Category: DIVINE REVELATION

The Holy Spirit gives to believers comprehension and understanding of the truths of Scripture. These divine insights may be provided to individuals or to many gathered together, either directly or through prophetic utterance, as the Lord chooses.

DIVINE REVELATION

A Fresh Look at Genesis 1

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Verses 1-5. First of all we must understand that this account of the creation process, in God’s own words through Moses, is not open to be analyzed, questioned or speculated about by the human mind. We are given as much detail as God wishes to give us and we must rely wholly upon the Holy Spirit to unveil its mysteries.

In the beginning God (‘elohim’, plural) created the heavens and the earth. Exactly when the Father, Son and Holy Spirit performed this immense creative project we are not informed. What we do know from John 1:1-3 is that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made’. NKJV All that was created was created through the Son of God.

In verse 2 we are informed that ‘the earth was formless and void (empty)*. This begs the question as to why God would start His creative work with a formless and empty object. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3. This formless and empty object is visible. It is the focus of the work during the first three days of creation. Are we being shown that this was not the original earth but had been part of a massive calamity? N.B. On the fourth day the galaxies were brought into being by a spoken command. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

How I became a Berean

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‘Now these [Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so’. Acts 17:11.

When exactly I became a ‘Berean’ at heart I don’t recall. I do remember that I, along with many believers in the Lord of my acquaintance often asserted that we believed the Bible to be the truth of God from cover to cover.

However, as time went by and I started to read the whole Bible I found there were passages of Scripture I skipped rather quickly over. They would challenge me and make me feel ill at ease. Sometimes I came across something that appeared to be contrary to one of my cherished beliefs or practices and I found myself avoiding the issue. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

I Will Come Again

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“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11.

“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also’. John 14:3. The purpose of this article is to attempt to determine the likely date of the birth of the Lord Jesus and thus establish the year of His death, resurrection and ascension and to use this to anticipate the time of His return to receive His own.

The last article posted, ‘The Seventy Weeks given to Daniel’, provides a strong probability of the date of Jesus’ crucifixion as 25 April in A.D. 31. There is every likelihood that the return of Jesus may be precisely two thousand years after His departure into heaven and thus be within a very short time; namely in 2031. This post looks back from that event to postulate when the tribulation of seven years may commence and looks forward to the possible time (not the day or hour) when the feet of the Lord Jesus may stand once again on the Mount of Olives at His return to ‘reign forever and ever’. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

The Seventy Weeks Prophecy given to Daniel

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Daniel 9:24-27. “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. “So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. “Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be *cut off and have nothing,

Philippians 2:5-8. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Rather than search for the very nebulous date of the decree issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus, this article will attempt  to establish the much more verifiable date of Jesus’ crucifixion and work backwards in time from that. It is the hope that not only the year can be established but the likely time of the year and a close approximation of the day when the decree was issued. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

God Raised Him from the Dead

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It is all too easy to leave the narrative of the death and resurrection of Jesus at His burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and pick it up again on the resurrection morning, What information have we been given in the Scriptures of events in between?

  1. The repentant thief besought Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” Jesus responded, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:42-43. Jesus entered Paradise not long after, then the forgiven thief entered also.
  2. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah , during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the 1 Peter 3:18-20. While in the grave Jesus visited Hades, the place of the unsaved dead to preach to the ones who had peished in the flood. Did those who responded to His message get transferred to Paradise? Wow!
  3. “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power….” Sometime after sunset on the Saturday (the start of the first day of the week) God raised Jesus from the dead and the great stone was rolled away from the mouth of the cave. In order for God to raise Jesus from the dead Jesus must be approved by God as His sinless Son. Thus death could not hold Him in ‘its power’.
  4. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. John 20:6-7. What Peter beheld is a clue to what happened when God raised Jesus. Jesus rose upright. The wrappings that signified death just fell away and lay there. Jesus Himself unwrapped the cloth from His head* and ‘rolled it up in a place by itself’. Then it may be that God directed the two angels that guarded the tomb to roll away the stone. Although in His resurrection body Jesus could have walked through the great stone it must be that God who had raised Him set Jesus forever free – and us in Him.

*When Jesus raised Lazarus from death he came forth from the tomb wearing the head cloth and the linen wrappings and had to be released from them by others. Ultimately Lazarus died and like us will await the final resurrection and his imperishable body when Jesus returns to reign.

