Job 15:10 – Job’s Father

John,

Does this verse from Job 15 imply that Job’s father was alive?

10.  The grey-headed and aged man are with us, much older than your father. 

Wendell 

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Hi Wendell. 

Without more information, we have no way of knowing.  It may sound as if Eliphaz, who is the speaker here, knew Job’s father, or at least knew of him, but even that is iffy.  He may have simply been speaking rhetorically of the generation previous to Job. 

Pastor John

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A Good Reminder

Thank you, Pastor John, for sending us the document, “New Testament Introduction: Hidden”.

It is not a head knowledge of God that will save us, but a heart knowledge.  A lot of times, God will put us through a trial or some other kind of experience, such as cancer, to instill in us a desire to seek, ask, and knock.  I remember Jesus putting a prayer in my heart while I sat at my piano one morning in 2009, just two weeks before that “blessed” kidney stone revealed the cancer in me, “Lord, make me a vessel of honor and not one of dishonor.”

That trial, or opportunity, [of going through cancer] began on a Saturday night while you visited us in KY.  I can’t begin to count the lessons of knowledge about God that I have received while going through mine; some are recorded in the little book that I had such great help with.  At each turn of the corner, there was another lesson for God’s people as the Spirit said to me at the start: “This is not about you, but it’s about the body of Christ (us).”  I read that little book at least once a year as a reminder of the love of God that was shown me.  Without God’s grace, strength, and wisdom, I could have easily failed that trial.

If we are not dead to the feelings of the Spirit when Jesus gives us those precious opportunities to seek Him in the way that He chooses, then we will certainly get the gold and knowledge from them for others.  Every opportunity is one that will move us up closer to know God more if we hearken to His voice. 

Love always,

Billy

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Pastor John,

The document, “New Testament Introduction: Hidden” is so good!  I’m so thankful for God’s love and his mercy.  He touched me, loved me, and gave me a love and desire to know His truth!  That is worth everything!

I love this part of what you wrote:

“With the knowledge of God down in your soul, you will know the truth as they knew it, and the truth will make you free, as it did them.”

That is so wonderful!  I love when I hear the truth and it sets me free!  Free from the weight of Christian doctrines, free from wrong thoughts and ideas, and free from me!  It feels good every time I hear and feel the truth, and it heals something inside!  That’s enough to make you want to shout for joy!

Love you!

Michelle

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RE: I came across an Introduction to the New Testament that I must have gone over with you in the beginning of our study of Matthew, though I don’t remember it.  But it was so good to me that I thought I would send it out for you to read, too.  It blessed me, and I hope it will bless you.

Pastor John

New Testament 2020 Introduction: Hidden

What we have in Christ was once completely hidden

because Christ himself was once completely hidden.

 The mystery of God, spoken of by Jesus and Paul, was that in the beginning of

creation, God had a Son and that in His Son, God hid all true knowledge, so that without

knowing the Son, no one could truly know God.

Matthew 11

27b. No one really knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone really know the Father

except the Son, and he to whom the Son may choose to reveal Him.

The Son of God spoke those words while he was here on earth, talking to people around him. No one knew him, who he really was, because although the Son of God was here in the person of Jesus, he was still hidden. The mystery of God’s hidden Son began to be revealed only on the day of Pentecost, when God’s Spirit was first given to men.

1Corinthians 2

7. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,

8. which none of the rulers of this age understood, for had they understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

9. As it is written, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”

10. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

Ephesians 3

3. By revelation, the mystery was made known to me,
4. …

5. which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

God’s Son was not only hidden from mankind from the beginning of creation, but he was also unknown to heavenly beings.

Colossians 1

25. was made a minister by the commission of God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,

26. the mystery that was hidden from the Aeons and from generations of man, but now is revealed to His saints.

This knowledge of God has been revealed only to humans.

Proverbs 8

1. Does not wisdom call? And understanding give his voice?
2. At the top of high places, along the road, at the crossroads, he stands.
3. Beside the gates, at the entrance of the cities, at the doors, he cries out,
4. “Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the children of Adam.”

All other creatures, including heavenly beings, are still without the knowledge of God. They know now that the Son of God exists, of course, but they still do not truly know him or his Father – and without the holy Ghost, they never will.

1Peter 1

10. Prophets who prophesied of the grace that has come to you earnestly sought and diligently inquired about this salvation,

11. trying to determine who or what time the Spirit of Christ that was in them was indicating when it testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that

followed.

