Hebrews 1 -- Let's learn from the best

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1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

If we want to be river crossers (Hebrews) then we need to listen to the word of His Son. Jesus is superior to the angels and prophets. There might be some hidden treasures of wisdom with them, but we are told in Colossians that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ. The Lord is heir of all things, and through Him God created the universe. So you can be quite confident that it is with His words you will discover whatever it is you need.

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

When you are in the battle you need to be sustained by the powerful word. Also, the Lord is the “exact representation”. Too many people are careless and inexact. I have recently seen people equate “Day of the Lord” with “End of Days” and “Apocalypse” with “Armageddon”. This is inexact.

4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

When we get a word from Jesus we are getting a much superior word. Jesus is Lord and is sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. You are getting a word from the throne. Angels are not on the throne, they are the servants. They do not inherit all things, they did not create the universe, they are not the radiance of God’s glory, they are not the exact representation of His being. We want to cross this river, we need to be very particular, very specific about who we get our word from. Prophets spoke the word of God but Balaam was also a prophet who spoke the word of God. Angels are servants of God but Lucifer can also disguise himself as an angel of light.

5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father”? Or again, “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”? 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

God will speak to the angels and give them a word, He will speak to the prophets and give them a word, but that relationship is not on the same level as His relationship with His son. God wants all the angels, all the servants, all the messengers to worship His Son. This is a key goal of this age, that every knee would bow, that every voice would worship the Lord Jesus.

7 In speaking of the angels he says, “He makes his angels spirits, and his servants flames of fire.”

They are spirits, a breath, a spoken word, and a burning flame. They can animate, they can enlighten. But they are not forever. They do not sit on the throne, they do not wield the sceptre. Why do you think the call for justice is being ignored? Why do you think we are getting lip service from public officials about fighting for the integrity of the elections while doing nothing?

8 But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

Maybe, if we love righteousness and hate wickedness we should listen to the Lord. Why not ask the guy who has gone before us and been victorious? If you have Michael Jordan on your basketball team why is he sitting on the bench? In the same way since we are on Jesus’ team let’s make sure He is on the floor, He is the one doing the speaking.

10 He also says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

The Lord is laying a foundation. He has done it before, He knows what He is doing. Have faith in Him. We have a chance to learn from the very best.

11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

The sooner you realize this the better. The “great reset” is all about the worldly system perishing and wearing out. We have seen many “great resets” in the past, we just call them a collapse of the empire. “The Fall of the Roman Empire” for example. The wealthiest and richest people see their kingdom crumbling, they know that it is wearing out and they fear change. The French revolution was change. The Russian revolution was change. The cultural revolution in China was change. They hope to do a “great reset” so that they control the change. They understand that the world’s economy is unsustainable, it is going to go over a cliff. Generally when that happens the bigger they are the harder they fall. So the great reset is their attempt to make sure they cushion the fall with lots and lots of poor people. They are keenly aware that their years will end. John D Rockefeller was the richest man in the world in 1920, 100 years later many of his descendants are simply middle class, and his family is no longer a ruling power.

13 To which of the angels did God ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Make no mistake, making the enemies of Jesus a footstool for His feet is a key goal for God during this age. If you are the body of Christ, then surely you know who the feet are. There are some very humble believers, they are not billionaires, they are not the “elite”, they are not the “experts” you see on TV telling you what you are supposed to think. But by the end of this age those billionaires and elites will be a place for the most humble members of the Body to rest. We have an expression “take a load off your feet”. These members are the ones who are carrying the load. Well the rich, the famous, the “beautiful people” are destined to become a beautiful footstool fit for the king.

14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

So then, let’s talk about the salvation that we are to inherit.

 

[ZNP]

How shall we escape?
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1 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

“Drift away”. You have to carefully tie up your boat to the dock or to the mooring, otherwise it will “drift away”. Sometimes we are wide awake at the helm sailing our boat, but other times we are asleep and at those times we need to pay careful attention that we don’t “drift away”.

2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.

How shall we escape? Our great salvation includes everything in the old creation perishing and being rolled up like an old garment. It also includes the enemies of Jesus Christ being made into a beautiful foot stool. Our gospel includes this, that the end of the age will see these things take place. So then, how do we escape? The rapture is referred to as our escape. The greek word actually means to be snatched away right before destruction. You would use this word to describe snatching someone out of the way of an oncoming train. So then, how exactly do we escape? Do we invest in gold? Do we get a rifle and learn to hunt? I have heard messages where they go from discussing the end of the age to the need to invest in gold and silver! That is what it means to “ignore so great a salvation”.

4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

It is miraculous to think we will be saved by this “rapture”. However, God has testified to us that this is the case. The Lord’s resurrection is referred to as “the firstfruits” and the rapture is referred to as “the harvest”. Crossing the Red Sea is a miracle showing that God can snatch up the entire nation of Israel from the clutches of the Egyptian army. That is how Israel escaped Egypt. The book of Esther also describes how Israel escaped the clutches of the evil Haman. If you look and pay attention you will find God testifying again and again concerning how we shall escape. Don’t ignore this testimony.

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.

We are going to be kings and priests to God in this world to come. That is why we cannot ignore this salvation, if we do we won’t be ready, we won’t be prepared.

6 But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him? 7 You made them a little[a] lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor 8 and put everything under their feet.”[b][c]

Isn’t that amazing? Right now there are tens of millions of Americans concerned about the election fraud. But it seems like the “powers that be” are doing everything they can to ignore them. Mainstream media won’t cover them, the Tech giants are censoring them, and the politicians are mouthing the words but not walking the walk. The lesson here is that everything is under our feet, not theirs. Would the “Tech giants” be giants if 70 million Americans ceased to use their services? Would the mainstream media continue to be the “mainstream” media if 70 million Americans ceased to listen to them? Could the US government continue to stand if 70 million Americans ignored these politicians the way they are ignoring them? “A house divided cannot stand”.

9 In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f]

That is nice talk but we don’t see it. Of course if we look back at our history with the revolutionary war we can see it. We can see a rag tag group of settlers who were made lower than the superpower of the day, and yet everything was under their feet. They had to stand by faith, but they did. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Oh yeah, we also see Jesus. This was just one man objecting to the unrighteousness of the times. He was made lower than all those kings and rulers. And yet, we are still here two thousand years later looking at Jesus while all those other “rulers” have become dust and gone into the ash heap of history.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.

Can we please pay attention to this verse? Our great salvation includes us being brought into the glory of the Son of God. Yes He was resurrected, but He was also crucified and that crucifixion didn’t condemn Him, it condemned those that crucified Him. That is a path that Jesus pioneered for us. That is how our salvation is made perfect. That is how everything is put under our feet even though we are made lower than all these rulers and leaders.

11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g]

When we are raptured it is not in shame, in defeat. The Lord’s resurrection was victory over death, victory over the grave. We are going to share that glory, we will be part of the same family.

12 He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h]

We will be the family of the resurrected ones, the family of the victorious ones.

13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.”[i]

We will be the family of those who trust in God. And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j] We will be the Lord’s family.

14 Since the children have flesh and blood,he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

The only power these ones have over us is the power of death. If we are the family of the resurrected ones, the ones who have conquered death and the grave, then what power do they have over us?

16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

So, once again we come back to this question, “how shall we escape?” The same way Jesus did. He is with us to help us take up our cross and follow Him on this path He has pioneered.

 

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Hebrews 3 -- Bending the Arc of History​

1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

We have a Holy calling. “Fix your thoughts on Jesus”. This takes us back to the last chapter about “drifting away”. We need to lash our thoughts to Jesus just like tying a boat up to a dock.

2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

Who appointed all these representatives in our government? They were appointed according to the constitution, but in a democracy they are appointed by our vote. If you do not take care of the integrity of the election you are not being faithful to the ones who appointed you. However, we have a few notable exceptions: Jesus and Moses.

