'Such a stupendous thing to grasp'

(our electricity went out again! power is back on and will have new article  tomorrow now) 

“When you read the Book of John, you have to do like in Luke—notice the little things.

John 5: [5] And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
[6] When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
[7] The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
[8] Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

“When it says in verse 6, ‘Jesus saw him,’ and it will be the same way with the blind man, He sees that individual, not everybody else and there’s this great multitude: [3] In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

“Out of all that crowd, God’s grace focused on this guy," explains Richard Jordan. "Their faith in God’s Word to them brings God’s grace into their life. How is it that He’s going to give them power to become? There’s the how.

“When you read these miracles, all of them are designed together to tell you: [11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
[12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

“What the Holy Spirit’s doing as He writes the Book of John is He’s going back to this original plan that the godhead has. In verse 3 He talks about that original plan for creation and the One who is the expression of that plan.

“What in the world would it mean to call the Lord Jesus Christ the Word? What do you do with words? You express yourself; you reveal what’s in your mind, your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who’s going to reveal what’s in the mind and heart of God.

“If you want to know God you’re going to have to look at Jesus Christ. To understand who God is and to grasp His person, you can’t look at creation because it doesn’t tell you about the person of God; it will tell you about the power of God.

“Jesus tells Philip in John 14:9: [9] Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
[10] Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

“There’s that wonderful passage in II Corinthians 4:6: [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“The whole issue of Jesus Christ being the Word is not just to tell you God’s righteous. You can get that by reading other things in the Scripture.

“Jesus Christ is not just simply revealing God as God with all of His attributes. His purpose in revealing God is to reveal to you what’s in God’s heart, because that’s how you really get to know someone.

“You don’t just want to know about them; you want to know them. The way you know them is to understand what they’re thinking. How do they think about things? How do they react to things? What are their plans? What are their purposes? Where are they going? Are they able to get there?

“Well, Jesus Christ as the Word, that implies that the godhead’s got a plan and Jesus Christ is the agency of the godhead through whom that plan is going to be communicated.

“That is such a stupendous thing to grasp. It’s not to diminish at all, in fact, it’s to glorify the fact that Jesus Christ is the revealer of God, and without Him you couldn’t know God.

“What you’re learning about God isn’t just that He’s high and mighty and lifted up, righteous and holy. I mean, He revealed that to Moses about Himself.

“The purpose in all that revelation is to bring you into an appreciation of what God’s plan in His creation is and what’s that plan? The ultimate goal of God is to glorify Himself in Jesus Christ.

John 1:18: [18] No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

“When you declare something, you set it forth. You ever heard the southern expression, ‘Well, I do declare.’ You tell it out.

Hebrews 1: [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

“In John 1 and 2, He’s going to tell you that Jesus Christ is the spoken out image of God. You want to know God and God’s mind? It’s in Christ. He’s completely, fully qualified to tell you that because He is God.

“It says in John 1:3: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

“You’re going to learn that that verse isn’t just talking about the birds and the bees and the stars and the nebula and the plants and stuff. It’s talking about a government and creatures put in that government to run this universe, because God’s got a plan and it’s going to focus in His Son.

“John begins his book by pointing out to you that the Son is the focus where all of God’s glory is going to be revealed. We’re going to behold Him in human flesh so we can ‘behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.’

Revelation 1:8: [8] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Verse 11: [11] Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

“Alpha is the first letter in a Greek alphabet; Omega is the last letter. What Jesus is saying there is, ‘I’m God’s alphabet and I’m going to spell out and display . . . Words are made out of letters and I’m the one going to lay out for you the mind of God and what God’s got to say.’

“By the way, when He says ‘I am Alpha and Omega,’ He’s saying, ‘The last thing God’s going to say to you is going to come from me.’ That why in Hebrews 1 He says ‘in these last days.’ The conclusion of revelation is going to come from Jesus Christ.

Acts 14:12: [12] And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

“That term ‘chief speaker’ is the word for 'word' over there. If you took that translation of the word and applied it to John 1, what you would have is that Jesus Christ is the chief speaker of the godhead. They nominated God the Son for that job.

“That’s exactly the idea there. In Colossians, it says He’s the image of the invisible God. He was like Adam in the earth back there. Adam was God’s spokesman in the earth. Jesus Christ is the one member of the godhead who’s going to speak on behalf of the godhead.

“John 1 is not the first time the second person of the godhead has been referred to by that terminology. Psalm 33:6: [6] By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
[7] He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
[8] Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
[9] For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

“Notice again how it’s connected with creation, just as it is in John 1. John 1:1: [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2] The same was in the beginning with God.
[3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

“Notice it didn’t say the Word was with the Father. That’s because there are more than two members of the godhead. If He’s with Him, that means He’s distinct from the other members. There’s a difference between being in God and with God.

“Genesis says Enoch walked with God. They’re distinct from one another. ‘Can two walk together, except they be agreed?’ They’re walking together.

“Not only is God eternal and self-existent, He is, in His person, distinct from other members of the godhead.”

'Invisible realm' UNSEEN by almost everybody on earth!

(new article tomorrow)

Risen from the dead in Luke 24, Jesus appears before His disciples and says, “Peace be unto you,” terrifying them because they think they’ve seen a spirit.