Please feel free to share your thoughts below. When you have finished with this post you may return to the main Posts page. https://hisupwardcall.com/posts/ read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Into the Same Image

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Ephesians 4:22-24. …. that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old  self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

How easy it is for a new believer to embrace with great joy the glorious experience of being brought out of darkness into the glorious light of Jesus, yet thereafter to neglect being brought into the fullness of the kingdom of our Father’s beloved Son. How easy it is to rest in the knowledge of what Jesus has done for us and to overlook what we are privileged to do and to be for Him. How easy it is to satisfy the desires of the old self at the expense of bringing joy to our Father in heaven by putting on the new self ‘which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth’.

Satan is not done with those who are brought out of his impenetrable darkness but rather he concentrates on keeping as much of this darkness in the human consciousness. He convinces many a new believer that holiness can be overdone. It is not what we gladly renounce when we come to Jesus it is what we allow to remain. In fact the biggest barrier to transformation into the likeness of Jesus is our self-life which now desires to do good things and eliminate or reduce the bad things. Symphonies may take the place of rock concerts, yet both may offer competing satisfaction with Jesus. The real question remains, is attendance at the symphony (or indeed the rock concert) within God’s plan for our life? The new self chooses only to do the will of God. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

With Unveiled Face

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2 Corinthians 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

During my latest period of seven weeks in India there were several noteworthy events and happenings. Most significant among these were disclosures of the Divine Being. For instance, one Friday morning session with a Christian Leadership Student group will remain in my memory always. I was discoursing from the chapter in my book, ‘To Him Who Overcomes’. Towards the end of our time together it was as though Jesus in the midst of us put His arms around our small company and embraced us into Himself. I felt a shaking inside me but not at all of fear. It was the purest, calmest sense of love I have ever imagined. All in the room confessed a similar experience. I noted that many of them were lying forward over their desks in an apparent state of awe.

The veil that hid the face of Jesus seemed so fine that it felt almost possible to penetrate our gaze through it and behold Him. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Live on Every Word

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Matthew 4:3-4. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'”
 Matthew 6:9-10. “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:20-21.“So then, you will know them by their fruits. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

“If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” In this interchange between the devil and Jesus there is both a specific message and a broader message. What Satan was suggesting to Jesus was this. You can do anything. You are the Son of God. What Jesus conveyed to Satan in His response was that He who stood in front of him was limited to be the Son of Man. He had no greater advantages than the first man, Adam, when he had stood before Satan as the serpent in the garden of Eden.

In this Jesus was telling Satan that, though physical bread has its place, there was another more essential nourishment to live by and that is, ‘every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ In its broader application, Jesus was informing all who would be His followers that they too must live on ‘every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ read more

DIVINE REVELATION

Work Out Your Salvation

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Romans 5:1-2. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 2:12-13. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
John 16:13-14. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

Believers in the Lord Jesus look back with great joy and appreciation to the date or the time when they first encountered the resurrected Christ as their real and personal Saviour. Many will affirm that it was the greatest day of their life and no wonder. The verses in Romans 5 capture the essence of this life transforming experience so aptly, ‘having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ….and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Yet so many, through lack of understanding, have camped out on those two verses without comprehending the words ‘we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand’ which informs us  that our life transforming event was the entry point into a lifelong journey of faith. read more

DIVINE REVELATION

According to the Pattern

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Hebrews 8:5. ‘Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “See” He says, “that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’”
Exodus 39:32. Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was completed; and the sons of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses; so they did.
1 John 3:2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him….

God is absolutely precise in all He does and in all that is worthy to represent Him. Near enough is never good enough with God. All who love the Lord Jesus have been given the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit to live forever within each one, that He may enable us to live our life in accordance with God’s standard. God’s pattern for each one of us is Jesus. 1 John 3:2 assures us that ‘we will be like Him’.

On Mount Sinai Moses was given by God an exact design of a tabernacle in which His presence would reside in the central place among His people. This tabernacle was, in its design and in all its organization and operation, full of expressions of God’s nature, plans and purposes. Moses, in absolute faithfulness, oversaw that the tabernacle was constructed and that it operated in accordance with God’s intentions. read more