3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

When you see a beautiful house like the Taj Mahal, there is a lot of honor to that beautiful house. However, you realize that the person who built it is worthy of greater honor. Right now we are realizing that we have a wonderful constitution that anticipated fraud and the attempt of the deep state to steal the country. The founders said as much when they said we had a Republic “if you can keep it”. We have everything we need to catch and prosecute this fraud and that is all to the glory of God and to Jesus. All we need is for some to be faithful to those who appointed them just like Jesus and Moses were.

4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Can we all agree that the US was built by God? Can we all agree that the covenant with all human government was made by God? If you steal this election from the voters in the US you are stealing it from God. You are usurping the covenant God made with His people. You are robbing God of His children.

5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”[a] bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

We need both. We need faithful servants and we need a faithful Lord who hears us when we cry. Our confidence and our hope in which we glory is in Jesus and in His body.

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.

We are witnessing a rebellion right now. They have hardened their hearts just as pharaoh did to ignore Moses, and they are trying to steal the Lord’s vineyard. You saw what the Lord did to Pharaoh, you saw what the Lord did during 40 years in the wilderness. You have seen what has happened during the French revolution, you saw what happened in South Africa with Nelson Mandela, you saw the collapse of the USSR, you studied the Fall of the Roman Empire.

10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’

Fix your thoughts on Jesus, tie your boat to the Lord.

11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”[b]

The great reset is all about giving them some rest from the impending collapse. “Let them eat cake” is the desperate last ditch attempt to swindle the American public. It won’t work, the Lord has declared in His anger that they shall never enter His rest.

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

Can you imagine the shame you will feel if you gave your life to the Lord, followed Him, testified of Him, and then in this great moment in history you turn away from the living God?

13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Encourage one another daily. Every day we need a word of encouragement, one more word where we have pushed forward towards the goal.

14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”[c]

Again? He just told us this. Sad but true. Pharaoh hardened his heart and was destroyed. Then Korah rebelled against Moses while in the wilderness. Pharaoh and his army was swallowed up by the sea and Korah and his rebellion was swallowed up by the earth.

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

We are bending the arc of history towards justice. That is our calling. We are fixing our thoughts on the guy who went before us and pioneered the way, Jesus Christ, Lord of all.

 

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Hebrews 4 -- Apart from Jesus we can do nothing​

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.

There is going to be a rapture where some will enter into this promised rest. At that time some will be found to have fallen short of that rapture. So then let us be careful. We need to tie our thoughts to Jesus, tie our boat to Jesus.

2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.[a]

It is not sufficient to have heard and received the gospel. True, if you receive the Lord’s salvation you receive eternal life, but that doesn’t mean you have entered into this promised rest. Everyone in the wilderness had also received this salvation having partaken of the Passover lamb and having crossed the Red Sea. What they needed was to share the faith of those who obeyed. Joshua and Caleb shared the faith of Moses. They entered into the promised rest.

3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”[b]

Look at the path the Lord took us on. If God had made us kings immediately we would be like the arrogant, the elites, with little sense of justice or compassion. No, first we had to be the slaves at the bottom of society so we could understand how to truly rule. We needed to see how the corruption and lies of the elites impact the poor. But the problem with that is many have the mentality of a slave. We need a new heart of flesh and we need our mind renewed by the Lord of all. You don’t need to fight to be a slave, just surrender. But to rule and reign with Jesus requires that we stand with Him on the battlefield.

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”[c] 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

You can’t enter into His rest if you can’t do all His works. You need to do a work of faith before you can enter into the promised rest.

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”[d]

The Lord gives the command, you obey and follow Him, that is the work you must do, and the work you can only do if you have mixed faith with your obedience. The reason some harden their hearts and refuse to obey is because they don’t have faith.

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[e] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

We are doing a work of faith so that we can enter that rest. This is the church age, we are building the Body of Christ with gold, silver and precious stones. This warning is about disobedience, the Lord will speak to us, it will be difficult for us to obey, it will require faith, it will require us knowing the voice of our shepherd.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The word of God is a light to our path, it is also a light that examines our innermost spirit and soul. This word judges our thoughts and attitudes. No one and nothing is hidden from this light.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The Lord is superior in every way. We have someone who will go with us and help us along the way.

 

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Hebrews 5 -- Learn obedience from the things you suffer​

1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray,since he himself is subject to weakness. 3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”[a] 6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”[b] 7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

These four points really stand out to me. First, He was heard because of His reverent submission. Second, He learned obedience from the things He suffered, third, when He was made perfect He didn’t abandon us, rather He became the source of salvation to all who obey him and after all that He was designated by God to be the High priest after the order of Melchizedek. My prayer for many years was that I could read the Bible. The first time I opened it myself I had no idea what it was saying. I told the Lord I’d need a crowbar to open this book up. Later I met with a group where many members were experts in the ministry of one Bible expositor. I had no interest in that, my interest was simply to be able to pick up the Bible and read it and understand it. This put me on a path that involved a lot of suffering. Those experiences were like a chisel knocking pieces of you off so that you learned to walk the narrow path that leads to life. Anyone can walk the broad way that leads to destruction but if you want to walk the narrow way you soon realize you have fat feet. It seems the way is too narrow for you to fit through, yet if you obey the Lord, if you humble yourself, if you discard all the baggage you have with your flesh and natural man you find you can walk this path. Everything you suffer teaches you one more way that you can be more obedient. Much of your suffering comes from ignoring the lord, when you reflect on that it causes you all the more to be obedient and trust Him. But then you learn that in the Body we are conduits, we don’t serve our own interests. If the Lord gives you a word then you need to pass that on, if you have a revelation, a hymn, a testimony, a dream, then you need to share that with others. Finally, if you can get through those three stages you can become a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. This is different from the Aaronic priesthood or even the Levitical priesthood. You cannot be appointed to this priesthood by man, only God can make this designation.

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

So this is strange, you can have a brother or sister that has spent 20 or 40 years in the Lord, in the word, in the meetings, in the fellowship and yet they still need someone to teach them the elementary truths. I’m not talking about spectator Christians, I’m not talking about nominal Christians, I’m talking about dedicated, serious Christians. The problem is they are not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness, they haven’t trained themselves to distinguish between good and evil. Very early on in my Christian life I was faced with a decision. The word I got from the Lord was from Galatians, where Paul said he did not give into them for a moment that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. The elders put the pressure on me in the meetings, behind closed doors, and in many other ways. This group had a person they referred to as “the apostle” and to a large extent every church meeting hall was a “franchise” to sell this man’s ministry. During the meetings everyone was given a chance to share something they enjoyed of the Lord that week. The pressure was on to turn those testimonies into testimonials for this brother’s ministry. I shared often and never once spoke a negative word concerning this brother, “the apostle”. However, I also didn’t promote his ministry and simply shared directly from the Bible. More and more it became apparent that the “testimonials” for this man’s ministry were simply advertisements and were being tuned out. So it became more and more difficult for me to walk that narrow way. Finally they sent an elder to take over the church I was meeting at. His messages attacked me as being a drug addict who was mentally unstable and who the elders were very concerned about and had hoped I would get better. Although he didn’t mention me by name it was clear to all in the meeting that he had to be talking about me. How do you respond to that? When the opportunity to share a testimony was given I was the first to my feet to the shock of all. I shared something I enjoyed about one of the Bible verses he had referenced and otherwise completely ignored everything else. After the meeting a brother cornered me in front of all and asked who the brother was referring to. I said I didn’t know, ask him. That infuriated everyone. The next week this elder doubled down and now accused me of being a homosexual, again, not mentioning me by name, but otherwise making it very clear he was talking about me. Once again I was the first to my feet, ignored everything he had shared and focused on one of the Bible verses that had been referenced. I felt like he was giving the saints poisoned water it was essential I give them clean water to drink. However the saints were very upset, they knew someone was lying to them and it was utterly blatant. But then, by the Lord’s grace an elderly couple also moved to that church, a couple that had known me for my entire time in the church and they were able to state clearly that everything this elder had shared had been false. As a result he began backpedalling fast and in the next message he shared that he wasn’t talking about my time in the church after being saved and baptized but before that time. That was astounding to me as I was from NY and he was from Dallas. I thought how on earth does this man know who I was in NY? However, I knew that was a temptation, like a steep muddy bank on the side of the narrow way. The minute you address it you slide into the ditch, so I again ignored him. However, this time the saints didn’t ignore him and one by one they expressed their outrage. If you are truly walking the narrow way that leads to life you can expect to be attacked, slandered, and provoked. But regardless of what they throw at you the Lord has given you a promise, obey Him, reject temptation, and this path leads to life. This is the way to the Father. This is what it means to take up your cross and follow Him. This is how we learn obedience and this is how we learn to not just worry about our salvation but that of others as well.

