Post something amazing that somewhat gets over looked in scripture.

Like how God sends an angel of the Lord to help Paul escape prison and away from king Harold's grasp.They walked past the guards who were put in a state of stupor.Then they remember nothing of it and were executed.
God could have revealed himself to you and taken that memory from you.Like he did me.And give it back at a proper time.Then when you tell people,no one would believe you lol.
Or the tower of Babel when God comes down and confound's the language of the people.In a instant! All language is God inspired.
By his word he can create.His breath gives life/a soul.Such a good time to be living in.He placed us here for this moment and I bet we'll witness things that will never be seen again.If it was written down.Generations after us would overlook things like we do.

This is the middle Scripture of the whole Bible:

'It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in men'. Psa 118:8

great topic!

Hallelujah!

And These Are The FIRST Word, The MIDDLE TWO Words, And The LAST Word:


Praise HIS Holy And Precious Name!!!

One scripture I ponder is Hebrews 9:28. so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7:21-23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The day I read this, is the day I became a true God-fearing Christian woman. Amen!

We think of Jesus birth as peaceful and a calm night. However Revelation chapter 12 gives us an idea of what was happening in the Spiritual realm at Jesus Birth and it was anything but silent and calm. Spiritual warfare was very wild that night.

“ Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

John 20:29

This has been an encouragement to me today.

John 14:6 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Greek has three words that are translated life. Lord Jesus used the word "zoe", which means the uncreated life of God. How often have you heard preaching on John 14:6? And how often has "the life" been expounded? Most Christian know what the Way and the Truth means. Not nearly so many know Jesus as the Life.

If Christians could see that Lord Jesus is their new life, the abundant life that He came to give us, striving would cease and faith would be easy. I know because I came to know this truth after way too many years of struggle to be a good Christian.

Who would waste time building a shack when a mansion was ready, just waiting for them to move in? God gives us Christ to meet our every need. We are new creations, we pass from death to life, we are partakers of the divine nature. Somehow the truth of who we are in Christ escapes us. We need our spiritual eyes to be opened. Glory to Jesus!

Hello @Lifted_by_the_word, God reveals quite a bit about Himself to us in Genesis 1, including our first look into His true nature/the triune nature of the Godhead.


God bless you!

~Deut
p.s. - this could prove to be a very interesting and informative thread. Thanks for posting it
.

Like how God sent an angel to stop Balaam in his tracks, and caused Balaam's donkey to rebuke Balaam (Numbers 22:20-35).

Not sure if the following relevant here.
I think it is so here goes.

John 17:23
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

We are told God loves us but do we really really believe it?
Life experiences, certain doctrines we have been taught and an awful lot of baggage.


My experience was that God would only love me if I performed.
I never ever experienced love growing up, never knew my real dad. Was thrown out by my mum and fostered by a Christian family only to be sexually abused by my foster dad.

I am sure I read the above verse so my times but just skipped past it.
I found it so difficult to come before God because of this, my life choices as a result of my past, my fear of being rejected by him (as my mum did as my dad did even though I did not know him)

Then I remember one day when laid up with a bad back and God asked me to spend time with him.

I said no a few times but in the end I did.

I was questioning whether I actually was a Christian.
Yes I had faith but why was it not following through?

Anyway God lead to Romans 5 and I delved into "faith" came to realise I did have faith in God and Jesus.

Then God took me to other verses and the last on was the one above.

Now I was a man who had an inferiority complex when it came to Jesus.
How can I be like Jesus? I can't so naturally God loved Jesus more than me.

So when I read it suddenly hit me.
I said to God "Is this true, is this true, it cannot be?

He said "Yes it is your brother my son has told you this"

"Jesus loves you like I love you and I love you as I love Jesus"

It was like this verse was inscripted on a bullet and shot into my heart.
No longer a theoretical concept.
It went from theory to my heart.

What a release.

I walk with people who are hurt, broken and struggle.

Waiting for the 3 strikes and you are out from God.

Every one I have walked with I always ask "Do you know/believe that God loves you as much as Jesus?

The majority say NO.
I tell them it's true and then show them the Bible verse.
Even then they don't believe it.
So I say to them "It is true because Jesus said it himself and he is not a liar"

Luke 22:40-44

King James Version

40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

I don't think we take into consideration how much God understands our struggle. When Jesus knew it was time for him to go to the cross he suffered from mental stress. I think understanding that even Jesus struggled with following God's will can help us not be so hard on ourselves.

