and prophets using these words and then hook their own doctrines and teachings to it to describe to people the meaning of what is mentioned. Just another way of Satan to deceive the people especially the elect. The two words or actually concepts or definitions or groupings are “the elect or chosen ones or God’s people and the second one is God’s will.

Meaning of elect.

 

There are also a lot of derivatives from these two words. From elect there are the following:

 the 5 wise virgins,

 the Nation of Israel (very often called the Jews which is only one of the 12

tribes of Israel),

 the body of Christ

 born again Christians.

 the church

 God’s people

 The 144 000 men 12 000 from each tribe of Israel

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 The grain of the harvest

 The chosen ones

 The ones whose names are written in the book of life from the foundations of

the earth.

In the Bible there are three (3) scriptures that we should use to understand what the real meaning of “the elect” or the “chosen ones” or the “called” really are. These scriptures are John 6:44; Romans 8: 28 to 30 and Ephesians 1: 4 to 5.

John 6:44. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” This clearly states that the Farther must first draw the person to Him, and then that person will receive eternal life on the last day of Jesus’s second coming. Not before the time, not while he is alive nor dead, only at the second coming on the last day. Why don’t pastor’s and other preachers teach us this? Are they all deceived?

Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called and whom He called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”

All so very clear God calls, knowing beforehand who He wants to call and after He

had called, He justify and glorify.

Ephesians 1:4-5. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of his children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

In this scripture it is not just telling us that God is choosing us for adoption as his children but also when before God made the earth. We also read in Revelations 20:15 “And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” And in Revelation 13: 8 “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,(the beast) whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” This scripture can be a bit confusing but if we know that the names are written in the book of life from the foundations of the earth, that the Lamb was there at the beginning and He was later slain on the cross. In other translations of the Bible, it is much more clearly stated.

In general, there are two views on the doctrine of election. These are the Prescient or Foreknowledge view and the Augustinian view.

 

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The Prescient or Foreknowledge view’

God, through His omniscience, knows those who will in the course of time choose of their own free will to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. Based on this divine foreknowledge, God elects these individuals ‘before the foundation of the world”.

The Augustinian view.

This view states that, therefore, not all who are called are chosen according to his purpose, for this purpose pertains to God’s foreknowledge and predestination. And he has not pre-ordained anyone but whom he foreknew would, have believed and followed his calling whom he also called the elect”.

There are no real differences between the two viewpoints. Both views as well as what is in scripture are based on the following:

 God choose based on pre-knowledge or his purpose.

 God choose before the person is born at the foundation of the earth.

 God choose those who he knew they will be in the image of his Son Jesus

Christ.

 God predestine and pre-ordained only those who He knows will believe and

follow His calling.

In summary the “elect” can be defined as follows:

 They are members of the body of Christ, the Christian church.

 God is choosing a particular person or group of people to a particular task or

relationship, especially eternal life.

 The elect of God is those whom God has predestined to salvation. They are

called the elect because that word denotes “determining beforehand; ordaining; deciding ahead of time”.

 

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God’s will.

 

God’s will is used all over the Bible and in general most people will say doing God’s will is obeying his word and the 10 commandments. Jesus said in John 6:40 “And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

It is very clear that the will of the Farther is based on the love of Jesus and knowing Him as your personal saviour and redeemer. The will of God the Father is whatever He has decreed in his wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and grace. His decrees include the decision to create the universe including humans, his plan for salvation of man, the future of what is going to happen in the universe and on earth, as well as the standards of righteousness we should comply to. The will of the Farther is captured in the whole of the Bible. The most important thing to do is to believe in Jesus and to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to become more and more like Jesus. To love Jesus is a commandment, not a request!

To carry on in the history of what happened on earth from Adam till the birth of Jesus, we see that Jacob became Israel in which the promises and covenants between God and Abraham and Isaac is now continuing through Israel. Jacob had 12 sons and 1 daughter. The blessings of the sons of Jacob are very interesting but extremely important if one wants to understand the rest of the history of Israel and the Bible. It is a very detailed description of the blessings process which in summary is as follows:

Leah’s children with Jacob.

1. Reuben was the eldest, but he defiled his father’s bed by having sex with one

of his father’s wife’s.

2. Simeon and Levi are brothers, they were violent men and killed men and

hamstrung oxen. Jacob cursed them and scattered and dispersed them.