 

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Hebrews 6 -- Moving on from the elementary teachings in Paul to the book of James.​

1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,[a] and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites,[b] the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

This is the foundation of our faith. Repent, make a turn from the acts that lead to death and begin to walk the narrow way that leads to life. Second, we study the word and build up our faith in the Lord. Third, we learn the “cleansing rites”, how to restore saints to the fellowship, how to deal with sin in the church. This is what Matthew 18 deals with. Then we learn about the ministry and sending out saints to carry the gospel and minister the word. Then we come to two key topics, the resurrection of the dead which includes the rapture and the eternal judgement. We learn about the Bema judgement and the Great White throne judgement. Basically this is what the book of Romans, 1Corinthians and 2Corinthians talks about. The basic teachings are the gospel, the church and the ministry. This is the New Testament, so if these are the elementary teachings what does it mean to “move beyond” these elementary teachings?

4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen[c] away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of Godall over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. 7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Wow! Did you get that? The writer of this book (in my opinion it is a collaboration between Paul and James, but I am not a historian, just a guess). So why do I guess James and Paul? This book is the transition from the ministry of Paul to James. The book of James focuses on how to recognize false prophets. Paul gives us all these elementary teachings (the gospel, the church and the ministry) and then Hebrews tells us to move on from there, and James reveals false prophets. If this were Karate once you had completed the foundational teachings you would move on to prepare for combat.

9 Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

It is as though we are walking on a balance beam, a little too much to this side and we will fall just as Satan, Balaam and Judas fell. A little too much to the other side and we’ll become lazy. Many of these false prophets are not lazy, that is for sure, but they also aren’t patient. I never really appreciated how patience could have her perfect work until I read the book of James. I experienced it myself as well. I am a high school science teacher working in the inner city. When I arrived at our school our students were scoring in the bottom 25% of the city on the state exam. But year by year we made improvements on that score. Now they score in the top 5%. Our two best years they scored in the top 3%. However, if you look at the improvement they have shown since entering our school they have gone from the 50% rank to the 3% rank. There is no other school that has shown such consistent improvements year after year. But it took us ten years. Every year we had to reevaluate what happened, what could be improved, where we needed to focus. Every teacher in NYC is required to do this. However, very few understand statistical analysis. Typically what they will do is identify the ten percent that the kids did poorest on and tell the teachers to do more work on that ten percent. I do the opposite. I look at all the students who passed and then identify the core questions that they got right and decide that is the core. I then look at the students who almost passed and figure out where they missed it and decide those are the questions that I need to focus on. My goal is to “expand the core” of what my kids understand just like a crystal growing from year to year. I learned this approach by reading a book on statistical analysis. In WWII the US air force wanted to reduce the number of planes shot down so they brought in statisticians to examine the bullet holes on the airplanes and figure out where to put more armor, but the least possible as the armor would slow the planes down. The generals thought they would figure out where most of the bullet holes were and put the armor there, however the statisticians said no, they would figure out where there weren’t any bullet holes and put the armor there! Why? Because none of these planes were shot down, they all returned, they were like my students who had passed. So I trusted that these guys knew what they were doing and imitated them. Both of these issues are covered in the book of James, doing a perfect work wrought in patience and discerning and dealing with false prophets.

13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. We have been promised to rule and reign with Jesus Christ over the earth. We were promised that the faithful ones would be put over several cities. That is not one of the elementary teachings.
16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Our hope is that the Lord Jesus will return as the glorious coming King, we will be raptured to the throne as His bride and be there at His coronation. Then we will rule and reign with Him during the “restoration of all things” known as the millennial kingdom and be with Him for eternity.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 7 -- The First Rapture ​

1 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

They give us an overview of the key points, but I think it is important to go back and read the whole story. So if you read this carefully this is not some skirmish or raiding party. This has been war and conquest which has been going on this area for 14 years. It seems to involve every single group of people being allied with one side or the other and fighting. And even though there are so many groups of people they have formed two alliances, one versus the other. The only thing is that it seems none of these “kings” (apparently all these different groups like to call their leader a king) included Abraham into their political machinations. So we have Abraham the father of faith and the household of faith rising up as an army and pursuing after them all the way to Dan. This is a very weird way to describe it as Dan is Abraham’s great grandson, and Northern Israel was not called Dan until long after Moses is dead. You are using the border of a coming kingdom to describe this particular battle. 17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). The story makes it clear that Abraham was not in any way involved in the political future or present of Sodom, but rather his relative lived there so he went to save him. 18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. 20 And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” We also see that God is involved because Abraham was involved. It was God who delivered the enemies into his hand. Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. 21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.” 22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.” First, Abraham swore an oath as he pursued the enemy, since God answered him he was bound by that oath. The oath was that all glory and honor would go to God. The king of Sodom was a liar and Abraham knew it, if he took so much as the tiniest trinket this king would rewrite the history that Abraham was his hired servant and that the king of Sodom had engineered this victory. This story resulted in praise and glory to God because God’s camp, God’s army was revealed to be the true power in the land.

4 Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder!

In this story we have God, we have the household of faith that has been built into an army, we have all the evil and corrupt worldly forces and we have Melchizedek which we learn here in Hebrews represent Jesus Christ in His ascension. Jesus is not declared to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek until He ascends to the throne. Not only so but He is the King of righteousness and the King of peace. This is a picture of Jesus Christ, glorious lord of all, coming to meet His people at the end of the age, after they have stood by faith to prevent their house from being broken into. This story depicts the coming of the Lord after His people win this victory through faith in Him. Many say “what does the US have to do with the Lord’s coming?” Well, what does Sodom and Gomorrah have to do with the Lord’s coming? There are two raptures of God’s people, in one the Lord Jesus likened it to Noah entering the ark with his family, and in the other He likened it to Lot escaping Sodom by the skin of his teeth. When fire falls on Sodom that is depicting the situation in the great tribulation and how some believers will be pulled from the fire. This depicts the rapture before that time as a reward and a blessing to those who were victorious over sin and death.

5 Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham.6 This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8 In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living. 9 One might even say that Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham, 10 because when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor.

This is talking about the church. We, for the most part, don’t trace our lineage to Levi. We are sons of Abraham because we believe. We are members of the household of faith because of our faith, not our flesh. On the one hand Jesus is a Jew and of the household of Judah. He is a son of Abraham, son of David. But on the other hand He is the Lord of glory, the eternal one without beginning or end.

11 If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. 13 He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, and no one from that tribe has ever served at the altar.14 For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears,16 one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”[a]

“If perfection could have been attained”. This is what the book of James refers to, how to do a perfect work. When Hebrews tells us to move on from the elemental teachings it is telling us to move on from all the regulations found in the priesthood of the Levitical priests to the priesthood of Melchizedek. Keeping the regulations of the levitical priesthood can never make you perfect, only the resurrection life can do that.

18 The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.

What is the hope in the book of James? The hope is that we would become men like Elijah, men that God hears their prayers and answers their prayers. Men who can overthrow the wicked Jezebel by their prayers.

20 And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, 21 but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”[b]

This matter of the oath is an essential theme to the first rapture. Elizabeth, who gave birth to John, refers to our oath with God. Hanukkah is the feast of rededication, it refers to us renewing our vows to God. The story of Esther which is referenced in the book of Zechariah is also a reference to our oath with God. This story of Abraham refers to his living and walking according to his solemn oath with God. This is a two way street, those who are raptured in this first rapture have a solemn oath with God that they keep and in return He also keeps His oath with them.