Dan 6:22 "My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me;

and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt." Daniel did not hurt the lions?

Hello tstumf,

I wasn't going to respond to this at first, then I figured that I would. I understand what you are saying here, but I want to share with you, if you can receive it, that Revelation 12 is a future event and Jesus is not the Male Child.

In Revelation 1:19 John is told by the Lord to write:

What you have seen = Everything written from Rev.1:1 thru 1:19

What is now = Represented by the letters to the seven churches, which also stands for the entire church period

What will take place later = Everything that takes place after the "What is now," i.e. what takes place after the church period

We are currently living in the "What is now" portion of what John was told to write. In Revelation 4:1 John hears the same voice like a trumpet say, "Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this," which is synonymous with "What will take place later"

It is my belief that Revelation 4:1 is a prophetic allusion to where the church is gathered. That being true, then everything from Rev.4:1 and forward are all future events, including Rev.12.

The woman is not a literal woman

The Sun, Moon and Twelve Stars are not literal

The woman being pregnant is not a literal pregnancy

The dragon with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns is not a literal dragon

The woman does not give literal birth

The Male Child is not a literal Male Child

All of the above being true, then how can we interpret Jesus as being the Male Child?


Jesus Does Not Fit the Criteria as Being the Male Child:

The woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and wearing a crown of twelve stars

God first used the same symbols of the sun, moon and stars in Joseph's dream found in Genesis 37:9-10

Sun = Jacob

Moon = wife/wives

Eleven Stars = Eleven tribes of Israel, with Joseph being the twelfth star

Therefore if we apply the sun, moon and stars to the woman of Rev.12, she then represents the nation Israel as a whole.

"And her child was caught up to God and to His throne."

The word "harpazo" translated as 'caught up' is the same word used in 1 Thess.4:16, where the living church is 'caught up' to meet the Lord in the air. The word is defined as ' to seize, catch up, snatch away. properly, seize by force; snatch up, suddenly and decisively – like someone seizing bounty (spoil, a prize); to take by an open display of force. It is the same word used when Paul said that he was 'caught up' to the third heaven and when Philip was 'caught away' from the eunuch. It is also used where Jesus said, "no one can snatch them from My Father's hand!" The Male Child is "snatched up" to God and His throne before the dragon can devour/kill him.

Taking this word into consideration, it cannot be used to describe what happened to Jesus, for He was crucified, buried, resurrected and later ascended to the right hand of God. Therefore, He does not fit the meaning of force suddenly exercised and being snatched up and therefore does not fit the criteria of being the Male Child.

So who is the Male Child?

In Revelation 7:1-9 we are introduced to a new group, which are 144,000 Israelites who (unlike the woman) will believe that Jesus is their Messiah, 12,000 from each tribe. Then in Revelation 14, we see the 144,000 with Jesus standing on the heavenly Mount Zion, which is the New Jerusalem, where the Lord says of them "These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins." This would make them all males, ergo, Male Child. The Male Child is a collective name representing 144,000 believing Israelites whom the woman/Israel will figuratively give birth to.

Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven and restricted to the earth, is the result of the 7th trumpet/3rd woe, which is yet future. It is an event which will take place in the middle of the seven years. We can deduce this based on the fact that when the dragon is cast down to the earth, the woman flees out into the wilderness were she will be cared for by God for 1260 days, which is that last 3 1/2 years of that seven year tribulation period.

