WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY

[Cinga]

Dec 5

 

Before we dive into Gen 3 which we can call The Fall of Man, a couple things I want to discuss briefly, even though we may explore more as time goes by.

First, we have no idea how long Eden, and the perfection of Creation was before sin and death were introduced. We do know that Adam lived almost a millennia before he died (go ahead, we learn this in Gen 5 if you want to jump ahead as I always encourage).

Second, while we are soon to meet the serpent of Genesis, we have no solid evidence as to WHAT it was though you can bet it isn’t the snake portrayed so often in drawings and paintings tempting Eve, at least not yet. I am going to lead you in some of my own speculation here, and hope that other readers here may add their own perspective. Remember as well, we are reading through this as a Creationist, and that ALL things were created in those very first 6 days of Creation we have already studied. This obviously then also includes angels and we know from Scripture that this manifestation of the serpent is Satan.

So, let’s dive in and see what we can find.

My comments are in italics

 

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. – serpent is nachash which can also mean image of serpent. But here we also learn that it is more crafty, arum which also means more shrewd, or sly. “…than any of the wild animals…” Let me emphasis, “than any” not “than any of the other” wild animals the Lord God (using the singular, Yahweh or Jehovah) had made. So even though this was a part of Creation, it was not one of the animals of Creation.

 

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” – Here the serpent uses the plural Elohim. And a talking serpent? I think this is our first indication that this is certainly anything but what we know as snakes. But he is challenging, as in did He really tell you that? And while the serpent isn’t necessarily saying God was wrong, perhaps instead wondering aloud if maybe they had heard God wrong with the insinuation God had included ALL the trees of the garden in that command.

 

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, - So again, the woman is carrying on a conversation with this manifestation and here falls into the deception the serpent is creating as she attempts to correct his initial statement.

 

³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” – While she doesn’t name this as the tree of knowledge, we know from chapter 2 that the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil were at the center, and God’s command was to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Interestingly however, eating of the Tree of Life was not forbidden in that command.

 

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – The rest of the serpent’s words have been to deceive the woman, here however he commits what we know of as the first lie, making him, Satan, the father of lies in telling her she will not die and she would be like God. Let me also emphasis here that it is not knowledge they are forbidden from, they can certainly learn as they go, it is a knowledge of good and evil they are forbidden from.

 

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. – So, here the fruit looked good, and her desire to learn what good and evil was made her decide to eat the fruit of this tree.

 

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. – By appearance here, Adam was with Eve, even as she was being tempted and did nothing to stop her, even eating of the fruit himself.

 

⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. – until now, neither had considered themselves naked, so in this newfound “knowledge” of good and evil also comes shame and humility.

 

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, - The sound is qowi which can also mean voice, sweet instrument or beautiful noise. Lord God as we have learned, is the singular Yahweh.

 

and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. – Which shame would be greater? The disobedience the Lord, or the shame they feel in their nakedness. For me, I feel it in my disobedience….

The sad part of this study is learning of the fall of man, all while also meeting God face to face in the Garden for the first time. But understand the immense Truth of what we just read! The Lord God, Yahweh, Abba, Father, Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, the Creator of everything that was literally perfect up until a moment ago, took the time to walk the Garden In the cool of the day with His Creation! And His very walk was a sweet musical sound! How awesome that must have been! Did He stop to smell the flower that must have blushed as He walked by? Did the deer and lion rush to nudge Him for attention? Did the rocks themselves cry out in wonder of His Majesty?

 

Our God is truly an Awesome God and I pray that He gives you and yours an Awesome and Blessed week!

[Fansince88]

Excellent as always @Cinga. Might I recommend this book to you and all interested in a deeper understanding on this? Great book by a accurate modern day prophet of God. https://robindbullock.netviewshop.com/shopDetail/BK001 

[Fansince88]

Just a thought tonight from Psalm 139: 7-18 Nothing about you sis a surprise to Him. Nothing is hidden from Him. Even when all about you seems to be darkness, whatever season of hurt you are in he sees is and can brighten you like the noon day sun....through His Son! 