22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. 23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely[c] those who come to God Through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

What is a priest’s function? When people need help that only God can provide they can go to the priest who will intercede for them.

 

[ZNP]

There are a lot of people confusing "Day of the Lord" with "end of time" or the rapture. This is very imprecise handling of the word of God. It explains why so many are making erroneous predictions, it says clearly right here that "He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings".

Right now we are seeing this very same battle going on in the US for the last fourteen years ever since the Mortgage meltdown. These
"Stop the Steal" rallies are the household of God, those who are standing by faith, pursuing after these evil kings to rescue Lot who is living in this corrupt world, this Sodom and Gomorrah. Epstein and the pedophile island have proven beyond any doubt that we are living in Sodom and Gomorrah. John Roberts and Bill Clinton have both been implicated in this. It explains why Clinton and Roberts are fighting tooth and nail to get rid of Trump before he can expose and convict them.

26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

I teach science and there have been a few major theories that have revolutionized our understanding of the world. Newton's law of gravity, Einstein's theory of relativity, and Mendeleev's periodic table of elements. Likewise with Jesus' word that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, Peter's revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and Paul's revelation of the Body of Christ are three revolutionary revelations of the New testament.

But here is the problem, if you have a new covenant why don't you have a priesthood? No doubt the judaizers made this point and it is valid. So this revelation of another priesthood prophesied in the Old Testament, Melchizedek who met Abraham, that must have been a great, great revelation to the Apostles. I think this is why no one claims to be the author of this book because it was a joint effort. This chapter will talk about the regulations of the Levitical priesthood and the pattern that was used to make the Temple are shadows. This is something that Paul expounds on in great detail in his ministry. When I think of the Pentateuch I associate those five books with Paul in the New Testament. When Hebrews discusses Melchizedek in Genesis I feel this is Paul writing this.

But the discovery of this verse in Psalms and the power of that verse, that reminds me of James. To me the book of James reminds me of the books of Psalms and Proverbs. Its as though this revelation of Melchizedek joins two ministries together, Paul and James, and it is the bridge that helps us cross this river. Hebrews are river crossers. We are not judaizers but we are Hebrews.

Melchizedek is only mentioned twice on the Old Testament and yet look at how great he is. He is a type of Jesus Christ in His heavenly ministry and he is a type of the glorious coming king. The king of righteousness and the king of peace. This is a fabulous discovery and none of the apostles were willing to take credit for it because it was a joint effort. We need to listen to each other. We need to appreciate that the Lord gives everyone of us revelation, a little here and a little there. You have to put the pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle, and we need every member to contribute.

Paul teaches that we are justified by faith, that is an elemental teaching. James teaches us that faith without works is dead, that is a mature teaching. You need both.

 

[ZNP]

3 Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices,and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer.

The old covenant is full of the regulations concerning the priesthood, gifts and sacrifices. If you are going to have a new covenant you need a new priesthood, gifts and sacrifices. This is a complaint made by the Judaizers, it is a fair complaint and so we need to look at this. This is why John the Baptist said “behold, the Lamb of God”.

4 If he were on earth, he would not be a priest, for there are already priests who offer the gifts prescribed by the law.
Another very good point.

You need to have a standing. We are learning from the best, we are kings and priests to God. We need to have a standing and we need gifts and sacrifices, otherwise this is just one of many, many cults that come and go. John the Baptist was a priest and Jesus as the lamb of God was offered as a gift prescribed by the law. We have been made priests to God, but not based on this earthly covenant.

5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”[a]

Moses told them they couldn’t just do this any way they wanted, it had to be according to a pattern that was shown them on the mountain because the temple they built on Earth was patterned after the true temple in the heavens. Therefore the earthly temple is a shadow of the heavenly one. The passover feast that the Jews keep was a shadow of the real one, the feast of unleavened bread and of the firstfruits is a shadow of the real one. The shewbread table, the lamb and the altar of incense are shadows of the heavenly ones.

6 But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises.

Whoa! If the old covenant is a shadow of the heavenly one, then the promises which are earthly are a shadow of heavenly ones. In Deuteronomy there are promised blessings for those who keep the covenant, but they are all earthly. You will have an abundant harvest, your enemies will not be able to defeat you, etc. All of those promised blessings are to you in this life on this earth, whereas the promises that Jesus gives us to have a well of water that never runs dry, to be able to come to the Father through Him, and to know the resurrection life, these are eternal and heavenly.

7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

This is a very good point. In the Old Testament we are told clearly that God did find something wrong with the old covenant and that He would make a new covenant.

8 But God found fault with the people and said[b]: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

This must have been a very hard verse for those trying to say we still were in the old covenant and had to keep it. I suppose one way to deal with this would be to make a special translation where this verse is not there, or perhaps change your translation of the word “make a new” to “renew”, so the days are coming when I will “renew” my covenant with them, or “make new my covenant with them”. Many of these cults are based on these slight changes to the word of God. They do not cut the word of God straight.

10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”[c]

The problem with changing one little word in the Bible is that you then have to go through and change lots and lots of other words. I heard a pastor share a message and he said that regardless of what you think about this pandemic (there are several theories running around) he believes that in the end it is something that God has allowed. This would never have taken place had God not allowed it. He also pointed out that the offerings to the church have dried up. I suspect this is true around the world, not just in Christian churches but also synagogues and mosques. So then he called for two weeks of prayer and fasting to repent of the sins. But look, if we are going to be priests in the new covenant interceding for the people we need to have gifts and offerings. We need to pay attention to this because in the new covenant “they all will know me from the least to the greatest”. If there is sin that needs to be repented of by God’s people it will be due to a lack of faithfulness, a lack of knowing God. It will be because when because of the time God’s people ought to be teachers they need someone to teach them again what the elementary truths of God’s word are. We have a new covenant, that is an elementary truth. We all know God, that is an elementary truth. We all need to be able to discern between good and evil, that is an elementary truth. Perhaps what is really happening is that we are graduating from the elementary teachings and going on to maturity. Perhaps we have been brought out of slavery to sin, God took us by the hand and led us out during the church age, and now it is time for us to enter into the good land to rule and reign with Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

I don’t think we fully appreciate that today because there have been many failed attempts at making something “new” like “new coke”. Likewise there are people who love antiques and old cars and they call them “vintage”. But the point is this, if you have a “new” covenant then the old one is now “outdated”. That is a very big deal in the legal world. If you have a will and it is “outdated” you don’t have anything. I testament is different from a will because the person has already died. So anyone holding to the Old Testament can claim it is a legal document that is still in effect, that is true. But who died: a bull, a dove, a lamb? Your legal contract is based on the death of a some animals, the new testament is based on the death of the Son of God. So then, do we want to go back to the way things were in the 1800s or 1900s or has the Lord made that obsolete and something that will soon disappear? This is so difficult to know, what was the main point again?

1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being.

I am starting to appreciate the predicament that James and Paul were in at the beginning of this age.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 9 -- The mystery of powerful prayer​

1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded,and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

All of this is significant, but gets us off the key point, hence we can’t discuss these things right now.

6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood,which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning.

This is a stunning conclusion. Once again making this discovery all the bigger. You have to combine everything about the regulations concerning the temple with the verse they quote from Ezekiel that “they will all know me from the least to the greatest”. By itself these two things do not conclusively prove this conclusion, but if you then look at the Lord’s word “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me” it does. There is nothing in the first covenant that would allow anyone but the High Priest once a year to come unto the Father, however the new covenant clearly discloses the way into the most Holy Place.

9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

The derivative conclusion of this is that the lambs and bulls being offered didn’t really clear the conscience. But we are told that they are peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings. The only way to reconcile all of these verses is that when God saw the Jews offering up bulls and lambs it pointed to the future. God knew that Jesus was the lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world. I find this extremely intimidating, this is like a chess player looking 40 moves in advance. He knows that there will be cult leaders trying to change a word here, a word there, to distort the word of God. You set up the Bible as this incredibly complex jigsaw puzzle and you are able to catch all the liars, all the scam artists, all those who would portray themselves as angels of light.