He asks, “Why are ye troubled?” and proceeds to show them His hands and feet, encouraging them to “handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

Jesus asks for some meat and is given a piece of a broiled fish and a honeycomb. While eating, He says, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”

“The passage continues, [45] Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
[46] And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.

*****

“Is there anything new Jesus is divulging (in Luke 24)?” asked Preacher Alex Kurz in a Bible study from the other week. “The death of Messiah was already predicted. Nothing new about that. Anything new at all? You see what Jesus Christ is doing? He says, ‘Go back, go back, go back. Look at Psalms 22, look at Psalms 69, Psalms 41, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 53.’

“This is so critically important. Our objective is not to preach a unique system of theology. Our purpose is to preach Jesus Christ within the context of information never divulged in human history.

“Jesus says in John 5:39, ‘Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.’

“Do you understand that if you continue to preach Jesus within the context of His messiahship and His first coming as it relates to the nation of Israel, you are actually defying God’s commandment for edification? That’s why Paul says, ‘Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.’

“We don’t decide on a whim how to preach Jesus. We have no right to pick and choose how we preach Jesus. God issued a commandment, saying, ‘If you want to be stablished and stabilized in your faith, you’re going to have to follow the design for proper edification and you can only find it through Paul’s gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.’

"Paul writes in Romans 16:25, ‘Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.’

“Paul explains in Ephesians 3:8, ‘Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.’

“Didn’t Jesus say, ‘Search the scriptures because they testify of me’? Paul doesn’t talk about searching Scriptures to learn about Jesus. He says, ‘The things I’ve been given are unsearchable.’ Paul’s saying, ‘You can’t go back to the Old Testament. Indeed, you can’t even go back to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.’ Paul’s the FIRST and Paul even says, ‘In me first.’ Words have meaning.

*****

“I Corinthians 2:16 says, ‘For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.’ The answer to the question, ‘Who hath been his counselor?’ is answered in this system of revealed information called ‘the mystery.’

“In Ephesians 3:8, you see what grace was given Paul. That verse pretty much sums it all up. In verse 7 he says, ‘Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.’ God by grace commissioned Paul to be a minister of the Gentiles, an apostle in the dispensation of grace.

“Look at how Ephesians 3 begins: [1] For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
[2] If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:
[3] How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
[4] Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
[5] Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

“This is God’s wisdom on open display and to demean and diminish the wisdom of God by continually focusing in on Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, when even Jesus Christ says, ‘I’m not even sent to you guys' . . .

“Can you imagine if Jesus walked in this room right now and I said, ‘We’re here studying the Sermon on the Mount.’ He’d scratch His head and say, ‘Why are you teaching Jewish doctrine to a bunch of Gentiles? I said, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

“That’s teaching Jesus according to prophecy and what did Jesus say? ‘Search it, guys. Nothing new. It’s already been there.’

*****

“The problem (for people who don’t see this) is a lack of faith. The problem is unbelief. The ultimate manifestation of Israel’s rejection and unbelief was they killed the very one who the prophets kept saying, ‘Watch out, He’s coming! He’s going to say this, He’s going to do that.’

“The Old Testament prophets even gave Israel a time table in which they could identify the Messiah on any calendar. God’s wisdom in advance told the nation, ‘He’s going to do a bunch of things. He’s going to command the waves. He’s going to command the water. He’s going to heal. He’s going to comfort the brokenhearted.’

“The Book of Psalms provides a wealth of detail about the Lord Jesus in His incarnation. Israel by faith, if they were studying the Word, would be, ‘Okay, we know by faith this is what He’s going to do. We know what He’s going to say.’

“Isaiah talked about the ‘good tidings’ and how the Lord’s going to release the nation from the bondage of the policy of evil. But those Old Testament passages also taught that there is a period of time in which He’s going to show up and, by the way, there were people already waiting for redemption; they already knew that they were in that period of time.

*****

“My point is this: Israel had the benefit of, for over a thousand years, access to the Scriptures. By faith they should have been studying. Paul says the ‘law was a schoolmaster to bring Israel to Christ.’ All of that Scripture was leading Israel to an intelligent identification of, ‘Who is this One? Who is this Emmanuel and how is it God’s going to tabernacle in human flesh?’

“When Jesus appeared, they said, ‘Who is this guy?’ and so what did the Lord do? ‘Search the Scriptures, search the Scriptures, search the Scriptures.’ The Apostle Paul never ever, ever says, ‘I’m just going to RETEACH what the law of the prophets and the psalms taught about Jesus.’

“By the way, when you understand the key to right division, the Old Testament makes crystal-clear sense. It breaks my heart when people say things like, ‘Yeah, when I get all discouraged I read the psalms.’ Some of those psalms passages are disturbing. Remember where God says, ‘I’m going to make your enemies a footstool'?

“Listen, there’s a lot of information about the Antichrist in the psalms. There’s a lot of information about the impending wrath of God in the psalms. Don’t get me wrong, are there passages that provide comfort? Yeah, if you’re in the tribulation.

" ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.’ Do you understand that’s a tribulation passage? It’s a glorious passage but it has NOTHING to do with somebody dying and going to a funeral and having someone pass out those little death cards. Beautiful passage but its immediate application concerns a Jew who finds himself in the 70^th week of Daniel.

*****

“What 'right division' does it unlocks the richness of ALL the Word of God. We don’t have to start spiritualizing and twisting it. Or like Peter says, ‘Wresting the scripture to their own destruction.’

“The ‘sacred secret’ found in God is Ephesians 1:9: ‘Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.’

“Ultimately the mystery is the sacred system of hidden revelation that concerns the Father’s determined purpose. A mystery has to do with, ‘What’s God doing?’

"He’s the object of the mystery. The object of Jesus Christ’s message and ministry and life was, ‘Father, glorify yourself.’ The mystery has everything to do with the glorification of God the Father because He determined in Himself to do something.

“What is it the Father predetermined to do? Verse 10: ‘That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.’

“Who before Paul ever talks about this?! No one! Remember how Jesus taught seven specific mysteries of the kingdom?

“By the way, sometimes you hear, ‘Oh, you mystery people, you mystery cult, you guys reject what Jesus taught in Matthew 12-13 when Jesus says I’m going to tell you about the mysteries of the kingdom.’ Listen, there’s a difference between mysteries within a dispensation and an entire dispensation being a mystery! See the difference?

“They say, ‘Oh, you guys are always blowing smoke about the grace of God. Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. Gotcha!’ Well, what happened to everybody else? They drowned. Did everybody else find grace in the sight of the Lord? No.

“Do you understand that God today is literally dispensing excessive, overabounding grace to who? Not just the world, but to a bunch of worthless sinners consigned to the satanic policy of evil through whom the 'spirit of disobedience' works. God says, ‘I’m going to dispense grace to everybody.’

“What is this mystery about? The Father determined that ‘he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.’

“Where before Paul do you read anything about that?! ‘All things in Christ, both which are in heaven …’ Wait a minute, isn’t Jesus already ‘lord of lords and king of kings’?  Why is this 'the mystery'? Why does God say, ‘I’m going to predetermine that in my Son all things are going to be gathered together in one’? Aren’t they already? No, can’t be. Not yet.

*****

“The point is, nobody ever talked like that before. The 'revelation of the mystery' has as its object the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ, not your eternity in heaven. We can and will live eternally in heaven because of what Jesus did as we by faith trusted in Him, but the mystery is, ‘Look at what I’m doing with my Son!’ That’s the mystery!

“In a very technical sense, if somebody says, ‘What is the revelation of the mystery?’ It’s that Jesus Christ is the supreme head, the supreme ruler, of ALL things. That demands that He wasn’t ever taught in the Old Testament as one who is the supreme emperor of ALL things because God says, ‘I kept this secret!’

“Colossians 1:18 says, ‘And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.’ What does it mean to preeminent? Jesus is going to be the universal emperor of two very specific realms. The Old Testament says NOTHING about that!

“Philippians 2 says, ‘Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. [10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

“What it means to ‘make all things one’ is all things are going to be centrally consolidated. It doesn’t say all things become the same thing. You can’t do that. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Two specific realms.

“Go to Revelation 21 and John saw 'a new heaven and a new earth.' The two never became one thing. Rather, the two are brought together in one under the supreme preeminence of the Jesus Christ. ‘In Him,’ as the verse says.

“So the issue has to do with this singular authority vested in the Son, the Lord Jesus. Did Peter ever talk about that in Acts? Did Jesus ever talk about that in His gospel ministry? Did the Old Testament ever say ANYTHING about that? It was a secret; mum’s the word.

*****

“Talking about Jesus, Colossians 1:15 says ‘Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.’ That doesn’t mean invisible because its unknowable or it isn’t real. It’s invisible because it’s the spiritual realm. But the point is, you have heaven that’s invisible and earth that is visible. What is it on earth that’s visible which correlates and parallels itself with whatever’s happening in heaven and is invisible? Paul tells us.

“Colossians 1:16 says, ‘For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.’

“Over and over, what we discover is that this mystery concerns itself with a specific realm—the unseen invisible realm.

*****

“In conducting His earthly ministry, did Jesus Christ ever say anything about how, ‘I’m going to rule in the heavens’? You know what Jesus kept saying? ‘Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth . . . Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.’

“Where does Paul get off talking about thrones and principalities and powers and dominions and rulers in heavenly places? That’s crazy talk. Nobody ever talked like that before. Do you see why Paul was accused of being ‘beside himself’? Festus says in Acts 26, 'Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.' Paul was accused of being mad. He’s going off talking about these spiritual governmental structures. Paul was deemed mentally unfit. It’s kind of funny that he says in I Corinthians, ‘Whether I be beside myself, it’s okay . . .’

*****

“The focus of Jesus is, ‘I want this kingdom from heaven to come DOWN.’ The focus in Paul’s epistles is to redeem and rescue a people so they can be caught UP and function eternally in the heavens. There’s a big difference.

“Ephesians 2 says, [6] And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
[7] That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

“To ‘sit together’ means we will reign together. By the way, why does Paul say he ‘hath raised us up’ in present tense? Again, what is for us a future event is in the mind of God an accomplished fact.