12. To them, it was revealed that they were not ministering those things to themselves but to you, which things have now been reported to you by those who preach the gospel to you by the holy Spirit sent from heaven, into which things angels long to look.

Those to whom the mystery of God is revealed are more blessed than they at first can realize.

Matthew 13

10. The disciples approached and said to Jesus, “Why do you talk to them in parables?”
11. Then he answered and said to them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to those, it is not given.

. . .

16. Your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
17. Truly, I tell you that many prophets and righteous men longed to see the things you’re seeing, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things you’re hearing, and didn’t hear them.”

1John

1. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands touched: the Word of life.

2. And the life was revealed, and we saw it, and we are bearing witness and showing you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us.

To be given the Spirit which reveals the mind of God is no small thing, and the wise know it.

Romans 11

33. Oh, the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and inscrutable His ways!

34. Who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has been His counsellor?
35. Or who has first given to Him, so that it will be paid back to him?
36. For all things are of Him, and through Him, and for Him. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Paul prayed for God’s people, that they would come to fully comprehend the mystery of God:

Ephesians 1

16. I do not cease giving thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
17. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in His knowledge,

18. the eyes of your heart being enlightened so that you might know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the richness of the glory of His inheritance among the saints.

Romans 16

24. To Him who is able to establish you in my gospel, and in the preaching of Jesus Christ, and in the revelation of the mystery kept secret from time immemorial,

25. but now revealed, made known through the writings of the prophets, by command of the eternal God, for the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles,

26. to Him, the only wise God, be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Obedient saints, by their examples of living and worshipping in the Spirit, instruct heavenly beings in the wisdom of God.

Ephesians 3

8. To me, the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the incomprehensible richness of Christ

9. and to enlighten all men as to what is the plan of the mystery that has been hidden from the Aeons by the God who created all things through Jesus Christ,

10. so that through the Assembly of God, the multi-faceted wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities among heavenly beings,

11. according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were written after the Spirit came and revealed the mystery of God, but the story they tell took place before the Spirit came. In the gospels, the authors make comments that show they knew the mystery, but they did know the mystery while Jesus was here with them. The apostle John could never have written this beginning of his gospel before the Spirit came:

John 1

1. In the beginning, the Word was there, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were created through him, and without him was nothing created that was created.

4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men,
5. and the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

. . . .

9. This was the true light, which sheds light on every man when he comes into the world.
10. He was in the world, and the world was created through him, but the world did not know him.

11. He came to his own things, but his own people did not receive him,
12. but as many as did receive him, to them he granted the right to become children of God, to those who believe on his name,

13. who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as from a father to an only son, full of grace and truth.

During the time Jesus was on earth, John never dreamed that in the beginning, there was a Word, or that it was with God, or that it was God, or that the Word had come to earth, taken on the form of a man, and was “the true light” of the world. Nor did he know that God had created all things through that Word, or that there was such a thing as being “born of God”. Just because John wrote those things in the beginning of his gospel does not mean that he knew those things at the beginning of his story. He certainly did not. And neither did anyone else.

A Precious Opportunity

Before Jesus left his disciples to go back to the Father to ask Him to give them His Spirit, he told them that when the Spirit came, it would guide them into all truth and teach them things that they could not yet bear to hear (Jn. 16:12–13). But even after the Spirit came, it could not teach the whole truth to some of those who received it because, even  though they were now spiritually reborn as children of God, they did not value what they had received and remained carnally minded (cf. 1Cor. 3:1–3). This tells us that we can receive the Spirit and still fail to grow in knowledge and remain ignorant of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Paul said that we have received the Spirit of God “so that we might know the things freely given to us by God” (1Cor. 2:12). However, we don’t know those things just because we have received the Spirit. To know them, we must ask, seek and knock until they are given to us.

What a gift, to live in a time when we can ask, seek, and knock, and then have the things of God revealed to us by the Spirit! Remember what Jesus said. “Many prophets and righteous men longed to see the things you’re seeing, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things you’re hearing, and didn’t hear them.” We are living in a time when can learn of God! If it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom, as Jesus said, then it must also be His good pleasure to give us the things pertaining to the kingdom!

