Posted in Balance • Blessing • Comfort • Daily Living • Gospel • Jesus • Promise The

Thorns and Thistles

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As Adam and Eve were relocating anywhere but the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter 3 God delivers the curse He had warned Adam would result from breaking the dietary command about the wrong fruit.

Genesis 3:17–19 ESV. And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

A curse at its root is a withdrawal of God’s help or presence. He is the source of life and the One who causes the distribution and growth of seeds. Instead of helping that process, He withdraws, resulting in increased labor to get fed. Thorns and thistles will infest crops along with reduced crop yields (because of the interference of thorns and thistles). A verse that helps us understand this is in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 5:11 ESV. Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.

In other Scripture, we are told that Israel was experiencing the curse parts of the Sinai covenant because they did not hold up their end of the bargain and broke it. If we don’t want any part of God then He simply says “okay” and departs (although there is wrath in there also). The downside to this is He is the source of life, so when we depart from Him, even a little bit, we choose death. Believers honor His covenant way of living and follow it from the heart as a small way to return the boundless love He has for us through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son Yeshua our Messiah. Each commandment we make a part of daily living brings Him more fully into our lives one step at a time as we walk in the light.

A young man I knew once asked me if the “thorns and thistles” part of the curse was only for farmers. I assured him that thorns and thistles are not just plants, but they also represent all of the trials and difficulties we experience in life (“in pain shall you eat of it”). Humans in general will work very hard by the sweat of our brows, according to this curse or withdrawal, but in addition will experience pain and suffering. Other words for trouble in our lives are nettles (as in Hosea 9:6 “nettles shall possess their precious things of silver, thorns shall be in their tents), dry branches, nets, pits, snares, sepulchers, tombs, poisonous weeds, wormwood and so on.

Believers live in a wrecked world with large populations that reject the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so we are subject to all kinds of bad experiences due to that rejection. Sometimes the thorns and thistles trouble us even when it’s not through our direct fault. The deceiver is still trying to unseat our Father from His throne and his plots and plans have the side effects of sin and death in large measure. Jet planes and cars exhaust pollutants, chemicals foul the ground, food is lacking nutrition, people eat unclean food on a regular basis, and so on. We might have health issues that come from lifestyles that are terrible, such as abuse of alcohol and drugs. My birth mother (I call her the egg donor) smoked cigarettes during her pregnancy with me, and I have lung issues and asthma that probably come from that practice.

We can pray that God keeps us safe and heals us when we are afflicted, but we still suffer thorns and thistles which might be coming from others. No matter how carefully we drive or how observant we are in avoiding accidents, someone can still crash into us. We avoid illegal drugs but we can be affected by those who use them. The medical establishment constantly bombards us with fallacious information and coerces us by fear into taking treatments or vaccines that do way more harm than good. Government burdens us with unnecessary regulations and heavy taxation while sending our confiscated hard-earned money to foreign countries who hate us. Yes, thorns and thistles are sadly much more than merely unwanted plants.

We know God is still around and active in our lives to a certain extent. Even unbelievers experience rain and sunshine on a regular basis, as well as pain and suffering, even if they aren’t farmers. Our Messiah Yeshua isn’t on the throne of David in Jerusalem so His absence is a big reason for the lack of God’s full blessings on the earth. If He were rightfully enthroned, we would see many blessings returned to us. In the meantime, we work and sweat to get our bread, and the pain and suffering are right there as we do.

Thankfully, the thorns and thistles will not continue to afflict us. When our Messiah Yeshua returns and is seated on His rightful throne on earth, God will again visit us fully and paradise will be had once again. Lambs will frolic with lions, cobras will not bite, He will “answer” the ground and it will grow food in abundance, and we will see how it could have been if we had not turned our backs on Him from the beginning.

Isaiah 11:6–9 ESV. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

The return of our Messiah as Lord and King on the earth will be the end of thorns and thistles (and the other weeds) as God reverses His withdrawal. Jesus is God, so of course His presence “in the flesh” so to speak will mean blessings not seen since the Garden of Eden. Israel will be regathered and their blessings will be our blessings also.