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
 

[Cinga]

1 hour ago, Fansince88 said:

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

Thank you for sharing this. Sometimes I need this reminder that even during the toughest times, God made me to endure and is always with me; My hurt is His hurt, my joy is His joy, for I am fearfully, and wonderfully made!

[Fansince88]

14 minutes ago, Cinga said:

Thank you for sharing this. Sometimes I need this reminder that even during the toughest times, God made me to endure and is always with me; My hurt is His hurt, my joy is His joy, for I am fearfully, and wonderfully made!

Just heard something on the 10 lepers that amazed me that I never saw it before in Luke 17:11-19. Leprosy rotted your limbs off you. There is no record as to how far gone these lepers were. They were all told to go show themselves to the priests and they were healed on the way. Only one came back to thank the Lord. Leprosy was gone yet he was still most likely missing something. An ear, an arm...fingers. All 10 were healed but only one came back. Jesus said to him after he worshiped him for healing him this one thing that the others did not receive. He said to him go. Your faith has made you sode'-zo. KJV translates it whole. It is a word that implies to go back to the right way. You see his asking for mercy brought his healing. Worship made him whole!!! We all have our struggles. Prayer puts us in a place of healing but worship in our situation goes so much further.

[Cinga]

Dec 13

If you go back to the lesson on Nov 28 you will remember the conversation began between Jesus and Nicodemus the Pharisee and Jesus had just told him he must be born again. I pray for all of you as we’ve proceeded through our lessons, you have been tying different verses from different Books and come to understand that God’s Word is Truth, and that there was a reason we were led to study John and Genesis together.

My comments are in italics

 

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. – Go back to the lesson on Oct 17, the rich man and Lazarus and we discussed how if people don’t believe Moses and the Prophets, then they probably wouldn’t even believe if someone rose from the dead. Likewise, we have talked about how even though some might be well versed in Scripture, they still don’t understand the Word because their hearts are hardened as we learned in Matt 13 in Aug. Jesus is challenging Nicodemus as a teacher of Scripture, yet he doesn’t understand it.

 

¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? – Earthly is epigeia also meaning worldly, and heavenly eourania or above the sky. Clearly here Jesus is speaking of spiritual things as heavenly things.

 

¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. – This can be a little confusing since Jesus has not yet ascended. I think in fact it may be a bit wordier than it has to be. In fact, some versions have it “And no other than I can reveal to you heavenly things”. And if we know and accept His pre-existent state, with God from the beginning, we can then understand how He has authority to talk of heavenly things.

 

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, - Numbers 21 if you want to look it up. Moses was instructed to make a sort of totem of a brass serpent to heal those who had been bitten by snakes.

 

so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” – or anyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. Life here is zoen, meaning both physical and spiritual.

 

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – So, we reach one of the most well known verses of the Word, John 3:16. As Christians, we understand we are dead in our sins and we have discussed that in the old Testament a blood sacrifice was needed to redeem us of our sins.

 

¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. -  We just saw the first sin last week in our Genesis study, and we need to understand the depth of God’s Love for us here. Once we sinned, He could have just condemned us and literally thought us out of existence again. But instead He laid plans for our eventual salvation through Jesus as you see here.

 

¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – As you see this again shows what we believe, that we are already dead in our sins but can be redeemed through belief in Jesus Christ.

 

¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. – Go back to the beginning of John and we know Jesus is the Light of the World. If we go all the way to the end of Revelation (Chap 22), after Judgement, we even learn there will be no more night, but no need of light or candle either as God will be the Light forever!

 

²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. – As all foul deeds will be exposed, yours and mine.

 

²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. – The truth spoken of here is the Word. Light, Word, Truth, it is all Jesus

As we head into the Christmas Season, I’m glad 3:16 fell near to it to help us try to grasp the depths of God’s Love and the sacrifice He made just for you and me.

On a personal level, I came to the understanding years ago that He Loves each of us so much, that even if it was just me, He still would have done this to save me. Folks, yes, salvation is personal as is the Christian Faith.

May you and yours have a Blessed week!

[Cinga]

Dec 19

For this week we’re going to step away from John and Genesis and talk about the Birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This isn’t going to require a lot of commentary since most is self-explanatory though I will add some comments as we go.

But even before we get into the Birth, I am well aware of the stories of Christmas, and even Easter being celebrated on pagan holidays and I want to address that first. This is my own opinion on the matter however and not Scripture based.

Here in America you can look it up, we have a day for virtually everything, for instance did you know Christmas is also National Pumpkin Day and A’Phabet (no letter L) Day as well? So it is almost as bad with a pagan calendar, a ritual or something on almost any day, and ones like this obviously doesn’t cover absolutely every pagan something or other and likely to offend someone considering the state of the world today.

But the point being, there are bound to be days that overlap, the important thing however is, that we have 3 extremely important days on the Christian Calendar, that without one, we do not have the others and we would not have Salvation through Him. Those are Jesus Birth, Death, and Resurrection. And of these, only the exact date of His Birth is in question since we can calculate the Death and Resurrection knowing it occurred during the Jewish Passover.  The importance is though, that we celebrate it due to its importance to our Salvation!

This is quite a bit to cover, so instead of doing it all at once, I’ll break it up over the week so be sure to stop back as I’ll add some more every couple days up to Christmas.

My comments are in BOLD italics

Gospel of Luke 1

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ² just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³ With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

By this opening statement we can identify Luke as the only Gospel; Matthew, Mark and John being the others; written by a non-Jew. Luke is also the author of the Book of Acts and in both, he addresses these accounts to Theophilus. Some use the line (carefully investigated everything” to assume the account was written many years later, but this disregards the many time Luke switches up and writes in the third person, “we” to show he was personally there during those particular events. So I think as you get to know the writer better, you will understand it was stories like this one of the Birth he investigated to be sure of his accuracy regarding the event.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Remember in our study of John Gospel when John the Baptist is asked if he is Elijah because they were waiting for him as a sign of the coming Messiah? Here we see Gabriel confirming to us that the Baptist will be Elijah-like in Spirit and Power fulfilling that prophesy.

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Gabriel  while the most often mentioned is one of 4 angels we know by name in the Bible, Michael the Archangel, Lucifer we also know of as Satan, and Abaddon/Apollyon the ruler of the abyss in Revelation and are the others. There are numerous others as we know and all of them, just as us, are a part of Creation, and in that a word of caution! We tend to hold the good angels in high esteem, and while there is nothing wrong with that, they are here to assist us, and guide us in our path the God. But they are still a part of Creation, just as we are. So be careful in how high you hold them. Worship the CREATOR only, not Creation!

Notice as well that Zechariah and Elizabeth are beyond their child bearing years, but nothing is beyond God ability and this is not the first time this happens as you will see by Abraham and his wife Sara in our Genesis study

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

I’ll leave it here for today, so be sure to check back as the week progresses for more!

May You and Yours have a Blessed Day!!

[Cinga]

Dec 22

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

 

The above introduces a train of thought that we may discuss more in out studies and I want to mention it here. You see, we know Jesus will be born without sin, so though belief is that the original sin of Adam is passed down through the man from generation to generation.

I mention this because I want you to understand form what we have already studied in Genesis, Adam was first created to live forever. It was when he ate from the Tree of Knowledge, sin and death were introduced into Creation and Adam’s days became numbered. So I think you understand now, Jesus actually was born as a second Adam meaning had He not been crucified for our sins, He would have lived forever as a man.

But there are also a nonsensical claim that Jesus married and had children…. Think on that a minute…. Since He was without sin, so would any children He fathered be born and they might still be alive today

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

Mary’s Song

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
    holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.”

⁵⁶ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

 

Two things to take away from this. First, Mary and Elizabeth are relatives, tradition says that John and Jesus are cousins but the word used is suggenis which simply means kinswoman. They are of different Hebrew tribes, Zechariah and Elizabeth were Levites and Mary from the tribe of Judah so the nearest relation would have to go back to at least their mothers.

As for the length of time Mary stayed, 3 months; travel then could take days, weeks, months so visits also tended to be longer, Likewise, extended families then were much closer than today so extended stays were certainly not out of the norm especially since a 3 month stay would also bring her to John birth since Elizabeth was 6 months when she arrived. Family would typically help during a birth.

I’ll leave it here for the day, check back as we cover the birth of John the Baptist next.

May you and yours have a Blessed Day!

[Cinga]

Dec 24

Not anything to add to this as we go into John the Baptist birth except that as we’ve read through this, the entire extended family are devote in their Faith. It’s through this deep Faith that God can Bless them and use them for our redemption.

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

⁵⁹ On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰ but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”

⁶¹ They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”

⁶² Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³ He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵ All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.

Zechariah’s Song

⁶⁷ His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

⁶⁸ “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn^[c] of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David
⁷⁰ (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
⁷¹ salvation from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us—
⁷² to show mercy to our ancestors
    and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³     the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
⁷⁴ to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
    and to enable us to serve him without fear
⁷⁵     in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
⁷⁷ to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
⁷⁹ to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit^[d]; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

[Cinga]

DEC 25, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

 

2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register. – This wasn’t as unusual as some historians make it out to be. The Romans of the time were very organized and the census were an aid to help them budget, just as it is supposed to help us now.

 

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” – This angel, nor the ones to follow are named and I suspect on purpose, so the people of that day, and us, remain focused on the REAL Reason for the Season.

 

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

 

So with this, our Savior is born and I Pray you and yours Rejoice with me this Holiday Season in this Most Amazing Gift of all!

May you and yours have a Blessed Christmas and I pray a prosperous coming New Year!

[Cinga]

Dec 26

Jesus Presented in the Temple

²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”, ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss^[d] your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.^[e] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

This is a good way to finish for the week, a couple current Prophets of the time confirming Jesus as Messiah!

I’m going to leave it at this for the week, and I’m going to take a week off before returning to our studies of Genesis and John. As some of you know the Holidays this year have been trying for me so I’m just going to take a week to reset and recharge my brain and heart.

May you and yours have a Blessed New Year!

[B-Man]

 

Epiphany

 

Matthew 2:1-12

 

2:1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

 

2:2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."

 

2:3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;

 

2:4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

 

2:5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

 

2:6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"

 

2:7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.

 

2:8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."

 

2:9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.

 

2:10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.

 

2:11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

 

2:12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

 

 

 

 

[Cinga]

Jan 16

I thought about skipping these until after the Super Bowl run but can’t bring myself to do that.

When we left off in Genesis (See Dec 5 post for a refresher) Adam and Eve had just eaten of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and became felt shame at their nakedness. But remember the feeling of Love and Truth to learn that “The Lord God, Yahweh, Abba, Father, Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, the Creator of everything that was literally perfect up until a moment ago, took the time to walk the Garden In the cool of the day with His Creation! And His very walk was a sweet musical sound! How awesome that must have been! Did He stop to smell the flower that must have blushed as He walked by? Did the deer and lion rush to nudge Him for attention? Did the rocks themselves cry out in wonder of His Majesty?”

My comments are in italics

⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” – Let’s set the record straight here, God already knew what happened and knew where they were. Have you ever used the “I didn’t know” self defense when you have sinned? Yeah, me too, even though I knew THAT was a lie.

 

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” – To hide or try to hide is also an expression of guilt we may be familiar with. When we need His help, or are feeling the oneness with the Lord, that is when we “Seek His Face”, when we want that closeness to the Lord

In other translations it is “I heard your voice in the Garden” with the original for voice being Qowl and using Strong’s that can mean a singing sound of thunder. How awesome is that?

 

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” – This is almost as if the Lord is giving them a chance for redemption, and makes you wonder what if they had been forthcoming and honest from the beginning?

 

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” – Deflection, simply trying to blame another for your own transgression. But does it matter? She may have given it to him, but he still sinned by eating it.

 

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” – Once again. Giving a chance to be honest about what they did

 

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” –

And once again, trying to place the blame on someone else rather than accept responsibility for our own actions. Sounds an awful lot like society today doesn’t it, where everything that can go wrong, is someone else fault including some crimes committed against others.

With that, I’m going to leave it with a final thought for the week.

As we go through this thing called “life” we will have struggles, we will have pain. There will be times we feel guilty, down and out, buried in sin after taking 1000 steps in the wrong direction away from God.  But all you have to do is turn around. God has already taken 999 steps to get you back, just turn around and back into His arms. Know that He Loves you and wants you to spend Eternity with Him!

[Cinga]

Jan 30

Please forgive me for missing last week as I’m ashamed to admit that I was caught up in the playoff mania for our team. I will try to do my best to stay on track moving forward with our studies.

My comments are in italics

 

22After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. – Not often talked about but yes, Jesus also baptized with water during His Ministry

 

23Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. 24(This was before John was put in prison.) – Of this I want to emphasis the plenty of water part. We’re going to learn in our studies, the land we know as Israel and it’s surrounding area was not always the desert, we think of it as today. Especially in Genesis, even during Abraham we are going to see that it was quite lush with prairies and forests.

 

25An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. – argument might be a poor translation for zetesis as it might be better as question, dispute, or search of an answer. We also don’t know who this certain Jew is that is mentioned, speculation on my part makes me think it was a Pharisee, one of the priests of the time there to watch both John and Jesus to see if they might be a threat to their power and we will see, they often showed up to try and stir up trouble.

 

26They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” – As you can tell in this question to John, they seem to be bothered that now people seem to be going to Jesus more than they are to John.

 

27To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.” -  This seems like a lot of words to basically tell then he is done, and it is now Jesus’ time. But remember how I have told you that at times, we might read something in Scripture, only to realize (or the Spirit tells us) later what it meant. John is reminding them of what he had already told them as a messenger of the Spirit.

 

31The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. – John is telling them what we know that Jesus came down from Heaven while John is of the earth. But he is also once again emphasizing to them that Jesus is greater than him.

 

32He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. – Now that John has established Jesus came from Heaven, he is telling us the Truth of things that he is testifying to things He has witnessed.

 

34For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

 

So to finish for this week, we have John reminding us of John 3:16 that whoever believes in Him, shall have eternal life with Him and get a glimpse of the alternative that awaits those who reject Him.

34 – 36 is also telling us and is repeated throughout the Gospels that God the Father, SENT Jesus here to redeem us! Again, Jesus was there in the Beginning, and was the Creator, but understand too that He has always had a plan, even before Creation, to redeem us to Him!

May you and yours have a Blessed Week!

[B-Man]

4 hours ago, Cinga said:

Jan 30

Please forgive me for missing last week as I’m ashamed to admit that I was caught up in the playoff mania for our team. I will try to do my best to stay on track moving forward with our studies.

 

 

 

And you see what your "punishment" was

 

 

j/k 

 

😎

[Fansince88]

2 hours ago, B-Man said:

 

 

And you see what your "punishment" was

 

 

j/k 

 

😎

[Cinga]

Feb 6

As we move forward in Genesis, I want to add a little reminder. First, we established before that all of Creation was accomplished in the first 6 days and that this must have also included angels. Remember too that at the end of the 6^th day, God declared that it was “very good”.

This part is my opinion here, but I think one supported by what we know from Scripture. There has been nothing so far to suggest otherwise, but I think we are seeing here not only the fall of man, but the fall of some of the angels as well along with Satan. Most popular thought has the angels fall before man to explain the serpent deception. But up to this point we have no reason to believe Creation was not still “very good” even with the Lord walking the Garden Himself in the cool of the evening. But like man, Satan was created with free will and in his vanity (Ezekiel 28), he wanted to set himself on high and a part of that was to try to destroy the most cherished part of God’s Creation, you, and me.