11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining[b] eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!

Once again, let’s return to the purpose. Hebrews is written to river crossers, we are going on from the elemental teachings to maturity. We are going on from the foundation laid by Paul to the ministry of James concerning doing a perfect work. We are going on to become men of righteousness who like Elijah could pray and God would hear their prayers. The blessing on the temple by Solomon was that if we would repent and pray towards this house that God would hear. How much more powerful if we pray towards the perfect tabernacle not made with hands? They needed the blood of bulls and goats to even be able to function in that covenant, how much more powerful is the blood of Christ not only to cleanse our conscience but to enable us to serve the living God!

15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Wow! An excellent attorney is generally the privilege of only the wealthiest and the most powerful people on this earth. I taught forensics and one lesson I always told my students was that in America you get the justice you can afford. In this country nothing is more difficult than to convict a rich person with the best legal team of a crime. Look at our lawyer! He knows the puzzle pieces better than anyone. The hidden mysteries in the bible are truly amazing.

16 In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17 because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18 This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19 When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20 He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Can we see the connection between a legal document, a covenant, which in this case is a will, and forgiveness? When man sinned he was kicked out of the garden, he was excommunicated from God. This is equating being cut off from communicating with God, being cut off from entering the most Holy Place, with our inheritance. The “will” which gave us our inheritance “forgave” us. Our inheritance is God, it is being able to communicate with God, it is being able to pray like Elijah and having God listen and respond.

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.

Every time I read the New Testament I am amazed by how people got healed and demons cast out. How do they do that? Well we have Christ, our High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek appearing for us in God’s presence. This is not a favor, this is our inheritance, we have a legal right to this.

25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

This is a once for all sacrifice. The accuser of the brethren tries to deceive us that this price has to be paid over and over ad infinitum. That is just a lie. But again, that is an elemental teaching. If you go onto maturity you see that Jesus does come a second time, not to suffer, not to pay the price for sin again, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 10 -- Courage​

Quick review of where we are. There are two kinds of covenants, two kinds of priesthood, two kinds of law. If this was just talking about Israel and the Jewish nation it would be out of place here in the New Testament. I will use my experience as a teacher to demonstrate these two kinds of laws, but it applies to any work that you do and it applies to governments. There are essentially two systems. In the one system the vast majority of people are “slaves” or “employees” who do what they are told. In the other system you are “the boss”. You walk by faith, you need to pray for wisdom. The ministry of Paul gives us the elemental teachings of the new covenant, James pushes us to maturity. In the elemental teaching you are justified by faith, as you go to maturity faith without works is dead.

1 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. 2 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. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The offerings were “an annual reminder”. There is a regular “reset” where you must start over and over. This is because this system is not sustainable. We see this with all the empires. Egypt, Rome, Greece, Meso Persian, Babylonian, etc. They all fell and became dust. There is a fundamental shortcoming in all these empires, they treat people like they are bulls and goats; beasts of burden.

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased.

This is exactly the same way I feel. Every year the school system has professional developments and a variety of activities to improve the experience for students and yet it seems to me like a hamster wheel. They don’t actually achieve anything. You would think that the goal would be simple, say to improve our test results from the 50th percentile to the top 10 percent. Every year we make small but incremental improvements toward that goal. Perhaps we have 4 or 5 different initiatives, we carefully monitor their impact. If three had a positive impact then we roll out those three schoolwide and come up with three new initiatives to test. In a school with 40 teachers you find the four who showed the most improvement and have them discuss what works and push those strategies out to everyone else if they are practical. But that is not what they do. Instead it is as though every year we are “reinventing the wheel”. Never once in all my experience in the public school have we had teachers at our school step forward and say this is what we did last year that was very effective. Now that is not completely true, we do have meetings and teachers do discuss things they are doing that are effective and this in turn does get shared with the whole school. But they will ask things like “what did you do last week that worked well”. There is no rigorous testing it is all anecdotal, and you can’t tie that to a goal like improving the results on the exam because how do you know if what you did last week will have a positive impact on an exam that is six months away? They treat the teachers like they are dumb beasts of burden. The Lord looked at this situation and said this is not what God desires. God wants results, He wants a perfect work. So what did the Lord have? He had a body, He had a life, instead of giving a cow or goat He gave himself. He put His life on the line.
When you become an employee you agree to become a beast of burden, but when you start your own business you put yourself on the line.

7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’”[a]

I have a book that summarizes 400 different pedagogical studies and discusses how effective they were. These studies were done scientifically, with controls and tested and measured the results. I have another book that gives you the ten most effective strategies and it is quite eye opening. These books revolutionized my teaching, why should I reinvent the wheel? Why can’t I just take what they discovered and apply it to my teaching? It is a “perfect work” a “once for all” sacrifice. These studies do not specifically apply to my subject, so I must adjust and modify them. I was not directed to do this so if it doesn’t work my review will suffer. There was another teacher that I worked with. This teacher did exactly what the administrators asked her to do. They loved her lessons. She got top marks on her observations. They held her up as an example of what to do. I would visit her class and observe several times a year. We both taught the same subject. Yet despite this I never felt to adopt anything that she did in my classes. Her results were average whereas my students were scoring far above average.

8 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. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Can you imagine how revolutionary this was? If you do away with the sacrifices and offerings you do away with the Jewish religion. No wonder they wanted to kill Him.

We need to measure our work by the results. Many years ago Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind” act and all teachers needed to use data to drive instruction. That meant we had to look at the results to determine what to do. Failing schools were closed. Administrators began telling teachers how to teach and the approach was called “teaching to the test” and it was a dismal failure. Most school administrators do not have a background in math and particularly statistical analysis. Instead of saying “hey I better study up on this” they just assumed they knew what to do. They would look at your results on the exam, pick out 10% of the questions that the students did poorest on and tell the teachers to spend more time on these. Imagine a teacher is “building a house” over the course of the year. You lay a foundation, you put up the structure, you enclose it by putting the roof on, the doors in and the windows in. You connect the electricity, plumbing, do finish work, paint the walls, lay carpet and you are done. Now the student who gets 100 on the exam has a finished house. Others have a house that is almost finished, but can be lived in, they got an 80 or a 75. Still others have a house that has windows, doors, and a roof. They got a 65. What do you think will be the thing that most students didn’t complete? Maybe they didn’t lay the carpet, maybe they didn’t paint all the walls. So the administrator's instruction was like telling the teacher to spend more time on painting walls and laying carpet?! That is idiotic. But many teachers dutifully did what they were told, got horrible results and then said “teaching to the test doesn’t work”. No, assuming you know statistical analysis when you have never studied it, that doesn’t work. Any reasonable person would look at this process and say “how can we do it more efficiently so that more students will get a house that is at least 65% done or 80% done or 90% done? If the problem is that too many students are failing the exam the answer might be to skip teaching about painting walls and laying carpet altogether. Those lessons don’t help anyone get to 65% they only help you get to 100% from 95%. This is what Jesus Christ did, He made a sacrifice “once for all”. That was the most efficient, the most effective.

 

[ZNP]

11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

It is like they are banging their heads against a wall. Anyone who is honest would realize that they are not getting anywhere. This reminds me of some person working in a cubicle. Day after day you do the same thing and when the year is over you haven’t gotten anywhere. You ran hard like a hamster in a hamster wheel.

