Torah of Messiah - The Passover
Torah of Messiah - The Passover in Exodus 12:49
Now we look at the scriptural passage in which the word Torah appears for the second time. Exodus 12:49:
A law, Torah, is to be for the
natives and for the stranger,
who dwells in your midst.
And verse 43:
This is the statute of the Passover.
A law means: a single law, it is a composite unity, not an absolute "one". The Hebrew word used for "one" אחד (e-chad) is a number word and indicates that this law has only one statute. Moreover, the word echad hides a secret. We will come back to this later. The law of Passover regulates who is allowed to eat it and who is not. Let us first look at the word statute. It can be translated with:
1. fixed, appointed, called;2. custom, practice, habit3. method, behaviour4. manner5. order, regulation, statutory order6. place, place, square7. law
The word statute, חוכה (cho-kah´), is the female form and comes from male word chok חוק (H2706) and is translated with decree or statutory order. The male form is derived from the verb cha-kak חקק (H2710) and means "to engrave".
And so, through our faith, the law is written by God on our hearts. In other words, the Lord personally engraves his word on our hearts; and now it becomes even more intimate: the bridegroom writes himself on the heart of his bride. When we examine and explain all the variants of translation and the roots of the word, they tell us the miraculous story of Jesus with his beloved people:
In Genesis it is promised that the Messiah:
- by his sacrifice,
- on Golgotha,
- by crucifixion,
- by being nailed to it,
- engraved forever in hands, feet and side,
(hence the male form of the word),
- for the sin of his people,
- death on Golgotha,
- according to the law of God.
He did all this for you and me. For Israel () the Messiah suffers the sacrificial death on the cross (hence the female form of the word).
Also the law in Exodus 12 is a different law than that of Sinai. It is the law of the Passover. God explains it this way: "This is a night to be observed by the Lord, because he brought it out of the land of Egypt.
The wording that is to be observed to the Lord reminds of the Passover that on every first day of the week serves the remembrance of the Lamb of God. The hours of darkness are the night that came over the whole country when the Passover was slaughtered. In this time the LORD endured judgment. God wants us to remember what happened on the cross, for it is His night, the night to watch the Lord.
This is proclaimed in a law. We see that the Passover of Egypt fits one-to-one on Golgotha. In the three hours of darkness, from 12 to 15 pm, when the Lamb of God was slaughtered, the whole world was in darkness. The Lamb of God died for the people of God. And so we remember his death in the Lord's Supper.
The Enemies of the Great Son of David
At this point we should remember again the reasons that led us to this book. We did not plan to write such a book. Only those passages should be briefly explained in which the word Torah appears before the legislation at Sinai. We were not aware of the dramatic direction in which the work would develop and which topics would affect the laws. Unnecessary and naïve and completely unsuspecting, we set to work and researched the scriptures.
The cramped heart
Unfortunately there are enemies who say: Should God be able to prepare a table in the desert? Ps.78,19 David gives his enemies a glorious answer when they want to hear it: You prepare a table before me in front of my enemies (H6887).
There are enemies who argue over the Lord's table: "There can be only one table," they say, and rise above David the beloved, and blaspheme, stand up against brothers and sisters, and force them out, as they did then, and as they do now. Weeds do not pass.
Who or what are the enemies? Can one know the enemies? Yes, one can know and recognize them. Only when we examine the Hebrew word do we understand who these enemies are. May we not be counted by "the great son of David" as his enemies. For a long time I hesitated to explain the Strong No. 6887, but the times are not getting any better. Sometimes you just have to say a clear word.
The Hebrew word is צרר zarar. One can remember the meaning well, because it reminds us of the German word wrangling or tearing. The literal translation is:
tighten, cramp or also cling.
What does the Lord mean by the word "zarar"?
The practice of breaking bread causes stomach cramps in all believers who come on Sundays as visitors to the so-called "hour of worship" of the Exclusive Brotherhoods. Why? As strangers they are not allowed to participate in the Lord's Supper. But also the Exclusive Brothers get stomach cramps because, arrested in their tradition, their admission practice, which they have introduced, should somehow change but should not be able to change and many do not want to change either; and so the writings are never or rarely researched. The status quo is maintained, and even more, one clings to the interpretations of the corresponding passages as they were made by the old brothers. However, they did not understand the Scriptures correctly, because they thought that the Lord's Supper could only be found in the New Testament. Help is needed because they stumbled through the narrow focus. Their interpretations lead to the fact that the stomach pains persist, the cramps do not subside, because they continue to exclude strangers.
Abdominal cramps
The excluded get cramps because they don't get anything to eat and the exclusive get cramps because their bread is unclean. See below.
Assuming that a church of the Exklusives would let strangers take part in the meal, the exclusion from the "Association" of the Old Assemblies would certainly come about. The exclusion does not only apply nationally. All "affiliated" groups received an exclusion notification as quickly as possible. Not only in Germany, but also worldwide the exclusion would take place by "force", i.e., their order would be expected from the congregations, yes, prescribed. If not primarily with words, but then with an unspoken threat: If you let foreign brothers or sisters of this or that congregation participate in the Lord's Supper, then you too are out. Where is the love for strangers that Paul writes about in his Epistle to the Romans?
Help approaches
Chapter 12,13 of the Epistle to the Romans contains the word hospitality in the Elberfelder. But if we translate the Greek expression more precisely, it reads: love for strangers. Strangers? What kind of strangers should we tenderly and lovingly offer them hospitality, entertain them with pleasure, and joyfully give them shelter?
The strangers are saints, i.e. they are Christians whom we do not know personally but who suddenly come to visit us and visit the parish classes. They are even strangers to the way that they do not even know a "letter of recommendation", let alone carry one with them. Should they have one with them? No, because letters of recommendation should at best be carried by employees of the kingdom of God.
Recommendations are the actual topic in the 2nd Letter to the Corinthians. Paul writes about the Corinthians: "You are our letter! Why are the Corinthians a letter from Paul and his coworkers? Because Paul and the sisters and brothers in the service of the Gospel have written the Good News on the hearts of the Corinthians.
Note: There were never letters circulating at that time that were meant to make a recommendation: He may take part in the Lord's Supper. The letters of recommendation that are meant here recommend in a special way the co-workers of the Kingdom of God. These are those who are in daily service to the Gospel, who work for local assemblies, and who have the common good of the worldwide assembly in mind. Although there was so much trouble in Corinth, Paul could still say that you had become manifest as a letter of Christ. And the apostle could say even more: "You are our letter, inscribed in our hearts, known and read by all people. All Corinthians are meant by this, none of them is excluded. All together are co-workers in the vineyard of God and a letter of Christ and written in the hearts of the co-workers.
Therefore, please: Do not write letters, but be letters. Not with ink on paper, but with the Spirit of the living God, engraved on our fleshy hearts as well as written on our flesh (these are the parchments Paul left behind in Troas). These are recommendations described by God. These are first-class recommendations.
Many brothers use the New Testament exclusively on this subject because they completely separate the Passover of Egypt from the Lord's Supper. They do not only do this on this subject. However, the Bible forms a unity. Only when we join both parts together do we possess the Word again, as it were, as a stream that was previously divided by God into two partial rivers, the Old Testament on one side and the New Testament on the other. The world is symbolized in the Bible by the land of Sinear, among other things. Sinear means land of two rivers. And so the two rivers, the Old and the New Testament, flow through this world.
Models of hospitality in the Old Testament
Let us be loving and tender to the strangers as well as Abraham and Lot. When Abraham hastily prepared food for the three strangers, he may not yet have known who he was facing. In the same way Lot acted. His love and care for the two messengers is exemplary. Were they angels? You may doubt it, but you don't have to. Malach means messenger and can be applied to both angels and humans. At that time it could possibly have been angels, but prophetically, we are sure, it will be human beings. The Lord says: "In the resurrection we are like angels of God." It is precisely at this time that the visit of the strangers takes place, namely after the resurrection of the firstfruits and their Rapture.
Note: In our opinion, the two companions of Yahweh are Enoch and Abel. Why? Both are associated with the forthcoming worldwide judgment:
- And Enoch the seventh of Adam prophesied of them, saying, "Behold, the Lord has come in the midst of his holy thousands to execute judgment against all, and to convict completely all their ungodly of all their ungodly works which they have done ungodly, and of all the harsh words which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Judas 1,4
- The blood of Jesus ...who speaks better than Abel. Hebr. 12,44 What does Abel's blood say? It cries out: Revenge!
Lot holds fast to his invitation. He does not let up. Patience is a virtue, isn't it? Lot has patience. He pushes the strangers until the messengers follow his invitation and enter his house. What happens later in Lot's house is reprehensible neglected in the Annunciation.
The lover not only offers his guests a safe shelter, but also prepares a very special supper for the strangers. And, what was there to eat in the house of Lots? One thing I can already tell you, it was the most delicious. The Hebrew word "Mishteh" (משתה H4960) for meal means:
1. a drink,2. drink a drink (the action),3. a drinking feast,4. but it can also be translated with the word feast.
The word root means:
1. accept,2. drink,3. suck in or suck up and4. incorporate.
What kind of supper is this that is called Mishteh, but emphasizes both a drink and the drinking itself? At the same time the actual food is pushed into the background. What kind of meal is this that is also celebrated as a feast?
It is hard to imagine that Lot and his guests had a drinking session. Sure, there was plenty to drink, as the text lets us know, because the drink and the drinking get the focus and emphasize the two things. But as usual for every feast, food was of course served as well. Lot stood in the bakery and had baked a unique bread. Literally translated, the bread means "unleavened sweetness".
The meaning of the feast of Genesis 19:3
Both the sweet and the unleavened point to the Messiah and his memorial meal and, of course, first and foremost, the drink, because it is the drink that gives the feast its splendour and brings about an exuberant and unspeakable joy among the guests.
The unleavened in the Bible is always an image of purity and sinlessness. The Messiah was pure and sinless, and so he sacrificed his spotless body. The sweetness speaks of honey, which is used as an image for the gospel. The friendliness of the Messiah towards men is proverbial. No matter who came to him, he met everyone with love, patience and great wisdom. His words were kind words, be speeches kind speeches. But because the word of the Lord is sweeter than honey and honeyseim, it tells us of the Messiah himself, such as the good shepherd who follows the one runaway sheep until he has found it.
The drink is of the vine, the wine of the finest. This is what Lot enriched the stranger. The wine symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed for our sins. The cakes from his body that was shattered for us. The sweetness in the cake points to his word, the Good News of the New Testament, that was already hidden in the Old Testament but could be found.
The Feast of Joy in Other Scriptures
For the obedient Lot, his family and his guests, the evening became a celebration as we find it prophetically described in Esther 1. It is the second, the seven-day feast. And so the Lord's Supper is for us again and again a feast (as described in Esther 1. It is the first feast for the princes of the 127 landscapes). Let us rejoice! The Messiah has made everything well, even if the enemies standing outside scream murder and torment. The joy of the Lord cannot be taken from us, the joy of the Lord will be our strength.
Also the feast for the comrades of Simson points to the Lord's Supper, even if the journeymen cannot solve the mystery themselves. (See http://simson-project.com )
A pause for thought: If the Lord's Supper is called prophetically in Esther and not only in the first chapter, and then in Judge 14 and many other passages, then our question is: Why do the brethren of the Old Assembly find the meal only in the New Testament?
Did the strangers have a letter of recommendation with them?
The veil, that's Lot.
Lot is a mystery and would remain so if the Lord did not lift the veil, the meaning of the name Lot. We now once again perform strange capers, just as our Lord does. We call this rhetorical acrobatics. They are masterly tricks of the inventor of all art. And so we tickle the hidden out of him and bring it to light.
If the writings of the Old and New Testaments describe the Word of God made flesh, then they describe whom? Asked the question more simply: Who does the Bible describe? It mysteriously describes the Son of God. All narratives, if we have understood them correctly, paint the Lord before our eyes in countless variations.
In every text before us from Genesis 19 we ask: Lord, what is told of you? Which knot do we have to loosen? With a knot we do not know from which direction the thread comes and where the thread continues. Does the narrative continue downwards or does the thread run in the opposite direction? To loosen a knot, we have to touch at some point and give the thread some air, i.e. loosen the section of the thread from the knot a little so that there is a small gap. So also with the text parts. We loosen the word Lot a little from the knot - we examine its meaning - and thus give it a tiny distance. And so we do it with another word, the term "to return" - for the strangers returned to Lot.
Then we take another part of the thread, described with the word "meal" and pluck it carefully so that we can see the meal better and look for it in Scripture, where the meal is also described. If we remain patient and carefully tear the whole thing apart, then at the end the thread lies in its full length in front of us and we understand the cryptic language of the narrative. In this way we find various hiding places of the Lord.
But the broken knot doesn't tell everything yet. The thread lies in front of us and we realize that the stories can run in different directions and thus allow different interpretations. Both the earthly perspective and the heavenly perspective are hinted at. From an earthly point of view Lot invites, from a heavenly point of view the Lord invites. Who is actually inviting? They are both the Lord and Lot.
We discovered another rhetorical trick: the figures lie across the cross. While Lot thinks that he is inviting ordinary people, although they are people from heaven, the Lord is not inviting heavenly people, but people who live on earth.
The word "to recognize". It is in Hebrew jadah (ידע ).
The word has the following meanings:
- to know, to ken, to understand;
- to determine, to fix, to verify, to find out by looking;
- the word is used in great diversity;
- figuratively and literally: veiled and concluding (including through observation, care, recognition or confirmation);
- causal: through instruction, order, teaching; naming, designation, goal; punishment, etc.
If the men of the city want to "recognize" the visitors, then "recognize" has among other things also the meaning as in Genesis 4,1: Adam recognized his wife Eve and she became pregnant of it. So what does Adam's recognition mean? We conclude: Adam had sexual intercourse with his wife and therefore she became pregnant. And so we can "recognize" the Sodomites' conclusion that this is also a sexual desire. This alludes to the zeitgeist of that time, the basic moral attitude of that epoch, which prophetically alludes to our time. We, too, live in a period in which values are being reshaped.
If Lot represents the Messiah, then the men of the city of Sodom want to know and understand the Messiah. Lot offers his daughters, certainly not for the first time, and this in turn suggests that the men of the city can only know and recognize the Messiah through his daughters. The word "to know" here means "to learn through instruction". But the citizens of Sodom do not want to and so the time comes when everything is said, the last word is spoken. The mob now wants to force their way into the house. And so Lot is pulled back into the house by his guests. Even the last chance all men, from small to big, had knocked out and so the clock for the Sodomites ran out. The LORD was able to get a personal impression of this: the Sodomites do not want to. He who will not see will be blind. Now they will be struck blind by God, and the judgment will be carried out at the rising of the sun.
The strangers whom Lot addressed to Adonai are saviours for him, but they are judges for the Sodomites. First, the Adonai save Lot from the rabble by taking him into the house. The next day, before sunrise, they save Lot and his family, before destroying Sodom and the surrounding towns, destroying the area.
As judges the visitors beat all men of the city with blindness in the night and the next day they execute the judgment of God, because it says in Genesis 19,13: "Yahweh has sent us to destroy the city."
The Invisible Third
Of the three men who were guests of Abraham, the LORD stayed with his host for a while. The other two arose and went to Sodom. After God had finished the conversation with Abraham, he also went away. But where to? The text tells us: And Yahweh left when he had finished speaking with Abraham. Where did the Lord go?
