According to Revelation 1:1 the revelation of Jesus Christ is made known by signs. Signs are a physical thing which is meant to convey a spiritual reality. For example the golden lampstands in Revelation chapter 1 are a physical item, but must be interpreted as they convey the revelation of the local church (Revelation 1:20) In the same principle, the New Jerusalem is a sign, signifying God's redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified elect which are built together into a corporate person ready to be joined to the Lamb for eternity, the bride of the Lamb. It is a great golden lampstand, the aggregate of all the lampstands through the ages. (Rev. 21:23)
In His divinity, Jesus is the "I am" and transcends time, as some have observed. But in His humanity, He was "sent into the world" at a certain time (Galatians 4:4) At that point in time the Babylonian Talmud and the Jewish religion already existed. The Talmud is a collection of myths, stories, and "the opinion of rabbis down through the ages." The Talmud issued in the Jewish religion, headed up by the Pharisees, who harassed, opposed, and ultimately condemned Jesus to death. The covenant God made with Abraham as detailed in the Holy Scriptures (Moses and the prophets) issued in the Christ, the manifestation of God in the flesh. Today it is the same. There is the Christian religion (Catholic and Protestant) which consists of stories, myths, holidays and traditions nowhere in the Bible. The New Covenant issues in the reality of the Body of Christ and will consummate in the New Jerusalem. We need to be saved not only from the world and sin, but from religion.
John 20:22 "He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit." John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life" 2 Corinthians 3:17 "And the Lord is the Spirit." John 14:6 "I am...the life."
He is the breath of life.
Amen. "However, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are His, and, Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness." (2 Timothy 219)
We are living in an age when the great harlot, and her daughters are being exposed. The genuine believers, those begotten of God (John 1:12-13) will eventually abandon the denominations and free groups and find each other. The church is Christ plus nothing. He is all, and He is in all (Colossians 3:11)
Man was created by God in His image, to contain Him and express Him, like a glove is made in the image of a hand to contain and express the hand. He made our inward parts so He can fill them with Himself. Praise Him!
Psalm 139:13-14 For it was You who formed my inward parts; You wove me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made; / Your works are wonderful, And my soul knows it well.
According to Ephesians 4, we are to diligently keep the oneness of the Spirit, because we are all believers born of one Father by one Spirit, with lowliness, with meekness, with longsuffering bearing one another in love,(v.1-3) until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith, i.e.,the things we believe.(v.13) This requires that we no longer be little children (v.14) but grow up into the Head, Christ,(v.15) out from whom the Body builds itself up in love (v.16)
Ep 4:1 I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
Ep 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love,
Ep 4:3 Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace:
Ep 4:4 One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
Ep 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism;
Ep 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ep 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Ep 4:8 Therefore the Scripture says, “Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.”
Ep 4:9 (Now this, “He ascended,” what is it except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
Ep 4:10 He who descended, He is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things.)
Ep 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers,
Ep 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,
Ep 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
Ep 4:14 That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error,
Ep 4:15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,
Ep 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
The Greek word translated "mansions" in the kjv and "rooms" in your version is the same word translated "abode" in 14:23 and is the noun version of the verb "abide" in John 15 where it says "abide in me and I in you." He is our abode, we are in Him. And we are His abode, He abides in us. This mutual abode is the Father's house. John 14:20 says "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." This is wonderful!
"The world has believed a false gospel for 2,000 years. It has generally supposed that Jesus Christ is the gospel rather than the Messenger of it. The Message—the centerpiece—of the gospel is not Christ."
This quote from your article is contrary to the Scriptures.
Galatians 1:15-16 But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, To reveal His Son in me that I might announce Him as the gospel among the Gentiles, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood,
Your title should read, "From the Lampstand to the Throne". To say candlestick is to mar one of the great signs in the Bible. The Lampstand in Exodus 25, Zechariah 4, and Revelation 1-3 is a very significant sign. I agree that Revelation is a "spiritual" book. It may be be more clear to say that it is a book of signs. Revelation 1:1 "signified" in the KJV means "made known by signs. The New Jerusalem which is a great golden lampstand is also a sign.
Revelation 1:1The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
I dont know what you mean. I did not say they were not co-equal. Romans 8:9-11 show plainly that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ, and the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead are in us believers. The Triune God is in us. And, "violate"? Since we are trying to understand the Scriptures regarding God, whould'nt "misunderstand" be a better word?
Amen! Our Triune God is not a doctrine for religious people to squabble over. He is triune for out experience and enjoyment. The Father is the source, the Son is the embodiment and expression of the source, and the Spirit is the flowing out of God in Christ to reach you and me. "The grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship if the Holy Spirit be with you all! iiCorinthians 13:14
"Who are the bridesmaids that kept their lamps filled with oil?" To rightly divide, or literally "cut straight" the Word of God would at the very least be to carefully take care of interpreting the words of Jesus. There were 10 virgins in Matthew 25, not bridesmaids. All 10 took their lamps, but only the wise took oil in their vessels. Who are these virgins? What does their lamp represent" What does their vessel represent? What does the oil represent?
Christ was the seed of Abraham (singular seed) Galatians 3:16, and we, His believers are His increase and multiplication. John 3:30 "He must increase..." and John 12:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Thus we believers are corporate seed of Abraham, His body. This is wonderful!
The word "rapture" may not be in the Bible, but "translated" is in Hebrews 11:5. The Greek word (metatithemi) means, according to the Complete Word Study Bible, change of place or condition. To transpose, put in another place and hence to transport. This is an explanation of Enoch's experience in Genesis 5:24. According to Hebrews 11:5 Enoch was translated because he had obtained the testimony that he pleased God. Similarly, verse 6 says that we must believe that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. This definitely indicates that Enoch's "translation" which is a synonym for rapture, was a reward, not an entitlement, simply because he believed that "God is." I do not believe that every believer is entitled to be raptured, but is for those who have obtained the testimony that they are pleasing to God. "Therefore also we are determined, whether at home or abroad, to gain the honor of being well pleasing to Him." IICorinthians 5:9
I don't know who sister Dora Van Assen is, but this is quite good. The rapture in Revelation 14:15 and elsewhere is depicted as a harvest, and the harvest cannot come until the wheat is ripe, or mature. What matures the wheat? The heat of the sun, which signifies tribulation. May we all grow and mature in Christ in these coming days!
Do not study the occult. Call upon the name of the Lord. Then learn how to pray with the words of the Bible to wash away the defilement from studying the occult.
Ephesians 5:26-27a That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, That He might present the church to Himself glorious,