“But here’s the point. The Lord Jesus kept talking about, ‘It’s coming down on earth.’ Paul’s telling us we’ve been RAISED. Paul’s always using language that prevents us from thinking our eternal hope is coming down on the earth. He uses deliberate language and terms that are always saying, ‘We’re outta here! We’re going somewhere else!’

“When the verse talks about how we’re seated already, in the mind of God, we ALREADY have the right to access and utilize some authority. The thrones, dominions, every name that’s named—those are the seats of governmental authority.

“By default, because we’re in Jesus Christ, and we are now living, loving, eternal members of this new creature ‘the church which is His body,’ as far as God’s concerned, He’s ALREADY installed us in the very realms of heavenly government. Is there anything we’re waiting for to happen down here?”

Aerial warfare from Lord Himself flying over

Here's an outtake from tonight's study at my church:

Psalm 110 says, [1] The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Acts 2: [34] For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

[35] Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
[36] Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

That's Peter's interpretation. A foe is not an enemy; a foe is an active enemy. You can be somebody's enemy and just sit quietly, but when you're their foe, you're out to get 'em. Israel has now declared themselves as out after Christ, explains Richard Jordan.

Acts 7: [54] When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

[55] But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
[56] And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

I know what the preachers say, "Well, He's standing there to receive Stephen." Like every time some saint dies the Lord stands up. If that's true, He'd never sit down because saints are dying all the time. That's preacher talk from guys who don't know anything about what they're talking about.

The reason in your Bible that's He's standing is He sat until it's time to pour out His wrath. Now He's standing up; it's time to pour out His wrath.

Of course He didn't, and the reason He didn't is God interrupted the prophetic program right at this point and when Jesus Christ comes back in Acts 9 it's not to pour out His wrath; it's to save His chief enemy, Saul of Tarsus, and introduce a dispensation of grace--something new.

But that doesn't mean He isn't one day going to stand up and pour out His wrath. Isaiah's talking about just that time.

This is nothing new in Isaiah. We could spend the whole evening looking at verses like Isaiah 3: [13] The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

Isaiah 33: [10] Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.

What does He do? He pours out His wrath on them. He comes back to set Himself up to be King.

Isaiah 42: [13] The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

[14] I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

He's going to pour His wrath out, justly, righteously. So in Isaiah 28:21 it says, "The Lord's going to rise up."

[21] For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

You see that word "as"? He's going to give you two illustrations of what it's going to be like when the Lord rises up to pour out His wrath.

In your Bible, over and over and over again in the Old Testament Scripture there are illustrations where God will look at something that took place in history and say, "You see that? That's the kind of thing I'm going to do when I come back in my wrath."

When you read your Old Testament, you're not reading dead, past history. It is history; it's real history, but why would God put that event in the Bible and not another event? Because this event is an illustration of something that's coming in the future.

So, when you read stories in your Bible, always keep in the back of your mind, "This is not just a dead story to teach me some, you know, moral or some historical event. There's something in these accounts to teach me some doctrine.

Zechariah 14:4, describing the Second Advent of Christ: [4] And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

He leaves the Mount of Olives in Acts 1; the angel says, "You've seen Him go and in like manner He's going to come back."

The next time Jesus Christ puts His foot on the ground it's going to be on the Mount of Olives where He left!

Zechariah 14: [3] Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Notice it says "as when he fought in the day of battle." So if you go back to the book of Joshua, for example, and you see the Lord fighting in the days of battle, Zechariah says, "You see what's happening in that Second Advent? It's going to be like He fought back there."

Look at II Samuel 5 and this is one of the ways that, in my personal, private, individual opinion that I recommend, your study of the Bible can be really exciting because over and over and over there will just be a little reference like this and if you go back and find it, you find, "Wow, look at all that!"

In II Samuel 5 David is fighting the Philistines: [20] And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

[21] And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.
[22] And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
[23] And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.
[24] And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.

In other words, the idea is, "David, make a circle around these guys, don't fight them yet, but when you hear the sound of the aircraft coming in overhead, that's going to be me, and I'm going to go forth and fly over them and zap 'em."

At the Second Advent there's going to be some aerial warfare from the Lord Himself as He comes flying  over. 

Watch that happen in Isaiah 31: [5] As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

Just like back there with David, He's down here fighting these dudes and the Lord says, "Just be patient, take up your position, and when you hear me flying over, deliverance is there."

Isaiah says the Lord's going to come like that. He comes out of heaven and He comes down through that territory and for two and a half days He's waging war day and night. You say, "Why does it take so long?"

Because He's specifically taking out their positions.

Wisdom by the numbers

Revelation: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

[18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

If Israel’s going to have wisdom in the stand against the Antichrist, one of the things they have to do is count the number and the number is six hundred and sixty-six, says Richard Jordan.

I sat down one day and thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to count all the six hundred and sixty-sixes in the Bible." You ever found the six hundred and sixty-sixth verse?

The six hundred and sixty-sixth chapter in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 7.

Verse 25: [25] I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

By the way, the Book of Ecclesiastes is a book written to prepare that “little flock” of Israel in the “last days” to be able to identify the lie program; the philosophy that carries the lie program of the Adversary, that man of sin, the son of perdition, that you read about in Revelation.