Change of scene in Sodom
Lot finds the two men on the street in the evening after they had entered through the gate of the city. As messengers sent before, they are invited by Lot. The word used in the translations for angels is literally ambassador or envoy. Lot talks to the messengers who were previously called men - Ish - in chapter 18. So who are these Ish? One of the Ish is Yahweh, for it says, "And Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, "Should I really give birth, since I am old?
How is it possible that one of the three men is Yahweh and yet is called Ish, even though God is eternal? How is it possible that the "I am", the eternal being, is represented as man? The only conceivable answer can only be: The third man, who was visible to Abraham and later invisible to Lot, points to the Son of God, who will die as a human on Golgotha about 2000 years later.
Let us now come to another peculiarity. Lot addresses the two preceding strangers with Adonai, that is a plural word that is usually used as an address for God, for the triune God. Martin Luther has translated the title Adonai into German with HErrr - Lord - H and E in capital letters, but here Lot addresses the strangers with Adonai, which one chapter before they are called Ish. Only when we carefully read the biblical texts in their original languages do they give us puzzles to solve. We should not miss such rarities and absolutely acquire them and add them to our heavenly treasures.
The word Adonai derives from Adon and means Lord. Adonai means, as we already know, Lords. But now we have another word in Hebrew for Lords and that is Adonim that is also a plural word. Let us have a close look at the Hebrew texts, perhaps we can find the secret.
In Deuteronomy 10, 17 it says: "For Yahweh, your God, he is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, mighty and terrible God, who does not look at any person and does not accept any gift.
Now we use the Hebrew expressions for God and Gods or Lord and Lords and read verse 17 again.
For Yahweh your Elohim, he is Elohai the Elohim and Adonai the Adonim, the El, the Great and the Mighty and the Fearful, who is not one who looks at the visible (face) and does not accept donations (gifts and bribes).
Elohim
Here God is described as a judge - Elohim - who is incorruptible. If we understand the term judge as an expression that describes a person who has the ability to speak and enforce law, then it is no longer difficult for us to describe the angels who not only know God's law, but also execute it, as Elohim. And so also the saints of the highest places will be Elohim, because God's law has been written on their hearts. But not only there, but, now again figuratively, also on their outward appearance, that is the skin.
God is the highest judge over all judges. He is the Elohai who stands far above the Elohim. He, the God of the Gods, represents the highest judgment. We find this aspect clearer in Joshua 5:14. A man appears to Joshua with a drawn sword. Joshua asks the man, "Are you for us or for our enemies? The man answers: No, but as the chief of the army of Yahweh, I have come now. Even if Joshua sees only the chief of the army, we know that the LORD does not come alone to execute judgment. Judas 1:14-15: "Behold, the Lord has come in the midst of his holy thousands to execute judgment against all, and to convict completely all their wicked...". The supreme Elohim comes in the midst of his Elohim, the supreme judge among the Danites, for Dan also means judge. If the Danites are in heaven, then they also cannot be on earth, therefore Dan is also missing in the list of the sealed ones from Revelation 7. By the way: This is the lot of Daniel. God has promised him, "But you go to the end; and you will rest, and you will rise again to your lot at the end of days. "The end of days" is a special expression that refers to the period before the visible return of Jesus. In this time Daniel will rise out of the earth, like an ancient vessel that comes to light through excavation, and will be a judge. (That's why Samson had to come from the trib von Dan.)
Adonai
The same becomes clear by the term Adonai. God is the Adonai over all Adonim, the Lord over all lords. The term Adonai describes a special relationship that God has with his people. The Lord is the husband of his wife, the people of Israel. He guides and leads in marriage, not as a tyrant, but in loving care. In the New Testament we find the parallel: Christ is the bridegroom of his heavenly bride, she is described as the city and called the New Jerusalem. (Israel is the Bride of the Messiah. Spiritual Israel is the Bride of the Lamb. The earthly is concubine, the heavenly is pirmary wife). The totality of a people is symbolized in the Bible by a woman, therefore Solomon had, please understand now again figuratively, very many women.
The Elohim and Adonai are also mentioned in Psalm 136:1-3: Praise Yahweh! For he is good, for his goodness lasts for ever. Praise the God of gods, for his goodness lasts for ever. Praise the Lord of Lords! For his goodness lasts for ever.
This psalm prays the remnant of Israel. This can be seen in the last verse, for there they rejoice and cry out: Praise the God of heaven. So pray no Christian, for:
- Christians live in a close relationship with God;
- Christ is in them, or Christians in Christ;
- Christians are already Elohim and Adonai in relation to the earthly people and live in heaven.
The remnant of Israel now recognizes the Son of God as the Elohim Elohai. At the same time, they acknowledge that the saints of the highest places are also Elohim and Adonim.
El - the strong one in Psalm 136:26
The word for God used in Psalm 136:26 is El and refers to the strong man, the head or chief, but also a ram, a pillar, an oak or another strong tree. The Messiah is the bridegroom for Israel, symbolized by the earthly city of Jerusalem. But he is also the strong one who actually defeats the enemies of the people. As chief of the army he fights together with Joshua. In the end the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that is Satan, is cut down. But the tree of life, Jesus, the Son of God, stops. From this tree all nations eat and feed themselves. That is why Jesus said: "I am the life." But he is not only life, he is also the way to the tree of life. And the writings of the Old and New Testaments tell us how to get to this tree. And because Jesus also said of Himself: "I am the truth", all parts of the Bible must fit together and always give a clear picture about this truth. Without the New Testament, the truths of the old remain in the dark, but with the new the sun rises.
The Elohim and Adonai are Danites.
Lot invites the strangers. Did he know what their mission was? It can be doubted. But one thing is certain, Lot speaks to the strangers with Adonai, because he speaks to them: Ah behold, my Adonai! Gen.19,2. That the two masters are also judges, we have already explained with the term Elohim above. Also the text in Genesis 19 confirms it. Verse 19: For we want to destroy this place, because their cry has become great before Yahweh. The Elohim, now again from the perspective of the eagle, are the judges from heaven. In the allegorical plains they are called Danites, those men who sought an inheritance in the north. The north, as we know, stands for heaven. The last judge in the Book of Judges is Samson. He too is a Danite. No one doubts Samson's love for women, but little attention is paid to his anger. Samson the Danite snorts and returns to his father's house.
Now once again, think well with me!
We return to Lot and the two strange visitors. If Lot is the inviting one, who does Scripture tell us about? Does it not point to the Lord who invites us to the Lord's Supper? And isn't that also what the exclusive brothers loudly repeat over and over again? "The Lord is the inviting one." They are right.
And that is truly amazing. There is no lack of knowledge with them. They take from the find of the clear texts of the Gospels and the letters of the Apostle Paul, but narrow the subject by omitting the Old Testament. Priska, who tells us the historical shadows of the future, ignores them and narrows her field of vision. The perspective is limited. And so they suffer from the tunnel effect, cannot get out of their self-erected enclosure. They drown out the calling of the Lord with their sounding ore - see 1 Corinthians 13-. "The LORD is the inviting, the LORD is the inviting, the LORD is the inviting...". Noisily they wall themselves in with these "sounding" cymbals, drive out many people from the gate of the sheep and the brothers and sisters from the house. Is this really the case? We fear so. The Greek word for "sound" means:
1. make a noise,2. wall in,3. Scream out,4. clink;
the whole thing with cymbals; these are circular instruments with which they set the beat for their own round dance. And so the exclusive ones circle in circles, walled in, over and over again and over and over again repetitively around their favourite themes:
1. where two or three ... there he is in their midst!2. the Lord is the inviting one!3. John 17,4. We want to be Philadelphia!5. The foot washing.
How dull, isn't it? and annoying on top of that, because that's how the apostle with the sounding cymbals hints at it. Paul writes: ... and had not love, I am nothing. Is Paul nothing to us? But he is our beloved messenger, the apostle of the nations, and as such he has painted the Lord before our eyes in joyful colours. His lyrics are melodic songs, sweet sounds, they encompass the whole canon of Scripture.
What are the exclusives for us? Either they are our brothers and sisters, in whom the love of God was poured out into their hearts and realize the love for strangers, or they are people who cloud the water of the Word of God with their feet, that is, through their way of life. Such waters make fish sick, in the worst case they cause mass death.
A stranger recommends strangers - a good tip for the brothers
We had stopped further up on the question of whether the strangers who had returned to Lot's house had a letter of recommendation with them.
No and yes! The strangers had nothing in writing in their hands. We must therefore answer the question with a clear no. But they themselves were a letter of recommendation to the stranger - their host, for the Lord himself had written the law on their hearts and he continued to write daily. It became apparent to all people in their lifestyle. They followed His instructions and teachings and this was seen by their contemporaries. Through their actions their outer side, now again symbolically, the skin was described. This is alluded to when Paul asks his real son Timothy to bring the scrolls which he, the apostle, had left behind in Troas. Through our discipleship, God's law will be written on our skin, please understand figuratively, and can be read by all people. The skin forms the protective mantle of the human body and serves as an image for the mantle which God has described with the law. Such a mantle protects from all dangers, protects the inner man. We are clothed with the Word of God if we allow the Lord to continue writing daily.
It goes without saying that these are spiritual things. Let us take a look at a few things that make up our complete clothing. A part of his law serves us as head protection, that is the helmet of salvation. It protects our thoughts and conclusions. The breastplate of justice, which is supposed to be placed around the torso like a corset, protects our innermost being and especially our heart. The sword of the spirit is our only and universal weapon. Let us take it daily with us and in our hands and use it lawfully, i.e., fight wisely, paired with love for our neighbor and with love for God. This gives rise to a burning passion which cannot hold in itself, but which is at the forefront of the battle lines of the enemies. It is a matter of making prey and winning people for Jesus.
The complete covering with the Torah of the Messiah can also be described with the element of water, where fish live. From head to tail these animals are surrounded by the clear water. Whether a fish swims in the water of the Old Testament or in the water of the New, it is always the Torah of the Messiah. A beautiful picture, isn't it?
The messengers in Lot's story are not angels
The fact that the two messengers are not angels is also derived from the participation of strangers in the Lord's Supper. Angels have no part in it, because the good angels do not have to be redeemed and the bad ones are not redeemed. If we now ask a third time: Did the strangers have a letter of recommendation with them? then we think that from our side no more answer is necessary. If we nevertheless dedicate a few more lines to the subject, it is because the scriptural passages that we are now quoting reveal beautiful things to us.
Paul's letters of recommendation
Letters of recommendation are only for employees, then as now. Whether in our days more necessary than in the times of the apostles? But as already said, not writing letters of recommendation, but being letters of recommendation.
Let us take a look at two larger sections in which Paul's coworkers receive a recommendation. First we examine one chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and then a whole book. Yes, an entire book is dedicated to the subject of the Letter of Recommendation. But first to the 16th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The names that Paul counts as part of the assembly are written in bold.
What are we reading?
I commend Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the Kenchrean assembly, that you may receive her in the Lord worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever cause she needs you, for she too has been a help to many, including myself.
The entire last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is a unique and fascinating letter of recommendation, and it is not just for Sister Phoebe. The good collaborators are recommended to all Romans. Phoebe is mentioned first and for good reason. Her name derives from phoibos and means "bright", "luminous", "shiny". In the first century the assembly was called into being by the Holy Spirit and with it the sun of righteousness rose; it became bright in the world. Phoebe lived in Kenchrea. The place was famous for its port. Not only goods from all over the world came through it, but also sailors and other travellers. An ideal place to put the light on one's own lamp rack and let it shine for all the world. There were and there are dark times. Do our stars shine then? Does our northern star shine then, by which people can orient themselves in darkness, so that they can find their way to the longed-for port, the sky?
The port of Kenchrea also points to fishing. The sailors and the travellers are like fish that were caught individually by Phoebe or with a net. Just as the first disciples had become fishermen of men, so had our sister Phoebe, who led sailors, merchants and other travellers to the Lord.
Let us read on:
Greet Priska and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus, who gave their own necks for my life, to whom not only I thank, but also all the assemblies of the nations.
Paul begins the third verse with greetings to a married couple who are co-workers of the apostle. No one should greet and welcome into the house people who are not in the truth; so the apostle John warns us. Are Priska and Aquila in the truth? We mean yes. Each for himself and also both together.
Priska means old, antique, historical. Together, iwith their husband, they explain the writings of the Tankh to the Apollos more precisely and thus trained him to become an important teacher of Israel.
Aquila means eagle and gives us the hint that the couple knew the heavenly meanings of the Old Testament texts well and passed them on not only to Apollos but to all assemblies of the nations.
Priska and Aquila, like Paul, were tentmakers. And so the three worked together on the tent of God, the transportable sanctuary. Priska represents the Old Testament and Aqulia the New Testament. This is also indicated by the derivation of her name. Priska is the diminutive form of the name Priscilla. And what should this detail tell us? Well, Priska is small. And so little Israel has brought light to the world. But it is also for us a prophetic reference to the place of refuge that Lot chose. He prophetically forms the remnant that does not flee to the mountain, as the messengers told him, heaven, but rather chose the insignificant place in the plain, also called the valley. The plain symbolizes the earth. Lot chose the city of Zoar - small. The city refers to the earthly Jerusalem.
By the way: Apollos means sunlight. Prophetically Apollos stands for the evening sun. It is God's third and last attempt to save the Jewish people. More on this at: http://Simson-project.com/interpretation.html
He that seeketh me, saith the LORD, shall find me. Where do we find the Lord here? Here it is Aquila, symbolized by the eagle. It is the eagle that teaches the faithful to correctly interpret the texts of the Old Testament from heaven. That is why Paul says: "See to it that you do not reject him who speaks! ... he who speaks from heaven!" Hebrews 12:25
Let's read on:
Greet Epänetus, my beloved, who is the firstling of Asia for Christ.
We can assume that Epänetus, after he came to believe in the Lord Jesus, had entered into the work of God. His stay in Rome could hint at his collaboration. However, if he was only visiting, Epänetus must have been in the truth. His name expresses the most beautiful work of a Christian: Epänetus went "always praising the Lord" over this earth. Whether singing in his heart or with wirth words on his lips, Epänetus was a joyful and happy man at the bottom of his heart. He already proclaimed this happiness with his sincere nature. With which the heart is filled overflowing the mouth, isn't it? The mouth makes the joy of the heart audible for all people in various variations.
We continue reading:
Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you.
Her name derives from the Hebrew Mirjam and means: defiant, mutinous, rebellious. The reason and effect of their rebellion can be found in the root of the word: bitterness and scorn. Yet the Lord has made it sweet to her. Out of deep love for Jesus Mary worked very hard for the "Romans". The letter went to the Romans or not?
Moreover, Mary is also the prophetic reference to Noomi, who also assumed that it was the Lord who had made her life bitter by taking her husband and two sons. But also you and your grandson Obed, who is the remnant of Israel, will be sweetened by the LORD at the end. Only the heavens are refused them.
We read on:
Greet Andronicus and Junias, my relatives and my fellow prisoners, who are distinguished among the apostles who were also before me in Christ.
Hung with me, captured with me! The relatives of the apostle were already Christians even before Saul became Paul. They have long been among the excellent and now they share the sufferings of the apostle as fellow prisoners. The one who is willing to suffer for the Lord is one of the hardest laborers. Andronicus means: man of victory; he also fought lawfully, because he knew like Paul: If I am weak, then I am strong through the Lord. Junias means youthful or youthfulness; he (or she?) experiences what the Lord has promised: Those who wait for the Lord will run and not tire, they will ascend like eagles (heavenly dimension). Whoever begins early in his youth will reap abundant rewards and may experience: So your years, so your strength. Prophetically it points to people after the Rapture, because then the youth of Junias will be renewed forever. He who knows the Lord and has learned to love does not fear Rome.