I disagree strongly with your point here. thats all im going to say ill let a biblical Scholar tell you.
Many people heard the wonderful story of Christ’s incarnation, and some understood it for the very first time. But the version of the Christmas story that most haven’t heard, the one that even many Christians don’t seem to understand is the one found in Revelation 12.
It is this account that guards Matthew’s and Luke’s from the dangers of sentimentality. It keeps our vision of the incarnation from getting dislodged from the broader drama of redemption. And it reminds us that Christ’s Advent to earth was nothing less than a strategic, decisive military move in the raging cosmic battle between darkness and light. This is the full-orbed Christmas story that we need reminding of all year round.
Let’s look at this passage, think about the cast of characters, and then ponder three important lessons for today.
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (Revelation 12:1)
There are three main characters in this passage: the woman, the dragon, and the child.
The woman (described in vv. 1-2) is clothed with the sun, with the moon is beneath her feet, and seven stars crowning her head. Who is she? Probably not Mary, but Israel. Verse 2 has clear echoes of Genesis 37, the passage about Joseph’s dream where the twelve stars represented the twelve sons of Jacob. John seems to be identifying this woman with Israel, God’s covenant people. The woman’s pregnancy and agonizing birth pangs point to the sufferings of God’s people as they awaited the Messiah, but also deeply resonated with the suffering saints who originally read Revelation.
Verse 3 introduces another character, a “great red dragon” possessed of both worldly power (all those heads and crowns!) and deep, unrelenting hatred and hostility towards the woman and her child. If it wasn’t already clear, verse 9 removes all doubt: the dragon is “the ancient serpent” the devil himself, “Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” This not only identifies him with the serpent in Genesis 3, but also shows his antagonism towards God’s people, and especially towards the child of the woman, whom he seeks to devour.
And who might this child be? Read verse 5 again:“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.” This, of course, is Jesus the Messiah.
So what’s going on here? This passage uses heavily symbolic language to describe Satan’s attempts to destroy the Christ. Remember the massacre in Bethlehem? Remember the forty days in the wilderness? Remember the crucifixion?
But John is sounding another note as well. He says that this child rules the nations with a rod of iron (quoting Psalm 2) and is snatched up to God and his throne. Far from being destroyed by the dragon, this child shares the throne of God! This child is none other than Jesus the Christ (v. 10), the crucified Lamb (v. 11), the resurrected, exalted, and enthroned King.
But what does it all mean? Revelation is notoriously difficult to understand – so weird, in fact, that most of us just avoid it altogether. And yet, it is still God’s word for the church. And though interpreters may disagree on some of the details, the main point is clear and contains three very important lessons for us. continued

1. First, this passage points us to the defeat of evil in the incarnation, suffering, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though the passage begins with a war in heaven (v. 4a, expanded in vv. 7-9), the dragon is defeated and thrown down! The details of the passage hint first at the primordial defeat of Satan, when he was first thrown out of heaven (vv. 7-9). Then verses 10-11 proclaim his decisive defeat, as a loud voice proclaims:
Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Satan is conquered, vanquished, defeated! How? By the blood of the Lamb! This points us to the cross. That’s where the decisive victory was won, and because Christ conquered Satan there, the “devil knows his time is short” (v. 12). He’s like a feisty snake pinned to the ground by a huge boulder, waiting for the sharp blade of a hoe to finally take his head off once and for all. Yes, his bite is still poisonous – but his power is limited and will soon come to an end.
And that means that evil can be defeated right here and right now, in your heart and mine, today. Wesley understood this well, writing,
Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
2. This passage also shows us how God preserves the church through suffering. This story, written to the suffering church (remember, Christians were still being fed to the lions in those days), is all about the suffering church at the hands of Satan. In keeping with his war against heaven, and his hostility towards Jesus at his birth, Satan is depicted as the serpentine dragon who continues to pursue and persecute the people of God. You can see this as he chases her into the wilderness in verse 14, tries to carry her away with a flood in verse 15, and unleashes his fury against the woman and her offspring in verse 17.
But through it all, God preserves his people! Though the woman is chased into the wilderness, God has prepared a place for her and she is actually “nourished.” He gives her “eagle’s wings,” almost definitely a reference to the original exodus, when God rescued his suffering people from Egypt (see Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11).
But God not only rescues and nourishes his people; he also puts a limit on their suffering, which is probably the point of the 1,260 days. I know some think this is a literal 3 ½ years of tribulation. Maybe, maybe not. But either way, don’t let that distract you from the main point. This number, whatever else it may mean, shows us that the suffering of the church is temporary, short, and limited.
3. Finally, this passage shows us how to communicate the gospel to our world. I don’t mean that we need to speak about a red dragon and a conquering child (though, that’s not a bad idea!). So, what do I mean?
Well, biblical scholars point out that John was using symbolism and imagery that was very well known in the ancient world. People were very familiar with pagan stories about the conflict between a dragon and a child. What seems strange to us was as embedded in their cultural folklore as the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk or Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are in ours. But John was investing this mythology with new meaning and significance.
This is what C. S. Lewis meant when he talked about myth becoming fact. This is part of our job. We’ve got to learn how to take the mythologies and stories of our culture and show people that it is only in Jesus that we see the ultimate fulfillment of the deep hopes and yearnings that lurk beneath our greatest myths and stories. Wesley, once again, got it right in one of his Advent hymns: