Thu, Jun 4th - 7:22PM
JUDAS' JOURNEY TO HELL
JUDAS’ JOURNEY TO HELL
Brothers and sisters, we know that God commands every believer to
be fed/taught the word of God without adding to nor taking away from it that
our foundation will be permanently established upon Christ our Rock. ANYTHING/PERSON that adds to or
takes away from the word of God unrepentantly is cursed and not accepted by
God. The righteous will believe and receive correction, but the wicked no
matter how long and often they hear the truth will never believe it but resist
it. The Word of God is the
only spiritual food that can feed/grow the church that is commanded by
God to: Act 20:28 - Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to
all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his
own blood. God commands that the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ be
taught/understood/interpreted within the whole context of both Old and New Testaments wholly
by the Standard of Christ
held within the whole
framework of the
boundaries, principals/doctrines of the New Testament of Jesus Christ: 2Ti 3:16 - All scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti
3:17 - That the man of
God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
This starts with the Gifts, (Eph 4:11-16 - And he gave…) of
the Holy Ghost to the church in the guiding/guarding servant officers/teachers,
and aides throughout the whole church of
mature believers with various gifts so that the Word of God like leavening will
spread throughout the whole of the congregation over time with the goal that every believer in the unity
of the gospel will grow over time from
spiritual babyhood on milk to spiritual maturity on the strong meat of the the
Word, be equipped,
able to live, share
and defend the
gospel message, and
have the knowledge to do/live God’s will walk in love and protect themselves from false teachers/false
doctrines. There is
no salvation, no church, no growth, without the gospel. WE CAN DO NOTHING
WITHOUT JESUS. We know that Lord Jesus is loving, kind and merciful. However,
we also know that a view of Him as soft, weak, wishy washy, touchy feely warm
and fuzzy, loosie goosy understanding and accepting of divergent views/mixes of
His gospel is not only wrong it is blasphemous. Although it is eternally true
that Lord Jesus is loving, kind, and merciful, again, He adamantly resists the
lie or perception of Himself and/or His gospel as loosie goosy come as you are
and do as you wish because God knows we are all just helpless sinners, see Rom 6 . Jesus always
presents His gospel as absolute, exclusive, explicit, exhaustive, eternal,
inerrant, final, finished complete, and unchanging. Jesus never did nor ever will
negotiate, compromise, cut a deal, make a bargain, accept excuses, alternatives,
mixes, additions, subtractions of His gospel of the New Covenant. Salvation being forgiven of our sins never
meant nor means we can unrepentantly practice any sin see Rom 6. Jesus is
the Lamb of God, but let none forget that Jesus is the Lion of Judah, King of
kings who fears nothing and no man, He loves and disciplines His church. He
will defend His church, He will not turn back from battle until the victory and
every adversary bow at His feet. Moses warned about Jesus: Act
3:22 - For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he
shall say unto you. Act 3:23 - And it shall come to
pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall
be destroyed from among the people.
Those who knowingly/unrepentantly
pervert scriptures are not fighting against men they are the enemy fighting against
God in vain. God always wins, always. Jesus has given every believer the power
of self-control/discipline. Jesus as the Head of the church again, disciplines,
purges all those whom He loves so that they can bear good fruit. We know that
God never condemns or gets angry with those who make mistakes in interpretation
of scriptures out of ignorance, but who gladly receive the correction of truth
when they hear. It is anyone who regardless of how often and no matter how long
they hear the gospel truth that chooses to resist/continually- reject it that
God rightly condemns as wicked persons: Rom
1 20-21; Rom
1:28; Heb
6:4-8; 2Co
11:26; 1Co
5:13. As we sit together, dearly
beloveds at Lord Jesus’ table to eat and drink into Him receiving the spiritual
nourishment that only He can provide, we are separated by time, space and
distance from one another but joined together in spirit/heart, and mind
comforted together in the Holy Ghost who is always standing by to guide and perfect our
understanding of God’s will in His presence lavishing upon us His undying love
and truth. Through Lord Jesus we who have believed in His atoning work have
full confidence, assurance and peace that He has forgiven us permanently, and made us new creations
in Him and priests under Him our High Priest forever: 1Pe 2:5 - Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to
God by Jesus Christ. All believers are priests in the
family of God although all do not hold the same office. It doesn’t matter what
race, nation, male, female, rich, poor, healthy, impaired health, all are
priests under our Great High Priest Jesus Christ. Dearly beloveds, your
priestly prayers and sacrificial love offerings are pleasing and count with God:
Rev 8:3-4; Rev 19:8. I
pray that we will be
reconciled to God who through Christ Jesus who has finished our work for us
under His New Covenant. Col
2:13 - And you, being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath
he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Col
2:14 - Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Isa 43:25 - I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins. Jer 31:34 …saith the
LORD: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Psa 103:12 , Mic
7:19 Rom 4:8 - Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Heb 8:12 - For I
will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more. Eph 1:7 - In whom we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace; The
forgiveness of our sins through faith in Christ is permanent, finished, and
complete: Heb
9:12; Heb
5:9. Holy brethren, we know that false teachers deliberately in vain pervert
the apostle John’s vs 1Jo
1:9 - If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
False teachers use this one verse out of context to pervert the gospel to deceive
the gullible to believe that to stay saved, or not lose fellowship with God they
must keep a record of every sins and continually confess each of them, so they won’t
fall away or lose fellowship with God. This is a dangerous spiritually toxic lie of a doctrine made wrongly out of one verse in scripture that has caused
depression, anxiety, suicidal ideations, and suicide in deceived believers including
some pastors too. Anyone who comes to Christ already with these conditions are highly likely to have them worsen to crisis or acting out in self-harm. They sincerely want to please God but noting their constant failures not remembering to confess some sin that day or somewhere in the past and/or become overwhelmed by this endless work they become self-loathing/angry having failed to please God over and over again and see themselves as no good, not deserving to live. We know the only the truth can set every believer free: Jhn 8:32. 1 John 1: 9 interpreted
correctly within the context of the whole of both Old and New Testaments is
that the apostles’ all eyewitnesses of
Jesus the Word of God received the gospel directly from Him. John wants us all
to know the truth to be absolutely confident and assured that we have permanent
fellowship with God, Jesus Christ and one another with full joy when we believe
the absolute truth that God is absolute light and there is absolutely no
darkness in Him. Therefore, we can be certain that anyone who claims to be in
Christ yet walks in darkness- have no evidence of living/doing the will of God
but live contrariwise are liars. However,
we can be absolutely certain that all authentic believers will consistently live/do
the will of God, and can be absolutely confident and assured that they have
fellowship with the Father, Son, and saints (G40 hagios) proof positive that
they are walking in the light and the blood of Jesus
cleanses them from all unrighteousness, all sins, permanently. Those who
claim they’ve never sinned, or were born sinless, are liars, for all have
sinned. Again, John assures every believer that: 1Jo 1:9 - If we
confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Rom 10:9-13.
1 John 1 assures us that Christ has finished our
work, we are a permanently forgiven people, under the New Covenant. John absolutely
defends the New Covenant forgiveness through the atonement of Christ: 1Jo 5:18 - We know that whosoever is
born of God sinneth not; but he
that is
begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked
one toucheth him not. In God we are either Saint or
sinner and there is absolutely no mix of the two. There is absolutely not one
scripture nor doctrine that teaches the lie that the blood of Jesus is insufficient
to save permanently leaving the believer to keep a record of their own sins to
keep coming to Jesus and/or God to be forgiven/ saved over and over again per
each and every sin. Brothers and sisters,
after salvation, we know how God commands every Christian to live, and that we
have been equipped and empowered to live the will of God out of love and trust
in Him. The role and purpose of
confession after salvation is clearly laid out in scripture Pl 2:11, Jas 5:16; Not in any perverted sense to be forgiven over and over
again to stay saved or to stay in fellowship with God, but to serve God and one
another. Again, we know that through Christ our salvation is permanent and done;
Heb 9:12 - Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. We are all on a journey either
to heaven or to hell. We can be certain that Judas’ journey to hell was
certified after he heard the gospel many times over the years, and steadfastly
refused to believe it. On the very night
Judas the thief showed up to betray Lord Jesus with the chief priests and their
sycophants who were thieves too, Judas had the thirty pieces of silver
already in hand, when he kissed Jesus on the cheek, referring to Him only as
master. Judas knew Jesus would be put to
death and never believed in Him. Judas' fellow disciples and Lord Jesus Christ's message, meant nothing to Judas. Judas shamelessly watched his shocked/terrified fellow
disciples run in fear like roaches caught in the light leaving Jesus alone and revealing
himself as the betrayer. Judas was glad that he would live, assured of his financial
future with his ill -gotten gain-or so he thought. Some in error might still have a bit of sympathy for the sneaky thief, after all wasn't his fall foretold before he was born predestinating his terrible end? Love and truth forever, serola
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Sun, May 24th - 6:59AM
DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST
Brothers and sisters, thanks, praises, and blessings be to God our Father who has made us a priesthood and family under Jesus Christ God the Son of God whom God our Father has appointed our eternal great High Priest forever, Heb 2:17; Heb 4:14l; Heb 6:20 - Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. who has washed and cleansed us from all sin with His own sinless blood. Let us offer up the sweet sacrifices of love, adoration, and thanksgiving to Him continually, and to God our Father who has given us His only begotten Son through whom we have received the eternal atonement eternal everlasting forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in His name with sure New Covenant promises: Heb 8:12 - For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Heb 10:17 - And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Dearly beloved, much love, blessings and peace to you. I pray that you, me, us- that our hearts would rejoice continually in the knowledge of the eternal love and truth of our great invincible, Father God who has raised us up from the dead through the operation of faith in Christ, and placed us on the risen side of the cross our lives hidden in Him in God wherein He has finished our work for us and bestowed upon us eternal incendiary undying love and forgiveness of our sins, nailing them to His cross. Jesus stands as our perpetual Advocate in heaven with the Holy Ghost making continual intercessions for us wherein, we stand by His power. We know without doubt or question brothers and sisters, that God through Christ has given us an eternal inheritance, which we cannot lose- it is the free gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. However, let none of us lose our reward, but out of love and trust in Jesus get our full reward in partnering with God in sharing the gospel message and glorifying Him in all that we do in word and deed : Mat 16:27; 1Co 3:8-9; Heb 10:35 2Jo 1:8. As we continue with this study, we know that God commands us never to fear but to love even our enemies as we gladly do, for He loves them and doesn’t want them to parish neither do His people. We ourselves, having been saved and delivered from the power and kingdom of darkness desire that all who believe should be delivered as well. However, God’s people are not doormats and are empowered by God to defend and protect themselves and others should the need arise to do so. Worldwide God has established authorities to restrain and punish those who do evil/evil doers: Rom 13:3-4. Therefore, we understand the wrath of God against those that do evil through His perspective of love patience, long suffering, and goodness not wanting any to parish but for all to be saved which by no means indicates that He is tolerant, neutral, indifferent, or soft on evil people. Evil people are in the world, and evil people are in the church, and in some of our families too. The world cries out for justice. Many are angry and troubled that too often the wicked are not held accountable and there is little concern for the poor victims as there ought to be. We find more than we like to that the justice of the world is imperfect two tiered, having a mix of both corrupt and just judges limited in ability to detect the whole truth at times allowing the guilty to escape justice and the innocent to be found guilty. The holy justice system of God is nothing like that of the world. The holy justice system of God is perfect, meticulous, inerrant, no respecter of persons. God knows the secret intents, purposes of the hearts, and minds of all men and women too. All flesh is open and naked before His eyes and nothing and no one can be hidden from Him. Therefore, holy brethren, we can be absolutely certain that in the absolute perfect inerrant justice system of God the unrepentant wicked shall have no excuse and shall not by any means escape everlasting punishment in hell to await final judgement in the lake of fire with the devil and his angels forever separated from the kingdom of God, while the repentant righteous shall never be condemned but shall be forever saved, blessed and shall enter into the kingdom of God and dwell in His presence forever. Next Judas’ journey to hell. Stay tuned. Love and truth forever.