We continue reading:
Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
Here again we see an efficient brother. His name means "extended", "enlarged", "expanded". Well, if that is not a clear indication of a blessed cooperation, then I am ... the broom.
Prophetically his name indicates that God cares more about the sleeping again, especially the Jews, but also the other still hidden tribes of Israel after the flesh, who have fallen into a deep sleep over the centuries. Paul explains it this way in his Epistle to the Romans: What will the assumption - that is the consent of the awakening Jews who now obey the Gospel - be other than life from the dead? Romans 11:15b
Let's read on:
Greetings Urbanus, our employee in
Christo, and Stachys, my lover.
Like the head of an ear of corn, Stachys stands out, stalking people in evangelism. Already as a ear of corn it becomes visible that this Stachys has borne fruit abundantly for the Lord. For this reason it protrudes visibly above the others. Urbanus is "from the city" and well educated, therefore he is "polite and friendly" to all people. Which city might we be talking about here?
Urbanus knows the heartfelt wish of our Lord: "Let your mildness be made known to all men. A beautiful work, a deserving task that each of us should strive for. And why? Because it already makes us happy here on earth and shows us all: I am from Rome, um, from Jerusalem. Is that now the same? What does the name of the city mean? We do not ask for the name of Jerusalem, whose meaning we know: "foundation of peace", it says. I ask about the meaning of the name Rome.
Prophetically, the text indicates that harvest time has finally begun for Israel as well. Stachy's growth rises above the others. One must say to such outstanding brothers: Serve the people of God, reign later is announced, only when Jeshua HaMashiach appears suddenly like lightning. Before that, the Lord makes us perfect with many or few sufferings. Never forget: Jesus is always with us. Apropos Stachys: He also speaks of Him, our Lord, who towered all.
We continue reading:
Greet Apelles, the proven one in Christo.
Greet the house of Aristobulus.
Apelles means "called"; it looks as if the one called has proved himself in his vocation, because he has remained with it and has carried on the call. His name is also translated as separation and exclusion. This has always been the case, since the beginning of Christianity, the tried and tested in Christ have been thrown out of the synagogues and stigmatized. We wish every reader that he remains an appeal and does not throw his trust in Jesus overboard.
Faithfulness has always been excluded. Our Lord also had this painful experience. How he was despised and respected for nothing. Contempt is regarded as the comprehensive rejection of a person and affects him in all his humanity, both physical and mental pain are the result. The inner distress and heartache of the Messiah are experienced in Psalm 69. In verse 8 or 9, depending on the count, the Messiah says: "I am alienated from my brothers, and have become a stranger to the sons of my mother. How great was his pain when he sighed: "When I wept ... And how great must his pain be today? How many tears are he still crying?
Prophetically the brothers in Psalm 69 point to the Christian testimony and the sons of his mother to the Jews. Because the true Christians are raptured, many named Christians will be jealous of the Jews, for God has turned to them again in a special way. And that Jesus has been a stranger to the sons of his mother for almost 2000 years can be read in Jewish literature. What luck, Apelles made the beginning and searched for him, he searched for the one who was still strange and scary to him. And Jesus was kind enough to meet him. Even while Apelles cannot grasp his happiness, he goes out and tells you. The LORD wants to show his kindness to everyone, wants to meet him graciously.
The name Aristobulus reminds of famous personalities of antiquity. What kind of work is there with him and his troops? His name means "best advice". Aristobulus' house provides the finest consulting management, because they were able to win Apelles for Jesus. As a newcomer he has proven to be reliable in his work and has proven himself in the ministry. Teams like those of Aristobulus are good and expensive for us, they are needed always and everywhere, aren't they?
Prophetically, the House of Aristobulus speaks of the Heavenly House, whose experiences are now being used excellently, in time to pass on the knowledge and skills of a new generation. As far as the stamina and the endurance of the house are concerned, it must absolutely become proverbial, because 2000 years is truly not a paperless task.
Let us read on:
Greet Herodion, my relative. Greetings
those of Narcissus's house who are in the Lord.
Herodion means "heroic". One thing is for sure, this brother fought and won according to the law. Like David's heroes, he often has many at a stroke with his sword. The sword of the Spirit is and remains the sharpest weapon to win people for Jesus.
Narcissus' house could point to pathological things, such as flatulence, which causes severe abdominal cramps and bad winds. Paul only greets those who are in the Lord and of course this includes the sick and wounded. Perhaps the house of Narcissus was a doctor's office or a sanatorium. There the sick and wounded, whether plagued by physical, mental or spiritual things, could recover in silence and peace. Today we also create shelters for our wounded and sick and we will be amazed how they become healthy and heroes of Christ at their own pace.
Prophetically, Herodion speaks of the brave, for despite their numerical superiority they have faced their opponent, fought bravely and won. Because Herodion is called together with Narcissus, Herodion could, after the exhausting battles at Narcissus, have his injuries bandaged and recover so that all wounds can heal in peace. Esther 1.3
Do not forget that the greatest conflict in the history of the world is yet to come, so let it rest a little and draw new strength from the Lord.
Let's read on:
Greet Tryphäna and Tryphosa who work in the Lord. Greet Persis, the beloved who has worked much in the Lord.
Tryphäna means luxurious and Tryphosa means "splendidly thriving or silent. Both work in the Lord. Persis is a sister from the Middle East, whether from Persia, Saudi Arabia or Israel? One thing becomes clear, she too has worked a lot and used her wealth for the vineyard of God; and never and never has she talked about it. How many Arabs believe in Jesus as their Lord and God and serve with their wealth in silence. Like many Jews today, a large part of their wealth is already used for God. But there is one important country we must not forget, America. This country gives a multiple of what the rest of the world together gives in assets to God.
Let's read on:
Greet Rufus, the chosen one in the Lord, and his and my mother.
Rufus means red. This reminds me of the assembly called Sardes. Sardes means "the Red One". It seems to be a reference to the times of persecution. Rufus may even have been martyred for his faith. He wears the marks on his body.
But who is this woman who calls Paul both his mother and Rufus' mother? It could be a sister who took care of Paul as if the apostle were her own son. What a heartfelt love! Mothers give everything for their children, even their own lives.
Prophetically Rufus points to the tribulations of the people and their desire for murder. The mother points to the heavenly. It is the bride of the Lamb and the mother of the remnant of Israel, the woman from Revelation 12, who is clothed in the sun and in labour. The child in Revelation 12 is not the Messiah, but the second born Rachel, the remnant of Israel, also called Benjamin.
Let's read on:
Greet Asynkritus, Philegon, Hermes,
Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them.
This could be a small gathering that took place in Rome, the capital of the world. Asynkritus means "incomparable". The uniqueness of a brother is emphasized to emphasize the uniqueness of each believer. God does not make copies. With the Lord there are only originals. And because Asynkritus is mentioned with a whole series of brothers and sisters, the assembly must have been an original too.
Phlegon means luminous; he did not put his life under the bushel, all people in his environment could see his light and feel his warmth.
Hermes was the messenger of the Greek gods. He possessed an important quality, he was fast, therefore he was also called "the fast messenger of the gods". But our Hermes is special and his name alludes to it. Hermes is the fast messenger of the triune God. May many hasty Hermes be on their way to introduce the Triune God especially to the Jews and Muslims.
Patrobas means "the father's life". The proverb could be applied to this brother: As the Father, so the Son. The verse fits this: Behold, what a love the Father has shown us that we should be called His children. May people be able to say of us: Like the Father.
Hermas is the female form of Hermes, she too is a fast messenger of her Lord, who is now in heaven. Hermas and Hermes could tell a lot about the invisible things and it never got boring, because the miracles and glories of his word were told by the messengers of the gods pure and simply, and yet excitingly.
And the brothers all: Isn't that beautiful? None of the brothers and sisters is left out, even if they are not mentioned by name. Jesus knows all their names and knows about their work. He also knows you and knows about your troubles and the many work that no one else sees nor knows. But Jesus takes note of this and gives you and every other conqueror a very special name, which he personally engraves with his own hand, with the finger of God, on a white stone.
Prophetically the group around Asynkritus refers to the assembly of Israel. Phlegon means shines. It is the evening sun that sends its warm rays into the world. Hermes and Hermas are busy continuing to introduce the Triune God to the Jews and Muslims, as all three persons of the Godhead were active from creation. Even when Jesus gave his life on Golgotha to save every human being, both the Father and the Holy Spirit were present.
And Patrobas introduced God as the loving Father and in his speeches introduced all facets of his warm-hearted nature. Certainly, God is also a terrible God, but they accuse him of that anyway. Most people do not yet know the loving Father.
Let's read on:
Greet Philologus and Julias, Nereus and his sister and Olympas and all the saints with them.
Philologus means friend of the word. What a beautiful name for a Christian whose friend is the Word of God. Is the Bible also your friend?
Well, Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God and so Philologus is a friend of Jesus. By the way: friends exchange secrets with each other and so the Lord tells and explains his riddles to the Philologus.
By his name Julias symbolizes his royal and heavenly origin. God has chosen Julias as king and priest. According to his vocation he already today exercises the hidden dominion with the Lord, serves the people priestly, both through prayer and in practical action.
Nereus derives from Naus and means boat, with the basic meaning of wet. Nereus and afraid of water? Not at all! This brother did not get out of the ship, which calls itself the church, prematurely, but lived through all the ups and downs of the storms on the sea. He rowed hard, never got tired, no matter how many waves hit him. Only one, you know him, went overboard.
Olympas derives from the place of the Greek seat of the gods, high above, on one of the eternal hills it must be. In a figurative sense, Olympas is like one who descended from heaven, like an angel, and explains God's action to the brothers and sisters, like the angel Gabriel to Daniel, or the angels to the disciple whom Jesus loved, or like Moses to the people of Israel(), or like the two strangers who followed Lot's invitation.
I think everyone can read the chapter in his own Bible in peace and quiet and then go on a journey of discovery himself. Everything always revolves around the Lord and His work, it encompasses:
1. the work on the Gospel,2. the service to the saints,3. love among the brothers and sisters,4. love for him.
But then it is also necessarily about those who cause conflict and annoyance. The apostle Paul calls on all Christians to turn away from these people; they too are workers and teachers, but not teachers of the good, but teachers of the evil and thus its workers. The Lord recommends good coworkers, but they also need our support and recommendations. Let us make it easy for them, listen to them and encourage them as Paul did. Also in these matters the apostle is a guiding example for us.
The greeting addresses in Romans 16 disguise heavenly things
Paul wrote us the list of greeting addresses not only to greet the brethren who were in Rome at that time and to highlight their variety of ministries and efforts. Chapter 16 also describes the history of Christianity in a very creative way. From Pentecost to the Rapture. For this we look again at the last verses considered and try to recognize the structure behind them.
Two groups: the brothers and the friends
The Brothers
Greet Asynkritus, Philegon, Hermes,
Patrobas, Hermas and the brothers with them.
Asynkritus: incomparable;
Philegon: luminous;
Hermes: the messenger of the gods;
Patrobas: the father's life;
Hermas: the messenger of the gods;
Brothers all: the entire congregation.
The Friends
Greetings Philologus and Julias, Nereus
and his sister and Olympas and
all the saints with them.
Philologus: Friend of the Word (New Testament);
Julias: royal-heavenly origin;
Nereus and sister: boat; root word: wet;
Olympas: seat of the gods;
all saints: with them.
If we compare verses 14 and 15, striking differences are noticeable. The first group, verse 14, consists of the brothers and describes the assembly of God. It is characterized as "incomparable. The second group, verse 15, is made up of friends who are also called saints.
The group of brothers consists of the believers of all churches, from Pentecost to the Rapture. The group of friends is made up of all the faithful of the Old Testament and the faithful after the Rapture, all those who have been born again, like Abraham. And just as the patriarch was called a friend of God, so also were the saints who had lived before Pentecost and the saints who believed in the Lord Jesus after the Rapture.
The fact that Philegon is in the first group is to suggest that when the congregation is in heaven, it still shines like the sun, or as it says in Revelation 21:11, and it had the glory of God. In the group of friends we are told that the believers are also royal heavenly lineage, though and then at best, the friends are crown servants. At the top of the pyramid are the Lord and His Lady, Jesus and His bride. They symbolically depict the sun, the light that reigns during the day. And in eternity the night will no longer be in the heavenly Jerusalem.
The messenger of the gods Hermes stands for the Lord and Hermas stands for the congregation. Back to the group of friends. Who is Nereus? This is the boat owner. But even morem his name is an allusion to the ark, the wooden rescue device. In the story of Jonah, now Jewish focus, the prophet represents the Jews and the big fish is their lifesaver. And in Acts it is the sinking of the ship on which Paul involuntarily travelled as a prisoner to answer to the emperor in Rome.
At the end of 6000 years all saints, be they brothers or friends - Philadelphia -, have arrived at the "seat of the gods", the heavenly Jerusalem.
Summary
Paul recommends valuable collaborators to the Romans. Why the Romans in particular? We believe that the Holy Spirit wants to make it clear to the Roman Catholic Church: "See, these are true Christians." To the Romans, Christians are held up as mirrors, so to speak, on which they learn how genuine Christians look, live and work. At the same time they should see themselves and recognize that they not the salvific church, but have denied the right way of following Jesus through all past centuries.
Rome is not on the narrow path that leads to life. No, they hurry to shed innocent blood and they race into the bullet of the judge and thus towards the judgment of God. When the chief priest of the Roman Church says: "It is dangerous to have a personal relationship with Jesus", he indirectly threatens all those who live in such an intimate relationship with the LORD, be they Catholics or Orthodox, Protestants or Evangelicals. Those who are dangerous are a danger to the Roman state. Such danger potentials must be rendered harmless and if there is no other way, then away with them on the cross or on the stake.
The letter of recommendation to Philemon
I am not afraid to print the whole book, because the Letter is not only one of the most tender of all the Holy Scriptures, but because it can be regarded as a parable on the rejected Lord himself.
The Letter to the Horse Lover Philemon
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, the brother, Philemon, the beloved and our co-worker, and Appia, the sister, and Archippus, our fellow fighter, and the assembly that is in your house: Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ!I thank my God by always mentioning yours in my prayers, as I hear of your love and of the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and to all the saints, that the communion of your faith will work in recognition of all the good that is in us against Christ Jesus.For we have great joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Therefore, although I have great frankness in Christ to command you what is proper, I ask rather for love's sake, since I am now such as Paul the Old, but now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.I pray for my child whom I have begotten in the bands, Onesimus, who was once useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me, whom I have sent back to you, this is my heart; whom I would keep with me, that he might serve me in the bands of the gospel instead of you. But without your will I would do nothing, that your beneficence should not be compelled, but voluntary. For perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a time, that you may possess him forever, not longer than a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially for me, but how much more for you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.If you now consider me your comrade, receive him as you receive me. But if he has done you any wrong, or if he owes you anything, give it to me. I, Paul, have written it with my hand, I will pay; that I may not tell thee that thou also oweest thyself to me.Yes, brother, I would like to benefit you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Since I trust your obedience, I have written to you knowing that you will do more than I say. But at the same time prepare an inn for me, for I hope that through your prayers I will be given to you.
It greets you Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my co-workers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit!
