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Very good exposition here. Thanks. In this life, we are, like Jesus, a little lower than the angels. But because we are in Christ and He conquered death, sin, the devil, and hell in his sacrificial death and resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father (which signifies dominion and authority over all things) we will reign with Him because we are in Him. We will in the next life be higher than the angels because of our position in Jesus. We will be like Jesus as a ruler, serving others. As you say, we will not be puffed up or full of ourselves concerning this ruling assignment. No, we will be humble, loving, and full of the Spirit.
When I think of angels (good and bad) I know that they are far above me and other humans in power and authority and many other abilities. We are not able to contend with evil angels in our own might or our own authority. We always must come to defend ourselves and stand against them in Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. These demonic angels will not listen or heed us unless we fight them in Christ Jesus. He is the our captain, our commander, our fortress, and deliverer. We must let Him take the forefront of every battle and when we come to stand against these evil angels, we are to do so as Michael is said to do, saying "The Lord rebuke you."
I love the Scripture that reminds us to not think too highly of ourselves than we ought to, but to think of ourselves soberly. ( Romans 12:3) I think this may be implying that we are to avoid being "drunk" on "pseudo-power trips". Humility is something that the devil and evil angels do not possess. They are filled with pride and arrogance and have deceived themselves into thinking that they have more power and authority that they really do have in relation to God. We ought not be like them in having a false sense of power and authority over them. Being humble is being Christ-like. Knowing that we do not deserve any honor is being realistic about ourselves before God
Ruling over angels.
We are told that we will rule over angels in scripture. ( Heb. 2:5-9). There are other passages in Hebrews that discuss how Christ was brought a little lower than the angels; however for His earthly ministry; and how they seek to learn the mysteries of God and salvation. It would be wise to examine the admonitions of Jude 1:9 however. In this present day we cannot even have the wrong attitude contending with the devil when God has allowed his authority for His purposes in this age. We indeed will rule and reign with Him; but clearly we won't have some puffed up superiority with angels assigned under us. These same angels now are "ministering spirits" ( Heb. 1:14) who are incognito only appearing when needed for a specific purpose without any additional fanfare. There are other verses on us judging angels; which I don't care to speculate on in this forum due to space constraints.
It was suggested in today's sermon that angels may be able to fill in what was going on that we couldn't see; or answer questions about how certain choices changed the course of events; etc. Surely we will learn more about specific ministries there; as well as between the differing ranks (Cherubim; and or beasts surrounding the throne; Archangels and others). Again; the angels that remained faithful were always drawing attention to God's glory and not themselves. Surely; that is how we will rule with Christ when He reigns in perfect righteousness; and settles disputes among nations ( Isaiah 2:4). There will be cities for us to rule over ( Luke 19:17) which someone could interpret as a figurative allegory but I see no reason why.
God has given His angels great power; such as the one assigned to kill 185,000 in a day ( 2 Kings 19:35). Since they are not puffed up over having that type of authority; we also will not be when because of adoption as sons we are exalted since Christ died for men and not angels.
Today's sermon discussed aspects such as the verse saying that there is no more marriage in heaven. ( Mark 12:25). That seems cut and dry but everything else seemed to drift too much into what we enjoy here on earth (such as recreation; endless delicious meals etc.) My earlier comments reflected on service in heaven; which most believers in Christ should acknowledge (unlike those who don't look into the scriptures and think we are all floating on clouds someplace).
My issue is not that we won't have those pleasures in heaven; but again reflects what I said earlier that all the focus is on serving Him and rejoicing in Him. Christ surely has anticipated sitting down and drinking the "fruit of the vine" which He will do no more until He is in heaven with us ( Mark 14:25). That would presumably be at the Great supper of the Lamb but certainly could occur at other times as well. That surely does indicate that there will be fellowship among saints and Christ as well as with each other. There are also such things as unique names given to us that no one else knows but God and that person ( Rev. 2:17); and Revelation 19:10 also states the same for Christ Himself.