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Fri, May 22nd - 12:36AM
DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST
Brothers
and sisters, family of the living God our Father, and priests under our great
High Priest, Saviour, Mediator Jesus Christ, God the Son of God, we know that God
commands that all believers be taught the scriptures through the local church
servant officers it is not automatically known. We know that Lord Jesus Christ
is the only saviour and the only way of salvation is through faith/obedience in
His atonement. We know that God commands that the New Covenant is the sole and
final authority of the church. We know that all believers must be taught/understand
and live it publicly and privately through the Standard of Christ within the
boundaries established within the whole context of both the Old and New
Testaments. We know that God commands every
believer in addition to being taught, that after they are taught are to
continue to study live and feed themselves on Christ as well: 2Ti
2:15 - Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
We know that the Word of
God alone through the scriptures alone comprehensively equip, prepares, and
enables every believer to be able over time to understand and to faithfully
carry out the will of God in works, manner of living, character, publicly and privately:
To make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is
in Christ Jesus. 2Ti 3:16 - All scripture is given
by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 - That the
man of God may be perfect, throughly
furnished unto all good works. When
we open the scriptures, dearly beloveds, we cannot fail to notice that Lord Jesus the
Word of God never ceased to teach and correct through and by the scriptures,
leaving us the supreme example to follow. Therefore, we can be fully confident
to trust completely and understand that God commands us all to
interpret Scriptures by the scriptures because the scriptures interprets itself
by the scriptures, teaches, confirms/validates, backs up, proves, corrects and defends scriptures
absolutely without error nor any contradiction in any way, manner or kind
whatsoever within the whole context of both the New and Old Testaments. We see
many examples of this throughout scripture- the apostles interpreting the Old
Testament within whole context of both Testaments. We know, holy brethren, that
the duty of teaching the flock starts primarily with the servant leaders of
every local church with the goal of aiding believers to grow from spiritual
infancy to spiritual maturity in living and sharing the gospel in the world and
to encourage other believers and aid them in their growth. God forbids adding
to or taking away from His word, and curses those who do so unrepentantly
willfully: Gal
1:8-9; 2Jo
1:10-9. There are those who have helpful studies interpreting scriptures
but all such including teachers must be tested/proven rightly by scripture. There cannot be any spiritual
healthy church without the nourishment of the scriptures. You, me us- we
can do nothing without Jesus, and why would we want to try, it will never work.
Spiritual slops cannot feed God’s people only Jesus can. There is an abundance
of spiritually healthy churches addicted to the scriptures fully equipping the
saints (G40 hagios}. Unfortunately, there are others whose members are
spiritually poorly developed showing evidence of failure of being taught
scripture to any significant degree. These kinds of flocks get in trouble in
ignorance making up stuff trying to please God. Some suffer terrible
consequences and some even die and have died. Just as the multitude of faithful
servant leaders will be rewarded for their faithful care of the flock, the
negligent unfaithful ones, unless they repent will suffer the punishment of
God. However, it is error to teach
that the devil possessed Judas and caused him to not believe and betray Jesus.
Jesus declared that evil is a condition of the heart: Mar 7:20 - And he
said, That which
cometh out
of the man, that defileth the man. Mar 7:21 - For from
within, out of the heart of
men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, We know dearly beloveds that, God allows all men
to be tested but tempts no man: Jas 1:13-15. The
devil can tempt for he is the tempter and adversary of both the good and the
evil. However, if the devil could force all peoples to sin, then God would have
to abolish hell, and that will never happen. Judas yielded to temptation
because it aligned with what he wanted to do all along. Judas was not possessed
the devil was his Father and entered him to encourage him to do what he wanted
to do even before the devil entered him. Throughout scriptures we find certain people
who knowingly and were willingly involved with the devil to gain wealth and/ or
power. However, in the case of possession the victims-men, women, children- were
never conscious or in control of their own bodies, but were under the complete
control of the devil/demons, that only Lord Jesus could deliver them from. Judas
was fully conscious and in control of himself, he was not forced to do evil, he
chose to do evil. He loved money more than God.Jhn :19 - And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.Jhn
3:20 - For every
one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. Love and truth forever, serola
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Wed, May 6th - 8:25AM
DINNER WITH JESUS CHRIST
Brothers
and sisters, priests under our Saviour, Mediator, Great High Priest Jesus
Christ God the Son of God, Anointed forever by God our Father in perpetuity,
let us pour out our love, thanks and praise offerings to our God Lord Jesus
Christ, God our Father, and to God our Holy Ghost, who indwells and lives in us
and have made us one body in Christ and members of one another, by the will of
God our Father through faith in our Lord Jesus and sealed us forever with God
our Holy Ghost. Much love, grace, peace and blessings to you brothers and
sisters. I give our great Almighty God who is love and invincible in power thanks
for you and pray that He will strengthen you, me us in the knowledge of His
will, and all wisdom and spiritual understanding that we will be rooted and
established in His undying incendiary love and truth for our God is a consuming
fire. Having
dinner with someone regularly is so intimate. But how do you keep dining with
somebody whom you know, although they think you don’t know, that they are only
with you to make money off
of you and see you as having no value for anything other than that? Yet we see again and again the patience and
long suffering of God, that Lord Jesus not only dined with Judas Iscariot but
slept in the same dwellings and allowed him to be in his life for the total years of His earthly
ministry. Jesus gave Judas chance after chance, continual sermons, warnings, teachings,
observation of miracles upon miracles, along with love and affection, washed
Judas’ feet with the rest of the disciples, and
Judas still did not believe. It is
through the perspective of God’s mercy, love and long-suffering patience, that
we gain a comprehensive understanding of the wrath of God against evil and why
He will destroy evil out of His kingdom forever at the appointed time. While
God is patient and long suffering with all men this absolutely never indicates
indifference, tolerance, or the approval of evil in any way or manner
whatsoever. Some
might find it mind blowing that Judas heard the gospel directly from Jesus the
Son of God all that time and still did not believe. Jesus knew that there were
others that did not believe in Him, but only Judas betrayed Him: Jhn 6:70 - Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a
devil? Jhn
6:71 - He spake of
Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it
was that
should betray him, being one of the twelve. I.Devil:
prone to slander, slanderous, accusing falsely 1. a
calumniator, false accuser, slanderer, II.metaph.