3. Judah was the one who would be the one who would hold the sceptre

(Kingship or carry the crown). His brothers will praise him. The sceptre will not

depart him until he to whom it belongs (Jesus as King of Israel and the world)

shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. His eyes will be

darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. (Describing a typical Jewish boy)

4. Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a heaven for ships. (Sounds

like a Spaniard).

5. Issachar is a raw-boned donkey lying down among the sheep pens. He will

burden and submit and force labour to keep his place good and pleasant.

(Sounds like a one of the step herders).

 

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6. Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. He will be

a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path that bites the horse’s heel so that the rider tumbles backward. (Sounds like a Greek or Roman)

7. Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at the heels.

8. Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king. (sounds like

an Italian)

9. Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. (Sounds like a French

person)

10.Joseph is a fruit vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over

a wall. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility. But his bow remained steady. His strong arms stayed limber, because of the Shephard, the Rock of Israel, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb. Your father’s blessings are greater than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the price among his brothers. (We will get back to Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s two sons later)

11.Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the pray, in the

evening he divides the plunder.

12.(Because Simeon and Levi were together blessed it only counts to 11 instead

of 12)

Clearly Joseph was Jacob’s favourite son because he was the first born of his

beloved wife Rachel. Yet that was all part of God’s great plan of which the

darkness did not know. We must also remember that the blessings made to

Abraham and Isaac was carried over to Jacob, and that Jacob’s blessings was

also carried over to his sons. Some of the blessings was more curses than

blessings. God also, after the blessings to the three progenitors, also blessed

some of the descendants of them.

A very interesting, but also very important, blessing was when Jacob, now Israel,

blessed Josph’s two sons he had in Egypt where he became a ruler under the

Pharaoh. And Jacob said unto Joseph , God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz

in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make

thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people, and

will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, And now

the two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh , which were born unto thee in the land of

Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon , they shall be mine. Jacob then beheld

Joseph’s sons and said, who are these? And Joseph said unto his farther, they

are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place.

Then Israel said bring them to me that I can bless them. He was getting blind so

could not see and Joseph brought them close to his father and he kissed them

and embraced them.

 

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When Jacob was about to bless the two boys, Joseph noticed that Jacob had his

right hand on the youngest boy’s head and vice versa. Joseph told his father that

it is wrong, but Jacob answered him like this:” I know my son, I know. He too will

become a people (Nation), and he too will become great. (Sounds like the USA).

Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants

will become a group of nations. (Multitude of Nations KJV). (Sounds like the

British Empire). He blessed them that day and said, in your name will Israel

pronounce this blessing, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.

At this point it is important that we consider what all the blessing God bestowed

on Abram, Isaac and Jacob which was carried over to the two sons of Joseph

and see how this manifested in them till the birth of Jesus and even till today.

Blessings of Isaac

 

 All of Abraham’s blessings were bestowed on Isaac.

 Isaac would be blessed with richness and abundance of grain and new wine

 Nations would serve him.

 People would bow down to him.

Isaac and Rachel had two sons, Esau and Jacob and the story of how Jacob stole his first borne blessing from Esau is well known but also part of God’s plan. The blessing Isaac blessed Jacob with was as follows:

 ‘See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath

blessed: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the

earth and plenty of corn and wine: Let people serve thee, and nations bow

down to thee: Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down

to thee :Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that

blesseth thee.

Later, Isaac also had to bless Esau, and his blessing was as follows:

 Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of

heaven from above. And by thy sword shall you live, and shalt serve thy

brother; And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that

thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

It is important to note by these two blessings, that God’s will in these two was decided even in their mothers’ womb. The one will God love, and the other one God will hate and let’s add Satan will love. (Romans 9:10-16). This duality runs right through the whole Bible. Good versus Evil, Love versus Hate, Heaven versus Hell, Truth versus Lies, Light versus Darkness, Rich versus Poor, Positive versus Negative Up versus Down, Hot versus Cold. Left versus right. This is also very true about our life on earth. In the end we must choose between God and Satan. God’s

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plan is based on the goodness in life, whilst Satan’s plans are based on the deceptions and the evils of life. This is the result of Adam and Eve’s choice they took in Eden, the choice between good and evil. God’s plan of goodness will lead to eternal life, while Satan’s plans will lead to hell.

After Jacob and Esau, the two streams continue in the history of time and as well as in the history of Israel, the good side and the rest, the evil side. This battle is still on between the two streams with the devil doing his best to deceive the people on the good side. (The narrow way) whilst everything on the evil side is easy (the broad way). The Bible sometimes refers to the evil side and what their plans are, but focuses on the good side to indicate the elect how and where to follow the narrow way.