Paul and Timothy write to the co-worker named Philemon. At the end of the letter Paul sends greetings from other co-workers. A letter from coworkers to coworkers with many greetings, expressing a close relationship between the brothers and sisters, a unique one in addition, because God has joined them together to a new man.
Jesus is Onesimus
The suffering servant of God, whether he was escaped or chased away? Who knows that so well? But his story is told to us again by the flight of judge Jephta and that he fled to a good land, the land of Tob. Many years later the brothers feel sorry for him and let him call them. And so Onesimus, um, Jephta is asked by the Gileadites to free them from their great misery. Yes, Jephta was a brave hero! (See also script: Elijah and Elisha)
Paul the Old represents the Christian testimony which has come in years, but at the same time also the Lord, the man, old in days.
Just don't let it confuse you. In this letter each of the three can take on any role. The text is just made to slip into the role of the other. The love for the Lord and the love for the brothers and sisters make it possible.
The recipient of the letter, Philemon, among others, represents the Jews who have come to believe in Christ. But perhaps Jesus is considered to Philemon only as a great rabbi or even as Messiah, but perhaps only as the suffering Messiah, Ben-Joseph? Philemon may be waiting, like Nathaniel, for the Messiah Ben-David, the King of Israel, who as Army Chief defeats the enemies? But is that enough? Is Jesus not much more? Today there are a lot of Jews who call themselves Messianic Jews, but in which Messiah do they believe?
The Epistle to the Hebrews raises the Son of God above the angels and even higher, for it says: "Your throne, O God, is from eternity to eternity." But of the angels it is said, "And all the angels of God shall worship him." And if the angels who are far above us are to worship the Son, how much more are we who are men?
It might well be that Philemon had very different expectations of Onesimus, which Onesimus did not want to fulfill at the time, for otherwise he could not have been useful to anyone. We think it is useful for eternity. What use would it have been to us if Jesus had ascended the throne of David at that time? Who then could have put us out of our misery?
Onesimus literally means: useful, profitable, productive, helpful. His name is program. Everything the slave Onesimus did was valuable. If the preacher asks: What profit does man have in all his work, then we refer the clever Solomon to Onesimus. Everything that the servant of God did was invested profitably for us. As a servant of God he is not only called useful, he is it for us in all respect. And also his servants have eternal profit when they work in his vineyard.
If we take a closer look at the Greek root of the name, then Onesimus will be revealed to us before our eyes and the invaluable value of his person and his work will make us immeasurably rich.
Onesimus:
- he is a pleasure,
- makes you want to,
- one feels comfortable with him,
- he gives pleasure.
In short: Onesimus makes you happy.
One says this: Onesimus would be unseless. Nonsense! Whenever the author of these lines confessed the Lord before the people, great joy arose in the heart and the ardent desire not to let go of it. May the fire of passion for my Lord never go out. (This fire must be kindled again and again. And how? It is quite simple: add wood, the wood of the cross.) Lord, how glorious and sweet is your name.
Onesimus is warmly recommended to the horse lover. Writing is not a sober job reference, so that the qualities of the employee could be calculated in money. They are lines of love. We have already examined the root of the word, in which the joy and delight of the worker is expressed. Onesimus was not a weeping willow, he infects everyone with his joy. And so the description of such a faithful servant may and should always take place with great pleasure and delight, in order to tell the recipient how valuable a useful person, an onesimus, is to us.
Are we just as useful? Paul wrote lovingly and tenderly. May we, too, succeed in steering the noise that started well over 100 years ago in Bethesda in a calm direction, and yet come across clearly and clearly with our concern, in order to gather the scattered.
Philemon the horse lover
Horses are proud animals. They symbolize strength and natural power. Philemon trusts in his own abilities and therefore tends to be solitary. He walls himself in his own world and consciously keeps others away from him, like a stallion who does not tolerate rivals.
The potency of a horse can be observed in its ferocity and its impetuous behaviour, although the horses are considered to be flight animals. Despite this classification a stallion is quite capable of killing a lion in his strength and ferocity. Leading stallions don't tolerate any rivals and should another proud stallion stand up to them, then they get down to business. Philemon may fear the slave, because Onesimus does not trust in his own power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. This power is obviously still lacking in Philemon. With the reception of Onesimus, Philemon experienced the Pentecost of Philadelphia and received the power of the Holy Spirit. Only then does Philemon realize how weak he is in himself.
The Enemies in Psalm 23
Before we looked at the recommendations of Romans 16 and the letter to Philemon, we had stopped at the strangers inviting strangers. Now we take a closer look at the enemies and read Psalm 23:5 and learn more about it: You prepare a table before me in front of my enemies; you have anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows. The Hebrew word Zarar precisely describes the enemies of the great David and places them outside the narrow circle when he says: "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The wranglers also formally belong to the people of God, but they confine the faithful Christians by clinging to subtleties which have arisen solely from purely human reasoning.
In their convulsive adherence to their traditions, the enemies inevitably become fanatics who no longer want to listen to you, even if you present them with plausible explanations. In this way, sects emerge.
Some of them go so far as to forbid you to speak. Some say it in a polite tone, but that doesn't make things any better. If God has written the one law, which consists of a statute, on the fleshly heart of a person, then that person may also take a seat at the table. Then the stranger may enjoy the hospitality, that is the love of the congregation for him as a stranger.
Onesimus was no stranger. He was and is a servant of Philemon and also of the Apostle. Whether escaped or chased away, whether guilty or not guilty, whatever the separation between him and Philemon may have caused, Paul brings up the disturbance, wants to sort things out for Onesimus and Philemon if there was something. And it seems that Philemon himself could also be the cause of the disagreement. But the text also leaves this aspect completely open, just as the role of Onesimus hangs in the air. The letter is a gap letter.
We believe that everyone must fill the spaces in the text for himself. It depends entirely on your relationship to an Onesimus. Whether you chased him away or he escaped you? Or until perhaps you yourself the runaway or the chased away? Oh, how quickly you become strange in the distance. Divorced spouses can sing a song about it.
Paul, in any case, treats the matter with the utmost sensitivity. This reminds us of situations in which sensitivity was not only lacking, but completely lacking. There thundered in verbal arguments of brothers against brothers. In such verbal conflicts, feelings are hurt first and foremost. Also and especially such injuries must be cleared up and healed. A quarrel between brothers? This seems to have been the case here as well. Through mutual degradation, whether only felt or real, both sides lose their inner peace, go home imperceptibly with the Harder and become pregnant with rage for a long time.
Let us listen to the Lord and not let the sun set over our anger, but reconcile ourselves before night falls, the night in which no one can work anymore. Also and especially the reconciliation between Jews and Christians must be on the agenda.
What great gain would we have if the exclusion were to end and the people of God commemorated our Lord in common hours? How he suffered and how he died and that for our sake. And not only the Christians among themselves, but also the Jews who believed in Jesus Christ. They with us and we with them. We hope that many a local church will summon up the courage and put aside the false separation, also at the risk of being excluded from the "union".
A deceitful attack
The enemy doesn't sleep. He scatters poison. When we are so often wrong in our everyday life with our own conclusions, as much more in spiritual things. James, the half-brother of the Lord, says with regard to doctrine: "We all stumble often." The stumbling does not refer to moral sin, but to the interpretations of Scripture. If James stumbled in teaching, how much more do we stumble? The stumbling applies to both Luther and the other reformers. Do they no longer belong to the congregation because of their misinterpretations? Of course, they are still part of it. This is also true of the men and women before and after the Reformation; and it is also true of the efficient workers of the revival movements of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries; and of course also today.
Every teaching brother can be wrong, even in community with others.
Now we come again to the practice of the Exclusive, which are also known under the name "Old Assembly". May the Lord shoot their fortress ready for the storm and may my remarks be ammunition for him. It is necessary to tear down the walls of misunderstood separation and not to damage the brothers. Perhaps they will be ashamed, but wouldn't that be healing?
In Jeremiah 1 we are already told that the Lord will tear down the walls of human reflection, but then himself will erect new walls. Protective walls are imperative and necessary, but only those that God Himself builds. In addition the script "The Prophet Malachi", on http://Simson-project.com/ is treated a quotation from R. Brockhaus, born 13.02 1856, died 19.09.1932), from which it becomes clear how the exclusive unfortunately still think today:
Source: http://www.bibelkommentare.de
In the various religious denominations which, according to their own confession, gather together as such, as well as in the communities established on the ground of independence, the truth of this unity of the body and presence of Christ in the midst of the assembly, as promised in Matthew 18:20 to the two and three "gathered together in His name", is practically abandoned. The consciousness of the unity of the Body of Christ represented in the one Bread is either not present at all, or this unity is not realized despite the existing consciousness.
Therefore it cannot be said that the "Lord's Table" is with them.
They celebrate the Lord's Supper and, as already said, perhaps some of them with deeper seriousness than some of those who confess to stand on the ground of unity. But the truth contained in the word "Table of the Lord" is not presented to them, but is denied by their very existence.
In the near future we will comment on this comprehensively on our website. At this point this can only happen in compressed form and, as already said, the textual basis is the book Malachi. But if you would like to do your own research, then study the texts from Malachi 1, verses 8 and 13. Examine in particular the words "stolen", "sick" and "lame". Only the Hebrew text will be helpful. Again the terms with the corresponding Strong-Nr.
from Malachi 1,8-13:
1. stolen H14972. lame H6455 root H64523. crane H24704. blind H5787
The terms refer to:
the victim,the nature of the sacrifice,the victims in relation to the other priests, these are the brothers and sisters.Blind עור (iw-wer)blind (literally and figuratively).
Reinforcement form of:
to be blind עור (aw-wer) a basic root of H5785 with the meaning: to have a film over the eyes;now the explanation: H5785 עור (or)
1. skin (like naked),2. (by inference) hidden, leather.
The root: עור (oor) H5783, it means:
2. revealed,3. uncover,4. disclose.
The priests are blind and do not notice it
The priests in Malachi are blind, do not recognize themselves, do not see that they are naked before God, like in the parable of Anderson: The Emperor's New Clothes. If they would finally be able to see, to recognize themselves, then the Lord would reveal Himself to them, to reveal Himself and His secrets; this connection is already amazing, isn't it? To recognize oneself as exposed in the mirror of the Word of God, and to confess this sincerely to the Lord, already a great portion of God's fear belongs to it, but it brings about the revelation of his person and of his secrets. Only then do we understand his riddles and puzzles.
Adam and Eve had done the only right thing, they confessed before the Lord that they were naked. Only then did God clothe them. He clothed them with the skins of animals that he had previously removed from the dead body and later, after tanning, attracted man. The animals are stripped and the human being dressed with the animal skin. The clothing came from the victim and the victims speak of whom, if not the lamb that was slaughtered. Who is the lamb? It is the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, that is the Christ whom we have attracted.
A person can have understood all this with his head and believe it, but if it does not penetrate into his heart, then it is dark in there, his heart blind and there is icy cold in the darkness. No light penetrates through the eye, because it is covered with a strange film. Whether this is the strange "brother glasses" that a so-called brother once threw into my face. There wasn't much missing and I would have had to ask him: What are you hitting me with fists? He had already verbally struck several times.
The ice can get colder. The Letter to James is addressed to the twelve tribes in dispersion. The tribes are represented by the names of the sons of Jacob. The knowledge about this might be common knowledge today. But when I put the focus on the addressees in a Bible study years ago, I was snarled at with a sinister expression. The following week the brothers stood at the front door to wait for me, to make me understand that I should stay outside. Because I happen to be using the private entrance of the house, I was already sitting on my chair, quite carefree, when they noticed my presence. It was suggested to call the police, they yelled at me to shut up ...
The ice can get colder. To report about it breaks my heart and so I leave it with the two examples.
Sick H2470 חלה (chalah)
1. (literally) rubbed;2. be dilated (figuratively) weak, sick, distressed, tortured, affected;3. or (causally) mourning, making ill;4. and also: beating (flattering, embellished), applying, asking;
We rub ourselves with various oils and creams to protect our skin from harmful external influences, such as UV radiation, withering, cold and much more. In figurative terms it means that a self-medication has been carried out. One has embalmed oneself with a mixture of self-mixed tincture. And so quite a few of us are spiritually dead, but nobody sees that. How could they? There are blind, lame and sick people who are often tormented by various plagues. It is not God who has made them sick, it is their own thorns that catch the eye.
A layman couldn't do better, what they are trying to do now, the thing, only worse than I thought. The outflow of their blindness is the cloudy veil that sticks to their eyes, increasingly impervious to light that excites pain. The Lord recommends from his pharmacy effective eye ointment and only those.
The ointment must probably be very special, because the Greek word for eye ointment is a Hapax Legomenon, that is a word that occurs only once in the Bible and points to the end time; like all Hapax Legomena, by the way. A unique eye ointment that is only used at the end of the Christian testimony?
Let us examine the word "see" to find out what the ointment is supposed to heal. The Greek word is "blepo" and means to look, to face, to examine. And what diagnosis do we make? We should absolutely tell you:
The finding:
1. they cannot look in the eyes of the Lord;2. have not examined the Lord;3. did not look at Jesus from all sides.
Instead, the priests:
1. read calendar sheets,2. made their own comments about their Mischnah,3. read on one side by separate publishers,4. favor only their own interpretation.
The priest lacks intimacy with the Lord.
They lack intimate intimacy, like in a broken marriage. , the relationship formally still exists, but even the neighbors can see in the way they interact with each other and recognize that the relationship is broken up. Looking at each other would only create bad feelings, so you only talk about what you need when you walk past each other. The material duties are exemplary, but the relationship is not cultivated, feelings are luxury. This has enormous effects on family, community, church and especially at the meal.
Can you imagine that? You're in love, you're sitting opposite each other and one person has a sad look and the other person feels like crying. Does this look like a healthy relationship? Man, woman, slips, inside already before breaking bread, back and forth, doesn't know how, ..., but doesn't follow.
And so the torn bond has its tragic effects on strangers who feel the cold wind as unbiased guests and then leave to warm themselves in other places.
Lame H6455 פסח (Pisse-i-ach)
1. lame of
H6452 פסח (pas-sach)
1. jump, hop; (figuratively) skip, omit, circumvent;2. hesitate (conclusion resp. effect) to adorn oneself;3. and also literally: limping, lame;
At the Lord's Supper one jumps
Yes, you read right. When breaking bread, one skips the inner voice, the gentle admonition of the Lord: "Go first and reconcile with your brother." And the jump continues. One jumps over brothers and sisters, one adorns and refuses to let strangers take part in the Lord's Supper. Why? Why do they refuse to share bread and wine with them? Why are the strangers, who are also brothers and sisters in the Lord, left out in principle? These are evil things that God cannot please, not at all. Therefore the LORD marks their sacrifices for slaughter, food and thanksgiving as lame.
He who denies the stranger plates and chalices to the least of the church, does not even shake hands with him.
Stolen H1497 גזל (Gasal)
1. torn out, plucked out,2. stalking, skinning, peeling; undressing, exposing; or robbing, looting; looting;it is alluded to in two ways:1. to the catholic confession and2. on the admission practice of the exclusive.
Misunderstood priesthood
While the proband in the confessional has to expose himself again and again to the bones, he is "x-rayed" as a stranger among the Exclusives. Such examinations can now, figuratively speaking again, also lead to complete exposure. Such practices are nonsense. God calls this, one points the ears, robbery. And what is robbed like that? Above all the view of the other, then the contemporary style of dress, at least in the past. Anyone who didn't come along with a tie and collar wasn't one of them. Talking of belonging: Have they ever been to Israel and visited the Orthodox Quarter? I have been there many times, and my clothes, faces and habitus always remind me of the brotherhood meetings, and then, as so often, I get into a sad and depressing mood. If it weren't for my Lord, who would refresh me, raise me up and delight me every new day, melancholy and more would have drowned me.