Proverbs gives them the wisdom they’ll need to serve the Lord and Ecclesiastes gives them the information they’ll need to stay away from the thinking of the satanic policy of evil, personified in the Antichrist.

What did Revelation tell you to do if you wanted to seek out wisdom? It was to count the number.

So you come down to Ecclesiastes 7:27: [27] Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account:

Somebody’s counting—“One, two, three”—and when he does, he’s seeking out wisdom. It’s just a point of interest to me that in the Scripture, counting numbers and the use of numbers is something that’s associated with getting some wisdom.

Now, I realize this is sort of like climbing up the tree, going out on a limb and getting waaay-waaay out on the limb and then handing somebody at the trunk of the tree a saw and saying, “Betcha can’t saw me off.”

They don’t have to, you’re out there so far that nobody else wants to go up there with you. But the way you get up the tree is just keep believing the verses. The way you get out on the limb is you just keep believing the verses and pretty soon you’re out way over here . . . you look like you’re out on a limb that’s fixing to crack out from under you because the dude on the ground was too scared to climb up the tree to start with. That’s sort of the way it is with these number kinds of things, but it is fascinating.

It's fascinating that the number 17 is associated with change; a transition from the old to the new in the Bible.

The first 17 in the Bible is Genesis 1:17: [17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

That’s the seventeenth time in the text the term “God” appears. It’s in the same verse.

Genesis 6:13: [13] And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

He’s going to bring an end to the humanity in the earth and then He’s going to replace it with Noah and his family. There’s going to be an end to the old and the beginning of the new.

That expression, “God said,” is the 17th time that expression occurs in your Bible.

Genesis 7:9: [9] There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

When it says “as God had commanded Noah,” that’s the 17th time that the name Noah appears in the text and it appears in connection with the ending of the old world and the salvation of life to go into the new world.

By the way, when it says, “God had commanded Noah,” come to Matthew 7:28: [28] And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:

That’s the seventeenth time the name “Jesus” appears in Matthew. What did He do? He “ended these sayings.”

When Noah’s name occurred the 17th time it was because God had commanded him, both connected with the Scripture.

In John 2, Christ’s first miracle is where He turns the water into wine, and that chapter happens to be the 70th chapter in the New Testament. So you begin to see these connections that go on.

Earlier, I was looking in the concordance for the terms “agape” and “phileo” and in one Greek concordance they missed the number of a verse; they didn’t have it listed.

Strong’s Concordance, which is the standard and has been for 150 years, has a number of verses that wind up being missed. You can understand since they were doing everything by hand and the compilations and all that would have just been staggering that they got as close to right as they did.

Genesis 7:11: [11] In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

The world ended on the 17th day of the seventh month. That’s when the rain started.

Genesis 8:3: [3] And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.

Seventeen is associated with changing from the old to the new and over and over when you find the number in the Bible, that’s what it gets associated with—the transition.

Genesis 8: [11] And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

That’s the symbolism that told him the new earth was there. One is the dove and what is a dove a picture of in the Bible? The Holy Spirit. When Jesus was baptized and the Father speaks from heaven, the Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove.

What’s the olive tree a symbol of in the Bible? The nation Israel. It’s the spiritual life that God the Holy Spirit’s going to give to the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham and the nation Israel.

What we’re looking at is how new life is going to be established in a new world. It’s going to be the Holy Spirit working through, ultimately, the nation Israel and it’s connecting all of it.

The old world’s over and the new world and God’s purpose in man through the nation Israel is in the future.

One of the ways you can help identify the thrust behind a number is look at Genesis as 50 chapters. Most of the chapters will kind of clue you into what that number is about and will give you some help in understanding the thrust.

You find out that in Scripture some of the numbers are very clear. Like 13 is the number of rebellion. Three and seven are divine numbers of perfection. Twelve is Israel’s number. Those numbers are real easy. Nine is the number of fruit-bearing. Eight is the number of a new beginning.

Christ pulls back shades of heaven's curtain

I Timothy 6: [14] That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

[15] Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;

Jesus Christ will appear to the people in the earth to demonstrate who is the King of kings, but prior to that He's going to appear in the heavenly places and extricate the satanic host, throwing them down to the earth, and that's going to take place in the first half of that 70th Week, says Richard Jordan in his Revelations series.

When He takes them and there's war in heaven and He throws them out, you and I will be installed in those positions of rank and authority in heaven's government up there.

Involved in that war that extricates the satanic forces, Jesus Christ appears in Revelation 6 to the men of the earth.

While He is up there bringing His kingdom to the heavenlies, it's obvious to the men in the earth that there's disturbance and activity and war going on out there.

Maybe you're a Trekkie and you watch Star Trek and the Next Generation and you think all that stuff is wonderful and the explanation--I was reading (my secretary Fran's) TV Guide this week and it talks about how Star Trek: The Next Generation is real popular and what is the explanation.

Well, it said, in the '60s Star Trek gave some hope of stability in the threat of nuclear war and it showed mankind overcoming, you know, and having a peaceful end out there.

And then in the '90s it's catching on because of the gloom and doom and how terrible things are and it gives stability; it shows that "man triumphed after all" and you know that's just a bunch of nonsense. Human viewpoint; man stuck on himself.