Having spent more than 15 of my younger years doing military duty, not as a permanent member of the forces, but due to the compulsory military duty of all my age group, youngsters were forced to go through. Not everything was bad during that time and there were many good things I was taught. One thing was to take responsibility for the decisions you made, to trust others especially those under your command, listen to advice and most important of all was KNOW YOUR ENEMY. Many people say you should not talk about the devil because you honor him that way. That cannot be true. You would rather give him honor if you didn’t criticize his work and the things his people do on earth. This is another area in which Satan is deceiving people.

As mentioned previously the history of Israel is carried on via the descendance of the sons of Jacob with the focus on Judah for the birth of the kings and on the two sons of Joseph for the inheritance and wealth of the nation of Israel.

The descendance of Judah.

 

The blessing bestowed on Judah that he was the one who would be the one who

would hold the sceptre (Kingship or carry the crown). His brothers will praise him. The sceptre will not depart him until he to whom it belongs (Jesus as King of Israel and the world) shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. The detail of Judah’s descendance is extremely long and the purpose of this is not to be a family tree but to indicate how Satan was trying to intervene in God’s plan all the time. The focus will be therefore to follow the line of descendance to Jesus, Judah had 5 sons. Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah. The tree then follows the descendance of Perez who had a son Hezron who had a son Ram, who had a son Amminadab, who had a son Nahshon, who had a son Salmon, who had a son Boaz, who had a son Obed who had a son Jesse. Interesting of the tree up to this point is that there were two women playing some roles in the history of Israel during this time and they were Rahab the wife of Salmon and Ruth who was the wife of Boaz.

 

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The focus then turns to the descendance of Jesse who had 7 sons and 2 daughters.

The sons were Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah/Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem and David. Persons of interest and who played some important roles in this part of the history Abihail daughter of Eliab and Zeruiah who had 3 sons Joab army commander of King David, Abishai who was the leader of the 30 and Asahel who was the fast runner killed by Abner.

The family tree to follow from here is the descendance related to David. The history of the descendance of king David is important because it leads to the birth of Jesus as the Messiah as redeemer of the world. To the people of Israel, he was promised as the King who would lead them to world dominance and to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Satan, as the enemy should have known that this should be part of God’s plan to finally conquer the earth back from him. The people living in Israel, God’s people, knew that they are the nation whose Missiah will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The earth at the time in the eyes of the people living in Judia ruled by Rome and the Keizer in Rome. They had the promise of a Messiah coming, and that the Messiah is the one who will redeem them from the rule of Rome and set them free from this rule. Satan thought the same, that is why he put the thought in the mind of king Herod to kill all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. God intervened and appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt where they stayed until the death of Herod. This is why one of the prophets spoke and said,” Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

In Matthew 11:25 Jesus said the following: “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes Farther, for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my Farther. No one knows the Son except the Farther, and no one knows the Farther except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Clearly, Satan was not aware of this plan, and he proved this when he tried to temp

Jesus after Jesus was fasting for 40 days. Satan ask Jesus to change the stones too bread and then took him to the pinnacle of the temple and told Jesus to jump down because God will send his angels to protect him from falling, and then lastly, he offered his most prized possession, the kingdoms of the earth and all their glory if Jesus will fall down and worship him. Jesus told him “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord the God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

This world belongs to Satan, those days and even today during our time. All the time,

Satan was trying to prevent God’s plan not to be implemented. After his failed attempt to try and deceived Jesus, Satan’s plan was to kill Jesus. Satan then used the council of Pharisees to plan and destroy him. But Jesus knew it and he withdrew himself from them. Satan will keep on trying to prevent Jesus to fill full God’s plan. 42

He, like all the Jews in Jerusalem, thought that Jesus will become the King of the Jews. Nobody accept God and Jesus knew what the real plan was. God’s plan was to allow His Son to die on the cross for our sins, and in the process broke Satan’s hold on God’s elect by deceiving them to commit sin. And then accuse all of Gods children in front of God that they listen to him and not to God. In the garden of Eden, God had to remove eternal life from those humans as punishment for their sins. After that blood was required to be shed before sins could be forgiven. This requirement will remain for a very long time.

In John 3:16-17 the Bible teaches us “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Please note. MIGHT be not like a lot of people and preachers tell the people will be saved. There are prerequisites!!!! This fact is also hidden in some translations of the Bible by translators using words to change the meaning of what is said to suite religious doctrines and not what the real meaning should be. Please use more than one translation, preferably the original scriptures.