Oh yes, forgot to ask: And what is being plucked out there? Often it is the small plants that can so easily be pulled out of the earth. They wither soon, if the LORD would not command his angels over the little ones. Larger and larger plants are not so easy to uproot. One day, with combined strength, they will be rid of after all. The gaps that arise can then no longer be filled. But the evil ones themselves fall into the hole. The one who paralyzes the lame, does not heal the sick and robs by robbing, God will rob him, paralyze him and make him sick. If the righteous only experiences salvation with need, as Job did, and suffering, as Job did, how will it be for the one who did it to the Lord? Did Jesus not warn? What you did or did not do to one of my least ones, you did or did not do to me.
The unclean bread
The victims of the priests are burdened with other evil things. Let us take the bread. Our stowaways bring unclean bread and despise his name. What name do they despise? They despise the name Lord (אדון Adon H113). In verse 6 another name is mentioned: Father! The priests defile the name "LORD" and the name "Father". Both names refer to one and the same person. Both names are despised by the unclean bread. Both the Father and the Son are ostracized by such practices.
How did the bread become unclean? Because they defiled the name of the Lord. And how was the Lord defiled? Now we come to the very core. The priests claim what they cannot prove: The table of the Lord is despicable. The priests make a statement and say that the Lord's table is contemptible. This malicious insinuation causes the Lord to be defiled, which in turn makes the offering of the sacrifice, the bread, unclean. The bread symbolizes the body of the Lord. The one who offers the bread unclean despises the Lord.
Let us bridle the horse from behind. What does the word contemptuous mean in relation to the Lord's table? The Hebrew word can be translated as disdain or contempt (H959). The priests defile the Lord by claiming that the Lord's Table is disrespected by other congregations or disregarded by other priests. And this is what the Exclusives have been doing for almost 100 years, because R. Brockhaus claims:
Therefore one cannot say,
that the Lord's Table is with them.
This is a contempt and disdain for others, but above all they despise the Father and the Son. This is what the Bible calls defiling. And so the bread becomes unclean through its ostracism towards the other brothers and sisters. Their sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving only reach up to the ceiling, if at all. The brothers celebrate pride and arrogance, but not the Lord's Supper.
The Exclusives exclude anyone who celebrates the Lord's Supper in another church that is not part of the Old Congregation. Is that not arrogance? Isn't that arrogant? That is, the brothers love it practically: contempt for the other churches and at the same time despise the Lord. And because they despise the Lord, their bread becomes unclean. They can talk about one body as much as they want, they, the exclusive ones, do not realize this unity under any circumstances, but trample it underfoot through their practice.
The brothers of the Old Assembly, says the Lord, are robbers. They rob what is not their right by passing over the stranger, withholding bread and wine from the guest, although he has a part in it, because he belongs to the one body.
Everything's crowded, isn't it? It not only hits the stomach, it also cramps it and makes it sick. What exactly makes him sick? Nobody really knows yet, but the flatulence, which we are still going to talk about, does not diminish. And so the narrowing ones find themselves in Laodicea at the end. The LORD is at their door; he is not in it. He stands outside and knocks. Is he admitted? He would so gladly enter and sell them his eye ointment. Will they open it for him and pay the price?
After studying these verses, it became clear why God had the Old Assembly forbidden during the Third Reich. In the time of the prohibition of assembly they usually did not celebrate the Lord's Supper. Isn't that remarkable? Today he knocks again, perhaps for the last time. Whoever opens the door to the Lord will celebrate the Lord's Supper with him. Promised is promised!
Geysers in the Bible?
Their water is suddenly "ejected" and flows eruptively to the surface. This shows that they are spring sources that were not recognized as such for a long time because they were inactive. They are reactivated by earthquakes. Geysers are formed underground, in hiding. Invisible water ponds are heated by hot rock masses, the magma, which then, from time to time, explosively shoot up through a thin outlet channel as geysers. For a short time small to large columns of water are formed, which are called geysers (Icelandic: stream). Martin, a visitor of the geyser Strokkur in Iceland, reported that he was very impressed by the strong smell. Did the smell stop him from experiencing such a natural spectacle? No, Martin stayed and was, as he said, fully compensated. Other visitors were also thrilled by the spectacle. The intens smell that Martin perceived resembles the stench of rotten eggs and sulphur. What is it that emits, what might this suggest?
Emmaus and the hot springs
Two disciples went to a village called Emmaus. Did they also have geysers there? We don't know. But one thing is for sure, there were hot springs there. And another thing is certain, the two disciples recognized the risen Lord at the Lord's Supper in Emmaus, while Jesus broke the bread. Already on the way to Emmaus Jesus kindled the hearts of the two. And when they recognized the Risen One, it no longer held them in their seats, they hurried back to Jerusalem with great joy.
Cleopas and the other disciple had invited the stranger to dinner. The stranger, Jesus, accepted their invitation. This seems to us to be the reversal of Lot's story. The disciples of Emmaus invite the supposed stranger to come to them. In the same way, the two messengers of Lot - allegorically the Lord - are also invited. In both stories the meal becomes a feast of joy for the participants.
Emmaus means "hot spring" and is a Hapax Legomenon, which is a word that occurs only once in the Bible, and like all Hapax Legomena, we have found out, point to the end times. The love of the many is cold, but in the few the Lord will light a fire and they will, as in the time of the apostles, meet again in their own homes or in strange places and celebrate the Lord's Supper with joy. As strangers they may know, when they invite the Lord, also in strange places, then he is also in their midst, because he, the veiled one, is the one who invites strangers as a stranger.
Corrupted things in all Christendom
The municipality of Laodicäa is neither hot nor cold. Jesus calls it lukewarm (1st Hapax Legomenon).
But they consider themselves lucky people,
rich with prey,
wear spotless clothes
and have the perspective.
So one can be wrong. In fact, the Lord is at their door. Why?
Laodicea is blind and, for false fear, has locked the doors. They do not let strangers in. With the strangers, the LORD stands at their door. Well, Jesus knocks, for they cannot see, that is why he makes his loud thumping noticeable. That Jesus is standing at the door could also be connected with his state of health.
Is he sick or has he become sick? The Lord knocks, then he says: "Because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor warm, I will spit you out of my mouth (2nd Hapax Legomenon). The Greek word for spit, emeo, means vomit. To the LORD is evil to mute, even to spit. Why? Because the unclean bread has beaten him on the stomach? Or had he taken a bite, tasted the scornful bread and now wants to spit it out? Whether vomiting or spitting, both reactions are protective reflexes of the body. They are supposed to protect the one body from harmful influences, to protect it from the corrupted and unclean bread.
Medicine at its finest
What can the church do? Jesus recommends from his medicine chest: Eye ointment - collourion (3rd Hapax Legomenon) to do what? Jesus says: to anoint your eyes - egchrio (4th Hapax Legomenon), that you may see. The Lord is evil and he will spit out the unclean bread if the church does not repent. Jesus recommends eye ointment. What is the connection between Jesus' state of health and the blindness of the congregation? We can definitely make a connection: Laodicea does not see that her Lord is in bad health. How could it be?
The fish - an uncounted parable
A fish lives in a clean environment. The water is clear and the temperature is not too cold or too hot. If poison is introduced into the water, this can first be seen in the eyes of the fish. A grey veil lies on their eyes. In a further stage they become pale and colourless and at the end they die. Which fish belong to the risk group? All fish! What to do when you realize that there is poison in the water? I quote from a website that provides the following tips for concerned aquarists:
1. move the fish and2. find the cause of the poisoning,3. replace most of the water; and4. Filter via activated carbon.
If the poisoning is not treated immediately, then the fish must be moved, good or bad. The cause of the poisoning is now known to us, we must urgently replace the water, i.e. throw our doctrine of segregation and much more overboard and take the Lord's teaching on board. The false segregation is against God and against people. After replacing the water, the water now available must be filtered with activated carbon. What is coal talking about? It speaks of wood that was taken from the fire of the court just in time. The activated carbon constantly neutralizes the poisons that are introduced into the water by the enemy.
All foreign
Two strangers in a strange place invite the supposed stranger to wine and bread. Laodiceaa talks a lot and often about one body, one of her favourite themes. They say: "The one body speaks of the one bread, the many are the believers in every place. They all form the one body. But the table, the table of the others, is not the table of the Lord, they say. When they gather in their groups to celebrate the Lord's Supper, it is not the Lord's table, they say: Their table is contemptible, and indeed Laodicea despises strangers. Through their practice they say: We are the body, the bread. The Lord is in our midst, in every place - their next favorite theme. But Jesus stands outside. They have denied him entry, keep the doors closed from him, have not honored him. And Jesus tells them: What have you done to my least, that is what have you done to me, the least.
The false separation is also represented by the two disciples who went to Emmaus. They left Jerusalem sadly and went their own way. But the LORD does not leave them alone, he joins them, invisibly, so to speak, speaks to both disciples without them knowing him. Jesus does not give the way, he apparently gets involved in their way. One of the disciples is called Cleopas. We have to look at the name.
Cleopas derives from kleos (G2811) and means:
1. prestige, glory, fame.
What kind of celebrity is here? Exclusives have many good merits and that has made them world famous, but they are called out loud and by whom? The second part of the name explains it to us. It is Greek Pater and stands for a father. God the Father speaks to them loudly. Now pointed to two groups:
1. the Catholic Church,2. and the Exclusive.
The celebration of the Eucharist is as much an abomination to the Lord as the false separation of the brethren from the Old Assembly. God the Father calls out loudly, he makes noise to bring his sons back on the right way, back to Jerusalem. Read and study the book of Malachi.
After the disciples recognized the Lord at the Lord's Supper, they hurried back to the others who were in Jerusalem.
In chapter 4 we discuss the subject: the Torah of Manna. Right at the beginning, under the heading: the structure of the New Testament, we come back to the false segregation that has caused so much dispute among the brethren.
Binding and loosening - Matthew 16
In Matthew 16 we read the words of Jesus which he addresses to Peter: And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. What will the LORD tell the leading disciple? For this we see the Greek words for bind and loosen more precisely.
Binding - δεω (deo) G1210 means:
1. bind2. be engaged to marry oneself.
Solve - λυω (lyo) G3089 means:
1. solve,2. if performed: break, destroy, dissolve3. divorce.
What should Peter bind and solve? The apostle received the keys of the kingdom of heaven from Jesus. What should Peter do with the keys? To unlock, that is certain, but what? Peter is to unlock a door that leads to the kingdom of heaven. For whom shall he open the doors? So many questions at once. One by one. Peter unlocks:
1. for the Jews,2. for the Samaritans,3. for the nations.
Unlocking for the Jews - Acts 2
Pentecost almost 2000 years ago. Over 120 people were together when the Holy Spirit came on them. Thereupon the disciples speak in at least 16 different languages to the gathered crowd, who are dismayed by what they hear. Peter and the other 11 apostles rise, stand up and Peter speaks. After the speech the listeners ask, they were without exception Jews: What shall we do brothers ? Peter replies, "Repent, and each one of you will be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There were 3000 people who confessed their sins on this day of Pentecost and were baptized in the name of Jesus, then they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Unlocking for the Samaritans - Acts 8
Philip, a disciple of Jesus, went into a city of Samaria and preached to them about the Messiah. The listeners believe the gospel and are baptized. The apostles in Jerusalem heard about this and sent Peter and John to Samaria. Through prayer and the laying on of hands, the Samaritans also receive the Holy Spirit.
Unlocking for the Nations - Acts 10
In this chapter we are told of a soldier, the Roman captain Cornelius; he was good, serious and God-fearing and not only him, but also his whole house. Peter is sent to this man to deliver the Good News. The message to Cornelius is: "God has made peace with you and all your house through Jesus the Nazarethite. And while Peter delivers the Good News, the Holy Spirit falls on all listeners. In this way Peter had opened the door to the Kingdom of Peace of Heaven to the nations.
The Door
Peter is the key figure, he opened the kingdom of heaven to the Jews, the Samaritans and the nations. He does not need a second, third or fourth Peter, because the doors are open. The apostle Peter, like later the apostle Paul, thus betrothed the faithful to Christ, i.e., he bound them, in Greek "deo", to the Messiah.
An engagement can also be dissolved or not? The apostle Peter also does this. In Samaria there was a man who had the same Jewish first name as Peter. It was the sorcerer Simon. He also believed and was baptized. Only with his consent could he be baptized. With the baptism a person vows to connect with Christ. But the sorcerer did not receive the Holy Spirit because his heart was not sincere. Peter says to him, "Your money is going to ruin with you because you thought that the gift of God was to be obtained through money. You have no part nor lot in this thing, for your heart is not sincere before God. Repent of this your wickedness and ask the Lord whether the attack of your heart will be forgiven you; for I see that you are in bile of bitterness and in bonds of injustice."
Peter dissolves the betrothal with his words, saying, "You have no part or lot in this matter." Simon the sorcerer also vowed with his baptism to join himself with Christ. But because his heart was not sincere, Peter dissolves the betrothal.
Simon's faith was completely useless and his baptism was worthless. We read nothing of a true conversion and so the words of the apostle will have arrived. Simon the Wizard went to his doom. But the Samaritans united Peter to Christ through prayer and the laying on of hands, without Simon. This happened only once at that time and did not have to be repeated in the following time. After all, the doors to the kingdom of God had been opened. The sorcerer from Samaria never had any part in it. All sorcerers after him also have no part in the cause if they do not repent.
Matthew 18:18 is also about binding. A brother who does not want to be reconciled with a brother should be like a tax collector or a heathen to the congregation. Why? The congregation is the bride of the Messiah. Brother with brother are part of the bride and no man has ever hated his own flesh. But if someone who calls himself brother does not want to reconcile, be it with a brother or a sister, with his spouse or friend, he has already cut himself off by his behavior.
That is why Jesus says: (literally) let him be like a heathen or a publican. The expression "let him be" stands in the imperative and is an order of the bridegroom. Nobody is forced to belong to the church of God and so the irreconcilable decides against Jesus and thus dissolves the engagement with Christ himself. This is then addressed to Jesus' disciples who do not want to reconcile themselves, a "confession of dissolution".
If Jesus treats the subject in such detail, then it is his most fervent wish that the brother should reconcile himself with his brother, which is also why this is the long and patient procedure. The quarrel with brothers and sisters is also at the same time a break with the Lord. Paul says: "For I am jealous of you with God's zeal; for I have engaged you to a man to set you aside from Christ as a pure virgin.
The bride sits at his side at the supper, spotless and clean. Everyone who belongs to the bride sits with him at the table and takes part in the same bread. Where two or three celebrate the Lord's Supper, there is the Lord in their midst. And when the third, who is a stranger, is left out, then the others have cut up the bride. At such a table sitteth not the LORD, but: He is at the door, and so we are .
The most intimate communion with the Lord - 1 Corinthians 10:16
The bread we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
The breaking of bread is painted before our eyes here as an expression of the most intimate communion of the Body of Christ, because one bread, one body, we are, the many, are supplemented by the apostles. The criticism of the Lord in Revelation 3 points to this one body, symbolized by the bread. The sin of the Exclusive: Not all are received and are not allowed to participate in the one bread because, they argue, the strangers are strangers to them. They leave out their guests, skip them. And so also the Lord feels jumped over and left out. His innermost is so violently excited about it that he tells the assembly that he will spit out their contemptible bite. Jesus feels how the strangers feel: Left outside the door like a fool. The Lord at the door, as we do. Let us listen to the longing words of the Lord when he says: "With longing I have longed to eat this Passover with you". And so we, too, but we are despised, have forgotten about it. He who despises the bride also despises the bridegroom.
