Scriptural Vignette Cameo Study #20 - Luke 17 - The Coming of the Kingdom of God — What Prevents, What Hinders it? [The Coming of the Kingdom of God is synonymous with Christ’s Return — Why Would Christians NOT be interested?]
Scriptural Vignette Cameo Study #20
The Coming of the Kingdom of God
— What Prevents, What Hinders it?
[The Coming of the Kingdom of God is synonymous with Christ’s Return. — Why Would Christians NOT be interested?]
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His Wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” (Psalm 2:12)
Kiss in this passage is symbolic of subjection. Those in subjection obey. Jesus said, “If ye love Me keep My Commandments”* and “If ye keep My Commandments,* ye shall abide in My Love; even as I have kept My Father’s Commandments, and abide in His Love.”
[* Jesus’ Commandments are identical, one and the same with those of the Father: for Jesus and God are ONE; and Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. John wrote that those who do not obey God’s Commandments do not even know God and the Truth (Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit of Truth) is not in him. Jesus is not Saviour of those for whom He is not also Lord. Your Lord is the one whom you obey. Lipservice is not obedience. It is an insult. Confessing or Denying Christ is not mere assent or denial that you “know His Name” or are fond of Him (when it does not interfere with how you want to live). It is either doing or not doing what Christ would do — which entails KNOWING what He would do; which entails KNOWING Him. Jesus said “My sheep know My Voice and follow [obey] Me” and “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law... I am not... not one jot or tittle will pass from the Law”. God Law is the only Source of Morality. Morality never changes. God never changes. Thus, those who believe and do the opposite of what God commanded would fear His Return; which is why they would not be interested in it. Rather than being cut to the heart when the Word of God is preached, as those truly elect of God’s people in Acts 2 at Pentecost —the majority of “Christians” today hear the Word of God and it is like water off a duck’s back, like the natural man beholding himself in a mirror — seeing all the flaws that need to be addressed, yet ignoring them and going out and pretending as if they don’t matter; they hear the Word of God and are completely UNMOVED by it, or they reject it and blame the messenger; and by so doing they reject God.]
Luke 17
20And when He was demanded [asked, inquired, desired, sought] of [by] the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God cometh not with [as the result of] observation: 21Neither shall they say, ‘Lo here!’ or, ‘Lo there!’ for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you”.
The translation of the Greek word #1905 es-per-o-tah-o (both long os) in the forceful sense of “demanded” is not supported by context. A new narrative begins here in Luke 17:20 (which verse would have been good to start a new chapter) and there is no indication that the Pharisees were in this instance hostile to Jesus. Indeed, the Pharisees were made up of numerous different types of individuals, not all being evil: Some were Edomites masquerading as true Israelites; some were wicked Israelites whose sole purpose was the accruing of money and power to themselves (like many politicians today); and some were devout, studious Israelites (like the Apostle Paul) who purely desired to learn and obey God, who were on different levels of spiritual understanding. Had the Pharisees, in this case, been hostile to Jesus, with hidden corrupt motives, then Jesus surely would have responded as He did other times, “a wicked and adulterous generation [race, people] seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 16:4). However, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him, in private, for a sign — He gave them one (Matthew 24:3ff.; Luke 21:7-35). Jesus spoke only in parables in public (Matthew 13:34), for the truth was meant only for the elect of His people (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:10-15; Mark 4:10-12). He explained the meaning of those parables, if it was needed, in private meetings with His disciples.
Regardless, “a watched pot never boils” — well, actually it does — but the intention in both Christ’s declaration and in the old adage about tea kettles is that “your looking at” it cannot force it to happen faster”. However, Scripture also says, “...unto them [of His people] that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto Salvation” (Hebrews 9:28b). This is not a contradiction. The author of Hebrews (most probably Luke) is not saying that their looking is the stimulus (cause) that produces the response (effect). First of all, looking is a Command. It is also the natural outflow of Faith. However, the specific intention is to be understood in the inverse of the statement: “For those [of His people] who do not look for Him, He shall not appear for them”. This refers to the nonelect of His people. Those truly regenerated obey. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God.”
[It is also interesting that the wording in this declaration in Hebrews is logical inference that Jesus was sinless during His first time on Earth as a man.]
Faith originates in no man; but it is a gift of the Holy Spirit whereby the elect of God’s people believe unto Salvation and live in obedience unto Sanctification. If an individual does not have true faith (which produces the fruit for which it was given) it is because God did not deposit such faith in that individual. God closed the eyes, ears, hearts, minds, and stiffened the necks of all so that they would not understand, believe, repent, be healed and saved (Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15); but so they would earn and fill of the measure of God’s Wrath that God had determined for them. However, God opens the eyes, ears, minds, and softens the hearts and necks, and changes the will of the elect of His people (Luke 4:18; Philippians 2:13). God ruleth all. He is Master of His Creation.