While it isn't necessarily wrong to reflect on what enjoyment of heaven will be like in our new Resurrection bodies; we shouldn't be so enamored with it that we drift away from rejoicing in the harvest; as well as the attributes of God. We also will be ruling and reigning on the earth; but won't be overtaken by all the unprecedented riches that the kings of the earth bring as tribute to the Lord. Heaven; of course will be ON earth (in terms of the heavenly city itself; that is). For God to restore His creation that surely also will be a thing to behold. Again; without salvation men's minds still won't be able to dissuaded from eventual rebellion despite 1000 years of material blessings on earth; since sin will still be present until the new earth.
If we wish to separate those "would be" believers who desire to go to heaven but have no compulsion to serve God from those who already are His bondservants and just would be continuing what they started to practice here on earth we can evaluate their love for God and obedience to obey His commandments ( John 14:15). There are many shallow; foolhardy and at times downright blasphemous concepts of "love" today which permeate much of Christendom; particularly in the "music industry". The concept of obedience because of love seems a foreign concept today; especially in our nation. How many social issues could be deflected if that were the case of more children in their family upbringing for their parents today? Surely; there is more to His love than us being bondservants; as He calls us "friends." ( John 15:15 in the very next verse!) To serve to the length of our own hurt is surely seen in Christ's ministry; not the least of which of course was the crucifixion and all the sufferings beforehand. We often neglect the extent of the rest of His public ministry; where He wasn't even able to mourn the death of John the Baptist; despite making a deliberate attempt at retreat to be alone in a desert place with His chosen few. ( Matthew 14:13). While the Son of Man came to serve and not be served ( Mark 10:45) while on earth; He is certainly worthy to serve and exalt for all eternity for what He did for us. For Him to lift Himself up is not sinful like with the rest of His Creation.
True; there are "pleasures for evermore at His right hand" ( Psalm 16:11). This has to be balanced with the rest of our reverent service toward Him. The shallow; sentimental emotional "love" is at best a tepid version of the Spirit; at worst just a hyped up emotional mindset which is of the world; or comes from occult persuasion. Our emotions; mind; and soul must be incorporated into worship of God ( Mark 12:30).
Today our church had the last of a series of messages about heaven and eternity. There were sufficient scriptural passages referred to make the basic point of the visual splendors of the great city; as well as all the ways we will find fulfillment there.
With reflection; however it would seem to me that we must be careful not to focus on the creation above the Creator. Lucifer; after all was a large part of the music worship and was clothed in splendor (see Isaiah 14; Ezekiel 28). He would have seen all the ornate opulance of heaven itself along with the heavenly city in whatever state it was in prior to the time He had completed mansions for His people. Whether it existed for all eternity itself or was created at the dawn of time; we need to look at the Triune God Himself as being unique in character as well as superior to His created beings. Even the Word of God has patterns and inherent life in it's words which are suitable to cut to the marrow of soul and spirit ( Heb. 4:12).
We need to stop to reflect on the true nature of heavenly treasure; it is first and foremost meant to honor God; as well as being a place for His saints to dwell in; where there is nothing unclean entering into it and it is perfectly Holy. ( Rev. 21:27). It should be seen in the dirt villages and the prisons where humble servants who are saints of the Most High are serving the Lord by proclaiming the Good News. There; we can look into the eyes of believers and see Christ who through obedient service are gaining eternal blessings in treasures that cannot fade away ( Luke 12:33-34). Here; we see people who are sold out to Christ and have no desire to grasp onto things of this world. It is a process for some of us; but we must all produce good fruit and overcome the temptations of this life and ensnarement of the love of money; which only can occur when sealed with the Holy Spirit and living out what lives in our hearts. ( Eph. 1:13-14; Phil 2:12-13).
able to stand?" Revelation 6:17
The word STAND in the verse is asked as a question for a reason, asking Who will make the First Resurrection as it does in Psalms 1:5 where the ungodly will not.
Much of the punishments in Revelation are noted AFTER the day of wrath is mentioned in Rev 6:17 which is when Christ returns and raptures his saints before pouring out his wrath on the unbelievers. So, it is my belief that the saints will have been raptured before those punishments are poured out on the earth.
The bible does not say that there will be a pretribulation rapture, so neither should we.
Applying this notion to the word of God only causes confusion.
Paul says that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.