applied to a man who, by opposing the cause of God, may be said to act the part
of the devil or to side with him. We
know that Judas didn’t suddenly just jump up and betray Jesus, the seed of his
greed, unbelief, hatred and distain for the Lord was already simmering in his
heart by choice not by force, which Jesus indicates indirectly referring to one
of His disciples meaning Judas as a devil: Mat 13:39 - The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the
end of the world; and the reapers are the
angels. We
know that Jesus directly referred to other people in scripture as Satan, and
also children of the devil. Why did Jesus never directly confront Judas, as He
had done with others as in the case of Peter, Mar 8:33?The
apostles Matthew and Mark write nothing about the devil or Satan entering Judas,
but the apostles Luke and John clearly state that the devil entered Judas. This
is not a contradiction of scripture but a 360 degree view of Judas that he by
choice, even before the devil entered him was willing to do anything necessary
to get a final windfall of money out of Jesus, seeing that Jesus would suffer
death and His ministry would end on earth. Both apostles Matthew and Mark make
it clear that after Judas realizes the death of Jesus means the end of easy
money, and not getting access to Mary’s ointment Judas goes straight to the
chief priests to betray Jesus: Mat
26:14 - Then one of
the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief
priests, Mar
14:10 - And Judas Iscariot, one of
the twelve, went unto the chief
priests, to betray him unto them. Luk
22:3 - Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of
the twelve. Jhn
13:2 - And supper being
ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jhn
13:27 - And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto
him, That thou doest, do quickly. Dearly
beloveds, as horrific as these verses are that the devil first put it into
Judas’ heart to betray Jesus, than entered Judas the question some might ask is
why didn’t Jesus cast the devil out, as He had done many times with those who
were possessed. Jesus certainly knew the devil was in Judas. Instead, what
did Jesus do? He gave Judas communion with the rest of His apostles, a final
warning and a last chance to believe on Him and escape eternal damnation. Lke14And
when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15And he said unto them, With
desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16For I say unto you, I will not
any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18For I say unto you, I will not
drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19And he took bread, and gave
thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body
which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20Likewise also the cup after
supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood,
which is shed for you. 21But,
behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the
table. 22And truly the
Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is
betrayed! Jesus, the good Shepherd, showed love and mercy even to a man in such a state as Judas. Jesus loved and didn’t want
to lose any of His disciples, including Judas. Jesus gave Judas chance after
chance and a final opportunity to be saved, and Judas rejected the final and
last opportunity to be saved. Some
might say in error,
it was already too late because Judas was possessed by the devil. Stay tuned. love and truth forever, serola
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Mon, Apr 20th - 6:27PM
DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIE THAT GOD HAS NO
FURTHER NEED FOR A HIGH PRIEST Brothers and sisters,
let us priests give continual offerings of fervent love, praises and thank
offerings to God our Father through Jesus Christ our Saviour, great High
Priest, Mediator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Potentate, invincible in
power, and mighty in love and mercy for He is worthy. Therefore, holy brethren
let us always continue to assemble together as God commands, yet let us look no
more to temples made by the hands of men for God Has declared: 1Co 3:16 - Know
ye not that ye are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you?1Co 3:17 - If any
man defile the temple of
God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of
God is holy, which temple ye are. 1Co
6:19; Act 7:48 - Howbeit the most
High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet, Act
17:24 - God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made
with hands; Holy
brethren, I pray that we shall always remember who we are as priests under our
Eternal Absolute High Priest, Jesus Christ, serving as His representatives and
ambassadors on earth, therefore let us all act accordingly knowing that
everything we do reflects on Him for the good or otherwise. We
know that God is absolute eternal love and truth, He is a discerner of the
intents and motives of the heart. The
Levitical Aaronic high priest under the Law had to accept whatever was offered
by the people. He had no way of knowing what was in the hearts or minds of the
givers. He didn’t know whether they gave willingly or begrudgingly. He didn’t
know if the people gave out of love cheerfully or out of fear of punishment by
God if they failed to give. He had no way of knowing if what the people gave
was from honest labor, or from thievery or some other illicit act. He had to
accept what the people gave on face value and all of it went into the treasury.