12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Jesus' goal was to make us perfect! My goal is that my students would do as well as the very best students in NYC. Why not? Some teachers will argue that our students are not that motivated. I went to an elite university and I can tell you many of the students at the best high schools are not that motivated. During my years in high school my goal was to never take a book home and I didn’t. If I didn’t take a book home I couldn’t do any homework, that was my goal. Others say that the home environment is not conducive for our students. You think being wealthy is more conducive? These kids fly to Europe or to the Rockies for vacation. They have a thousand distractions. No, I am serious, my goal is that my students would perform as well as any students in NYC. There are a number of high schools in NYC that rank in the top 100 high schools in the US, so doing as well as them says a lot. Some might think that these elite high schools have the best teachers, but that is definitely not true. Their students will perform well regardless of who is teaching them and so they don’t have to struggle to score in the top ten percent.
Did Jesus work hard or did He work smart? No doubt for those three and half years He worked very hard. But the last two thousand years He has been sitting on the throne. I began teaching late in life, it is a very difficult job (I teach high school science in the inner city). I was very motivated to work very hard for the first few years but realized it would be very difficult to keep this up for 25 years. So I spent money and my summers writing interactive assignments on the computer. I spent over a hundred hours each summer developing these lessons. It took me about five years before the interactive lessons began to make my results more effective than if I didn’t use them. But after those five years they got better each year as I made adjustments. Meanwhile my workload got less. Best of all I know that my students are getting the very best I have to offer because they are getting the assignments that have been improved from the previous year. Then when the pandemic hit I was sick with Covid19 for the week that they gave all the other teachers a one week professional development so they could go remote. I was already set up to go remote so missing this training was irrelevant. Many of the teachers were overwhelmed but for me the transition was very simple, very easy.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”[b]

When I read this I always think about the law of gravity. You could have the fastest horse and the best rider, but even so you could never outrun a car much less a train or a plane. It takes a lot of skill and stamina to ride a horse for a long journey, how much skill and stamina does it take to ride a train on the same journey? The Lord’s laws are like that. If I have the Lord’s laws written on my heart and my mind think of the wisdom that would be there. This isn’t hypothetical. Jewish religious leaders would study for years to become learned in the scripture. By comparison Galilean fishermen were lucky if they could read and write. Yet after three years with Jesus Peter, James and John were able to stand up to the religious leaders and they took note that “they had been with Jesus”.
There was a basic principle, like the principle of gravity, that I based my entire approach on. You learn better when you do than when you hear or see. By using the computer each student is able to do the assignments, experiment, try, and try again. You can sit in the back seat of a car as we drive from NY to Vermont. You will have no idea of how to do it yourself. On the other hand if you have to drive this, again and again, you will be come much more comfortable doing this yourself. There is another basic law and that is that every person can know God. When you have a totalitarian government you violate this law. Do what I say short circuits God’s ability to speak to each and every one of us. This is the reason that the US has been so successful as a country and why all the totalitarian regimes in history have collapsed.

17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”[c] 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Think of how much more efficient this is. The sacrifices for sin were like being on a hamster wheel, they weren’t getting anywhere. We have a higher law, a law that will perfect us. Likewise, one of the benefits of my approach is that year after year I only saw improvement. It took my five years to get onto this path, but once on it every year my class moved forward with improvement over the previous year. That is not true of any other approach, teachers can have good years and bad years. Also, we have this built into our economy. There are many businesses that have gone bankrupt. We close the account on that and it is not held against that person. Instead we realize that having tried and failed is a learning experience. As long as you use those lessons in your future business plans investors will appreciate that. You are not alone, if you have gone bankrupt they also have had investments that went bad. Warren Buffet, one of the most successful investors in history named his fund after a failed investment. He doesn’t want to forget that mistake, rather he wants to learn from it. Do you really think a successful investor will not appreciate someone coming to them with their failures right out there, not as a failure but as a learning experience.

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings,having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

This is the difference between being a slave and being the owner. It is easy to get a job and just do what the boss tells you to do. It is a whole different story when you are the boss and the decisions you make will have serious impact. Employees are held in fear of offending the boss because he might say “you’re fired”. But in an economy of free enterprise everyone knows it is a learning experience and no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. One year I thought I had discovered the secret to really improve my results (I had confused correlation with causation). I was mistaken, but I learned from this. I also was a teacher being told by the administrator’s what to do and what to focus on. I realized it was idiotic, as many other teachers did as well, but I stepped out by faith to do what I thought was best for the students. If I was wrong I would have to pay the price because we were being judged based on the results. (Teachers are judged based on two criteria, observations and results. If you do exactly what the administrators say you will get good scores on your observations and don’t have to worry about results. If you ignore advice you feel is bad, then you will suffer on your observations. So everything hangs on your results at the end of the year, it is an all or nothing gamble). It requires more prayer, more careful consideration. Regardless of who you are or what school you teach at there will always be the “bottom ten percent”. So how do you year after year devote more time to that “bottom ten percent”? They don’t give you more time, so what they are really saying is take time away from the 90%. Is this the most important ten percent? No, in fact it usually is the least important. That is why every teacher when told to do this knew it was idiotic, you are asking me to spend more time on the least important stuff and therefore less time on the most important stuff. So yes, I was taking a risk, but I had the full assurance of faith that if I focused on the most important stuff it would pay off.

 

[ZNP]

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Wow, this verse looks so different when you read it in context. Right now we know that the “day is approaching”. We know this because in Joel it tells us that a worldwide pandemic that shuts down businesses, schools and churches tells you that the day of the Lord is near. So then consider how to spur others on, should you use Youtube? How about Facebook or Zoom? Do you blog? Tonight I went to a prayer meeting at the national mall. It was from 6:30 to 8:30pm, it was a candlelight prayer. There were ten of us, one was from California, a couple were from Texas, some from Washington DC, etc. I learned about this prayer meeting because I attended the Jericho March in Washington DC. So Paul says “not giving up meeting” even though at this time church meetings are being outlawed. You just have to be more creative and “consider how” to spur one another on.

26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

I am persuaded that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I believe that there are many in the world who are like Jezebel was, an evil, corrupt leader that wants to replace the worship of God with the worship of Baal. We were praying about this and I wore a special shirt to this meeting. There is a picture of a referee falling to his knees in front of this football player. My dad won an award for this picture. Under it I put the caption “He is a bad man”. There was a sports announcer who used this phrase to describe the most fearsome football players. To me this is saying that Jesus is that fearsome man, the man to whom every knee shall bow. There are people who have deliberately sinned and keep on sinning even though they have been warned. There are people who are “enemies of God”. They have nothing left but a fearful expectation of a raging fire. They thought they could trample under foot God’s people and consider the blood of the covenant an unholy thing that they could annul. They have insulted the Spirit of grace. When I pray I just remind the Lord that we have a covenant, they are trampling His people, they have been warned and refuse to listen and they are continuing to sin again and again. It is His place to avenge, it is His place to repay them.

32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.

I will say that standing up for righteousness and to shine a light on what is going on has resulted in me being publicly insulted and even persecuted. However, it is a great joy to stand side by side with those are being so treated. I am thrilled to be here praying and standing to prevent this house from being broken into by a thief. This is not just my house, the Lord made a covenant with His people 400 years ago with the Mayflower compact that this nation would be a city on hill shining to the whole world. This is the Lord’s house, this is His covenant they are insulting. When they make it illegal to attend a church worship service while keeping Casinos open and big box stores open, that is an insult to the Spirit of grace. When they trample these small businesses under foot and attempt to destroy the middle class and turn them into slaves (employees) then we have a basis to pray for the Lord’s judgement and for His salvation.

36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”[f] 38 And, “But my righteous[g] one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”[h] 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

I learned this in football. You need to plug the hole, stand in the gap. If you shrink back they’ll run right over you. But this takes faith. There were ten people at that prayer meeting last night. We were praying that the election fraud would be overturned by the Lord Jesus. It is easy to think what are these ten people? Who are we? It takes faith to see that we are representatives of the the Lord Jesus who is sitting on the throne. We had someone from the west coast, several from Texas, and several from the East coast. We represented the entire US and the three most populous states. We reminded the Lord of the covenant He made with the people of God with the Mayflower compact. They were only a few people and yet God honored that covenant to make the US a light set on a hill. If you see a coming King, a God who keeps covenant with His people, then it is easy to persevere.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 11 -- Who will be raptured​

1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. We are hoping to be raptured in the first rapture, or as the Jewish custom is, we are hoping that our names would be written in the book of life. If you want some confidence and assurance about this you need to pray for faith.

