Chosen in His Service

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Two days ago I was re-reading the first chapters of Genesis and came across Genesis 3.8"And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the Garden." It suddenly struck me that no where does it say that God was in the habit of doing this every evening.

If you are like me you will want to know what is written in the Bible versus what is intrepreted. So while searching for any verse in the Bible that supports such a claim I came across a blog which had dealt with the issue just a few months back. So rather than type out all my observations on the subject I will give credit where it is due. The following is the blog post and the comment on the topic.

http://dailyreflections-matthew.blogspot.com/2008/05/adam-walked-with-god.html

Begin quote
I would have began this post with a scripture citation, but there don't seem to be any! This would seem to be yet another case of needing to discern the difference between what we think we know, and what we really know. It occurred to me recently that we always use the example "Adam walked and talked with God in the Garden every day before the Fall," as an example of the relationship God wants to have with us, but I didn't know where the verse was that said it. So I decided it would be better to find out than to have someone question me on it later and leave me with no explanation. So I looked... and looked... and looked... and this looking went on for quite some time before in my frustration I exclaimed "IT'S JUST NOT HERE!!!" If you know where the Bible says this, then by all means correct my understanding, but I have yet to find anywhere where the Bible actually says that Adam walked and talked with God in the Garden on a daily basis (or at all, unfortunately). Please understand that I'm not saying that this wasn't the case, merely that the Bible doesn't actually say that it happened.

I know it's not much, but this is basically what I've been studying for the past couple days and sadly this is all I came up with... i.e. nothing. [End quote by the blog owner]

This is how Pete commented
Hi Matthew,

This is just where I've got to with this:

Genesis 17v1 Abraham is told to "walk before God and be blameless" - what on earth does this mean? Abraham certainly wasn't sinless! I think we get this picture of "walking with God" as being "relating to him by faith". So also in:

Genesis 6v9 "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God." Again, Noah is righteous and blameless - he lived by faith as he "walked with God"

Genesis 5v21-24 Enoch also "walked with God". In Hebrews this is taken up as living by faith in 11v5.

So to "walk with God" seems to indicate a life of faith... a life of relationship with God. But where did the term come from in Genesis? It's earliest reference is in Genesis 3v8:

"And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the Garden."

Their sin has ruined their previous relationship with God. Their unbelief in taking the fruit has ruined the relationship of faith and love they had with God before the fall. That relationship seems to have been one of God "walking" in the Garden with Adam and Eve.

This would seem to indicate that they saw regular theophanies of God, and related to him like that. Either way, the sense of "walking and talking" with him is certainly true... at least it seems to me that's the sort of relationship this phrase is intended to convey.

Hope that helps!
End of post comment]


I too hope that Helps



Yours in Christ
Pete

Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Significance of the Thousand Year Reign Rev. 20:1-10

Mention of the thousand year reign is found only in the book of Revelation. We must take into consideration the fact that Revelation is filled with prophetic symbols. When dealing with an unclear or controversial section of Scripture we must begin with the realization that no matter how we understand it, it must be in agreement with the clear teaching of Scripture elsewhere. We never use unclear Scripture to interpret plain Scripture. Rather we use what is clearly taught to help us understand areas that are not plain.

With this in mind let us consider the order of events that is yet to take place.

Rapture -> Tribulation -> satan bound for 1000 yrs-> satan loosed, wicked dead come alive & new Jerusalem -> battle of Gog & Magog-> satan and the wicked thrown into lake of fire.

Rapture
When Jesus returns, the dead in Christ and the living in Christ get caught up and they are taken to heavenly mansions Jesus promised us in his word. John 14:2, 3 “In my Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Tribulation
Then comes tribulation and many will become martyrs except the ones who receive the mark of the beast. Then,
• Revelation 6:14-17, ".....and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"

However Revelation 19.11-18 comes to pass
• Revelation 19:11-18, "........, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great."

satan bound for 1000 years
When all men are dead satan is bound for 1000 years. With no man to deceive, satan is bound literally and figuratively.