Isaiah 12:2–6 ESV. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Shalom

Posted in Church • Daily Living • Law • New Covenant • Old Covenant • Promise The

Covenant

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The word “covenant” is mentioned in the ESV Bible about 325 times. Sometimes it refers to the rainbow after the flood (Genesis 9:13), sometimes to the Abraham covenant in Genesis 15 and the confirmation of the covenant by circumcision in Genesis 17. Other times it is referring to a covenant between two people such as Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 21). Sometimes too, there was a covenant even when the word isn’t used, such as the covenant in the Garden between Adam and God for avoiding one particular fruit (and thereby avoiding death). But mostly it’s the covenant made between God and Israel at Mount Sinai.

A covenant is a legal agreement with stipulations for performance by each party and penalties for breaking it, like a contract. However, if there are no stipulations for one party, then it is a “promise” because there is no legal enforcement for that party. For instance, the rainbow covenant with Noah after the flood not only doesn’t have any penalties for God if He didn’t perform His part, there is no way to enforce penalties on God anyway. He just said He would do something, and put His bow in the clouds as a sign of His commitment.

The covenant with Israel at Sinai did have stipulations for both parties. Israel was to follow the terms of the covenant and receive blessings, or break it and experience curses. In exchange, God would be their God and Shepherd, leading, protecting and blessing them in every way. By that point, God had already demonstrated His abilities in saving, protecting and blessing Israel in many powerful ways. All Israel had to do was stay on the path and do what God had laid out for them. He would live in their midst and blessings would flow as they followed all the terms of their side of the covenant. However, they refused many times and in many ways, leading to the curses warned about by God and their ultimate expulsion from the Land.

Before allowing Babylon to defeat Judah (the ten northern tribes called Israel had already been defeated by the Assyrians about a hundred years before) Jeremiah is told by God that the banishment would last 70 years and that there would be a new covenant between Him and Israel.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, also speaks of this new covenant (Ezekiel 11:19) along with giving the united Israel a heart transplant (also 36:26) and a new spirit. Part of this new covenant includes the God’s Laws written on the new heart, and all will obey. Jesus tells His disciples during the Passover dinner before His crucifixion that one of the cups of wine they share is the realization of this new covenant.

Luke 22:20 ESV. And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

The phrase “new covenant” used by Jesus here is καινὴ διαθήκη (transliterated kainόs diathēkē) meaning literally a refreshed agreement. Perhaps we could even use the more modern “new and improved” phrase. It is not new in the sense of something that hasn’t existed before and is now newly created. Jesus was referring to Jeremiah (notice He didn’t have to explain it to the disciples) and the power of His blood to write His Laws (including those given by Him on Mount Sinai) on a new heart of flesh.

The “new thing” called The Church, created by imagination about two to three hundred years A.D., has hijacked the application of the new covenant for itself, but has made it mean something other than what our Messiah intends. The Church of course is all the groups and organizations claiming to be part of this new thing, not just one particular group. Their interpretation of the new covenant is anti-Jewish (though God says it is between Him and Israel) and completely ignores the texts that speak explicitly of the terms. Their leaders say that the death of Jesus eliminated the Law and they don’t have to follow God’s Words anymore. In place of the Law, they have created all sorts of vague, ear-tickling and feelings-based guidelines focusing on doing what is right in their own eyes rather than the literal Law written on a new heart of flesh.

The New Testament, falsely named by the Church, is neither a covenant nor the new covenant. None of the collected books use the term “new covenant” except for the words of Jesus (also recorded in 1 Corinthians 11:25), an application by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:6 to believers as ministers of the new covenant, and several mentions by the author of the book of Hebrews quoting Jeremiah. Hebrews speaks of the “old covenant” being obsolete, not because the Law was eliminated (Jesus said Scripture cannot be broken John 10:35) but because it was on the outside chiseled on stone tablets, instead of on the inside written on a new heart of flesh.

Believers enter in to this new covenant and are given a heart transplant in order to follow all the instructions of our Father and our Messiah in love and spirit. Jesus died a horrible death and was resurrected as the ultimate and defining act of love. Accepting His sacrifice and His lordship is to become part of His household and kingdom along with living exactly as He directs with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. If we falter, we have an advocate in heaven who intercedes for us, so we confess our failure and work out our salvation with fear and trembling. All praise and thanks to the One who has set us free from sin and death to serve the God of light, life and love.

Shalom.

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Audiobook for Whole Bible Christianity Available

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It took a while, but an Audiobook version of our book Whole Bible Christianity is now available. It’s about 15 and a half hours, narrated by Bruce. You can get it free if you sign up for a trial membership at Audible.com. You get a free audiobook when you first sign up for the service. After the first month it costs $15.00 per month but you get one free book per month too.

If you click this link to view the print version, then click on the Free with your Audible Trial button and stay with Audible for two months, not only do you get two free audiobooks (for $15.00 the second month) but we get a $50.00 bonus! You can exchange any audiobook you decide is not for you, and your credit for one free book rolls over to the next month if you don’t use it. Even if you cancel membership after a while you can keep all your audiobooks.

What a great deal! Whole Bible Christianity, Blessings Pressed Down and Overflowing audiobook for free, a bonus to us, and you get more free audiobooks.

There’s also the print version of the book, and Kindle version for a pretty low cost. The Kindle and audiobook versions do not have the Scripture Index with almost 1,500 entries from every book in the Bible, and the audiobook doesn’t have the footnotes, but still you can listen on the way to work and back or read on a Kindle at your leisure. Get all three and get it all.

Shalom

Bruce

Posted in Authority • Balance • Blessing • Book publishing • Church • Comfort • Cults • Daily Living • Judaism • Judgment • Law • Love • Manna Reading Schedule • Messianic Movement • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Covenant • Old Testament • Paul Teachings • Promise The • Reading • Reward • Theology • Whole Bible Christianity • Whole Bible Christianity book • Worship

Whole Bible Christianity, The Book

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Our book Whole Bible Christianity has finally been published! It is on Amazon at this link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997501413/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1DQVER67Q2HMX&coliid=I1RPTLB6JQO1FI

There is a Look Inside feature, you can flip between the front and back cover, and it is only $19.50. If you would prefer, we will have the entire text on a web page when we update our website so you can read it online.

The book has about 800 direct quotes from the Word, around 1,500 entries in the Scripture Index, and is about 340 pages. One of the many uses of the book is as a handbook for whole Bible Christians everywhere who need a reference to help counter attacks against a whole Bible lifestyle. Chapter 7 deals with a bunch of the objections to following God’s living oracles, and chapter 8 has a list of blessings from doing what Jesus says.

Let us know what you think, and make sure to post a review on Amazon if you would be so kind.

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Bible • Bible Verse • Continuity & Discontinuity • Faith • Gospel • Grace • Hypocrisy • Law • New Covenant • Paul Teachings • Promise The • Whole Bible Christianity

New Series On Romans

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One of the things that has turned us off of the Messianic movement is the inability of many to explain Paul’s writings in context with the Law. Few can do it, if at all. So much of the Bible in general has been so covered over with traditions of men and deliberate misinterpretation, that even if a believer manages to work his way through to the understanding of the Law as a valid lifestyle and discipleship method Paul’s writings still seem to contradict (although we know instinctively that they don’t).

Usually the Messianic person will simply revert to throwing out Paul’s writings. A big tool for doing this is to claim that there must’ve been a (lost) Hebrew New Testament that was translated into Greek and in so doing much of the meaning was corrupted by the time we translate to English. So the easy answer for this crowd is to declare the Greek null and void.

Somewhere along the way this nutcase crowd decides to throw out the virgin birth of Jesus along with the claims that Jesus is God. Next this crowd just moves to throw out the whole New Testament. What the heck. It’s all mistranslated anyway, right? Anything they can’t understand or explain must be the fault of the text! Much of the throwing starts with Paul’s writings because they cannot explain properly what he is talking about.

So we decided to do some videos with our own explanations. It’s not that hard, really. All you have to do is read the text. The plain meaning is right there in front of us. It’s not the text that’s the problem. It is either an agenda or a fault in our own understanding. The message is repeated enough throughout the Word (including Paul’s writings) that it is extremely easy to figure out the meaning. If we are going to throw anything out it should be the traditions of men that clutter up the text in the first place.