Haste with time? From the outside it calls out to Laodicäa "Not so".
Haste is called for, time is running short. The judge says: I convict and chasten as many as I love. Now be eager - zayloo (5th Hapax Legomenon) and repent.
The LORD loves her nevertheless, that is certain. Already during the time of the prohibition of assembly in the Third Reich the brothers were aware that the Lord was chastising them. They did not yet know the deeper reason. Only today, with this book, God gives them sufficient light. If they confess their sin to the Lord in self-judgment, which is also well known to them, and repent, then the LORD will forgive their sins and not judge them. If they do not, they will be judged. God will spit them out. God promises to repent by Malachi:
And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the LORD, and who respect his name. And they shall be mine property, saith the LORD, in the day which I will make; and I will spare them as a man of his son, who serves him, spares them. And you, who may mock, will again see the difference between the righteous and the lawless, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.
The pointers stand on shortly before the end. Laodiceau must hurry, repent immediately and quickly, very quickly, for the text in Malachi continues with the words: "For behold, i.e., look carefully, the day is coming, burning like a stove ..."
We are on the verge of the rapture. Already the sulphurous smell rises in Emmaus. Just as our Martin was impressed by the smell of rotten eggs and sulphur, so are we, the authors, and also deeply shaken.
Our hopes - our fears
We would like to round off the passage and quote ourselves in relation to a man we know: "If he would follow the Lord, he might make the same mistakes, but we would have hope. But because he does not obey the Lord, we fear evil for him.
Applied to the Old Assembly, the sentence would have to be something like this: There are many faithful brethren among them who follow the Lord according to knowledge. And because they have an open ear and healthy eyes, I may hope that they obey the Lord.
But from the others we fear evil. In the story of the blind man, the rulers of the Jews question the healed man. They cannot believe it and ask him again. After the seeing man, more unintentionally, teaches the colonels, they kick him out. That is what we fear. Blind people throw those who have become seen out of their assemblies.
But there is a consolation: The Lord notices and hears how sincere brethren talk about the Lord and fear Him at the same time. He assures them that you will be my property in the day of judgment, and I will spare you, because you have made the Torah of God the foundation of your work, and you have made your lives in it. In the kingdom of the Father the Lord's Supper will be their king's supper.
The fish spits out Jonah
Jonah was a prophet of the Lord, so his book tells us. But he was reluctant, did not want what God wanted. And so he separated himself. His separation led steadily downwards. It began in his heart. With the decision to go to Japho, his descent was initiated. Japho, there was something. Oh yes, that's where the famous tanner Simon lived. Did Jona listen to the last warnings?
Simon means to hear. But what might Jona have lamented and heard? He ignores the clues and throws them all to the wind. And so the prophet flees quickly down to the harbour.
He's in a hurry to get on there. He's going further down into a ship. After paying the ferry fee he descends further, to the bottom of the ship. At last the separate is where he wanted to go, separate from everything and everyone. Everything around him is dark. Daylight does not penetrate there. With his idiosyncratic secretion Jona has chosen it that way and now darkness has caught up with him. Or are it the eyes after all? Be that as it may, Jona indulges in his loneliness and goes even deeper down. The now stowaway throws himself into the bunk, because only then can he endure the dizziness, oh no, the swinging and swaying. Soon he falls asleep.
The ship has already been at sea for some time, a violent wind breaks loose and rages across the sea. Soon the wind rises to a storm, driving the ship before it.
The roller coaster sails along, the leaderless sailor (Hebrew: Ma-lach) pulls the lines loose. Such weather is unknown to them, this is a day that is risky for everyone. Now it swings to them: Something is wrong. They storm down, you can't see him, run into the cabin, swing on Jonas hammock. The sleeper is woken up very rough: Hey, get out of bed and up on the deck. They ask him about his way and the feathers he has dragged up to here.
What stunned Jona so much, what dreamed that he fled to the bottom of the ship? Jona is a son of the sincere. The word Amittai, Hebrew אמתי, appears only twice in the Bible. One time here in Jonah 1:1 and the other time in 2 Kings 14:25. For us to understand the story of Jonah well, we have to deal with the text from 2 Kings. Here a short summary: Amaziah becomes king after his father Joas had been killed before. After some time Amaziah kills the murderers and refers to the law. The writer of the Book of Kings quotes Moses with the following words: Fathers shall not be killed for the sake of children, and children shall not be killed for the sake of fathers, but each one shall be killed for his sin. By acting according to the law, Amaziah eliminates the murderers. Thus the opponents from the front row are rendered harmless.
It goes into the next stage. Amazja marches against the Edomites in the second round. Judas' army kills 10,000. Edom's defeat is also noted in the Northern Kingdom. After his victory over Edom, Amazja sends messengers to the king of Israel and wants them to look at each other. Jehoash king of Israel repelled Amaziah's request with the following answer: "If they looked at each other, the beasts of the field would trample the thorn bush. Amaziah's ambition does not give rest, and so the cedar and the thorn bush come together.
In Beth-Shemesh, the House of the Sun, the two kings meet. The thorn bush becomes a prisoner and later, 15 years after the death of Joas, the king of the northern kingdom, is killed by the wild beasts of the field. But first the king of Israel goes to Jerusalem and makes a break and tears a gap in the wall from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate. When the city is broken up, the thorns, the Mishnah, are trampled down at the same time. His name means dove. Jonah's name indicates it. He belongs to the peacemakers. But his peaceableness goes beyond normal. Jonah is afraid of reactions. That's another reason why he didn't want to hear. But what exactly did Jonah not want to hear? This mystery is only revealed to us in the Book of Acts. The ship on which Paul travels moors in the port of Sidon. The place means fishing.
The stories from the book of Jonah and the story of the apostle run parallel. Both travel west. Paul travels to Italy, the country that resembles the calf, but only resembles. After the departure of the Adramytian ship (adramyttene means: I will persevere in death), points to Jona. While the ship was sailing below Cyprus, the winds were already against them, so the ship had to call at a port. The place is called Myra and means bitter. This is the second time the impending storm has been announced. But no one on the ship listens to the voice of God, listens to what Paul said.
Notwithstanding the warnings, the passengers switch to an Alexandrian ship that sails under the flag of the Dioscuri. Attention! Myra is the first quiet reference to the Rapture - further below - and at the same time the second ship points to the time of the Antichrist. We get the first hint through the ship itself, because it is an Alexandrian sailor. Another hint we get from the captain. His name is Julius. The sailors lift the anchors and sail away. Contrary to better knowledge, because it is winter, they set sail.
It becomes clear in both stories that it is God who sends the storms. Like Job, Jonah has provoked Leviathan. Now God thunders out of the storm; see Job 40. For God to be appeased, those responsible for the ship must act. Against will the sailors "haunt" him, throw the unclean "fish" named Jonah (back) into the sea, into the natural element of these animals. There God has mixed the healing eye ointment, the sea is heated to an ointment kettle. Job 41:22
Now it's going even deeper down. Jona, now extraordinarily dramatic, dies, dies in the lowest places on earth. But like a miracle, the Prophet survives death, as God predicted through the Adramyttian ship: "I will endure death". God commands the fish and so he spits Jonah out again.
Landed on the beach, the Prophet recognizes the area. He knows that: I have landed in the Japho area again. The tanner did a good job. Jonah has been given eternal life and so something new arises out of it. In this new life he starts all over again. Not that his old nature has remained completely in the sea, no, not that now. But God guides him, continues to be patient with him and gives the Prophet very close visual instruction on the path before him again and again.
First the Lord repeats his command and says to Jonah the son of Amittai, the son of the Candid (Hebrew: Jaschar):
Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message which I will tell you. Then Jonah set out, and entered the city, and made a day's journey, and proclaimed: Forty days to go, Nineveh is turn about.
And what happens after the message? We read amazingly: All the people of the great city turned back. The prophet experiences exactly what he proclaimed before: Forty more days, Nineveh is turn about. This is a play on words. The linguistic expression is ambiguous and expresses two things: Either Nineveh returns and God lets them live or they do not return and God must return Nineveh, i.e. destroy it. In both cases the statement would be true.
How is it that all people repent? The Ninivites knew God and lived a pious life on the outside, but their hearts were far from him. It was as far away as the distance between Nineveh and Jerusalem. Why was the Prophet sent only to Nineveh? The city is the visible testimony to the world and represents both earthly Jerusalem and spiritual Jerusalem, Christianity. This is also indicated by the Prophet's father, for Jonah is a son of Amittai, a son of the sincere Father.
We still have to clarify the origin of Jonah. In 2 Kings 14,25 as well as in Jonah 1,1 we are told that Jonah comes from the village of Gath-Hepher, a place about 3 kilometers from Nazareth. The village was identified with today's el Meshedi.
Jonah's tendency to go into false isolation seems to break through again and again, putting him in danger. He seeks refuge under the miracle tree. It is true, God let the tree grow, but to reveal his hidden ideas to Jonah. The tree is called the "son of a night" and points to the time when Jonah's story repeats itself. It is the time of the Antichrist, who here is called "son of a night" and symbolized with the tree. He will be a miraculous man, but he is the son of only one night. Jonah, on the other hand, is a son of the day, which is also why he experiences a hot time. It is all too understandable that he seeks the protection of the miracle man from the heat of the day. But this tree withers just as quickly as it came, by the sting of an equally wondrous worm.
If we seek the protection of the living and eternal God, then we are truly safe and are also a tree whose leaf does not wither and which bears abundant fruit in autumn.
Jonah's wondrous story is told again in a different way in the Bible. The story is found a second time in the New Testament, where history also points to the future. Only through the actions of the passengers and sailors do we come closer to the mystery. And what do the sailors do there? They throw everything overboard to save the ship from sinking, but it's not enough. And then what do the people do on the ship on which Paul travels to Rome as a captive passenger? In the end they all throw themselves into the water, as Paul had advised them, because God had promised him: If they do it exactly as God had described it to Paul, no one will perish.
So God, he lets the ship, which calls itself the congregation, fall into a violent storm, so that the sailors must throw all their self-made equipment overboard and then jump into the water themselves, the water of their own and final capitulation and the abandonment of the ship and of their own lives. The water also serves as an image for salvation, the one-time final purification. After the baptism we recognize: At last iron can swim, because the chains of captivity have been loosened.
All travelers must go overboard and only then will all be saved. Everyone, and this is important, swims for himself, with or without wood, to the beach.
Jona also had to go into the water first, only to be washed back to the beach after three days. Melite is the name of the island on whose beach Paulus and his fellow travellers land. Melite means honey and symbolizes the sweetness of the Gospel; and because they are standing on the beach, it indicates that the crowd of people who will convert to the true God will be greater than the sand of the sea.
Who wants to know the secret of the island Melite, where the tender beekeeper works and his bees diligently produce the honey, can find our detailed interpretation on: http://simson-project.com/ under the menu items "Interpretation" and "the third picture".
The salt in the sea
As we know, the sea has a disinfecting effect. Was Jonas's eye disease cured with it? The poisoned water had formed a grey veil on the cornea that prevented divine light from reaching the eye. Did the church of Laodicea become sighted after the Lord had spat it back into the sea? Laodicea could be cleansed and healed today in the extensive water bath of His Word if she wishes. And what about the historical Laodicea, had they experienced healing in their eyes? Obviously not, for otherwise the Lord would not walk the post circuit of Asia Minor a third time. (see: Post-Round Trail in Asia Minor)
By Artwork by Holly Fischer - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24367145
The Lord is the great fish. He does not leave Laodicea alone in the sea. He catches the fish again. This is fishing with love. Jesus does not want one of his least ones to be left to the robber and swallowed up. Separation for fish is pretty much the stupidest thing they can do, because very dangerous. Only in a swarm are the little ones safe from the robber, because he cannot fix the individual fish as long as the swarm remains in motion.
Blessed is the one who is caught by the Lord and pulled up to the shore by him, even before the many robbers make their way over the defenceless swarm to devour one fish after the other.
Ship change in Myra
Why change ships? Is the ship too narrow for the passengers, consisting of the crew, the passengers and the prisoners? Or are they afraid of suffering? One thing is for sure, those responsible did not want to wait and so their impatience becomes expensive. Even Paul therefore threatens to despair of life towards the end of the storm if the Lord had not strengthened him. Such a strengthening was also necessary. Moreover, God promises him the salvation of all souls, that is 267 persons; but only if they follow the instructions of the Lord, that is that of the apostle.
Note: The number 267 is special. Let us multiply the numbers:
the numbers: 2 x 6 x 7= 84.
This number points directly to the last week of Daniel.
The last week of Daniel is described. It consists of 7 years. Each year has 12 months.
12 months x 7 years are 84 months.
The great tribulation takes place in the second half, a full 42 months.
The change
As we indicated shortly before, a change is taking place. This also becomes clear in the revelation between Smyrna and Pergamos. While in the letter of the church Smyrna, that is the bitter, their sufferings are foretold, in the letter to Pergamos we are told of the murder of a mysterious person. His name is Antipas and means counter father.
But there is another, a second change, from Smyrna to Philadelphia. The second change only becomes apparent when we have understood the Jewish perspective of the letters of revelation. Here again our reference to the section: The Postrundweg of Asia Minor.
Who is Antipas - Revelation 2
The pope lets himself be called father and thus forms the actual counter father. But because the leader of the Roman Church sees himself as the father of all Christians, the man from Revelation 2 is his antipas - that is to say, the counter father of the Pope. No one can serve two masters, either one works for the Pope or for God the true Father. Who might be the murderer of Antipas?
Jesus warned: "Neither shall you call anyone on earth your Father; for one is your Father who is in heaven. This is not about our own parents, whom we should very well call father and mother, but about a person outside the family who presumes to have full authority over us. When Jesus warns us, it is for good reason.
Our heavenly Father educates us, when we are already, to listen to him. He cares for his children and if necessary, he must touch them harder. God acts with us as with sons. Love for His children is always the driving force of His action, for one day they are to take up and administer the inheritance.
But what does the Pope want? He wants to become rich when Jesus became poor for our sake. And to make matters worse, Rome does not share its wealth, but displays it publicly. Moreover, as it has done for centuries, it always asks for donations of money. Other sources of income are shops of all kinds.
Rome's veiled royalty
What kind of dominion is this that imposes itself on all people in secret with its evil works? The Bishop of Rome wants to discipline every man at his discretion. He tells them what to do or not to do. He even wants to rule over non-Christians. But many of his instructions and rules are contrary to the Bible and do not lead to the desired results. We must sound it out strongly: A blind man leads the blind. If this continues, he will be thrown into bed with his "children" and go to eternal destruction.
As already said and yet we must repeat it: Only one can be our rightful Father and that is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Antipas' jealousy - prophetic dimension
Who's Antipas now? Is it the murderer or the faithful witness? The pope can be called a father and thus forms the actual Antipas. But here God uses this name for his faithful witness. Linguistically it is expressed with the fact that already in the first century of the municipality a role exchange had taken place and for far more than 1000 years it is official: The bishop of Rome lets himself be called illegally father.