The binding of Satan also reveals the fact that God can stop his evil work when He is ready, and that without sending the armies of Heaven to do so. When the time has come, God will empower and command a single Angel to imprison him. Satan is not cast at this time into the "Lake of Fire," because God has further use for him at the end of the 1000 years for which period he is bound.

What are the Saints of the Lord doing meanwhile?
• Revelation 20:6, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."
• Revelation 20:4, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:.."
• 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"

The Saints of the Lord will be reigning and judging with Jesus. Judging the wicked is important. This will give you all the proof that Jesus did everything He said He would to help your loved one gain Heaven, and your loved one denied Him DAILY! The Lord opens the books so you can see with your own eyes that they did in fact ignore Him. And then finally you come to the conclusion, it is not His fault. Jesus has been vindicated. You now have rock hard evidence they chose Hell of their own free will.
This must happen if Rev 21. 4 "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, ... " is to be fulfilled.

At the end of the 1000 years
At the end of the 1000 years satan is loosed, and the wicked dead come alive.

• Rev 20.7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison
• Rev 20.5 “But the rest of the dead (the wicked) lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Which clearly states that they will come alive. These have no more opportunity to repent nor are they resurrected with perfect bodies as the saints were.

Something else too happens at the end of the thousand years.

Rev 21.1-4 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Battle of Gog & Magog
Rev 20.7-9a When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. …. 9They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves.

The end of satan and the wicked
When the wicked come alive satan deceives them again and gathers them into an army and surrounds the camp of God's people, the city he loves (New Jerusalem). Why would the people come against the camp of the Lord? They see within the transparent walls of the new city something they greatly desire. (Rev 22.2 On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Remember that the wicked are still bound in their sin, curse, disease etc). satan has not lost his touch either. Together they storm the city and bring down the final judgment over satan and wicked alike.

• Rev 20.9b But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
• Rev 20.10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur.
• Rev 20.11-15 Then I saw a great white throne ............ The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Lake of Fire and Brimstone
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Rev. 20:10.

As punishment for his final act of rebellion, Satan shall be seized and hurled into the Lake of Fire, where he will find alive and waiting for him the Beast and the False Prophet who were cast therein a 1000 years before. This shows that there is no such thing as annihilation. The Lake of Fire was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41), not to consume them in, for God could do that with fire from heaven, but to punish them in; and all those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will go to the same place to spend eternity.

(The theory of annihilation is another one of satan’s deceptions. Proponents of this theory say that God is far too loving to allow man to suffer for all eternity. They argue that it would be unjust of God to allow Evil to ‘exist’ in eternity. They also suggest that satan worshippers are on the rise because of the lure of reigning with satan in the underworld for all eternity! So they argue that the annihilation theory is much more acceptable.)

Satan does not want people to read and study the Book of Revelation because he does not want the world to know that there is to be an end to his power.
Only the bodies of those who perish in this last great war will be destroyed by fire, their souls and spirits will come out at the resurrection of the wicked dead and at the Great White Throne Judgment, and be sentenced to the Second Death, which, as we have seen, means that they must spend eternity without a material body in the Lake of Fire.

Conclusion
The final dwelling place of man according to the scriptures is the new earth. The conditions in the new earth will be as God blessed Adam (man) in Gen 1. 28

• Gen 1. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
• Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."
• 2 Peter 3:10-13, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved………., wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

Every word of God is eternal and this promise becomes a eternal fact only thru Jesus. The fulfillment of this promise is yet to be.

Rev 22.1-6 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. 6The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."

Caution
It is to be clearly understood that the understanding of these events or their order is not central to our Christian faith and therefore I urge you with the love of Christ that agreement or lack thereof with the above mentioned should not result in any discord among believers. When queried by a friend about the significance of the 1000 years reign I had no clear answer to give and babbled my way out. I wrote this in an attempt to try and put things in a clearer perspective.






An alternative way of looking at The Significance of the Thousand Years


Thousand Years



(1.) Satan Bound. Rev. 20:1-3.

Man has charged his fall and continuance in sin to satan. So that man may be "without excuse" God is going to subject him to a final test under the most favorable circumstances.