In John 17:1 Jesus prayed this to his Farther “Farther the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him, (Jesus) authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life; that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”

What was the work given to Jesus to do on earth?

After some research, the following work were found:

 Jesus must have preached the good news. What is or are the good news?

 Give people the understanding of what the Kingdom of God is.

 Give believers eternal hope.

 Preached obedience to the commandments of God.

 Indicate the way, the truth and the way to eternal life which is a very narrow

way.

 To bring and proclaim liberty to the captives. Including those in death and hell.

 Lastly and most importantly to overcome death on the cross and become the

first of all. As written in Colossians 1: 18 “And he is the head of the Body; the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

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There might be more so keep on looking.

Preaching the good news.

 

There are a couple of scriptures proving that Jesus did what he had to do in this regard, but he also knew that this task of him was not complete and therefore he instructed his disciples to carry on with this work. Jesus also knew that this is an ongoing work that must be done till his return. Scriptures confirming this is found in Matthews 9:35; Matthews 24:14 proof that this job must continue till he returns; Luke 4:43-44; Luke 8:1; Luke 16: 16 and Acts 8:12.

The next question is “what is the good news” they had to proclaim?

What is the good news?

 

This question is a question of many debates but also an area in which the devil can sow a lot of deception seeds by using promises made by God through the history of the Bible and especially, now during the end times we are currently living in. To just name a few:

 God promised Abraham that his kingdom will be there forever. This promised

was repeated with King David that his throne will have one of his

descendance sitting on it till Jesus come to sit on that throne. Where is that

throne now, or did God change his mind or broke his promise?

 That the Kingdom of God is here and that God’s reign over Israel was being

restored. Israel is still under turmoil today.

 That the Messiah and Israel will rule over the whole world forever.

 That Israel will be a great nation and a multitude of nations and will possess

the gates of their enemies.

 That the nations of the world will serve you.

We will discuss some of these things to show that God never changes but through deception and hiding the truth, Satan is still trying to deceive people away from believing in God. So, what is the good news?

The very first good news we find in the New Testament in Luke 2:10 when the angel appeared to the shepherds taking care of their flocks saying to them “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” This good news was clarified in John 3:16 stating “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” And that is the good news. Very good to notice in this scripture is the following: The GOOD NEWS IS!!!!!!!

 God loved.

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 God gave His most treasured possession, His Son.

 To those who believe in him

 To prevent them from perishing

 And give them another valuable treasure.

 Eternal life

What great and wonderful God do we have. Amen.

What is the Kingdom of God?

 

This is not an easy question to answer. There are mainly two scriptures in the Bible referring to the Kingdom of God namely Mark 1:14 -15 saying “The time has come he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” We have seen what the good news is, what is added now is repent. The second scripture is found in Matthew 4:17. The same is repeated namely “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” In Matthew 3:1, John the Baptist said the same “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The prophet Isaiah said, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” Jesus told Nicodemus “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus also said in Luke 4:43 “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also.” Jesus also told his disciples in the Lord’s prayer,” your kingdom come” as if this is still a futuristic event and maybe this is where the answer lies to what the Kingdom of God is.

A kingdom normally requires a dwelling or area or land or place to rule, then the king or ruler must have dominion over that area and the people and things in that place and then the managing or ruling over that kingdom. In the scriptures above there are mentions of the kingdom in heaven and of a kingdom coming or is near on the earth.

In Isaiah 53: 10-12 Jesus is described as the suffering servant who would give his life as an offering for sin like he did during the crucifixion and in Daniel 7 :13-27 Jesus is described as one who is to come later as a conquering King. This is also mentioned in Revelations 6 :2 “I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” This rider is very often seen by deceived people as the anti-Christ. Why is beyond comprehension?

A not so well-known scripture referring to this conquering role of Jesus is found in 1 Corinthians 15: 22-28 “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive, but each in turn; Christ, the first fruits; then when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

In summary the coming of the Kingdom of God is found in two stages namely. 45

 The conquering stage of Jesus over death, hell, and Satan’s rule over the

earth by dying on the cross for the sins of the world from the beginning of creation until his return on the clouds to start the rule of Jesus as King on this earth until he finally can hand the rule over to God the Farther.

 The ruling stage will be the rule of God for eternity. It clearly states in 1

Corinthians 15: 27-28 “For he has put everything under his feet. Now when it says that everything has been put under him, this not included God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.”

 The Kingdom of God is the everlasting rule of God in the new heaven and

new earth.

 

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