The Roman rulers, whether in the form of Caesars or Popes, have still in some way outflown their rivals. The acting opponent kills the faithful witness by having him murdered in Pergamos. The charge then reads something like this: Antipas does not worship the man from Rome, but gives glory to God alone and that becomes dangerous for Rome. Anyone who represents a danger must be taken out of circulation. Antipas cannot be misled and remains faithful. For this reason he bears the title "faithful witness". We, the authors, know only one faithful witness and that is Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth. The opponent living in Rome cannot bear him, he even denies the fatherhood of Jesus and makes of him a son of Lucifer. The Pope also makes a creeping turn, carries out his mysterious mutation: the Trinitarian becomes an Arian. The apostle John warns: "He who denies the heavenly Father does not have the Son either. Whether this New-Arian is disguised as a Christian or a Jew or a Muslim is irrelevant. In the end, he will murder the Antipas in a secret plot, just as he did then. He and his children will burn the Christians and thus crucify Jesus a second time. The one who stalks Christians attacks Jesus himself.
Just as Paul, who as Saul had persecuted the Christians, also Rome, in the form of Saul, persecutes the true Christians. The acting bishop of Rome changes from Paul to Saul.
Whoever persecutes Christians, we cannot repeat it often enough, he also persecutes Jesus. The Lord always makes himself one with his people, just as we are told in the Book of Acts. Three times we read how the Lord asks: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Saul means asked. Three times the question of God to Saul will be asked again, and likewise Saul will ask back three times, "Who are you LORD? Jesus introduces himself briefly and concisely and gives the later apostle his first commission. How often will the Roman Church have been asked: Why do you persecute Jesus by persecuting Christians and even killing them?
The false sacrifices during the Mass
In a practical way, the Roman Church rejects the unique sacrifice, the death of Jesus on the cross, by its priests practicing idolatry. Through the host, the body of Jesus, as they think, is sacrificed again and again. But Jesus died only once for sinners and only once for all sins. The unique sacrifice of Jesus for our sins is denied by the Roman priesthood in the sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass celebration of the Roman Church is therefore not a memorial meal, even if the priests talk about it. If they really remembered it, they could realize that there is no need to sacrifice more. And what is more, it must not be sacrificed any more.
The Misunderstood Rule
The Roman pope illegally seizes the royal rule, proclaims a time of peace by means of a new world order. To this end he under his direction gives political leadership to the USA, the military leadership they already possess. This is indicated by the name of the captain who is to lead the apostle Paul to Rome as a prisoner. Julius is his name and derives from the imperial family of the Julians. A Julius is someone who has consecrated himself to Jupiter, the god of luck or gambling and religion. Is the acting president of the United States not a gambler? And he thinks a lot of religion. As a gambler you can mix Christianity with Judaism and hardly anyone notices it.
The self-proclaimed head
In astrology, Jupiter is interpreted as the head of the family. And because Rome is an astrologer, whether willingly or ignorantly, Catholics have accepted the claim of the Bishop of Rome that he is a father of all and only through Rome comes a happy age. He who is blind cannot see the depths of Satan. Rome's blindness stems from the fact that they cling to their idiosyncratic interpretations of the Scriptures. Explaining the literal text with human reasoning inevitably leads to absurd results, such as the statement of Jesus at the institution of the Lord's Supper when he broke bread and said: "This is my body".
The bread is not just not the body of Jesus, but he points to the body of Jesus. As a memorial meal we remember the sacrificial death of Jesus.
The Lord's Supper is a feast of joy. We rejoice in our redemption, which Jesus brought about. We rejoice in the victory over death that Jesus fought for us. We rejoice in the torn letter of indebtedness that listed all our sins. We rejoice that we have become righteous through the righteous.
Whoever trusts Jesus and believes that his work on Golgotha is sufficient for all eternity, enters truly Holy Land. It is the land of the kingdom of heaven. This is the kingdom of the Messiah. And his kingdom will have existed for eternity, while the kingdom of Rome will be destroyed at the end of the last week of Daniel in a single day.
Obscure mass celebrations instead of the Lord's Supper
As we have already seen, in the Roman Church the Lord's Supper is not celebrated. They call their cult Mass celebration. The word mass means: send, dismiss, send away. Where are the participants sent to? Why and where are they dismissed?
In a deceitful way, the enemy has distorted the understanding of the memorial meal, and so the Roman Church has released itself from betrothal to Christ. Their bread is unclean bread, baked with or without leaven, God calls it leaven. Their bread is unclean, the host of complete rubbish. "Rome does not change, Rome is always the same," is how the Roman priests describe the nature of the Roman Church in their own words. And so it happened that during the many centuries the Roman dough was completely acidified; see Matthew 13, the parable of the woman, that a little leaven hid in the dough. The dough can only be disposed of. It is thrown away at the garbage dump, where all the garbage is burned.
All sorcery
The priests of Rome were and are ritually ordained to this day. And so, by virtue of their office, they are magicians. And as magicians they conjure a body out of an oblate by saying: "The body of Christ", that is the transsubstantiation, the transformation of bread into flesh. The host is then placed in the participant's mouth.
The toenails of the outsider curl up. The Roman magicians have role models who come from another Babylon, from which we read the Gospel of Matthew. Those magicians still did not recognize the star of the new king, Rome.
A simple magician relies on a supreme sorcerer, depends on him for his prosperity and ruin; therefore the Roman priesthood recognizes the supreme priest of Rome as Papa. He should and must build them a spiritual home and tell them where the journey will take them. At the latest since the time of the Fourth Council of Constantinople, the Roman Church has been on a long way back. It is returning to the Greek-Babylonian mystery cults of its spiritual ancestors.
Hieronymus wrote about Rome well in the fifth century
"Mighty city, mistress of the world, city of the voice of the apostle praised, the Greek translates your name Rome with "power", but with "sovereignty" of the Hebrews. Because you are called a slave, virtue should rise, not humiliate lust. You can escape the curse which the Redeemer threatened you in the Apocalypse by repentance, bearing in mind the example of Nineveh.
We must repeat and affirm Hieronymus's invitation when he writes about Rome: "You can escape the wrath of God by repentance". Thus, all the "Romans", are called to let go of the sorceries and to return to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Any worship of stars and starlets, dead or alive, degenerates into idolatry. Only our beloved Lord Jesus deserves our admiration and worship, for: He who does not honor him is wrong.
Turning old into new
For health reasons Jesus must spit out the spoiled bread, throw the blind and thus sick fish back into the sea, in order to keep the body clean and healthy. Will the sick then become healthy? Now, if the water is healthy, the eye disease of the fish can be cured. Clear and clean water we find abundantly in the Bible and only in the Bible. Every form of human tradition has to go overboard urgently and unconditionally, for example the self-made rudder or the handmade rigging, but especially the cargo has to go for a swim.
What has accumulated during the 2000 years of Christianity and the approx. 4000 years of Judaism so all the stuff and stuff. At first hesitantly, but then obeying the need, finally both the Jewish and Christian Mishnah become damp and wavy and brittle. Away with it! Off over the railing and down into the sea. Let your traditions sink into the depths of oblivion. Throw out the vain and commode furnishings of your religious ideas.
Don't you see? At that time, in the year 70, God had the Herodian Temple completely destroyed and why? Our answer is: Manasseh! - Reason for forgetting. We read of Messiah Ben Joseph: "God has made me forget all my toil and all my Father's house.
Why could Jesus comfort himself over the loss of the temple? Because the Father is preparing something even more beautiful.
Probably the Catholics and probably the Jews and many others who can say goodbye to the pompous temples and churches and proclaim them: I have a Manasseh. I have a reason to turn my back on earthly splendor and become a true Christian. Such a disciple may love and confess Jesus as his Manasseh: Jesus is my reason to say goodbye to all trash.
The Hebrew Echad - One-
The word occurs 703 times in the Old Testament and is always spoken of as a composite unity. It is not always as easy to recognize as in the second law, the law of the Passover, because which things form a unity must be explored by us. If we take the trouble and examine the scriptures, then we also find the other parts that belong to the respective echad. The law of the Passover is a law. We have already explained that the word echad is a number word and a composite unit.
Now we come to the secret, which is indicated by the word echad (אחד) - one. Let us look again at the text: A (echad) law should be for the native and for the stranger who is in your midst. The Hebrew word echad speaks of the native and the stranger. Together the two form a composite unity when they eat the Passover together. Paul explains this: For he (Jesus) is our peace, who has made one out of both (native and stranger) and has broken off the partition wall of the fence. Ephesians 2:14
The word "stranger" refers both to a Christian who comes to us as a guest as a stranger, and to the believers from the nations who now together with the Jews form the assembly of the living God. The native, these were the Jews and the stranger, a man from Egypt. At that time they celebrated the Passover together. Today we too, as people from the nations and from the Jews, celebrate together our Passover, which is Jesus Christ, to commemorate his death. With songs, text readings and prayers we offer sacrifices to God that please him, spiritual sacrifices and food offerings, sacrifices of praise.
The institution of the meal by the Messiah
But on the first day of the unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said: Where do you want us to prepare you to eat the Passover? The LORD does not give an exact description of the place, but gives his disciples only clues:
- the city (that is Jerusalem)
- to him and to him (a linguistic expression which was used as a substitute from (honour) fruit before the person who owned the house; one did not dare to pronounce the name);
- in his house, that is the house of the one who is described by the expression "him and him".
When they ate the Passover, Jesus said: "Truly I say to you, one of you will deliver me up. The Lord says here to all the twelve, saying, One of you ... Judas was also present, because after each of them asked, "I am not, Lord? Jesus answered all the disciples, "He who dips his hand with me into the bowl will deliver me up.
Judas also asked the question and received the following answer from the Lord: "You said it. What did Judas say? What is the Lord alluding to here? We have to jump back a little in the text and then learn in verse 15 that Judas had gone to the chief priests and said, "What will you give me and I will deliver him up to you? This is what Judas said. The Lord makes it clear: "I know what you have said and I know that you will follow your words with deeds. Judas was busy since the appointment with the chief priests nothing else than to look for an opportunity, so that he delivered Jesus to the judgment.
The Lord's Supper - with or without Judas?
Was Judas still present when the Lord set the Lord's Supper? When we read the four gospels, it seems difficult to determine the right time. How can we reconstruct the timing of the evening properly and properly?
Well, there is no doubt that Luke is the only evangelist who explicitly mentions that he tells in chronological order, because he explains his approach to the drafting of his text very precisely: "It seemed good to me, too, and I followed everything from the beginning, to write to you, Most Excellent Theophilus, one after the other, so that you may recognize the reliability of the things in which you have been taught.
Now to the details. Luke is:
1. everything,2. from the beginning,3. followed exactly.
To do what? ... to write one after the other. The Greek word kathexes (καθεξης), for "one after the other", would have been better translated as "one after the other" so that the chronological procedure becomes clear. So that no doubts arise, as if this were not so, we look at the word roots of kathexes.
- the prefix Katha means: from above down, i.e..: Start with the text at the top and then read down or in short: from top to bottom.
- the adverb hexes means successively.
Luke wants to tell Theophilus: Everything you have learned, I write down for you in correct and chronological order. And Luke, a chronicler of the first order, is himself the enemy of Christianity. Let's look at his report. What does Luke write about the night before the crucifixion? Luke 22:
And when the hour had come, he lay down at tables, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said to them: With longing I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will eat no more until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take it, and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you that I will not drink of the plant of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and broke and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after the meal, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.
But behold, the hand of him who delivers me is with me over tables. And the Son of Man goes as it is decreed, but woe to the man through whom he is handed down! And they began to ask one another who of them would be the one who would do this.
From the narrative of the Gospel according to Luke, and he reports chronologically, it becomes clear that Judas was present until the end of the Lord's Supper. Only Luke does not tell us about the departure of Judas. From the other gospels we learn that Judas, after taking the bite, soon left the hall. Where do we have to classify "soon after"? Only after the last discussion about the traitor. We have to puzzle over and over again to arrange all the details of the evening correctly. Now there are disputers who think the bite is something other than bread. Let's take a closer look at the Greek word and its roots.
The Bite - Four Times in the Gospel of John
The word ''bite'' (sop) is Greek Psomion - ψωμιον- and denotes a piece of bread, because the root of the word is psocho -ψωχω- and means pulverize, grind, grind, crush; it is a Hapax Legomenon, i.e. it occurs only once in the Bible, in Luke 6:1:
And it happened on the second-first Sabbath that he went through the seeds, and his disciples picked the ears of corn and ate them by rubbing them with their hands - psocho-.
The disciples rubbed the ears of corn against each other between their hands. Consequently, the bite could only have been a piece of bread. A root consists of the same material as the trunk. The same applies to the Greek and Hebrew words. If the word root has something to do with cereal grains, then this also applies to the derived word. All other interpretations, e.g.: they were herbs, are nonsense and lack any logic.
And because the word pulverize in Greek is a Hapax Legomenon, it additionally points to the end of the Last Days. The two hands that grind the grains serve as a symbol for an upper and lower millstone. God has proverbially given judgment to His disciples, for we read:
But Jesus spoke to them: Verily I say unto you: You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:20
The bite that Judas had taken became his bitterest food, the bitterest he had ever eaten. Judas ate judgment for himself. Paul says: So whoever eats bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment himself, by not discerning the body.
Judas had unworthily taken in the bread and the cup.
Unworthy means:
1. weighing, evaluating;2. unworthy, undeserved;3. inappropriate, unsuitable.
Although the LORD knew that Judas had already threaded the betrayal, he let him take part in the feast. Why? The Lord gives great weight to personal responsibility. Paul affirms this: "But let every man try himself, and so eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. Judas had not tested himself and then correctly evaluated himself. He could have known that he was unworthy, because he did not want to give up his betrayal for the love of money. And so Judas was shattered head over heels after he hanged himself.
Many sick and deceased people complained to the Corinthians because they did not test themselves. Let us order things immediately when they become conscious, so that the Lord will not have to judge them.
And how is 1 Corinthians 10 to be understood?
Paul writes: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot share the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than him? What is Paul trying to tell us? To put it quite simply: You cannot dance at two weddings. Why not? The answer is quite simple: It doesn't work. And besides, the LORD would become jealous and rightly so.
As we read the Bible, we learn to think more and more in pictures. But it is not our own mental connections that are decisive, but the meanings that Scripture gives us. If a person participates both in the Lord's Supper and in other sacrificial rites, then he attracts the Lord who, spoken in pictures, is our bridegroom, for we are his bride. Imagine: A bride does not dance with her bridegroom, but leaves the celebration and goes to another wedding. Which bridegroom would not become jealous? And that is exactly the picture that Paul takes up. The demons' tables today are in various places, above all in the Roman Catholic churches, which cast their spell over the host and then place the mystical body in the participant's mouth.
Let's look at the details of the verse. First the cup and then the wine. What does a chalice stand for? It represents the human body as a vessel and symbolizes the body of Jesus. And what does wine stand for? It symbolizes the blood of our Lord. Jesus has shed his blood so that we can be reconciled with God. And where two enemy persons reconcile with each other, what comes up? Right, joy! Wine also symbolizes joy. When we enjoy other things, i.e. dance at other weddings, then we challenge the Lord, make him jealous.
Now we look at another detail, the table. What does a table stand for? It stands for communal food, that is, for our home, in the family of God, where we eat together. But the table also stands for an altar on which the sacrifice was offered. At the table of the Lord, the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving are offered, both through songs and through our prayers and word readings.
