Oracles of God, chapter 3
To: 38,428 subscribers we pray God is making Temples of His spirit. 8/13/22, God’s 6th month, Av 16, 5,782
The good news about Jesus and the kingdom of God was foretold by Enoch according to Jude. (Jude 1:14-19; Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, even prophesied of them, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds that they have committed, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.) AND (Deut 18:15-19; “The Lord your God will raise up for you ’Israelites’ a prophet like me ‘Moses’ from among you – from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to Him. This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put My words in His mouth and He will speak to them whatever I command. I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in My name.)
It was our Lord God ‘Jesus’ who had Moses tell Israel: (Exodus 19:4-19; ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. And now, if you will diligently listen to Me and keep My covenant, then you will be My special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you will speak to the Israelites. Israelites answered together, “All that the Lord has commanded we will do!” So Moses brought the words of the people back to the Lord.)
The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so they’ll always believe in you.” And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow make them wash their clothes and be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You must set boundaries for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves not to go up on the mountain nor touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death! No hand will touch him – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; he must not live.’
When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.” Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently. When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking, and God was answering him with a voice.”)
A thousand or so years after the covenant of commandments was given, the same Lord God proclaimed through John the Baptist, Jesus Himself and apostles.
(Acts 13:24-41; Before Jesus arrived, John had proclaimed a baptism for repentance to all the people of Israel. But while John was completing his mission, he said repeatedly, ‘What do you think I am? I am not He, but look; One is coming after me. I am not worthy, to untie the sandals on His feet! Brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us. For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning Him. Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. When they had accomplished everything that was written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and placed Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead, and for many days He appeared to those who had accompanied Him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These are now His witnesses to the people. And we proclaim to you the good news about the promise to our ancestors, that this promise God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have fathered you.’ But regarding the fact that He has raised Jesus from the dead, never again to be in a state of decay, God has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.’) (Quote from Isaiah 55:3” (You are my son, ‘today I have fathered you’ is a Quote from Psalms 2:7, A promise of what the ultimate Davidic heir would be. For the English reader, ‘I have fathered’ makes clearer than ‘begetting.’)
Therefore He also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit your Holy One to experience decay.’ (Quote from Psalms 16:10) For David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died, was buried with his ancestors, and experienced decay, but the One whom God raised up did not experience decay. Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this One forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by this One everyone who believes is justified from everything from which the law of Moses could not justify you. Watch out, then, that what is spoken about by the prophets does not happen to you: ‘Look, you scoffers; be amazed and perish! For I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe, even if someone tells you.’”) Quote from Habakkuk 1:5-7; defines the Babylon nation and its system that’s now world wide. The system of people doing what seems right to themselves.
(Habakkuk 1:5-7; “Look ’Israel’ at the nations and pay attention! You will be shocked and amazed! For I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. Look, I am about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation - people. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that do not belong to them. They are frightening and terrifying; they decide for themselves what is right.”
The irony in Paul’s message is “even if someone tells you” is that he’s now telling us that unbelievers, “face the peril of being scoffers” God is going to judge. (A parallel from Habakkuk and Paul is that Spiritual Israelites failed to see how Babylon’s system was rising to worldwide power, means perilous times and judgment for those sucked in by it. It is the system we live in today.
The apostle’s letters to is also Jesus’ good news.
(Acts 13:42-43; “As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people were urging them to speak about these things on the next Sabbath. When the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.”) (Believing in is gifted to the called by grace. Reading and saying words, don’t make one a believer in the message, discernment is a spiritual gift.)
(Acts 13:44-52; “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they began to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. Both Paul and Barnabas replied courageously, “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you. (Israelites) first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”)
(Paul is alluding to the servant’s language at Isaiah 42:6 & 49:6.) When the Gentiles heard this, they began to rejoice and praise the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed, for eternal life believed.”) (Appointed means ‘Predestined for eternal life’ and these had no problem with God’s commandments, nor His being all knowing, because the love of God was imputed to their minds.
(Acts 13:49-52; So the word of the Lord was spreading through the entire region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high social standing and the prominent men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and threw them out of their region. So, after they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, they went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and with the Spirit.)
Jealously is a bad thing and prominent people normally think themselves above God’s pre-selecting and it is importance to people’s fleshy nature. (If God allowed His truth to magnify among today’s populous, to the degree that they’d leave organized religion, our lives would be in danger.)
(Acts 14:1-7; “The same thing happened in Iconium when Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large group of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So, they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified to the message of His grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands. But the population of the city was divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. When both the Gentiles and the Jews (together with their rulers) made an attempt to mistreat them and stone them, Paul and Barnabas learned about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region. There they continued to proclaim the good news.”)