My comments are in italics

 

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” – We’ve discussed prior that the serpent was not as we know of them today in the beginning, and we are now seeing that transformation. However this can also be seen as symbolic of the casting down of Lucifer along with the other angels that rebelled with him.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” – The most obvious meaning of offspring here is that we know that Eve is considered the mother of all humankind to follow. But in the next part, heel is aqeb which is also footprint or rear. But while the serpent is chasing humankind, the former is literal, to tell us he will crush Satan head. This can only be in reference as to how Jesus, descended from Eve Himself, will overcome sin and defeat Satan.

 

¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. – This is a literal translation as well

Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. – Until this time, food was plentiful from the plants and trees, if they were hungry, just pluck it and move on. However here we see the transition of to “painful toil” or to a farming type of society to grow and harvest their own food.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” – Nothing to add to this ageless verse everyone has heard before…

²⁰ Adamnamed his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. ²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. – Once again, such a profound moment in time as God Himself made clothes for Adam and Eve and somehow I think we all know, He didn’t think them into existence, but literally stitched them together Himself. As we dive deeper into the Word, we might also begin to see this as possibly the first sacrifice of atonement as the skins had to have come from animals.

 

²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. – Note the plurality, referring to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Triune nature of God.

 

He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” – Take a moment to absorb this. We know at the center of the Garden was the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of Life. This now provides understanding what the Tree of Life was for! But also understand that this very statement that Jesus is referred to as the Tree of Life throughout Scripture and is our very means to Eternal Life today and forever through Him!

 

²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. – I know, by archeologists we are supposed to believe that hunter/gatherers were first, but by this verse and the previous we learn God made us farmers first and the hunter part is going to come much later. Remember, at this point everything is still vegetarian.

 

²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life – Cherubim here is hakkerubim which literally means angelic being and flame is lahat which only means angelic sword.

If we take nothing else from this lesson, I pray it is that from the foundations of Creation, God has had a plan, through the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ, for our redemption, and an eternity with Him.

 

May you and yours have a Blessed week!

[Cinga]

Feb 13

John Chapter 4

 

As we begin this next chapter of John, I pray you begin to notice the personal exchanges Jesus has with individuals as he just did with Nicodemus in chapter 3. As He does here in Scripture, it is that personal one on one relationship He wants with you too. Likewise, we haven’t discussed the Holy Spirit part of the Trinity very much yet but we’re going to see Jesus refer here to the Spirit as the Living Water.

If you also get a look at ancient maps of what is modern day Israel, the northern area was called Israel and included Samaria and north of that, Galilee. The southern area was called Judah and had Jerusalem.

My comments are in italics

 

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. – While the Pharisees were taken back by this, feeling their hold on authority might be threatened, note that it is the disciples who are baptizing, not Jesus even though He did in Chapter 3. In this, we are beginning so see The Great Commission at work, as every follower of Christ is to continue His work, the spread the Good News of the Gospel as the disciples now take up the job of baptism. Soon we will also see as they are told to teach as well.

 

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. - There are volumes written about the animosity between the Sumerians and Jews you can look up, but suffice for our studies at least for now, that the Jews looked down on them as a sort of mongrel. Under “normal” circumstances a Jew may have travelled around Samaria instead so as not to have to talk to or even see a Samarian but as you will see here, God has other plans. The Jacob mentioned here is the grandson through Isaac of Abraham who is considered the Father of the Jews and we will meet soon in Genesis. Joseph is one of his 12 sons who are the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. Another thing to notice here is that even though Jesus is God incarnate, He is still human here so just as us, is subject to tiring and of course thirst/hunger. Jacob will be renamed by God, Israel.

 

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) ⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) – You can tell by her questioning that this would normally be unheard of, first for a Jew to even be there, second to ask something of her.

 

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” – As mentioned above, Jesus is referring to the Holy Spirit here as the living water making this an early reference to the eventual pouring out of the Spirit on all mankind, not just the Jews.

 

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – I hope from this you take how He refers to it as the water He gives them. It is an outpouring of the Spirit THROUGH HIM that we receive, and then share with others.