First in the series is Romans chapters 1 through 4, just put up on our Youtube channel. It’s about an hour. Three future videos will cover four chapters each and hopefully end up at about an hour each.

There is a list of time marks in the description so you can jump to particular parts if you want. There are also links to other videos from us explaining different words or concepts further. We hope this series (along with other videos such as our Book of Galatians effort) will help the seeker of truth figure out how to explain their faith easily and biblically to the many (many, many, many) skeptics he or she will encounter.

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Law • Promise The • Whole Bible Christianity book

Adam and the Covenant

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Hosea tells us that Adam disobeyed the same covenant as Israel (or vice versa).

 

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. (Hosea 6:6-7 ESV)

 

The word “covenant” has a broader meaning than a specific agreement such as the one at Sinai. There is a built in covenant between God and any created being that assumes a continued reliance on the Creator. He gives life and we continue in that life by abiding in His Word. Normality is to be in God’s Word. Perversity is to be outside of it. A person is created by the Word of God and it is implied that we will stay in that Word because it is life. When we get right down to it there is no sense in departing from the Author of Life. Israel and Adam dealt faithlessly with that Word. Neither was showing steadfast love because neither obeyed the living oracles. That is why Hosea says that they are the same covenant. A covenant of life.

 

In my opinion the “knowledge of God” mentioned by Hosea is a direct poke at the choice of Adam, because he chose the tree of knowledge over the tree of life (God’s Word). It seems obvious that God’s Word, whether we want to call it a covenant, or promise, or Ten Suggestions, has always been around. Whatever Word He gives us, from “don’t eat that fruit” to “love others as yourself” and everything in between, is part of “the covenant,” because it is all His Word. And all of His Word is binding on His creation all the time, no matter what. To ignore His Word is to be faithless.

 

When the Law was delivered at Mount Sinai, contrary to standard church teaching, existing Law got written down. It was a condition of His residing with Israel. There were some additions and clarifications, probably due to changing physical circumstance. But by and large, it was the same Law that has always been around. In the midst of the flood of evil threatening to engulf the world, God placed His Ark of the Covenant with the “living oracles” in Israel. Then He set up shop in Israel Himself, as a beacon of life for all men.

 

From the book Whole Bible Christianity, a draft of which can be viewed at www.wholebible.com/Whole_Bible_Christianity.htm.

Posted in Promise The • Whole Bible Christianity • Whole Bible Christianity book

Quick Summary of the Promise

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Summarized from ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 4 The Promise

The Word is bound together with the Promise of a Savior. Sometimes called a covenant. God’s side of a covenant is always a promise, because no one can make Him deliver.

Genesis 3:15 The promise is made
Genesis 6:18, 9:9, 9:25-27 the promise is given to Noah
Genesis 12:1-3 Abraham inherits the promise, details of a land and descendants added
Genesis 13, 15, 17, 22, 24, 26, and 28 The promise inherited by Isaac and Jacob
Exodus 2:24, 6:8, 12:25 Israel rescued from Egypt because of the promise
Deuteronomy 6:1-4 the Law as part of the covenant or promise
Joshua 1:3 promise given to Moses
2 Sam. 7:11-16 Promise given to David, with more details of a son and a kingdom forever
1 Chronicles 16:14-18 David summarizes the promise or covenant
Acts 2:38-39 Peter says repent to receive the promise which is for all who are called
Acts 13:23-24 Jesus, son of David, brought to Israel as a Savior as promised
Romans 1:1-4 the gospel of God promised beforehand through the prophets concerning His Son
Romans 4:16 the promise guaranteed to all by faith through grace
Galatians 3:29 if we belong to Christ we are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise
Ephesians 2:12 we were separate from Christ, strangers to the covenants of promise
2 Peter 3:9 the Lord is not slow about His promise, wishing all to come to repentance
1 John 2:25 Eternal life is the promise

There are more verses scattered throughout the Word. Try the words ‘covenant’ and ‘promise’ in a good Bible software search and see what you can come up with. Good books on the subject are The Promise-Plan of God by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and The Prophets and the Promise by Willis Judson Beecher.