“It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God”. That verse too has specific meaning and is referring to Judgment. However, the verse is not inferring that all are not in God’s Hands all the time; and it is not inferring that any individual can escape such Judgment. Even those who in Judgment* are Blessed, and not Cursed — such true elect will still be in fear / awe knowing that it is NOTHING good in them that saved themselves, delivering them from horrendous Judgment. They will also realize that even had it been ordained of God for individuals to “earn” their salvation —EVERYONE would have failed and fallen miserably short. It is only by God’s Grace and Fore-ordination / Election / Predestination that each goes unto the fate that God has determined. If an individual does not have true faith, it is not that God made a mistake; it is because God determined for that individual to not have faith; because God determined for that individual to be damned. It is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God. Those who believe otherwise reject the Doctrine of the Word of God, and like toddlers, think that they are smarter, stronger, more capable than daddy. They believe in a very small god; like the gods of mythology, weak and full of imperfections, faults, and vices just like the humans who imagined them into being after their own sinful image.
[* Judgment is a two-edged sword; a pendulum that can swing in either direction, but which word is generally associated with a disfavorable result. Judgment is generic and can be either good or bad: whichever the individual deserves. The negative meaning of Judgment may be more clearly portrayed with the word Condemnation.]
God is not an aura-fluffer with a feather duster. Those who think that they change reality and change God simply by refusing to believe truth merely demonstrate that God has not given them faith; but instead, has blinded them with falsehood (Isaiah 6:10) so that they deserve the Judgment that He has determined for them. Those devoid of God’s Spirit, who think that they are “Christians”, withdraw, repulsed by horror, self-righteousness, and hatred, imagining, “How cruel!” Yes, and every toddler thinks, “Spankings aren’t fair ‘cause I say so”. As I show in my Mental Health = Spiritual Health (88pp., 7.00 + P&H) because the majority in the world today have perverse notions of the nature of every relationship in their lives (father-son, husband-wife, king-subject, master-slave, etc.) they have a perverse notion of their relationship to God. They don’t even understand the concept of God (and especially if they believe in Evolution, rejecting the Biblical Record and believing a pseudo-scientific fairy tale that has no proof). They consider themselves independent of God. They don’t know God.
[See my: Biblical Textual Evidence that God did not Create the World Via Any Form or Type of Evolution “Theistic” or Otherwise - A Brief Commentary on Genesis Chapter 1 as it Pertains to Evidence Refuting Evolution, 88pp., 7.00 + P&H; and Stephen Hawking: Cosmic Tragedy — Hawking Fake Science..., 78pp., 7.00 + P&H (refutes atheistic anti-God evolution and utterly shreds Hawking’s illogic).]
He must increase; we must decrease — that in ALL things He may have the Pre-eminence; it is in Him that we live and move and have our being; it is God Who worketh in you both [for you] to WILL and [for you] to DO of HIS GOOD PLEASURE. God the Master Potter ordereth all after the Counsel of His Own Will, and for His Own Good Pleasure, and doeth ALL His Will with all that is in Heaven and Earth, with the clay and vessels that He has made for His Purpose, and NONE has any intellectual, moral, or legal standing to challenge Him in His Decrees and Determination. Those who think that they have such intellectual, moral, and legal capacity do not even understand the meaning of the concepts God / Lord / Creator; and they, in fact, are Anti-God and Anti-Christ. Every tree is known by its FRUIT (will, thoughts, words, attitude, and actions).
[“8And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation,* I restore him fourfold”. 9And Jesus said unto him, “This day is Salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19)
* Zacchaeus was a publican (tax collector). In those days Caesar appointed tax collectors and told them the amount that they were to collect for Rome. Whatever amount ABOVE the amount that Rome demanded, was the publican’s profit / wage. Thus, like all politicians today, the majority were immoral and selfish and cared only about self-promotion: the accruing of as much wealth and power that self could grab.
This is a hilarious compound Greek word! It is: #4811 soo-koph-on-teh-o (last o is a long o) and literally means, “to be a fig informer”. Yes, you read that right. It is not a typo. It is derived from #4810 soo-kon, “fig” and a derivative of #5316 fah-ee-no (long o), meaning, “to shine, lighten”, that is, figuratively, “to show, report, tell”. Thus, the word refers to someone who was a reporter concerning those who violated the law that forbade the exportation of figs from Greece; generally and by extension, the word inferred someone who “defrauded (exacted unlawfully, extorted), accused falsely, took by false accusation”.
“As if” behaviour does not change reality. A pig acting like a sheep does not make it a sheep any more than by barking a parrot is turned into a dog. “Believing” does not “make” a person a child of Abraham. That is a misunderstanding of “cause and effect” in the Word of God and in reality (John 3:6; 8:39; Galatians 3:7; and in Acts 13:26 the Greek word (kai) kah-ee should NOT be translated “and” or “but”, but it should be rendered “namely” or “those very ones”). God deposits the faith within an individual of the elect of His people so that he can believe. No individual “believes” so that he can “become” the elect of God’s people. A tree does not become an apple tree by bearing apples; an apple tree bears apples because that is what the Creator designed for it to bear. A 5-year old does not “become” his father’s child by obeying / walking in his father’s footsteps. The 5-year old is his father’s child by the will and act of procreation of the father; the child, by obedience, establishes himself as an honorable son, whom the father will bless and cause to inherit of him. Individuals are conceived and born unto life. NO one “lives” so that he may be conceived and born. Anyone who believes the opposite is terribly confused and is even psychotic if he thinks that the irrational thoughts in his mind are reality.
Zacchaeus here demonstrates that the faith and repentance deposited in him was real by naturally bringing forth fruits meet (suitable, demonstrative of) repentance” (as John the Baptist so remonstrated; Matthew 3:8). It is “...the Goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4; see also Ephesians 2:8,9 and Titus 3:5). A humanistic emotional “Luv Fest” (which is actually a euphemism for “war against God”) does NOT change reality. God established reality and those who don’t like it have a God-problem; and they have such rejection of the Thoughts and Ways of God because they are His enemies (even if they deludedly fancy themselves His “biggest fans”). God determines all. He does NOT conform to anything, let alone modern polluted notions of sinful people who think that they are “holier than” God. The only solution is to learn and embrace and submit to the Truth; not invent humanistic warm and fuzzy false doctrine. See also my new, Mental Health = Spiritual Health, 88pp., 7.00 + P&H.
“The Kingdom of God is within you” is NOT some “New Age” Fluffernutter, Cotton-Candy Theology supporting the heresy of the “Basic Goodness of Man”, suggesting that it is within each person just waiting to hatch out and emerge as a baby rainbow-colored unicorn. Christ is speaking to the elect of God’s people (not to the vessels of wrath). The verse is NOT saying that the Kingdom of God will not come as a physical reality; neither is it saying that it will magically grow out of God’s people like Jack’s Beanstalk. As I have long said, “Why should God deliver us from what we are willing to tolerate?” God commanded that we hate evil (which requires first actually knowing what evil is, that is, unchangeably defined by God in His Law, which is morality, the difference between good and evil). Those of God’s people who are devoid of His Spirit will love what God said to hate, and hate what God said to love; and they are the chaff of the wheat, which shall be winnowed away and burned. God puts His Spirit within the elect of His people, and they will like King David say,
“21Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee? 22I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 23Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the Way Everlasting.” (Psalm 139)
Those who truly love God will love what He loves and hate what He hates. This entails knowing what evil is. Evil never becomes good. Sin and abominations never become wholesome practices and virtues. The majority of “Christians” think that what God called evil is good; and what God commanded, to be evil. Those who side with the world with some “progressive” notion of “morality” are the enemy of God. What God declared to be good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral, obedience and sin, virtue and abomination, holiness and perversity NEVER change. Those who think that such things change have had their minds perverted by the world and do not know God. You cannot know God if you do not know His Attributes;* and you cannot know God if you reject His Self-Revelation in favor of your own opinions.
[* See: The Attributes of God (1930) Arthur W. Pink, “Critical Edition” with detailed Preface, Biography, and my Annotations doubling the page count, 199pp., pb., 17.50 + P&H; and then The Sovereignty of God, Arthur Pink, Critical Annotated edition (200pp., of Pink’s original, the rest my detailed annotations) 648pp., pb., 32.50 + P&H.]
“But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness; and all these things* shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
[* —everything that the average person is deluded into thinking what life is really about, what life really consists of: things that God has not forbidden (things within the never-changing boundaries that He forever established): possessions, wealth, hopes, dreams, plans, jobs, possessions, entertainment, amusement, leisure, fun, family, love, health, etc. Although God has promised superabundant blessing to those of His children who are obedient and honorable, until that time comes,
“6But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” (I Timothy 6)
“11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4)]
When the thoughts, minds, hearts, desires, longings, wills, and convictions of God’s people become the same as those of God — then they are fit for the Kingdom and God will deliver it to them; but before that time, they are UNFIT for it. Until then, they deserve to live in the face of wickedness and perversion to the point that it destroys them: for that is what they want; though they may not realize it. Reality dictates that a person who engages in self-destructive behaviour wants to destroy his own life; believing that the price for pleasure is worth it. Most “Christians” love their sin and the consequences of their sin more than they love God — and they would choose it over God. This is evident in how they live: violating all that He commanded; thinking that it is “not important”. They love the world more than they love Holiness and Righteousness. They do not even understand Holiness and Righteousness, which is why they don’t have a clue how wicked the world is. They think that good and evil will one day hold hands and that God and Satan will be the best of friends and everyone will sit around holding hands singing Kumbahyah. Such do not know God. They are idolators who follow a false christ and worship a false god, a sin-loving god and a world-pleasing christ. God / Christ Jesus is as He has declared Himself to Immutably be — NOT as a sinful world and a perverse, whorish Apostate Church “think” that He should be.
22And He said unto the disciples, “The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. 23And they shall say to you, ‘See here’; or, ‘see there’: [.] [G]go not after them, nor follow them.
The inference is not that they would wish that they could see any individual “day” — but that after Christ Jesus was taken from them, they would be wishing that they could have spent more time with Him; wishing that they could ask Him more questions and learn more from Him directly as they had in the past; that they could feel safe and secure in His Presence; that they could see the Power of God in Him, through His healing, etc. What this passage is inferring is the same as an old truism expresses: You don’t truly appreciate what you had until you lose it.
This is supported by v.23, which infers that if someone told them that Jesus was alive, living out in the wilderness, or in some other city, they would want to rush there to see Him. However, Jesus Himself says that when that time would come (AFTER His Resurrection and Ascension) — believe not those people and go not to see. This could also be inferentially applied to alleged apparitions of Mary, bleeding or crying statues of Mary, Jesus, so-called saints, alleged angels; appearances of Jesus to individuals, etc.
24For as the lightning [dawning / shining of the sun], that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven [the sky], shineth unto the other part under heaven [the sky]; so shall also the Son of man be in His Day [the Day of His Return / Coming / Advent].
The meaning of the word here is NOT lightning — which appears only for a flash of a second and is gone; returning along the same path in which it came (but it is so fast what you actually see is the back-strike). The parallel passage in Matthew gives fuller context; though the Greek word was still mistranslated “lightning”. “For as the lightning [rays of the sun light at dawn] cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the Coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:27) Lightning does not merely come out of the east; and the light travels in each direction. However, from the perspective of those in the darkness / night, when the sun rises in the east, the light shines to those who are in the west anticipating it — and before they know it the day has dawned upon them. The Greek word is #796 ahs-trahp-ey, from #797 ahs-trahp-o (long o) “to shine” from #792 ahs-teyr, “star”. Christ Jesus Himself is called the Morning Star (Revelation 2:28; 22:16), which title is often misattributed to Satan; as the name Lucifer is also misattributed, as a result of the Latin Vulgate. But, since Satan masquerades as an Angel of Light, he is happy to take the name. Satan’s name is #1966 Heyleyl, from #1984 haw-lahl (originally used of sound, not light), more properly rendered, in context with his name, “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12), infers “boastful morning crier”, which refers to the cocky, loud, boisterous rooster (which has come to be an occult symbol) — which raucously and jubilantly celebrated upon Peter’s Denial of his Lord (see my S.T.E.Commentary on John 18-21, 800pp., pb., 40.00 + P&H).
The Morning Star (also called the Evening Star, in a different season, and visible in the western sky around sunset) is the planet Venus (the pagan Roman name for the Morning Star); which is part of the Orion constellation and is the brightest planet in the sky and is visible in the eastern sky before sunrise. Venus, in Classical Latin, was called Lucifer “light bearer” — because it preceded the rising of the sun. It is best seen during either of its elongations (eastern or western), which is the time in its orbit in which it is farthest from the sun. The Constellation known as Orion is derived from the 3 bright stars in Orion’s belt. In my book, Are Celestial Mysteries, History, and Prophecy Revealed in the Orion Nebula, the Stars, the Constellations, and the Zodiac...?,* I wrote:
“Orion’s Belt itself, of course, is in the constellation known as Orion, which means, ‘The Glorious One’ or ‘The Coming Prince.’ Orion is located on the celestial equator and is visible worldwide. ‘...Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.’ (Revelation 1:7) At Orion’s Belt, dangles a sword. The hilt of the sword has the shape of a lamb’s head; the oldest representations depict the handle as the body of a lamb also.
[The Lamb that was slain is the Word of God and the Sword, that which will proceed out of the mouth of the Coming Redeemer to slay God’s enemies that have attacked God’s people.]”
[* 82pp., 8.5” x 7”, pb., 58 illustrations, 2 page color; 12.50 + P&H. completely different perspective / conclusions than authorities (Rolleston, Seiss, Bullinger, Capt); using Bible numerics as decipher card, reveals God’s Plan for Ages by correctly identifying each of 12 constellations in light of prophecy. The Zodiac is NOT to be confused with the demonic occult soothsaying of fortune-telling witches and personal horoscopes of individuals.]
Wikipedia records (not realizing that most myths are corruptions of Bible history / doctrine of Yahweh, the One, True God; the Hebrew word-family for God being El, Eloah, Elohiym):
“In ancient Canaanite religion, the morning star is personified as the god Attar, a masculine variant of the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. In myth, Attar attempted to occupy the throne of Ba’al and, finding he was unable to do so, descended and ruled the underworld. The original myth may have been about a lesser god, Helel, trying to dethrone the Canaanite high god El, who was believed to live on a mountain to the north. Hermann Gunkel’s reconstruction of the myth told of a mighty warrior called Hêlal, whose ambition was to ascend higher than all the other stellar divinities, but who had to descend to the depths. It thus portrayed as a battle the process by which the bright morning star fails to reach the highest point in the sky before being faded out by the rising sun.”
I should point out that only fools are deceived into throwing away that which is valid because of a corruption / counterfeit. Some have been fooled into eschewing Jesus’ Name, Yehoshua, because some claim it was the name of a Canaanite deity. How easy it is to defeat such small minded creatures. Do they reject the rainbow, a sign of God’s Promise, because the New Agers, and then the homopervert crowd have hijacked it? Do they burn all the money in their bank account, safe, wallet, because someone tells them that counterfeit money exists? Do they reject the fact that God created the world and also once destroyed it with a Flood, because most pagan peoples and savages have their own version of such events? Do they reject the Bible simply because some “scholars” claim Hammurabi predated Moses? (also being so dull-minded to not realize that God’s Law was not “invented” at Sinai / Horeb, but was the first codefied giving of the Law as a whole to the collective body of God’s people; whereas, in the past, back to Adam, the Law was given by God to various Patriarchs — with periodic updates as man continued to degenerate and then require more specific instruction — and then transmitted mouth to mouth). Without an original of value there is no reason for criminals to go to all the trouble to produce a counterfeit. Those who cannot see that all other “versions” are stolen, corruptions, counterfeits, need to stop reading everything (since they are so easily confused), and return to reading, “See Moses. See Moses run”, until they can learn how to comprehend simple sentences and simple thought. “Without Faith it is impossible to please God.” Those who believe ANYTHING, if it contradicts the Biblical Record are devoid of Faith and cannot please God. Some are so mindless to reject the word God (which is a Title, not a Name) because in English it spells “dog” backwards; or because of the existence of other (and false) gods. Likewise, some simple minds reject the word “lord”. Tell me, who existed first...? — the God Who created everything; or His subsequent creatures and their deceptions and delusions? False gods are the deceptions of demons; whom God’s sinful people, or savages were fooled into thinking existed because the demons pretended to be gods and showed some supernatural power or gave some prophecy that came to pass. Tell me: How can God be “King of kings” and Lord of lords” if there are no other kinds or lords? Are we to reject the fact that God is our Father because earthly fathers also exist? God deliver Your STUPID people!
Thus, because God is God, and because the Hebrew words are Eyl, Eloah, Elohiym (plural), other related language cognates exist (which is also the origin of the Arabic “Al” and “Allah”). Here, even in this paragraph from Wikipedia, is evidence of the corruption of the Biblical Record, including the Title of God (Eyl) and the name of pre-fallen Satan (Heyleyl). Scripture itself rhetorically queries (establishing fact): “For men verily swear by the greater [power, authority]: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.” (Hebrews 6:16) Why then is it any “grand revelation” that pagan peoples used the same words for the names and titles of their pagan deities? —including the word “deity”...! (from the Latin Deus, from the Greek Theos). If pagans or savages rejected the One True God, or never even knew Him, but knew that one people had this “all powerful being” who performed miracles and signs and wonders and gave them victory and blesseds them in everything from war, to good harvests of crops and abundant livestock and even children, and protects their houses and lands... and these pagans / savages saw this people sacrificing to God and worshipping Him, what is so “earth-shattering” that they would invent their own god, call him by similar names and titles, and worship and sacrifice to him in a copycat manner? Is the Almighty God rendered nonexistent because someone devises a counterfeit or substitute? O little minds!
“O fools, and slow of heart to believe [to have faith concerning] all that the Prophets have spoken.” (Luke 24:25)
“2Preach the Word; be instant [constantly ready] in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and Doctrine. 3For the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (II Timothy 4)
“...be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” (Ephesians 4:14)
It is truly amazing how easily many are turned from the Truth. This is what happens when one is not grounded in the Word; when one cannot think logically, and one leans unto his own understanding.
25But first [that is, before His Return] must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. 26And as it was in the days of Noe,* so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the Ark, and the Flood came, and destroyed them all. 28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the Day when the Son of man is revealed.
[* Noe is the Greek form of the Hebrew Noah (No-akh), which should be written Noë, as it is pronounced No-eh.]
There is nothing wrong with eating, drinking, men taking women as wives, fathers giving away their daughters as wives, buying, selling, planting, and building — therefore the implication is that they were doing so in complete violation of all the moral boundaries that God had established. This is more clearly seen in the story of Lot and Sodom and the other Canaanite cities of the plains, in that they were populated by a significant percentage of homoperverts / rapists or those willing to ignore their perversion and violence. Scripture also informs us: “...the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” (Proverbs 21:4) The Hebrew word translated plowing #5215 niyr, from #5214 niyr, from #5216 niyr / neyr / nay-raw, may also possibly infer “lamp / light”: that is, “the inner nature, the soul”, out of which proceed all thoughts and deeds. Regardless: Whatever the wicked do is sin — for it proceeds from a wicked, vile, perverse nature.* So also shall this wickedness abound in the days preceeding Christ’s return — and so also will those caught in God’s Net of Judgment be completely shocked and dumbfounded as the horrific fright of the Reality of God’s Judgment overcomes them, realizing that there is no escape and that they were fools not to believe in God, and carelessly to live in blatant wickedness. The word “fool” in the Bible infers “wickedness”, not merely low IQ: They do stupid things because of their perversity, not fearing God. The word translated “disbelief” and “disobedience” in the Bible is often the same word: people disobey because they don’t believe God. They don’t obey, believe, or fear Him because they don’t know Him.
[* Anything that a dog does is “dogish”. Anything that a person who is contaminated with radiation does is contaminated with radiation. Anything that the wicked do is wicked. The nature produces the act; not vice versa. The tree produces the fruit — the fruit on the tree does not change the nature of the tree. You can graft a pear onto an apple, an apricot onto a plum, or a tomato onto a potato. The fruit that then grows on it does not change the nature of the plant. What then artifically exists is an abomination: a violation of God’s Command of “kind after kind”, the bearing of each plant / creature of its own kind from the nonhybridized seed within itself. Simply because there may be “benefits” or “pros” (as opposed to “cons”), “positive results” (at least in sinful man’s confused estimation) to violating what God commanded does not mean that it is not sin / abominations, and does not invalidate it or “make” it good or lawful. If sin had no temptation why would anyone sin? “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) A deed is not determined to be “good” simply by the deed itself. A deed is only good if: 1. nature of the doer of the deed is good; 2. his motivation is good; 3. if the deed itself is within the boundaries of what God established (doing good unto the wicked is not good because God forbade it; and those who think that we are supposed to do good unto the wicked don’t know God / Christ Jesus and don’t understand Scripture: If they knew God / Christ Jesus they would not believe the very opposite of what He said and the very opposite of His Very Nature); and 4. the deed itself.]