Did you ever sit around a campfire and watch fire and notice how it just sort of engulfs you? Have you ever gone down to the seashore and just watch the waves come in and how it just sort of . . . fire and water captivates people and there's some spiritual reasons for that. It's the same spiritual reason that the Star Trek and Star Wars stuff and all that captivates men's minds and, folks, it's because there's some of that stuff on the way.

What Satan does is he counterfeits that stuff before it shows up so when the real thing shows up, you'll think it's just the baloney he's been feeding you, but that stuff's real and it's coming.

What happens in Revelation 6 is in the first half of that week this stuff begins to break out in the heavens and there begins to be war up there and the inhabitants on the earth get a . . . the Lord just kind of pulls the shades back of the curtain of the heavens so they can see into it, and they understand that their side's getting beat.

He throws them out down into the earth and when he does that, Satan comes down himself and goes about to convince men that he's God and that the Lord Jesus Christ in the heavens is really the enemy. 

You say, "Well how could he do that?" Well, that ought not surprise you very much. Isn't that what people think now anyway?

You go out and try to talk to people about the Lord Jesus Christ and people think He's the enemy. You go around and talk to them about religion and being "up" with people and the betterment of society, and do all that stuff, and they think that's God. You see, it isn't that much different.

The difference is that the message you and I have to preach to the world today is not a message of wrath and judgment--that'll come soon enough--but it's a message of grace and peace.

Remember, as we go on through the Book of Revelation, you're going to be dealing with a situation where from this point onward, the Lord is going to be in the heavens fighting and the war is going to be the wrath that's going to begin to be directed down toward man on the earth.

Trafficking

It's fascinating to think about in Ezekiel 28 when he describes what happened originally--how in Revelation 17: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

By the way, there's 13 words in that title, which is just kind of an interesting thing.

Her name is Mystery (Secret) and the description of her is "Babylon the Great." It goes back to Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel and the confusion of the languages.

In light of that, it's fascinating to think about in Ezekiel 28: [15] Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

[16] By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

I just want you to see that issue of he's trafficking. He's taking this wise plan that he's got and he's selling it to people. He's merchandising it. He's got a product that he's selling.

Ezekiel 28: [5] By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

We talk about somebody selling drugs and we call them traffickers. They're out pushing it, getting it out. This dude is out here selling his product; he's promoting his goods. He's out promising to fill people with all kind of . . . "I've got all this merchandise."

You know, you go down to the store and they've got all this merchandise and what do you want? You want it! You want to pile it in the back of the car and go home and enjoy it.

"I've got stuff that you're going to enjoy, that you're going to benefit from, that's going to lift you up and all you got to do is come, pay me and take it. Come join my team, get on my squad, get in on my credit card and take it home, dudes."

He's got a plan where he's enlisting the angelic host to come and benefit from it. There's a whole scheme going on here.

I think, "What in the world would he have used to entice people to do that?" You notice it says in verse 16 it's by violence?

Ezekiel 28: [16] By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

Listen, this stuff never brings peace; it always brings violence. Never think Satan is sitting on the top of a tea kettle that is cool and happy and running smoothly. He's sitting on a tea kettle and the lid's boiling all the time. That's what sin does.

Ephesians 4: [14] That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

But Satan's crafty enough to keep the lid on. He's wise enough and scheming enough to be able to control even the boiling pot of iniquity and sin and wickedness that his schemes produce.

He corrupted his wisdom. The key to his selling tactic, go to verse 3 of Ezekiel 28: [3] Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:

[4] With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

You see the idea there, as he's trafficking this stuff and he's cunning enough to sell it, is to entice you, to make you want to get it, and it's all associated with his ability to interface with a secret.

He had a plan to entice people into his court but there was something hidden in the background. Can you think of a Bible account that has to do with knowing something? 

Go back to Genesis 3 and here's the same character: [1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Satan relishes being 'accuser of our brethren'

People say all the time, "Well, look at the church; it's full of hypocrites." That's a rationalization because they still go to the movies and there are hypocrites there. They still go to football games and there's hypocrites there. Their attitude is simply a self-serving justification, says David Reid in an online study entitled, "Why Do Devils Act Differently Today?"

Now, this is what Satan does and it's beyond obnoxious. Think with me just about the Old Testament for a minute. Israel goes into Egypt for hundreds of years and then God brings them out.

When God prepares to bring Israel into the Promised Land and Israel sends spies into the land, what do the spies find? Giants. More generally, they find the Canaanites, the Jebusites and so on. They find a bunch of people who are there for the purpose of resisting Israel.

Satan could have said, "Well, look, God has promised the Promised Land to Israel so I'm going to respect that and put all my people over in northern Alaska and leave them there."

The reason he didn't do that is the following. What was it that turned Solomon's heart away? His heart was turned away by his wives; the wives of the other nations.

Satan has his people in the land because he wants them to learn the practices of those in the land and get them to worship idols. And when they do those things, you know what Satan's going to do?

Revelation 12: [10] And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Satan is "the accuser of our brethren." What he does with Old Testament Israel is he tempts them and tempts them and tempts them to try to get them to do evil.