The Levitical priesthood is done away in Christ, God the Son of God whom God
the Father has anointed as the Eternal Asolute High Priest of the New Covenant
after the order of Melchizedek. Because Jesus is fully man and fully God, equal
with God the Father and also omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent He is able
to know what is in the hearts, minds intents and purposes of His people when
they give or do any works dedicated to Him. No works or offerings of any kind not given to Jesus out
of love and trust in Him is accepted. This is why God warns in 13 chapter of Corinthians
vs 1 that we can have gifts, give all our works, money to the poor, even give our bodies to be
burned etc., but without charity or agape love we are nothing to Him, we have
no relationship nor kinship with Him, for God is love, and truth. Most
certainly as we return to our study, dearly beloveds, in every sense we look at
a scene of two mourners one whom John our brother and apostle reveals as the
repentant Mary who had sat at Jesus’s feet intensely attentive to His teachings
the few times He was in her home, who believed in Him realizing the great
sacrifice that Christ would give of His life, in love, worship, and mourning
anointed his feet with the valuable ointment knowing that Christ was the true
value beyond all treasures of the present evil world. The other mourner, Judas
Iscariot heard Jesus’ preaching publicly and privately, saw all the miracles,
received the love and encouragement from the God Man, received all the warnings
to turn him away from betrayal, knew the price of everything and the value of
nothing. Judas saw Jesus as worthless, Jesus’ death as the cruel end of the
gravy train and easy money that he stole from the money bag, his hopes of a
cushy position and power under the ministry of Jesus evaporated. Judas Iscariot
who had lived, slept and ate in the presence Jesus during His entire ministry
on earth, still didn’t believe in Him and never called Jesus Lord. Likely,
Judas thought when Mary appeared with her precious ointment, he would gain
possession of it and secure a final windfall from stealing from it. He mourned
the loss of it and seems to have gone over the edge at the loss of this last
hope of financial gain when he saw Mary putting all of her ointment on Jesus. 4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, 5
Why was not this ointment sold for three
hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6
This he
said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he
was a
thief, and had the bag, and bare what was
put therein. 7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of
my burying hath she kept this. 8
For the poor always ye
have with you; but me ye have not always. Jesus
is protective of Mary, and reveals that her anointings of Him were not random
acts out of the blue. Instead, Jesus revealed she heard the gospel and believed.
she understood Him as Man and God, His mission, message and the meaning of His
coming death and had obtained her ointment in advance for the sole purpose to
lavish it upon Him in love, worship and gratitude and mourning for the world changing
sacrifice He would give of His life to pay in full for the sins of the world to
save all who believe in Him.Some
would have been outraged at Judas knowing he was a thief who was going to
betray them Some would have called Judas every bad name in the book to display
their utter disgust at this dog who’d bite the hand that fed him. Some might
have become physical and thrown the ingrate, sneaky thief Judas out of the
house. However, Jesus does none of that.
Jesus is always in control, and here we get a deep understanding of our Lord as
Good, Great Shepherd, who protects and lauds the repentant Mary and rebukes yet
still offers Judas Iscariot as it were the last chance to stir up in him some
type of human feeling of love for Him, that he might miss Him or long for Him
after His passing. We cannot fail to note the great love patience, long
suffering, and mercy of Lord Jesus in His dealing with Judas Iscariot. John
gives us the final rendition of the Story of Mary and her precious ointment
here, reminding us that repentance is more than a word or a one time event, and
that those who hear and believe the gospel are led by God in repentance to love
and show gratitude to the Saviour that made heaven possible for all who believe
in Him. We must look further at Judas Iscariot this evil man and what the Bible
means by the horrific occurrence that satan entered him. Stay tuned. Love and
truth forever, serola
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Name: Dolores serola Rutherford