Also, the comparisons of Christ’s Return with the Flood and Sodom are that of TOTAL, UNIVERSAL destruction of the wicked — because when Christ returns to cleanse the Earth, it will not merely be “local”. The Flood was worldwide (not local). The Rainbow Promise is not merely a “local” phenomena. The cleansing of the Earth by fire will not be “local”. The cities of the plains were utterly destroyed and ALL those in them were destroyed; not merely certain local neighorhoods. That is why Lot and his family were brought out; that is why Noah and his sons spent 120 years building the Ark, and then God brought representatives of all birds and mammals (and nonamphibious creeping things) and enough food for them all for a year. Had the Flood merely been local, Noah and his family could have simply “migrated” away from the “Judgment Zone” — as could any of the wicked once it started raining and after the subterranean rivers burst forth. Again, fools are inclined to believe nonsense of pagan savage Chinese legends (and the sterile Tarim Basin theory), rather than the Word of God. Like moths to the flame, so also are the unregenerate drawn to false doctrine. False doctrine is a sin. It is not merely a minor issue of academic debate. It is not mere opinion or mere information. As all sin, it is the means by which God causes the wicked to earn the Judgment that He has determined for them.
[* For FAR-more evidence concerning the Flood and the dismantling of the vapid local flood “theory”, see my, Who Was the Serpent in the Garden? [Genesis 3] & “The Waters That Covered the Earth” [Genesis 6-9], 774pp., pb., 40.00 + P&H.]
31In that Day [The Day of Christ’s Return, which shall commence Judgment], he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
The intention here is one that people in today’s “refined” society cannot comprehend. The intention is: Imagine being out in a large field, in the tall grass / grain, halfway between your house and the woods or mountains; or being on the roof of your house (which roofs were often flat, with a patio on top) and you see a cloud of dust from a half mile away and recognize that it is a horde of Mongols and Huns racing to rape, pillage, torture, and murder. What do you do? You flee! You don’t go down or back into the house to get your jewelry. Clearly, a wise person (especially back in the days of barbarism — which days are returning*), if he has extra wealth, will already have it safely concealed somewhere. If not, returning to the house to get it is like someone on a sinking ship grabbing 5 lbs. of gold before he jumps into the water. Wealth does you no good if you die trying to retrieve / preserve it.
[* See my, The Post-Christian Era and the New Dark Ages; Christendom nearly extinct, 112pp., pb., 11.50 + P&H.]
Obviously, in a parable or teaching illustration / analogy / scenario not every single element is intended to be an exact parallel. Obviously, if you had a wife and children in the house you would run to get them. That is not the issue. The issue is self-preservation in the face of imminent horror. Jesus came as a Lamb the first time. He is returning as a Lion the second — not as a “tamed” lion who performs tricks, but one that bathes himself in the blood of his enemies / victims (Isaiah 34:6; Jeremiah 46:10). God / Christ Jesus take VERY SERIOUSLY the abuse and murder and destruction and violation of His children / bride and shall return to avenge them (Luke 18:7,8; Revelation 6:9-11; Psalm 72:14; 116:15; II Thessalonians 1:8-10).
“2For yourselves know perfectly that the Day [of Judgment] of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they [the wicked; those of God’s people who reject Him] shall say, ‘Peace and safety’; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (I Thessalonians 5)
Though the Greek word used in this verse is thief (#2812, klep-teyss, “pilcherer, cat bugular, pick-pocket”; whence we derive our word kleptomaniac), the focus of the passage is not the “type” of thief, but the situation in which one is at perfect peace and is RUDELY AWAKENED IN TERROR (it is NOT that he wakes up in the morning and finds that his watch and wallet are missing). Why the Greek word for robber (#3027 leyss-teyss, “brigand, pirate, home invader, bandito”) is not used is odd; maybe to make the parallel that much more stark. A thief sneaks in, but robbers or a gang of banditos, like commandos kick the doors in and enter with shouts and guns blazing, adding fear and terror to the element of surprise, then tie up the people as hostages and then go about smashing, destroying, collecting loot, torturing to find the location of any hidden wealth, etc. However, though the Greek word for cat burgular is used, the result is the same as a robber; as v.3 clarifies with the comparison of sudden terror and pain into which is thrust a woman in the throes of the most intense labor, in which the possibility of death is a persistent, unavoidable, intruding thought — which severe contractions appear even as the sudden inflammation of an appendix or kidney stone in a bile duct. If that picture is not enough, “they shall not escape” is added (there are no words of comfort to them, as there are to the godly, submissive women of God’s people, while they are in labor; I Timothy 2:9-15). Christ Jesus shall not return and quietly and sneakily “rapture” His people away (the concept of the Rapture is false Counter-Reformation propaganda devised by Jesuits and Zionists to lull God’s people to sleep and into irresponsible apathy — rather than them being vigilant as Christ commanded). Christ shall continue to inform us in this passage in Luke that it is the wicked who shall be taken in Judgment (even as it is the tares that are gathered and cast into the fire, and then the wheat gathered into the barn).
[* See my: The Futurist and Rapture Conspiracy: A Brief Exposé of the History of these Subversive Doctrines—and Their Biblical Refutation, 164pp., pb. illustrated, 14.50 + P&H; revealing the shady characters behind the false doctrines of Futurism, Dispensationalism, the “any moment” “two-stage” “Rapture” Return of Christ. Christ IS returning; but not according to modern Antichrist heresy; new new-age false doctrines, not held by Reformers or great Bible leaders of early modern era.]