When they do that, what does Satan immediately do? He accuses them "before our God day and night": "You did it! You did it! I baited you into it, I entrapped you!"

So does that ministry exist during the dispensation of grace? Yes. Satan seeks to tempt the Body of Christ and when they fail what follows is reproach. 

Is there anything more prominent today than sort of celebrity-Christian scandals? There's a well-known religious leader and then they have some failing. What happens is it's publicized to ruin their reputation and mock and criticize the church.

We are involved in doctrinal warfare today. All the sensational ideas people have about devils, possession, this and that, it's all focusing on the wrong thing. It's confusion and deception.

The nature of Satan's warfare today is doctrinal, meaning the most important thing we can do in self-defense, and to protect ourselves from that deception, is "search the scriptures daily whether those things we so."

II Corinthians 4: [3] But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

[4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

If Satan's desire is to blind their minds, then what do we need to be doing? Preach the accurate gospel because that's the only thing that can help people avoid the snare of the devil. If our warfare with Satan is doctrinal in nature, we need to be doctrinal people, studying and preaching the Word rightly divided.

*****

Here's an outtake from a study by Pastor Alex Kurz:

Deuteronomy 7: [1] When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

[2] And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

I Samuel 15: [3] Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

It's rather hypocritical for an atheist to express outrage that God would issue such a command as killing men, women, children and sucklings, meaning nursing babies.

The atheist says, "Agh, what kind of God is this to kill babies?!" First of all, where does the atheist get off arguing morality?

They reject that there is such a thing as objective morality; moral right or wrong. One leading atheist says, "The universe doesn't care."

Where does morality come from if were just a bunch of amoebas and cells that morph . . .?

Those babies are just as exposed and vulnerable to some satanic activity that's taking place in the land. You remember in the gospels how there were children who were possessed by devils?

Exodus 23: [27] I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

God's first tactic is, "I'm going to send fear before your enemies and if they're smart they're going to run away."

Genocide would demand you've got to hunt them down and kill them and God never said that.

Then God said, and this is weird, "I'm going to send hornets."

[28] And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
[29] I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

Now, there's a lot of controversy about that. Should we take it literally? I say why not. What did God do in Egypt? Did He not send swarms of flies? Did not God use swarms of locusts?

God's saying, "If they're not terrified by you, Israel, then I'm going to send a pestilence, but I'm going to do it little by little until I drive them out."

[30] By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

So there's a second tactic there. There are some things God does to buy the inhabitants a little bit of time: "Israel's coming and you have the opportunity to get out and if you don't get out, then I'm going to destroy you all."

Numbers 33: [51] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;

[52] Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

When God says, "Destroy them," that is the last resort or consequence for not leaving the land. God says, "There's a limit to my tolerance; there's a limit to the persistent wickedness."

It's a marvel to Jesus

(new article this evening and in meantime here's a post from 2024 that's gotten super-high numbers for one reason or another)

Mark 6: [3] Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

[4] But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
[5] And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

[6] And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

"They're not admiring Christ; they're mad at Him, jealous of Him. And you've got to understand their unbelief--their astonishment, their offense--came out of envy and jealousy. At the heart of hatred and unbelief is going to be those two things," says Richard Jordan.

"There are only two times it says Jesus marveled. One, He marveled at the centurion's faith in Luke 7--that a Gentile would have this great faith to believe the Messiah when Israel wouldn't. This centurion understood the Abrahamic blessing. He had blessed Israel, built them a synagogue. They come to Jesus and say, 'He's worthy of the Abrahamic blessing; he's blessed us.'

"These hometown folk in Mark 6 are a picture of what's going on in the nation. That's really the core issue here. It was their folly. They've got all this evidence to believe and they don't believe.

"These are not just isolated incidents in Christ's life; there's a bigger picture of Israel. He comes to His own country, His own people, His own kin, and although He's manifested and demonstrated Himself with the mighty works and the words of wisdom, they receive Him not.

*****

"Their jealousy and unbelief represents Jeremiah 2: [11] Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
[12] Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
[13] For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
[14] Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?

"That's the idea of marveling. 'Just be astonished. Let it scare the britches off of you.' He says, 'They've forsaken me. I'm the source of life! But they didn't just forsake me, they went out and tried to make a substitute that can't even hold water, much less the water of life!'

"They've taken the Word God gave them, the oracles of life, forsaken it and gone after a vain religious system that can't do anything.

"Jeremiah told them, 'Listen, you want to be astonished, you want to marvel, you want to let your 'What-in-the-world's-going-on?' hang out . . .' That's the situation in Israel and there they are.

"When it says in Mark 6:5, 'He could there do no mighty works,' this is one of these things where faith healers will tell you, 'Well, you just didn't have enough faith to get healed.'

"Here's a bunch of people in unbelief, and when unbelief is prevalent, all they could do is get healed! He couldn't do any mighty works; He'd just go out and heal a few people. Now, the few opposed to the many; the point is it's the little flock amongst the apostate nation.

"All this stuff where people use the Bible to abuse you . . . what religion does with that is they use the Bible to put you under a guilt trip so you'll send them more money to get you out from underneath that guilt trip.