Whatever happens in the world can only happen when God permits it. So we cannot say that he is oblivious to the persecution of his people. He allows it and sanctions it so that his people can be tested
God has often punished his people with war and famine because of their unbelief and rebellion.
But even a righteous man like Job can be sorely tested at God's discretion.
The great tribulation will be a time of great apostasy where there will be false prophets and false Christs who would deceive even the elect if it were possible. Even today there is increasing apostasy in the church so the church will be tested by God during the great tribulation.
Paul says that before Christ returns to gather his saints that there must first be an apostasy and that the man of sin must be revealed sitting in the holy place. 2nd Thessalonians 2, 1-6
There is no 'age of grace' mentioned in the bible. God has always been gracious and long suffering towards his people.
Psalms 145:8
The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
But he also judges his people and can punish them for their disobedience and their rebellion. When God brings a famine or war the righteous and the unrighteous may suffer together.
So, God's people will suffer persecution and famine during the great tribulation, but Christ will rapture his saints on the "day of his wrath" before He pours out his wrath on the unbelievers.
You've touched on some very good points!
God bless you.
The great tribulation will be terrible, indeed, brought on by the wickedness of man, the utter evil intentions of Satan, and what God allows to happen during that time.
I don't think that Christians will be evacuated with a pre-trib rapture with the reasoning being that God would not let His church go through such terrible events. I do not hold to this reasoning because God has allowed the church to go through great tribulations, persecutions, slaughters even in the first few centuries after Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of God. And because I agree with you that the church will be caught up with Jesus when he comes the 2nd time after the tribulation, as Matthew 24 seems to say. Thank you for your explanation.
Do you understand what it means to produce after their own kind?
God said let us make man in our image.
God is Spirit, if we are (Re)created in his image, we also become Spirit (God, in a glorified body, just like Christ)
Psalms 82:6 For I have said, Ye are gods, the children of the most high.
John 3:6 ... that which is born of Spirit (God) is Spirit (God).
John 17:21 That they all may be one, as thou Father, art in me, and I IN THEM ....
Colossians 1:27 ...this mystery ....Christ IN YOU .....
Romans 8:29 ....predestinate to be conformed to the IMAGE of his Son ....
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be IN YOU, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God that worketh IN YOU both TO WILL and TO DO his good pleasure.
You must be born again: do you understand what awaits us when we leave this body of flesh.
1 Timothy 6:16 Who (Christ) only hath immortality, dwelling in the light ....
1 Corinthians 15:53 ...this mortal shall PUT ON immortality (Christ only hath immortality, we put on Christ).
God bless you.
There is not two separate revelations in Revelation, it's one revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ .......
Revelation is not addressed to the seven churches, but to the angel of the seven churches.
Revelation 2:1 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Ephesus write ....
Revelation 2:8 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Smyrna write .....
Revelation 2:12 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Pergamos write ......
Revelation 2:18 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Thyatira write ....
Revelation 3:1 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Sardis write ......
Revelation 3:7 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Philadelphia write .....
Revelation 3:14 Unto the ANGEL of the church at Laodiceans write .....
Mark !3:24 But in those days (the wrath of God that was poured out on Christ), after the tribulation (that wrath of God, poured out on Christ) , the sun shall be darkened, and the moon (symbolic of Christ) shall not give her light,
Mark 13:25 And the stars of heaven shall fall .....
Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth .....
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness (the sun was darkened) over all the earth unto the ninth hour.
And the moon (symbolic of Christ) turned to blood, and covered the sins of creation.
God Bless you in the quest for TRUTH ( John 14:6 ...I AM TRUTH....I AM LIFE)
He is guiding us to the understanding of His order of creation that yields growth.
That is what He is doing, forming a Kingdom so it can grow and produce their own kind accordingly. Plants, Cattle, Man and more that we haven't mentioned.
I love relaxing in Genesis chapters 1-3. What a miraculous beginning of not only His Kingdom but also the journey that all of man will have to take!
Interesting years don't seem as significant to GOD as they are to man. Isaiah 55:8-11
Events, seem to be the significant time table to GOD, Genesis 15:13-16, Revelation 6:9-11, 2Peter 3:8-11, Romans 16:25, Revelation 10:7,
It almost seems like you're asking because of a Biblical study question
Let me clear up something dear brother. When we say God's wrath we don't always specifically mean the Day of Judgement, or the day of punishment of people that accepted the mark of the beast like during the fight of Armagedon or after.