Remember, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

2 This is what the ancients were commended for.

Sometimes it is absolutely stunning what some people will say and do. The arrogance and gall is incredible. But no one is commended for that and ten years later they are exposed as liars and frauds, and no one cares. But people with faith, people like Abraham, Paul, Peter, and Jesus, we remember their words thousands of years later.

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

This is a very important and fundamental lesson in science. We could not figure out the mysteries of the universe until we were able to see the things that are unseen. No one can explain what an electron is. I teach Chemistry and my students are surprised when I tell them I don’t know what an electron is. I then tell them what we know and then they too will answer when I ask what is an electron: “I don’t know”. However, even though that is true we can do amazing chemistry and make all kinds of substances because we understand that the electrons are critical in telling us how they will all fit together. Every day scientists make things that you can see out of things you can’t. If we do this in a shadow, then surely the reality is that God has made what is visible out of what is not visible.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

Think about that, how powerful is faith. If your words have faith they don’t die just because you do. Today, thousands of years later, we have people all over the globe examining the words of the apostles and prophets and discovering new things every day.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

Enoch is an excellent example. He is a man of faith, he was a type of those who were raptured, and his prophecy is commended as being divinely inspired by many of the New Testament writers. His words still live today.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

If you hope to be raptured then surely you must please God and without faith that is impossible. There are three things you must believe in order to come to God. You have to believe that He exists and He rewards those who seek Him. Finally, you have to believe the Lord’s word that no one comes unto the Father but by the Lord Jesus.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

There are many aspects to the gospel of salvation. The very term “salvation” implies there is something to be saved from which is a sinful world. The act of receiving the gospel and obeying the Lord’s commands condemns the world. You aren’t trying to condemn anyone, but they are condemned for refusing to receive the warning. That implies they have heard the same warning as you and rejected it. So you can see how all of humanity is split by this one matter of faith. Some receive the warning by faith, others reject the warning because they are faithless. The rapture is about taking those that please the Lord, those who have faith, received the warning and obeyed the Lord’s commands.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

We have had many smaller experiences of this, but in the grand scheme of things, we obey the Lord’s words and follow Him and ultimately this will include the rapture, where we will be going to a place where we don’t know. We don’t know where it is and we don’t know how to get there.

9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

Living in tents is a big deal to God. The feast of tabernacles celebrates this every year. It gives you a feeling of confidence to know that you could survive in the wilderness.

10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations,whose architect and builder is God.

They talk about people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. If you live on the land in a tent while you build the city, that is a great heritage. You are imitating God who called not being as being.

11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

How remarkable is it that the Jewish people can trace their lineage back all the way to Abraham. People do not forget faith and they don’t forget men of faith.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Once again, those who are raptured are those that God is not ashamed of to be called their God. We have been looking for a country of our own and have no interest in returning to the world we left behind when we were baptized.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

This is the big test. Will you sacrifice everything to obey the Lord’s speaking?

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

Can you do everything by faith? Many look at this story as being a story of Jacob deceiving Isaac, yet God tells us he blessed him by faith.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

How exactly did Jacob do this? He had to have known the two kids, prayed for them, and sought God for them. Your faith can be expressed, like Enoch with a prophecy, or like Noah in building a boat, or like Jacob in praying for your grandchildren.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

You can pray for your people, and those in bondage.

 

[ZNP]

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. Faith can be expressed by civil disobedience, rejecting unjust laws, like Rosa Parks. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

This is crucial, if you hope to be raptured then surely you are looking ahead to the reward and rejecting fleeting pleasures of sin. You are willing to be mistreated and suffer disgrace because you know these are a momentary lightness of affliction compared to the eternal weight of glory.

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

How is it that some of these guys can persevere? By all accounts Moses life was essentially over when he saw the burning bush. You persevere by faith, because you see the invisible one.

28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

Moses expresses a lot of faith. He is looking ahead for his reward, he sees the invisible one, and he is then able to follow directions precisely in keeping the Passover. When you hear and obey, your ability to hear and obey improves. Eventually you could get so precise you could follow very detailed instructions.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Think how arrogant they have to be to think they could follow after Israel through the Red Sea. Moses was exhibiting a very high level of faith developed over a lifetime and these Egyptians were those who utterly rejected the word of God and were faithless. Moses stepping into the sea was an act of faith, the Egyptians pursuing was an act of faithlessness.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

Faith of who? This is Israel acting as a corporate body in faith.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

I consider Oscar Schindler to be a good example to understand this. He had “prostituted” himself with the Nazi’s selling them products to get rich. But he came to see the sins of the Nazi’s and he feared God more than the Nazis. So he hid several thousand Jews from extermination.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah,about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms,administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

Yes, they ran out of time, but the Lord gave us 2,000 years to tell these stories. Just because they are not in the Bible doesn’t mean they aren’t in biographies and histories and these words also can build your faith.

35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. Foxe's book of Martyrs tells many of these stories.

There are websites dedicated to the persecuted church. These are also a wonderful way to build your faith.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

So stop beating yourself up. Stop feeling like a failure. Without us they cannot be made perfect. They are depending on us. Right now they are all in the stands cheering us on. We are on the same team as Abraham, and Noah, and Moses and they are there cheering for us to bring this game home.

 

[ZNP]

Hebrews 11 and where we are today​

3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. --

This is what he said about having all of us know God from the least to the greatest. When I know the law about people learning better when they do it than when they just hear it or watch you do it, then that law becomes a basis for my stepping out in faith.

4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

We have two businessmen here, one was a farmer the other a shepherd. I assumed that Abel was also a butcher, selling meat and skins. But that is not so revolutionary as to provoke jealousy. Suppose instead that he sold lambs. Giving people lambs and goats is a proven way to help them get out of poverty. Just like Jesus’ offering it is once for all. They can get milk and wool. Once they get two or three they can also get a lamb every year to eat. It is possible that Abel and Cane represented two different economic models, one supporting the free market, the other trying to keep a captive consumer. You can see how God would credit Abel with being righteous, not just building up his flock to help himself but also to help his community escape poverty.

5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Enoch obviously is a type of the rapture. Step one know God and His laws, step two build a business after the model of Melchizedek who ministers bread and wine to those victorious over this evil age, and then step three the rapture.

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

Noah is a second type of the rapture. He had a vision of the coming collapse of civilization. He understood that the domesticated animals were the apex of modern civilization and so he built an ark that would take his family and these animals into the new world.

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Look at the growth and development. Perhaps Able was trying to help his community get out of poverty, Abraham is thinking bigger, he envisions a city. This is why the Puritans came to America. They went to a place that they would later receive as an inheritance, they didn’t know where they were going, but they were looking forward to a city whose builder and maker is God.

11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise.12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

Look at the revolutionary war. We were the weaker army, and at Valley forge we were as good as dead. It was a miracle that we could win that war.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Benedict Arnold demonstrated that if you were thinking about the country you left you would have had an opportunity to return. There is a common thread to all of these walking by faith and that is bringing in the kingdom of God to earth. In every case you can see how that will undermine and overthrow the evil Satanic kingdom, hence the attack.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

During the Civil War we sacrificed our own children. The union and the vision of a city on a hill and the covenant that the Pilgrims made with the Mayflower compact were all sacrificed. In a manner of speaking we received the South back into the union from the dead.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

After the war the North and South were both blessed, but the South fell under the yoke of the North for a time.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

Following the Civil war we had the “men who built America”. They discovered oil, and how to manufacture steel, and build bridges, and skyscrapers, and automobiles. We went from being some obscure country in the wilderness to a superpower. We build canals, railroads, a navy, and the assembly line. We discovered electricity and airplanes. The founders of these industries were all worshipping on top of their staff. John D Rockefeller tithed, Carnegie gave his wealth to the community, and the Wright brothers prayed for wisdom.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

The Israelites got on the ship exodus after WWII. Prior to WWII David Ben Gurion led a zionist movement to set up Israel for the Israelites to move to.

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

There are many who believe that the two witnesses at the end of the age refer to Elijah and Moses, the two who were on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus. The king’s edict to kill the baby boys is similar to the edict at the time Jesus was born to kill the baby boys approximately his age. Clearly there was a concerted effort by the evil worldly system to stamp out the believers, just as Cane killed Abel.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

Like Abel Moses aligned himself with the poor of the community. There were two very distinct systems, the ruling class and the slaves.