 

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” – Could there be sarcasm in her question?

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” – So now we have Jesus, having never met this woman before, telling her about her own life even to the number of husbands she has had.

 

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” – She is referring here to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob clearly worshipped God from the mountains of Samaria yet more modern of their time Jews worshipped God in Jerusalem.

 

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” – Again, I think Jesus is foretelling the outpouring of the Spirit on all mankind. But in this takes it a step further to open worship in the spirit, meaning anytime, anywhere and I want to take that a little further. You see, worship, like prayer, is an open line of communication and God is ALWAYS listening and there is never a bad time to talk to Him!

 

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” – She is clearly aware the prophecies of Scripture

 

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” – PROFOUND!!!!! Jesus just confirmed to this woman, a Samarian, who He is!

 

From this lesson I pray you gathered one of the most important gifts of Jesus Ministry. And that is how He came here not only for the Jews and their Salvation, but that He plans an outpouring of His Spirit on all of mankind. But also, that personal one on one relationship He enjoys not only with the Samarian woman, but with each and every one of us. If you take a moment to listen, I bet you can even hear Him talking to you right now.

May you and yours have a Blessed week!

[B-Man]

41 minutes ago, Cinga said:

 

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

 

 

 

 

Luke 6:17-26

 

6:17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

 

6:18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

 

6:19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

 

6:20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

 

6:21 "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

 

6:22 "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

 

6:23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

 

6:24 "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

 

6:25 "Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. "Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.

 

6:26 "Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

 

 

[Cinga]

Feb 20

 

A couple things before we move into Genesis 4 and the story of Cain and Abel which most are familiar with. First, if you jump ahead a chapter, at the very beginning of chapter 5, verses 3 and 4 says:

^“When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.  After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters”

A key takeaway from that is that he not only lived another 800 years but had other sons and daughters. Can you imagine how many during a life that long? Another question to answer is the gene pool one, as people typically ask where the wives would come from. Remember, in the very beginning before the Fall, God looked on Creation and Said it was “very good”. He had created everything PERFECT, including Adam and Eve so there would be no issue with brother and sister at that time like there is now.

My comments in italics

Genesis Chapter 4 

 

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. – Tradition has it that Cain was the firstborn, however we do not know that for sure but by Eve comment it does seem likely. We can be sure however that since Adam and Eve by themselves had been driven from the Garden, Cain was therefore born after their Fall and as we learn later was born, like us, with a sin nature. Made love with is from yada, meaning to know personally, or had a relationship with and will come up again.

 

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. – So the first professions were Shepherd and Farmer, not that other thing…. Interestingly, flocks derived from son, which also means small cattle, sheep, or goats.

 

³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. – This is not what we will come to learn later in Leviticus as a sacrifice, but as a kind of offering in worship. Fat portions is from the word cheleb meaning best, or choice cuts. There are some commentaries that this might be evidence of eating meat early on, but I would remind you that God Himself made clothes for Adam and Eve of animal skins so it is safe to assume we are still making clothes like this, and all are still surely vegans.

 

The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. – Our introduction to the strong emotions of shame and jealousy. But if we look back and read 3 and 4 again, we see that Cain brought the Lord SOME of the fruits of his labor, but Abel brought the best of his labor so drew the Lord’s favor. Don’t give the Lord part of yourself, go all in and He will look on you with favor and return the Love.

 

⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? – I hope by now you grasp that the Lord is there with them still, in person as the second part of the Trinity that has subjected Himself into Creation.

 

⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

 

Prior to this we had the instruction not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and when we did, it led to the Fall, and the introduction of sin and death into Creation. But here we have the first instruction on the road to redemption, and how to overcome sin.

We all face this, temptation “crouching at the door”, waiting to have you. Doing the right thing sounds simple, but at times that temptation is so strong as to want to overpower your own will. That is where the Lord’s help, and instruction comes in to help us. Jesus has already won that battle for us and all we have to do is accept Him, and the gift of Grace He offers.

May you and yours have a Blessed week!

Edited February 20, 2022 by Cinga