Paul revealed God’s desire for us to know Him when he prayed for God’s people, that they would be spiritually minded:

Ephesians 3

14. For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15. of whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named,
16. that, according to the richness of His glory, He might grant you power by His Spirit to be strengthened in the inner man

17. (Christ dwells in your hearts through faith),
18. being rooted and grounded in love, that you might be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,

19. and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, so that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. That prayer tells us that we can be “strengthened in the inner man” by the power of God; Paul would not have prayed for it if it could not happen. We can “comprehend the breadth and length and depth and height” of the gospel of God and “be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul told the saints in Corinth, the same believers who were overflowing with the gifts of God, that some of them needed to wake up because did not have the knowledge of God (1Cor. 15:34). They had the Spirit, but they did not know God.

One of the worst mistakes a child of God can make is to justify a lack of knowledge of God by telling himself, “I have the Spirit.” What is the difference between that and a man refusing to seek the holy Ghost, saying, “I’m saved”? My friends, having the Spirit is a testimony against us if we have not sought after the knowledge of God. Let’s take advantage of the Spirit that God has given to us. The Spirit alone can lead us into the knowledge of God, and it will do so if we are willing and obedient.

The Knowledge of God Is in Your Spirit, Not Your Head

The knowledge of God is not like the knowledge of algebra, or biology, or history. The knowledge of God is not the same as knowledge of the Bible, nor even the knowledge of doctrines, such as when a person is born again or when he is saved. “We speak wisdom,” Paul said, “but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world who are being brought to nothing” (1Cor. 2:6). The knowledge of God is in your gut; it is in your spirit! It is something that rises up out of your belly like a river. The knowledge of God feels the truth; it senses what God is thinking. You know the truth only when you feel it; before then, the knowledge that you have is something in your head, and we can be talked out of what is only in our head, or at least be talked into compromising it. To love and fear God is to know Him, and love and fear are feelings.

As we read through the books of the New Testament, our brains will be gathering information, and that is good. But it is more important that you feel the books of the New Testament, that is, that you feel the writers’ great joy at understanding the mystery of God, of truly knowing the Father and the Son. I want you to feel their excitement at being able to write the books they wrote, and you will, once you begin to see what they saw. With the knowledge of God down in your soul, you will know the truth as they knew it, and the truth will make you free, as it did them.

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Trinity Study

Hi Mr. Julien.

Thank you for reading what I wrote, for thinking about it, and for letting me know what you thought.  There is no other way for us to be made one than to be open with one another.

I have inserted my replies to your good questions within your letter, below.

Thank you again for writing.  I look forward to further communications with you.

Pastor John 

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Pastor Clark,

I read ” The Influence of Trinitarian Doctrine on Translations of the Bible  – How faithful to the original text is the translation of the Bible that you use?” I have many questions and comments. Let me start by the less sensitive subjects. I will send you the rest in a couple of upcoming emails.

You wrote: “I opened my King James and read the first line of Revelation 2: To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write. Immediately, the Spirit spoke to me and said, “This is a message to an individual, not to the whole congregation.” Now, I and everyone I knew had always understood this passage to be one of seven messages to seven congregations of Asia. But the Spirit was now telling me that there was no such thing as seven messages to seven congregations. Instead, I was being told that these seven messages were intended for the individual pastors of those congregations, not to the congregations themselves!”

I am in total disagreement with what you said.

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That’s OK.  I was in total disagreement with what I said there, too, until the Spirit showed me otherwise.  🙂

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Please read the entirety of chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation in Greek, underline ALL the times that “you” is used, and see if you can make the same conclusion. Read especially chapter 2 verses 10, 13, 24, and 25.

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You must know that I have already done that.  What you read in the online Trinity study is a very abbreviated version of my testimony about that.  The complete version is in my online book on Revelation at https://goingtojesus.com/gtj_books.html?tname=revelation

There, I explain why the you’s in some verses are singular while others are plural.

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If the message was not intended for the congregation, how can we understand Revelation 1:4, 10-11?

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Excellent, thoughtful question, Mr. Julien.

That Jesus intended for their congregations to hear the messages read is an issue separate from what the messages were.  Clearly, the messages were to be read aloud before the whole congregation, but except for the exceptions which I noted in my online book on Revelation (mentioned above), the messages themselves were directed to the pastors.

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If the message was not intended for the whole congregation, the conclusion of each letter would be meaningless, wouldn’t it? How can we understand, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Assemblies.”?  Wouldn’t it be more understandable if it were, “He (in this case “the angel of the  church”) who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to him”?

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Another good question, Mr. Julien.

If the whole congregation was listening to the messages being read, the individuals in that congregation would certainly have taken that conclusion personally, and they should have.  But that does not change the fact that Jesus is speaking first and foremost to the pastor.