The great tribulation during the time of antichrist will be caused by God's wrath (call it anger, judgement or anything else if you like) to the sinful world. Famine, physical catastrophies like the eartquakes, like the water becoming blood, like that star that fell off the sky, like the sun and moon stopped giving their light etc are caused by angels pouring God's anger on earth to the sinful people. The horses, the wars, the seals opened by angels, the trumpets, the woes, the hail, the fire mixed with blood, the third of all living creatures including people dying etc etc are all done by God through His angels. Rev 7:2 "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,", Rev 9:15 "And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men."
As I said before I cannot think that God will be doing all that while His church is still on earth so we, His children, will suffer famine, wars, catastrophies, death together with the sinful world. All of which (and this is very important) are due to His anger for the sinning world which He will surrender to satan and his man, the antichrist. It doesn't sound logical to me. What for? The saints suffer together with sinners? Die together with sinners? That is not what happened to Noah and Lot. They first left and then God punished the sinners. They didn't suffer, they escaped all that. Protection during the great tribulation is only offered to the Jewish people that are going to believe to Jesus. These are the ones that are sealed in their foreheads, Rev 7:3, Rev 9:4
GBU
If you read Revelation you will see that john received two separate revelations. One which was specifically dealing with the seven churches and what would be their fate in the near future.
The second revelation begins in Rev 4:1 and is not specific to the seven churches who are addressed in chapters 2and 3.
We cannot build sound doctrine on assumptions or conjecture so we must not add to what has been said in revelation bearing in mind the warnings for those who add or take away from what has been written in Revelation.
If you read Rev 6:12, onwards, you will see events that correlate with Christ's description of his second coming as recorded in mat 24. which Christ says will happens after the great tribulation. And if you read on down to Rev 6:17 you will see the day of wrath is mentioned. So, the day of wrath happens when Christ returns after the great tribulation. The great tribulation is not the day of wrath.
You will notice the angels recued Lot on the very same day that God poured out his wrath on the unbelievers. There was no delay. And so it will be when Christ returns after the great tribulation. He will send his angels at the sound of the trumpet to gather his elect before pouring out his wrath on the unbelievers. This is the rapture and it happens on the day of wrath.
If you read Revelation you will see that john received two separate revelations. One which was specifically dealing with the seven churches and what would be their fate in the near future.
The second revelation begins in Rev 4:1 and is not specific to the seven churches who are addressed in chapters 2and 3.
We cannot build sound doctrine on assumptions so we must not add to what has been said in revelation bearing in mind the warnings for those who add or take away from what has been written in Revealtion.
If you read Rev 6:12 onwards you will see events that correlate with Christ's description of his second coming as recorded in mat 24. which Christ says will happen after the great tribulation. And if you read on down to Rev 6:17 you will see the where the day of wrath is mentioned. So the day of wrath happens when Christ returns after the great tribulation.
If you read all my comments below it might help you understand my thoughts on this very important subject.
The great tribulation is not the day of wrath.
You will notice that the angels recued lot on the very same day that God poured out his wrath on the unbelievers. There was no delay. And so it will be when Christ returns after the great tribulation. He will send his angels at the sound of the trumpet to gather his elect before pouring out his wrath on the unbelievers.
The Scriptures teaches us that JESUS never sinned in HIS heart or in action. Every thing HE did glorified the FATHER'S name. As far as 12 yr old JESUS addressing Mary, and 30 yr old Jesus addressing her as "woman" it was acceptable and not considered as a sin nor disrespectful.
In my culture, presently all the children address their parents as mom/dad or the equivalent. Prior to the 1970's, we called our parents by their first names. This was not considered as disrespectful or ill-mannered, it was part of our culture and social norm. We should never try to press the narrative to fit our own thinking or our life style.
The bottom line is when scripture indicates a truth, then it is the truth for all times.
The LORD shine HIS face upon us all. Keep praying for our nation's leadership and the coming mid term elections. 1 Timothy 2:1-3
Praying also for our first responders and the lost.
September 24, 2022