All will be overcome with immediate fear and awe of God’s Power at Christ’s Return with the holy angels — and in an instant every single atheist and other infidel will believe in the One, True God as they face His Wrath and Judgment, as depicted in Revelation 6* — but it will be too late. The time to believe and repent and obey is BEFORE Judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Every knee that does not lovingly submit itself and every tongue that does not sincerely confess Christ (demonstrated by true repentance) shall be vanquished and forced to kneel prostrate as a conquered victim before his Final Judgment and admit aloud in terror that Jesus is God (Philippians 2:10,11).
[* See my, Sober & Sacred Reflections, poems of R.A.B., Volume II, 262pp., 18.00 + P&H and my upcoming Visions and Incisions, poems of R.A.B. Vol. III will contain an even-more graphic version of Revelation 6: Here is a sample:
“16In agony and terror great,
did cry aloud t’ ‘void their fate;
and of the rocks did beg and plead:
‘Fall thou on us, with all due speed!
and hide us fast from God’s Great Throne;
from fiercer Wrath than we’ve e’er known;
and from the aweful, vengeful glare,
of God’s slain Son Who sitteth there;
from the Lamb’s Wrath, Who died—yet lives!
Who rules the world, all Judgment gives.
17for lo Great Day of Wrath is here;
none can there stand — collapse in fear.’”]
32Remember Lot’s wife. 33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. 34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men [individuals, persons] in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35Two women shall be grinding [grain] together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. 37And they answered and said unto Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said unto them, “Wheresoever the body [corpse, carcass] is, thither will the eagles [or possibly vultures] be gathered together”.
The sad fate of Lot’s wife parallels the admonition to flee and not return to retrieve any wealth. We don’t know why Mrs. Lot (whose name is not even given in Scripture, which is evidence of shame) looked back. Most probably she had other daughters, sons, and even grandchildren (those who mocked Lot’s attempt to get them to flee also). If Lot had grandchildren in Sodom, the chances are great that they were from unlawful unions with Canaanites. The cities of the plains were Canaanite cities, so WHOM ELSE would Lot’s children have married while living in Sodom? The same applies to Lot’s subsequent (Post-Sodom) in-bred sons by his daughters, who got him drunk (and pretended to be Lot’s deceased wife), with good intentions (knowing it was a curse for a man’s name to die out — but not realizing that it was a GREATER CURSE to violate the boundaries that God forever established). Unwittingly, Lot sired his own sons-grandsons: Moab and Benammi, who were pure Hebrews, but born of incest. They married Canaanites until they were a large enough people (the Moabites and Ammonites) to marry exclusively among their own.
Maybe Mrs. longed for all the wealth that they left behind (Lot had been a wealthy man with massive flocks and herds, before he “pitched his tent toward Sodom), which wealth they could not gather at a moment’s notice (the angels grabbing them and dragging them out of their house and out of the city).
Regardless, Scripture says, “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Those who choose ANYTHING over obedience and loyalty to God (whether wealth / “things” or unlawful relationships / “family”) reject God and are rejected of Him. God is the Giver of all Good and Perfect Gifts. The majority of “Christians” are like sycophants and disingenuous courtiers, or dissembling family members who “pretend” to love the relative only so that he will be included in regular gifts and eventually the inheritance. They love the GIFT more than the Giver — foolishly choosing anything over God, not realizing that God can give something even better, and not realizing the moral issue of obedience (and that disobedience = disbelief; disbelief = infidel), and not realizing their rejection of God by their IDOLATRY of having ANYTHING in their lives above God. Your God / god is the one you fear; the one you unquestioningly and undividedly obey, serve, worship (and obedience is worship; not merely lip service set to music). God demands EXCLUSIVE obedience. Jesus is not merely one god in a totem pole. God is the only God Who will DESTROY every false god and all those who are devoted to those false gods.
Before the perversion of society and the English language, no one for a moment would have thought that this meant “two males sleeping together” as a “couple”. Male is the default gender (in speech) and is what has been used historically for millennia for the plural (in groups in which there may be both male and female representatives) in all Indo-European languages (and their ancestor tongues, Greek and Hebrew); and before the feminist revolution and the homopervert revolution, this was understood and it was not considered “oppression”. Those who think that truth and relationships and hierarchies that God established to be “oppression” are Anti-God and Anti-Christ.
Similarly, when the number of people in a crowd is recorded in Scripture, the men alone are counted (unless otherwise noted). As a rule, men alone are counted in cencuses and they alone are listed in genealogies (though there are some rare highlights that include women in genealogies, when a specific point is made). In the hierarchy of Authority established by God, the man is the head of the house. God commanded His people forever to be separate from aliens. Men who violated what God commanded and sinned were always commanded to divorce and send away all alien wives and all children by them. God never changed Morality / His Law — not one jot or tittle. Corruption is never holiness. That which is impure is not simply “declared” to be pure. Women were given in marriage. Women did not have the authority to be “independent” and did not seek out alien men to shack up with and bring them back into the community because they held no real estate as their own, but shared* in the inheritance of their husbands and fathers. Women who so lived were recognized for what they were: whores. Men who so immorally lived were whoremongers. The boundaries and roles that God established are modernly considered “oppression” by those who hate God (which includes 95% of the so-called “Christian” Church; which, in reality, is the Apostate Church: the Antichrist Church) — but it is God’s Order and it is for a purpose (it is NOT “archaic Neanderthalism”).
