“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark.. Genesis 6
“I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” – Genesis 9
IMAGINE the historical NOAH preaching to a corrupt church about this ADVENT of the Last Days when JESUS will return to judge creation with fire and fellow sinners sitting right beside you at this year’s Christmas program.
The chosen Before Christ
A PERSONAL interaction between the Creator and Living God of timeless eternity and a created son of Adam and NOAH.
Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died; whom dost thou make thyself?’
Jesus said to them,
‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham’s coming — I am;’
excerpt from Gospel of John 8: Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
AFTER this unique time of ABRAHAM Before Christ,
Judah (and Israel) had yet to be conquered, named, lost, regained and renamed over centuries of the chosensons of Abraham.
Chosen for Covenant and Curse
FROM the LAW of Moses for the generations of the LORD's chosen; administered by Levite priests (sons of Jacob, Isaac and Abraham:
If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments, and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, then this is what I will do to you: … Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
18 And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins. 19 I will break down your stubborn pride…
And YES,
(You know some of the long history of God’s chosen)
it gets worse from here even BEFORE Christ.
YET could the LORD’s prophesy apply even to US?
Our sin and disobedience continue into these Common Evangelical post-Christian times — (notably by some adopted in Christ Jesus).
The Advent of Defeat
You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. “For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
But if your heart turns away and you do not listen.. – Deuteronomy 30:17a
Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” – Joshua 24:22
Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. – 1 Kings 11:11-12 NKJV
But King Solomon loved many foreign women.. from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.
.. his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
All this took place a millennium BEFORE the Common Era centered around the very incarnation of JESUS CHRIST.
Failed Kings Before Christ
Saul, as most of us know, failed in disobedience to the Lord’s word through His Prophet Samuel.
Even David was a failed king, but he repented of his sin before the Lord and publically in sight of Israel.
To name just one king of Israel or Judah who did evil in the sight of the Lord, Ahab (and Jezebel) come to mind due to their zeal to destroy God’s Prophet Elijah.
Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him.
Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
In this traditional Advent season of these last days we anticipate more than simply celebrating Christmas in the year of our Lord (A.D.) 2024.
For the similarities of centuries of evil times Before Christ bring to mind our own disobedience to God’s will.
Ourincarnate redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man: And NOW celebrate Him in a manger, though our Savior was sacrificed on a Cross for repentant sinners – sinners who love babies and good gifts, even while we fear DEATH and judgment.
SO what does Advent mean to YOU? And how will YOU evangelize Christ our Lord in these brief days before our ever-popular CHRISTmascelebration?
Can we comprehend a time Before the firstChristmas?
Before Creation
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Genesis (Beginning) 2:5 KJV ..in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Here witness a time before Adam, before an incarnational Birth of theChrist, yet not Before Jesus the eternal Son of the One Triune God.
Before Re-Creation
Note that I did not say 'recreation' as we often view these days of the pre-christmas season.
The Bible points to a renewal of a corrupted creation we noted in the beginning - a creation corrupted by SIN.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
We ought not speak of BEFORE without considering the consequent AFTER.
In the context of TIME, and even before time, what comes after or NEXT typically follows before. We speak of consequence or result of what has come before.
And unique events such as the incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ still reflect a TIME before AND (except for the end of days) a TIME after.
.. the sun stood still, and the moon stayed..
And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.
This PERSONAL interaction between the Creator and Living God of timeless eternity and a created son of Adam and Noah wandering through lands of other kings and princes clearly points to a unique time BEFORE CHRIST was born as a Son of Man in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea.
AFTER this unique time Before Christ, Judah (and Israel) had yet to be conquered, named, lost, regained and renamed over centuries of the sons of Abraham.
The chosen Before Christ
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll take a look at Moses and the Law later in this Advent series, God-willing. - RH)
Jesus Christ, the grown Son of Man born of Mary and Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit said this to well-schooled leaders of the Jews.
Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died; whom dost thou make thyself?’
..it is my Father who is glorifying me, of whom ye say that He is your God..
Abraham, your father, was glad that he might see my day; and he saw, and did rejoice.’