Satan shall be bound and imprisoned so that he can no longer deceive men, and lest man shall say that sinful habits are too deeply rooted to be soon eradicated the test shall last for a Thousand Years, and man shall have during that period of probation all the blessed influences of the Holy Spirit and the presence of Christ Himself.

It would certainly be a amazingly different world. There would be no one to stir up hate and passion, and prompt strife and turmoil. Man would still have an evil heart of unbelief to contend against, but it would be like a magazine of gunpowder without a spark to ignite it. That the evil heart of man has not been eradicated will soon be evident when at the close of the 1000 years satan is loosed and easily deceives the nations. Rev. 20.8.

(2.) Land of Palestine.
Palestine when it was first occupied by the children of Israel under Joshua, was a land of "milk" and "honey" and of "all manner of fruits," and its soil brought forth "abundantly," and this continued as long as the Children of Israel kept its Sabbaths. But God had warned them that if they did not obey Him and turned aside to worship other Gods He would shut up the heavens and the harvests would fail. Deut. 11:13-17. Palestine today has the same fertile soil it had in Joshua's time, but it lacks rain and irrigation. God has withheld the "early" and "latter" rain, but they are now becoming more frequent and copious.

In the 1000 years the Land of Palestine will be restored to its former fertility. This will be aided not only by the rains, but by numerous rivers and streams that shall flow from the "New River" that shall have its source in the Sanctuary.
"It shall come to pass in That Day (Millennium) that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the Rivers of Judah (where the New River will be) shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the House of the Lord, and shall water the Valley of Shittim," the country about the Dead Sea. Joel 3:18.

The "mountains dropping new wine," and the "hills flowing with milk," are figures of speech declaring that the mountain sides will be covered with vineyards from which an abundance of wine shall be obtained, and that the pasture lands will be so productive that they will sustain vast herds of milk cattle.

The harvests will be so great and abundant that the ploughman will "overtake the reaper," and the treader of grapes him that "soweth seed." Amos 9:13.

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose." Isa. 35:1.

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." Isa. 55:13.

"Then shall the earth yield her increase." Psa. 67:6.

"And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm and the caterpillar, and the p. 190 palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God that hath dealt wondrously with you; and My People (the Jews) shall never be ashamed."' Joel 2:24-26.


(3.) Human Life Prolonged.

"There shall be no more thence an infant of days, for the child shall die a hundred years old." Isa. 65:20.

That is, a person dying 100 years old shall be considered only a child. Therefore a man, to be called a man, must live for several hundred years.

"For as the days of a Tree (oak tree) are the days of my people." Isa. 65:22.
"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: There shall yet Old Men and Old Women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand For Very Age." Zech. 8:4.
Patriarchal Years will be restored, and men shall live as long as they did before the Flood. This may be due to some climatic or atmospheric change, or divine in nature.

SATAN LOOSED.
"And when the Thousand Years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the 'Camp of the Saints' about, and the Beloved City (Jerusalem): and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Rev. 20:7-8.

At the end of the Thousand Years satan will be loosed and come forth embittered by his forced confinement to vent his anger upon the people of God. His hatred against God and His people will be unquenched.

GOG AND MAGOG.
As soon as Satan is loosed from his prison, he will find a vast multitude ready to believe his lie, and to serve and obey him. He will gather them from the "Four Quarters of the Earth" until they compass the "Camp of the Saints" (the Holy Land), and lay siege once more to the "Beloved City." From this we see that the unregenerate heart is like a powder magazine, all it needs is a match to set it off, and Satan when freed will be that match. This "last war" that this world shall ever see, will be bloodless, for the vast armies of Satan shall be thrown into the Lake of Fire.


Significance of the Thousand Years
Finally God will have tested man in "Innocence," under "Conscience," under "Self-Government," under the "Headship of the Family," under "Law," under "Grace," and finally under the influence of the "Holy Spirit," free from Satanic influences, and under them all man will prove himself to be hopelessly, incurably and incorrigibly bad.