[* This also was incentive to be a godly loving wife. Her enjoying the wealth of her husband was hingent upon her obedience, submission, honor, attitude, godliness, faithfulness, fidelity, etc. The polluted modern mind would probably consider this horrendous — but it is what God established. It is no different with children. It is no difference in the relationship between God and His people and Christ Jesus and the Redeemed of His people. NO individual Adamite owns anything on Earth by his own right, independent of God. Yes, Scripture says, “The Heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the Earth hath He given to the children of men [Adamkind]” (Psalm 115:16). However, that itself is not exclusive, independent ownership, but an investiture / trust / fief; even as the lord in Christ’s parable gave talents (100 lb. ingots) of gold to his servants to invest on his behalf. As they performed honorably, they were given more honor. The son who works under his father in the family business is not independent and does not own the company of his own right, and he did not found the family business. He has authority and received remunerative reward only to the extent that he is an honorable son in good graces of the father. Those who hate such truth hate God.]
Jesus and His Bride (the true Church) will not be “equals”. Neither can Christ’s Bride ever “divorce” Him! Neither will Christ “share” His Bride with any other. As established by God, the husband purchases his wife by whatever dowry (wealth) demanded of the prospective bride’s father. Likewise, Christ purchased (Redeemed) His Bride with His Very Life. Scripture clearly says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church” (Ephesians 5:23). Tell me: In what situation, scenario would Christ not be the Head of the Redeemed of His people? He is still also Creator and Redeemer (Owner) and Lawgiver. In what way could He never not be Absolute Head...? Furthermore, women are to be silent in the Church (they are not to even ask a question* during a church service — and they are certainly not to be preachers, priests, elders, or presbyters), and they are not to hold positions of authority in family, Church, or State over any man. This is God’s Order. Those who do not like this need to find another religion. Those who do not like God’s Order have the Spirit of Jezebel and are antichrist and shall be rejected when Christ returns. Every tree is known by it’s fruit. Each woman of God’s people who have a Jezebel Spirit who usurp such authority shall be removed and share the same fate as Athaliah or Maachah.
[* This, indeed, will sound outrageous to those whose minds are polluted by the world and who think that they are wiser and holier than God Himself — which is what a person actually thinks (if only subconsciously, not realizing the ramifications of what he does believe and think) if he thinks that anything that God did or said is “unfair”. Such do not even understand the concept of GOD or LORD or CREATOR. God is HOLY and JUST and GOOD and RIGHT and can do nothing that is not; even if His sinful, damaged- and limited-minded creatures disagree; which is like a 1-hour old infant thinking that he understands the world and reality better than his father who is a physicist! Our minds are to conform to God’s. His Thoughts and Ways are not ours, but astronimically higher. God does not conform Himself to the perverse thoughts and notions of His sinful creatures; which is an impossibility since God is PERFECT and IMMUTABLE and HOLY and TRUE. God cannot so conform Himself because it would also be an impossibility because no 2 people can agree on hardly anything, so how could God conform to what billions of different individuals think to be “fair”, to which God should conform...? This would reduce Christianity to Hinduism: Each confused, ignorant, sinful individual beliving his god to be the way that he imagines him to be. How could God conform to a billion different notions?
God created all. He owns all. He established all Law and Order as He determined it should be... and it is perfect. It matters not if the toddler understands “why” daddy says, “No!” or “Do this!” It is his duty to obey. Understanding can at times augment incentive, but understanding is NO replacement for obeying simply because it is commanded. Some commands are easier to understand (in time) and easier to obey; but neither does that change the fact that one is dutybound / supposed to obey. Obedience is a demonstration of love, trust, and loyalty. Take away those 3 factors and what is there to sustain a relationship? Obedience brings reward. However, the carnal mind wants the “forbidden fruit”, thinking that what God has outlawed is better than the limitless myriad of blessing that God has to give. The carnal mind is irrational and thinks that it should be able to violate the Laws that God established — both Moral and Natural (even stepping off a 300-foot cliff, being careless with knives, glass, gasoline, fire, dangerous animals, etc.) and not suffer the consequences. Such a person who demonstrates such thinking does not know or believe in God.]
Likewise, the two women “grinding” together does NOT mean what perverse minds would like it to; even as the “two persons” in bed does NOT mean two “homopervert men”.
The parallel passage in the first Gospel gives better understanding of what Christ means in Luke 17:37. Christ declared, “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28). Though eagles (even the noble-looking bald eagle) are birds of prey, they are also opportunistic eaters never too proud to turn down a free meal (such as road kill or other dead carcase). However, quite possibly they do have their standards, and unless really desperate, they may only eat “fresh” carrion — not rotting carrion such as vultures delight in, once a rotting, maggot-filled carcase gets ripe and it’s full bouquet of aroma and flavor is achieved and sticks to the air like glue. Another passage of prophecy adds picturesque parallel:
“17And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; [:] Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, [:] ‘Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. 18Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the Earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. 20Thus ye shall be filled at My Table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war’, saith the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 39)
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