"There's a lot more dangerous aspects to teaching people tithing than just getting their money. It's putting them under a guilt trip where you cripple them with guilt, shame, failure and fear. That's what unbelief does.

*****

"In Matthew 13, it says, [58] And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. He did not do them because He could not do them.

"That's like in John where it says they did not believe that Isaiah 53 might be fulfilled, therefore they could not believe. You see, the 'could not' comes after the 'did not', because of the hardness of their heart in their unbelief.

"John 7 says He's been speaking words of wisdom that they recognize. They're just mad about it because those mighty works make Him the standout and they say, 'Hey, he's just one of us; he's from our town. He's our neighbor; he's raised just like we are. He's not any different than us; he can't teach us anything.'

"You see how dumb that is? If He can't teach anybody anything because He came from your town like you are, that means you can't either. You just condemned yourself.

"That's what Christ is marveling at; how stupid unbelief is, how counterproductive! You look at any kind of unbelief and it will always be that way.

"John 7:14 [14] Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
[15] And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
[16] Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

"Now you're back in the same situation as in Mark 6. Jesus answered them and said in verse 17, 'If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.'

"That's a startling kind of a statement. He said, 'If you have in your heart a willingness to God's will that will create the capacity for detecting the divine authority of what Christ is saying.'

"You have to always remember that unbelief comes, not because there isn't enough evidence, but because there's a disposition in the heart that doesn't want God's will.

*****

After doing mighty works, Jesus Christ comes back to Nazareth and the reaction there is they don't want Him now either.

Luke 4:22 says, [22] And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

"It's, 'That's Joe's kid! When did he get so smart? Where does he get off saying all these things?!'

Verses 28-29 say, [28] And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
[29] And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

"The first time He was there teaching in that synagogue it didn't end well, to put it in a way. He's gone out, He's preached, He's done all these mighty miracles and wonders and then He comes back to His own.

"Mark 6 begins, [1] And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.
[2] And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

"When it says they were astonished it doesn't mean they were, 'Woo, wow, He's doing a great job!' It's, 'Who does this guy think he is anyway?!' You see how Mark says in verse 6, [6] And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

"They're suspicious of what He's doing; they're not there being happy about it. Verse 2 has them asking, 'From whence hath this man?'

"You see that 'this man'? They're saying, 'Who is he to elevate himself over us?! I mean, he's Joe's kid; he's no big deal.'

"They're offended at Him because they think He's trying to make something of Himself--'He ain't no better than we are!' They're scandalized.

"They're suspicious of where He got the power and His ability to teach and preach it with authority like He did. They don't believe it's come from a legitimate source. They really think it's come from the underworld of evil.

"We've looked at passages saying this, [22] And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
[23] And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

"They're claiming He's got the spirit of Beelzebub. They say, 'God didn't send you.' They're reasoning in Mark 6:2 is based on verse 3: [3] Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

*****

"In verse 3 you get a glimpse into the early life of Jesus Christ. This passage is probably one of the more revealing ones. At 12 years old, Jesus knew He was, He had an awareness. He'd learned from the Scripture His identity.

"Jesus Christ literally worked in His daddy's business. When you look at Mark 6 where He's called 'the son of Mary,' evidently by this time Joseph was dead, because it doesn't call Him the son of Joseph.

"Evidently by this time the Lord Jesus is the breadwinner in the home and He's 'the carpenter.' He's the first-born and He would be the one who's the head of the house and responsible for its upkeep and protection and provision after His dad isn't there. And even when His dad was there He was working with His dad, learning how to be a carpenter.

"If you think about that, that's just a normal kind of a life. He lived in a normal, run-of-the-mill family. He's got four brothers and at least two sisters. Mary's got at least seven kids.

"It's a busy household with a normal family life, and what that tells you is the Lord Jesus Christ truly participated in our humanity. It was not a royal, palatial kind of a thing.

"When they call Him 'the son of Mary,' there is a background to that statement. In John 8, the religious leaders in Jerusalem say, 'You see what they said about Jesus?' John 8:41 says, 'Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.'

"They say, 'We know who are daddy is; you don't. We're not born of fornication like you.' There was an insufferable stigma attached to the reputation of His family. Think about it. His mother, engaged to Joseph, comes up pregnant. Joseph marries her anyway, but he's not the daddy and that became publicly known.

"There's this hint of a 'this man.' 'He's just a dude that works down at the corner and, by the way, there's that rumor about Mary.'

"By the way, Mary had four more boys and sisters (plural) after Jesus was born, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. That's just a lie taught by Romanists in order to propagate their worship of the Queen of Heaven, which is a pagan goddess that goes all the way back to Genesis 11 in Baal worship. The idea that it's a perpetual virginity is just part of the pagan ritual.

*****

"Jesus has cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry. John 2:16-17: [16] And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.
[17] And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

"In other words, when Jesus cleansed that temple, the verse in Psalm 69:9 was being fulfilled. Psalm 69 is a messianic psalm that prophesies and foretells the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The verse reads, [9] For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

"Prophetically this is Christ talking in verse 8: [8] I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

"Now, no new bible's going to know how to get rid of that one because they don't know it's there unless they hear somebody like you talk about it!"