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If the message was intended for an individual and not the whole congregation, should we understand that it was the human leader and not the whole congregation who had all those spiritual problems?

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When you read the part of my book which deals with Revelation 2 and 3, you will see that Jesus sees the congregations’ problems as being a direct result of the pastors’ failure to do their job.

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If the message intended for the angels of the churches and not the churches, how should we interpret Revelation 22:16?

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Most translations have something like, “I have sent my messenger to testify of these things for the Assemblies.”  The welfare of the Assemblies is the whole point of every message that is in John’s Revelation, whether the message be of things to come in the future or the spiritual condition of a pastor and his congregation.  That is how I read Revelation 22:16.

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One more thing. The fact that the singular is used doesn’t mean that the message is not to the whole congregation.  In many OT passages, the singular personal pronoun “you” is used when God speaks to the people of Israel (Isaiah 30:20-21).

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The subject in those verses from Isaiah is “people” (verse 19), which in Hebrew is a singular noun, and when “people” is the subject, the following verbs and pronouns are often, but not always, singular.  The same holds true for words such as “Israel”.  A group is meant, but the word itself is singular.  But Hebrew grammar is inconsistent in this and other matters.

The same cannot be said about the word “messenger” in Revelation.  That refers to a person, never to a group, and the singular you’s in Revelation 2 and 3 refer only to the messenger of the congregation.  When Jesus addresses the whole congregation instead of the messenger, he uses the plural form of you instead – very consistently.

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Some examples of this usage can also be found in the NT like in Matthew 23:37-39.

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Here are those verses (my translation, with notes):

37. “O Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!  She who kills [singular] the prophets and stones [singular] those who are sent to her!  How many times have I wanted to gather your [singular] children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you [plural] would not!
38. Behold!  Your [plural] house is left to you [plural], desolate. 
39. For I tell you [plural], you [plural] will by no means see me from now on, until you [plural] say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

The subject of these verses being “Jerusalem” (a singular noun referring to a group), one may use either a singular or plural verb or pronoun.  This is not the case with words which never signify a group, such as “king”, “wife”, or “messenger”.

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I hope you will be honest in your answer, Pastor Clark.

Thank you in advance.

Humbly,

Herbert Julien

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I have done my best, Mr. Julien.  Feel free to let me know if I have failed to answer any of your questions adequately.  Please stay in touch.

Your servant in Christ,

John

PS. I do hope you will read the section of my online book on Revelation which deals with the messages to the seven pastors.

 

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Stubbornness

Good morning, 

Jerry and I were just talking about stubbornness and where it can lead.  This part of Samuel struck me, and it makes me pray that there be no stubbornness in me, and to just do what God says to do, how He says to do it! 

1 Samuel 15:

20. And Saul said to Samuel, “I obeyed the voice of Jehovah! I went the way that Jehovah sent me; I brought back Agag, the king of Amalek; and I utterly destroyed Amalek!

21. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things to sacrifice to Jehovah your God in Gilgal.”

22. And Samuel said, “Does Jehovah delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen, than the fat of rams.

23. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you from being king.

Beth D.

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Solomon

Pastor John,

I am hesitant to write this email, but I feel I must, as there’s something askew in my spirit.  The only way I know to fix it is to expose it.

Lately, when I read the Solomon’s Wisdom excerpts, I feel he was like Christians of today, thinking he can do whatever he wants and still be blessed by God: 700 wives, 300 concubines, and wealth beyond belief.  Jim and Tammy Fay Baker comes to mind as I am reading: air conditioned dog house, lavish life style.

Many Christians claim to be able to commit any sin and God will still bless them because they are “saved”.  And some of them are still receiving His blessings, growing in fame and fortune.  It causes my flesh to protest, “If God is blessing that, then what am I doing?” is the feeling.  

Are we to celebrate Solomon’s lifestyle, or Jim and Tammy’s?  How should I feel about this?  How could anyone have 1000 women and treat them right while still being right with God?  Is Solomon’s life a lesson of how anyone can go wrong?  I know he started out right with God, but where was he with God at that time?

Or is it me?  Am I jealous, feeling left out?  I pray not.  I don’t want wealth, or many women.  I will be honest, a companion would be nice, but not more than one, and a godly one.  So if it is me, please pray whatever it is will be exposed so I can get rid of it. 

I don’t like what I am feeling as I read these excerpts from Solomon, so I find myself not reading them every day anymore, and I do miss the blessings I was getting from them.  I think it is my lack of understanding holding me back.  