The Jews, therefore, said unto him, ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and Abraham hast thou seen?’
Jesus said to them,
‘Verily, verily, I say to you, Before Abraham’s coming — I am;’
excerpt from Gospel of John 8: Young’s Literal Translation (YLT)
Have you ever thought of JESUS’ testament here in terms of ‘Before Christ?‘
The CHILD of MARY in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea IS the Christ, the Messiah of Israel and Savior of souls! Yet even BEFORE these pivotal historic events in the history of mankind, JESUS IS the Son of God — even as HE IS now and forever..
I am the door, through me if any one may come in, he shall be saved, and he shall come in, and go out, and find pasture.
We get it humanly – the relationship of a son (or daughter) to a father (or to our mother).
HumanAND ever-existing SON
Mortal men and women can relate to a Son of THE FATHER.
We understand, in part, that JESUS was flesh and blood, body and brain a perfect human son of man (Mary, actually: ‘man‘ as in human like all of us).
John, the Apostle who speaks so well relationally in the witness of his Gospel tells us:
But these [signs, proofs or miracles] are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The Twelve, having loved their friend and Master whom they followed willingly, understood a relational link between JESUS and each of His disciples personally.
When the Lord in so many ways showed His Disciples His ever-existing relationship to Almighty God our Father — HIS Father from before the beginning — they could not have been more awe struck that GOD stood in their human presence.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Yet think from the witness of any of the Twelve of the impact of JESUS, the living Christ they follow, telling His disciples: “I and the Father are One.”
Just like all faithful Jews, these disciples had recited the Sh'ma since their childhood:
John’s Gospel continues with Jesus’ further explanation of the Spirit:
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
What is JESUS telling us about spirit and the Holy Spirit?
Although mankind is flesh and blood, created from dust and water,
and Man is created in God’s image;
Man, LIKE GOD, is also spirit.
What is Spirit?
John begins his Gospel with Jesus (the Word) and the Spirit.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
READ MORE BELOW NOTE: Although I generally limit your reading time to ~5 minutes, today I'll expand our TOPIC of SPIRIT with additional definitions and more Biblical verses than we could cover in a single post on the SPIRIT.
Please continue and COMMENT at the end of this entire post.- RH
The KJV translates Strong’s H7307 in the following manner: Spirit or spirit (232x), wind (92x), breath (27x), (various additional)
Two additional uses in Genesis show both the Spirit of God and His quickening spirit in His creatures, including mankind:
And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; – Gen. 6:3a NKJV
And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life.. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. – Gen. 7:15,22 NKJV
COMMENTARY
The Spirit of God; not the wind, which was not yet created, as is manifest, because the air, the matter or subject of it, was not yet produced; but the Third Person of the glorious Trinity, called the Holy Ghost, to whom the work of creation is attributed, Job 26:13, as it is ascribed to the Second Person, the Son, Joh 1:3 Col 1:16-17 Heb 1:3, and to the First Person, the Father, every where.
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Before proceeding to the more powerful and most mysterious Holy Spirit of God,
consider beyond flesh and blood, mind and spirit -- that which is the same in Old and New Testaments, yet having subtle ungraspable distinction: spirit and soul.
“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;
MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL [psychē] IS WELL-PLEASED;
We hear it also in the heart of Isaiah, a Prophet of God:
With my soul [nep̄eš] I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit [rûaḥ] within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
Spirit of God, the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son
as inspiring ecstatic state of prophecy
as impelling prophet to utter instruction or warning
imparting warlike energy and executive and administrative power
as endowing men with various gifts
as energy of life
as manifest in the Shekinah glory
never referred to as a depersonalised force
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
When you hear an ENGLISH translation of pneuma in the King James Version it will most often suggest an image of the Holy Ghost.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
As mysterious as Ghostor the Spirit may be to mankind, its root word [Strong’s G4154 – pneō] directs our thoughts
to breathe hard, i.e. breeze:—blow (of the wind)
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
I encourage you in the spirit to pray with ears to hear the Holy Spirit of the Lord God, who IS ONE with the Father and the Son our savior Jesus Christ.
Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
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