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

“He saw Him who is invisible”. Wow, so many wonderful blessings that come with faith.

28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

A lot of people fear a destroyer is coming whether it is climate change, the CCP, or economic collapse. They build shelters, move to the mountains, arm themselves with guns, pack their shelters with supplies. But Moses did not encourage any of that, rather he taught the children of Israel how to keep the passover. That takes courage, that takes faith and that requires that you can see the invisible one.

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

It seems that they combined crossing the Jordan with passing through the Red Sea because in this verse they pass through the Red sea and in the next verse they are in the good land. It is a picture of birth because all those who crossed the Jordan (except for two, just like when you are born) were born in the wilderness.

 

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30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.

I think this is a great picture of what we are seeing right now. The CCP has tried to steal this election, it is as though they thought they could follow us through the Red Sea and into the good land but they have gotten caught. It is as though their chariots got stuck in the mud. We have uncovered all of the fraud. They are all stuck in the mud, can’t run, and will drown. Meanwhile the mainstream media acted like a wall to prevent the American people from knowing the truth, but one by one Americans are learning the truth and stepping away from that wall. The truth is like a flood and they are trying to hold it out but as people walk away the wall springs a leak and will soon collapse. On June 6 the Senate and Congress will hold hearings about the fraud in each of the six states. The entire world will be watching and also seeing the “Stop the Steal” rally. It will be impossible to hold down the truth any longer. The walls will fall.

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d]

There are going to be many witnesses to the fraud who are like “prostitutes”. People who sold themselves to do evil but know that judgement has come and that God is with His people.

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.37 They were put to death by stoning;[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

There are a lot more stories. People like Dan Bongino, Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, and Sydney Powell. They were jeered, they were flogged, they went all in to stand by faith with the Lord.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

 

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Hebrews 12 -- Why is the church being shut down?​

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,

It is wonderful to see that our country was founded by men of faith. They are a cloud of witnesses, our struggle is the same struggle that the Jews and Christians gassed in the gas chambers had, the same struggle that Israel had when they came out of Egypt. If you look at human history there is a great cloud of witnesses that have come before us, all of whom were looking for a better kingdom.

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I was with a small gathering to pray outside of Mike Pence’s house tonight. While there people were driving by and screaming at us, “losers” and other things along those lines that I cannot repeat on this forum. One of the guys there got provoked by this, but it is a glory to experience the same things that these heroes of the faith experienced.

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

I learned tonight about the “Black Robed Regiment” during the revolutionary war. The church and the pastors were called the “Black Robed Regiment” by the British because they saw them as the instigators and provocateurs to those who fought in the Revolutionary war. The shot heard round the world was done on the front lawn of one of these churches. The word of God condemns the corruption, it condemns those that would trample on the children of God, and it is the same word that led the children of Israel out of bondage. This is why they must shut down the church before trying a coup.

5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]

Think about that! How can these evil rulers get away with this? How is Pelosi worth $200 million? This is proof that God is not treating them as His children. They haven’t been chastened, they haven’t been disciplined, they haven’t been accepted as sons of God. They will get judged just like the tares, they will be bundled up and thrown into the fire. So let’s appreciate the Lord’s discipline. Why are the churches shut down? Why would God do that? If you go back to the start of this country it was completely provoked by the preaching in the pulpit. The “Black robed regiment”. Study Valley Forge and you will know this country was born through faith in God. Any reasonable person would look at the situation at that time and say the continental army was dead. The freedom to worship is in the constitution, it is very clear that government has no authority to tell people of faith how to worship. Yet you let them tell you what you can and cannot speak in the church. We have been told clearly that you cannot speak anything that is “political” otherwise you lose your tax exempt status. Which of course is what really surprises me when I hear Jeremiah Wright preach (the guy who preached at Obama’s church) or this Warnock preach (running for Senator of Georgia). Their preaching is very political. It is hypocritical that you are not allowed to speak on certain topics decided on by the local government unless you also are espousing the platform of the party in power. If the government has no authority to tell you how to worship, how is it that they are telling you what you can and cannot say in the sanctuary? How can we say we don’t care about politics when politics is deciding what our children are taught, when they are deciding that there are multiple genders (I have lost count at this point but I know they are claiming more than 10). They are saying that elementary school age children have the right to declare they are a different gender and even support medical intervention to assist these elementary kids to make that transition. You don’t care who is elected even though one party is rabidly pro abortion?

From my reading of the Bible it is going to be very difficult for Christians to continue to gather as they used to. The whole idea that the lockdown of churches is temporary is a lie. The goal is to turn God’s people into beasts of burden to support the elite (any form of tyranny does this) where these people cannot think for themselves, cannot know God and cannot challenge the power structure. That was Pharaoh’s goal, Caesar’s goal, the emperor’s goal, and the goal of all empires. To accomplish that you must take charge of the education (which they have done). Require all the common people to be indoctrinated with your program (the elites can still send their kids to private schools). And you have to stamp out the church because the Bible is full of radical ideas like “the truth shall set you free” and “the light shined in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it”. China and Russia realized that they had to have complete control over the church otherwise it would shine in the darkness of their rule and overcome it. Sadly many Christians will not wake up until some saints get raptured.

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.

The Bible says that we should not forsake the gathering together of ourselves and so much the more as you see the day approaching. I see the day approaching and yet the churches are shut down? Well, I gathered together with 20 saints this evening to pray for this country. I gathered with five yesterday evening and I gathered with two others this afternoon. When you see the day approaching you need to gather together, it will be more difficult, so you need to figure out how to do it. Use the internet, use Zoom, use whatever means you have.

9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!

There are churches who have not submitted to this. I think everyone needs to be fully persuaded in their own mind as to how the Lord is leading you. This verse does not say you have to submit to the authorities, but rather to the Father of spirits. The Lord is speaking, are you a hireling, or a son. When you appear before the Lord will you have to give account of the saints under your care or give account to your tax exempt status? Is your Christian life going to end with a whimper or a bang?

 

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10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.

Whatever path you take make sure it is leading you to share in His holiness.

11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

The issue is not which is the easier path to take, the issue is which path produces a harvest of righteousness and peace. Which path will lead to you becoming a trained disciple of the Lord.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,”[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

How weak and feeble some Churches appear. Are they really in the image and likeness of the Lord of all?

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

We are not trying to be disruptive. Since when is prayer and worship disruptive. We do everything we can to live in peace with others. But I have been commanded to not forsake the assembling of myself together with the saints. I want to live in peace but I must be faithful to the Lord and His word.

15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

I believe that many believers like this Warnock have sold their birthright for a single meal. Claiming to be a “pro abortion” pastor is godless. I perceive that Reverend Jeremiah Wright has allowed a root of bitterness to grow up and has become defiled by it.

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”[c] 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”[d] 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The tyrants are the ones who are threatening people. There are two systems here, one keeps everyone in line with fear, the other is joyful, full of the righteous who were made perfect. There are two covenants, the better one is mediated by Jesus. Abel's blood condemns this evil satanic system, Jesus’ blood is the way out of this system.

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?

This is a word of warning. We are being disciplined because we did not stand strong by faith to worship God according to our conscience but rather allowed evil men to infiltrate the church and tell us what we can and cannot say. Their plan is to utterly destroy God’s people just as Haman tried to.

26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[e]27 The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

If you still think the US government is unshakeable you need to pray about it. When God shakes the US government and removes those that cause offense the entire world will be shaken.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”[f]
Our God is a consuming fire.

At the end of the age God sends forth the angels to bundle up the weeds and cast them into the fire first. This is before He raptures the wheat to the heavenly barn. On January 6 the representatives must make a stand and choose a side. Wheat on one side, tares on the other. Embrace the truth on one side, hold down the truth in unrighteousness on the other. Holding down the truth is like holding down styrofoam in a pool, you can do it, but it is hard, and it keeps popping up and shooting out of the water.