These feelings have caused me to sing a new jingle:

I want what God wants me to want (3times)

I want what God wants me to want all day long

I think what God wants me to think x3

I think what God wants me to think all day long

I feel what God wants me to feel x3

I feel what God wants me to feel all day long.

I love what God wants me to love x3

I love what God wants me to love all day long

I hate what God wants me to hate x3

I hate what God wants me to hate, all day long

I pray you can bring understanding and peace to me over this.

Mark

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Hi Mark.

The short answer is that Solomon was wise when he was young, that is, when he wrote the excerpts you have been reading, but that he became foolish as he grew older.  He even constructed an altar to the heathen god Molech for his Moabite wife, which was a god to which the Moabites and Ammonites sacrificed their children (1Kgs. 11:7–8).  And that altar remained in use on the top of the Mount of Olives for centuries before young king Josiah tore it down (2Kgs. 23:13).

It is true that before he died, Solomon greatly displeased God, but don’t let that sad fact deter you from enjoying the wisdom God gave him when he was young.

Thank you for writing.  This life is a spiritual battleground, isn’t it?  Keep singing your song.

Jdc

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Hating Sin, Not the Sinner?

Pastor John:

WoW! I really felt convicted by your words last night. How much I hate sin is directly correlates to how much I love Jesus!

I know I was a sin tolerator before Jesus blessed me with holy Spirit, but I realized last night that that sin tolerator is not completely dead. While I thought I understood and lived by hating the sin and not the sinner, it was put on my heart last night that I really didn’t hate the sin.  My desire to not hate people – being a person who sometimes felt hated just because of the color of my skin – kept me from really hating sin.  I could feel that I hadn’t separated the two in my heart.  Flashes of my responses to instances where my patient and loving husband had questioned me about my attitude towards certain sinful ways came before me.  I knew I needed to repent for not hating sin enough!!!

I pray that Jesus gives me a heart that knows how to hate sin with the same vigor with which He loves me!  I can already feel a shift happening, and I pray that he allows me to want to want that shift more and more.

Praise God for the fellowship I felt last night!  I could feel the grief that the body felt when Sandy was lost.  I feel that now for a few brothers and sisters, and I’ve only been a part of the body for a few years.  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – I am so grateful Jesus put me in this body

Now I’m not so sure about this hate the sin not the sinner…

I did a Google search on that, and it seems that sentiment is not biblical  I read Proverbs 6:16, and if I am to hate the things God hates, then how could I not hate the person who has haughty eyes or a lying tongue, who kills, devises wicked plans, runs to evil, lies or sows discord among brothers?  I doubt Jesus would want me to only hate the persons’ eyes, tongue, hands, etc…

Perhaps where I’ve been going wrong is in the belief that I should hate the sin and not the sinner?

~Allison

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Hi, Allison.

Yours is a great testimony.  I am glad you are still growing and learning.  In Christ, that never stops!

That phrase, “hate the sin, but not the sinner” is OK.  It certainly is not as bad as such Christian cliches as “join the church of your choice” and “we have to love everybody” and “we have to forgive everybody”, etc.  God loved us when we were sinners, and sent His Son to die for us while we were in sin.  So He certainly loved us, but not our sin.  So, there is that.

But we also have such scriptures as these:

“Do I not hate them, O Jehovah, who hate you, and abhor those who rise up against you?  I hate them with perfect hatred.  They are become my enemies” (Ps. 139:21–22).

“Braggarts will not stand in your sight.  You hate all evildoers” (Ps. 5:5).

“The Lord tries the righteous, but the wicked man and him who loves violence, His soul hates” (Ps. 11:5).

So, there is that, too.

The simplest and safest thing for us to do is to live so that we give God no reason to hate us, and not to keep company with those who do provoke His wrath.

Thank you for writing.  I hope that clears up what the Bible says about the issue of “hating the sin, but not the sinner”.

Pastor John

 

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Numbers 20:12

Hi Pastor John, 

I know that God did not allow Moses into the Promised Land but was Aaron not allowed either?  I never noticed this before.

Numbers 20:12 – Then Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, “Because you did not believe me to sanctify me in the sight of the children of Israel, therefore, you shall not bring this Assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Michelle

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Hi Michelle!

God held both Moses and Aaron responsible for what happened at the rock that Moses was supposed to speak to. Note that the “you’s” in that verse are plural.  They were both guilty. 

Thank you for the question. 

Pastor John

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