The eating and drinking of the Lord's Supper are symbolic of those things that we want to receive and become a part of ourselves. Just as it is with our food, which we eat daily. All nutrients are crushed in the stomach and intestines until they are tiny enough to be absorbed through the intestinal wall. The small particles are then transported via the vascular system to all cells of the body.
So I am a little iron, a little copper, a little silver, a little gold and so on. Without trace elements we would become ill. A good wine contains all the necessary and valuable components that our body needs. By the way: Each of the aforementioned trace elements tells its own story.
At the table of the Lord we drink the "good wine" which symbolically stands for a healthy drink and serves health, both physical, mental and spiritual. That is why Paul recommends his real child to drink a little wine. The joy of the blood shed for us contributes to spiritual health. The one who always forgives the mourning and pours out his tears at the Lord's Supper cannot really have understood the work of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord's Supper is a feast of joy!
Wherever we find wine mentioned in the Old Testament, he speaks of this joy. But wine does not only talk about the joy of God's action, but also, depending on the passage in the text, about the joys of this world and the supposed joys of mixed wine at the table of demons. Paul recommends wine to Timothy because of the recurring discomfort. The cause of his sensitivities is not visible to everyone. With a little empathy, the health problems of Timothy can be recognized, because in his life there were things that were difficult to digest, for example hardships that hit him hard on the stomach. A little wine, i.e. a little joy about the work on Golgotha and the digestion is improved and strengthens the inner man.
The joy of the Lord and his work will have done Timothy good. For us, too, the memory of his sufferings, which he endured for us, will be helpful for strengthening and encouragement. Or as the prophet Isaiah puts it: "Behold, God is my salvation -Jeshua, I trust and do not fear; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and my song, and he is my salvation (help, victory, wealth). -to Yeshua.
Symbolically applied to the metals they stand for:
Rescue - CopperHelp - SilverVictory - Iron (Trust and Strength)Wealth - Gold
Now connect the verse to the metals:
- See, God is my salvation - copper,- I trust with my spirit - iron, and do not fear (spirit connected with the soul) me,- For Yah (the Strong), Yahweh (the Eternal Being), my strength is -iron,- and my singing - Gold,- and he is my salvation - silver.
The good warrior
Timothy shall rejoice at the Lord's Supper. He shall remember again and again what the Lord has accomplished on Golgotha. After Timothy has rejoiced and strengthened himself in the Lord, he can continue to participate in the tribulations as a good warrior and concentrate on things in spiritual warfare.
When Paul gives the command to the Ephesians (Eph.6): Put on! then he commands other soldiers. From verse 14 the armor of the Romans, uh, of the Christians, from XXS to XXL is presented to us. The use and purpose of the first weapon into which the apostle introduces us is a special belt and we should now take a closer look at it so that we also understand it as a weapon before we put it on. It is interesting that a Roman soldier, even if he did not carry any weapons with him, was recognized by the belt. The belt of a Roman soldier was his identity card. Whether in the service or privately, he was recognized by all and everyone, also unasked, and that at the belt.
The belts were already made of fine leather at that time and well made they are almost indestructible. Simon can explain to us how such a genuine, durable leather belt is made. No, not Peter, but the Simon with whom Peter stayed for a certain time. He lives and works in a very beautiful city called Japho. And what is his trade? He is a tanner. His craft is considered to be the oldest in the world. Already in Eden he showed his skills.
God's cosmetic studio is not everyone's cup of tea
Even today, people prefer to keep a wide berth from their tannery. Why? His workplace is nothing for fine noses, it stinks far and wide. And so at the time of the Romans, tanning was predominantly a job for slaves, for those who would not be able to be judged anyway. It was not only the smell of carrion that was attached to them. Is our Simon a slave? Whatever that may be, we take a look at his working world. The animal is already dead and his skin has been stripped off. The aim of tanning is to make the skin durable and to keep it soft and flexible. If the skin is not processed immediately, it is salted as soon as possible after skinning in order to stop the decomposition process and not endanger its quality. The coat can also be hung up in hot and especially dry climates, thus preventing its rotting. If the skin is processed immediately, the third layer, which is the lowest, is removed. The process is called fleshing. Oh, the flesh has to be removed? Yes, the flesh must be removed.
The visible part of the skin is also removed, the top layer. It consists mainly of proteins and creatines containing sulphur. The protein often makes up more than 50% of the dry weight and forms the building blocks of life in this world with its amino acids. The creatine is a special protein. This must also be eliminated. It is mainly found in the hair, fingernails and toenails. These are places of our transient vanity. They are dissolved chemically. The hair no longer needs styling and the fingernails no longer need to be filed.
The dermis forms the middle part. It is freed from unwanted components and then given for tanning. Now we skip the individual steps and take a look at the result. The skin, which has now become a firm but flexible object, becomes a special belt for us.
Let us compare: Our belts today are a few inches wide and, depending on body circumference, correspondingly long. The belt of a Christian is comparable to the belt of a priest. The entire upper body, from the armpits to the waist, is tied with a belt of fine linen several meters long. Now when Paul commands: Put on! And first he calls the belt, then he wants to tell us: Our whole interior is protected by the eternal belt, from which all fleshly things have been removed and cleansed of all earthly elements.
Note: The sheep stand for the believers of the heavenly, the goats for the earthly.
Now we look very briefly at the parchments. These are the animal skins of sheep or goats. The subcutis and epidermis were also removed and the dermis cleaned. Under high temporal expenditure and under constant tension, again and again scraped off, until the material was in an even structure and was wafer-thin. The renewed scraping could only be carried out if the animal skin was moistened again with water and the skin, which relaxed through the water, was brought again under tension. At the end one received parchments, on which then with pure writing instruments a copy of the Torah was made.
If we transfer the manufacturing process of a Torah to ourselves, we experience in our own bodies: God removes step by step all things in our lives that are unsuitable for eternity. Then he describes us with his law. Of course, God can only do this if we ourselves are willing to do so and recognize that we are naked and that there is a need for pure clothing.
Adam and Eve were without shirt and trousers before the Fall, but they were not naked, figuratively speaking, because they were girded accordingly, that is, they were clothed with truth. Through the lie of the serpent, Adam and Eve took off their garments and clothed themselves with lies, making the twists of the serpent their own. Now when Adam and Eve realized that they were naked, they realized that they had undressed the truth and put on the lie.
Being unclothed is not evil per se, if it were so, it would be evil if our toddlers played naked by the water, to give just one example. When God presents us with the mirror of His Word, He wants to show us that we are not clothed in truth, but that we are clothed in lies. And that is why they say: All people are liars and that means that all people are naked. Psalm 116, 11
Note: The fact that these are two different states of nudity is made clear by the two words used.
Without clothing and yet not naked - Genesis 1:2,25
In Genesis 2:25 we read: And they (Adam and Eve) were both naked (Heb.: arom - ערום), man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
The condition described here indicates that Adam and Eve did not have to be ashamed because their bodies were undamaged.
Dressed and yet naked - Genesis 3:7
Genesis 3:7 is written: Then both their eyes were opened, and they recognized that they were naked (Hebrew: eyrom - עירום), and stapled fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
The nudity described in Genesis 3:7 indicates that something fundamental had changed. The lie of the serpent had defaced its entire exterior appearance - they became chalk pale. Pierced with the poisonous thorn of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent had injected its death poison into the first human couple. Like a flash the horror came upon them.
What did Adam and Eve do after the horror? They weren't really aprons, they sewed belts. These are self-made truths taken from the fig tree. But their self-imposed insights, however sweet they may be, do not help them. God cannot accept the self-invented coverings because the bitter poison of the spine had already penetrated all the cells of their bodies and was effective. The effect of the poison becomes audible in their verbal justifications. Adam puts the guilt on Eve and Eve puts the guilt on the snake and so each one puts the guilt on another.
God listens patiently to the people and gives each one the measure of his labour, Adam the field with thorns, Eve the pain of the birth of a child. But the LORD announceeth the serpent's clinical death: the seed of the woman shall crush thy head.
The word naked appears 32 times in the Tankh. Which different meanings the naked states have can only be worked out from the texts.
ערום with the Strong No. 6174 16 x in AT,עירום with the Strong No. 5903 10 x and.עריה with the Strong No. 6181 6 x.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil
What kind of tree must that have been carrying "poisonous sting"? Where else can we find it described? We think we have also found the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Book of Judges, at least to some extent. In chapter 9 there are four trees on offer. From which of the four will the citizens of Shechem choose their king? It may be hard to believe, but they choose the thornbush and Abimelech the son of Jerub-Baal. Watch the following videos on youtube:
"The dream of Pilate's wife_part_1".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLKaSMjkarQ
"The Dream of Pilate Woman_Part_2"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- Proudly Presents
Eve did not desire the fruit of the tree, but the tree itself. But before we go into the details, let us point out again that the stories of the Bible actually happened in the way they were handed down to us. This is indicated by the name of Aquila's wife. She stands for the historical story of a small people. And because God loves just this small and inconspicuous little people, the diminutive form of the name Priska is used - Priscilla. Her stories tell us about real things and events. God created the heavens and the earth. God created the sun, the moon and the stars. These are very concrete things, aren't they? The earth is being prepared as a place to live and work for man. Plants and animals appear and finally God makes man and places him in a special garden. Everything that God created we can perceive and marvel at with our senses, scientifically examine and admire. In these beginnings the Genesis 3 episode took place. A story, between the heavens and the earth, tells of a human couple and their actions. Priscilla also tells this story. Now her husband takes the wings of an eagle in his hand and swings himself up and up into the air. From up there, from his spheres, he explains to us the pictorial level of her story. See to it that you do not reject the one who is talking! ... who talks from heaven!
Hebrews 12:25
What should the text of Genesis 3 tell us when it is said that Eve desired the tree? In order to understand the tree or what a tree symbolically stands for, we have to look at various texts of Scripture. In Psalm 1 a human being is introduced to us as an evergreen tree. It grows and prospers because its roots reach down to the trickles of the groundwater. In the Gospel of Mark a blind man really sees in two stages. After the first phase of healing, he sees people walking around like trees. After the second phase, he could clearly see the trees walking around as people walking around. His eyes were completely healed by Jesus. The two text passages may be enough to make it clear that the trees symbolize people. But that is not all, they embody even more. In the Book of The Beginnings, Genesis, we are told that there were two named trees in the Garden of Eden. The first is called "tree of life" and the second "tree of knowledge of good and evil". The two trees cannot symbolize humans because, first, they are distinguished from humans in the narrative and, second, Adam and Eve are the first and only humans to appear in the episode. Who do the two trees point to? The first tree, the tree of life, cannot speak of anyone but God himself. He has done everything and filled it with life. God is the author of all life. Thus the tree of life symbolizes the God of the Bible. The second tree, whom might the second, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, symbolize? It cannot be God. He is represented by the tree of life. Nor can he embody another human being, for apart from Adam and Eve, the first of their kind, there was no one else. There is only one person missing in our drama and that person unexpectedly enters the stage. She approaches Eva in the shape of a snake. Only this dazzling creature can be assigned to the second tree.
The mysterious second tree in Genesis 2 and 3
Why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? And why shouldn't the first man eat of it? The narrative of the story creates a tension by only mentioning essential facts, the gaps have to be filled by the reader himself, but how? Peter explains it to us: By knowing this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is of its own interpretation. The apostle of the Jews instructs us to research the Scriptures in detail and to put the individual parts together correctly, that is to say to puzzle them together, this also applies to the account from Genesis 3. Now a reader might object that the text from the third chapter has nothing at all to do with prophecy. Let us listen to what Abraham says: They have Moses and the prophets. Luke 16:29a
Abraham divides the Tanakh -The Old Testament - into two parts. The first part is the Torah - these are the five books of Moses and the second the prophets. Now the question arises: Was Moses not a prophet? Let us hear what Moses himself says: "A prophet from among you, from among your brothers, like me, will Yahweh your God awaken you; you shall listen to him. Deut. 18:15.
Moses calls himself a prophet. So his writings, like those of the other scribes, are prophecy or, expressed in the other word, prophecy. Moses is considered the greatest prophet of the Old Testament and so we conclude that the historical text of Genesis 3 tells us historical things and at the same time contains a veiled prophecy. So we have to do two things, raise the veil to one and then puzzle.
Now, to understand the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we open the curtain and look at the allegorical plane that reflects the real world; and when we have spiritually open eyes, the spiritual dimension is revealed to us. Both images can be seen in the mirror image. This is essential for a fitting interpretation. It is clear that only what we perceive with our eyes, literally or spiritually, and look at in the mirror, can be mirrored. We can only see with our eyes open and we can only recognize with our eyes spiritually open. For this we need further help.
Does nature not teach us? Paul once asked. The apostle thus indicates that we should look at creation in order to be taught well and correctly. Here are a few examples. If we look upwards, if we look towards the sky, the sun appears to us to be quite small at noon, but in the evening, when it glows on the horizon, its circumference is soon twice as large. Why is that so? Our atmosphere is like a magnifying glass. At noon the rays pass through a shorter path through the atmosphere, because the sun is almost vertical above us. In the evening the sun is enlarged because the rays pass through a thicker atmosphere due to the flatter position of the sun. What does this teach us? That on the eve of the Second Coming of Jesus His glory is especially seen. But the heavens tell us more. Elihu asks the prophet Job, "Can you, like him, spread out the vault of heaven, like a cast mirror? Job 37:18
Why the question about the vault of heaven, which also has the function of a mirror for us humans? Job will have understood well that he can never reach the vastness of the universe, let alone pour the sky into a mirror. If the starry sky is a mirror, what is it reflecting us? It reflects the earthly and thus the horizontal dimension. The stories of the Bible, which happened on earth, point by means of the reflection to things, which let us see the heavenly. That the two things have to do with each other we learn from the Son of God himself, who speaks to Nicodemus: "If I have told you the earthly, and you do not believe, how will you believe when I tell you the heavenly? The prophet Isaiah makes it clear that this is the same thing. People think earthly and God thinks heavenly: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways," declares Yahweh. For as heaven is higher than earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
In summary we can now say: God speaks through:
1. the historical text;2. the allegorical level after unveiling;3. the reflection - the pages are exchanged;4. prophecy - history points to past, present and future; valid for both the horizontal and the allegorical level. Let us return to our text from Genesis 3 and the veiled tree of knowledge of good and evil. If Eve desired the tree, then she desired, now allegorically, a tree that
Read by all people
The men who write the law of Moses on animal skins write the Torah on naked animal skin. Now transferred again this means figuratively, God can write on our parchments only if we put down the lie. If we lay them down, then we can put on the belt of truth and then God's law can be copied on us, like the Torah Moses on goatskin or sheepskin.
When the Jews cover the described writing material with something else, the law can no longer be read clearly, let alone understood. When the Church of Rome clings to its self-sacrificed traditions, then it continues to remain clothed in lies and seduces the servants of God into spiritual fornication through its veiled mystery cults.
As Christians, we do not hide ourselves from people and therefore live unveiled. We are thus an open scroll that can be read by all people and everything that people can read is truth. Equipped with such a weapon, the belt of truth, we prove to be good warriors. Girded with the truth then also means: Best recommendation! also to Rome.
And because the belt of truth is called the first weapon, it is also considered the most powerful. It also protects our entire interior, especially our hearts and kidneys.
The tenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians does not serve us at all as a criterion for admission to the Lord's Supper, but describes the two fundamentally different worlds, which we must not be mixed with each other, but should keep strictly separate, i.e., not make a bitter mixed wine out of it.
When a Christian should or should not participate in the breaking of bread is regulated in the next, -> The third law.