See now that I myself am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare,
“As I live forever,
If I sharpen My glittering sword,
And My hand grasps it in judgment;
I will take vengeance on My adversaries,
And will repay those who hate Me.
I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ‘ ~Excerpt from the Song of Moses
Author: songofmary
My First Sermon at Advent
As we approach the time of the year when we, as the children of God, celebrate His greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus Christ, it is an appropriate time to consider the spiritual climate in and around the holy Promised Land during this time.
God revealed Himself to man from the very Beginning, when He first created man in the form of Adam. Adam then fell away from God, and over time, God became sorry that He had made man, and He decided to flood the earth, saving only Noah and his family. Noah was a just man, blameless in his generations, and he walked with God.
By ten generations along, however, things were very bad again, and pagan polytheism was prolific throughout the fertile crescent, and especially surrounding Egypt and Babylonia. Here Abraham heard the voice of God telling him to move into Canaan, the Promised Land, and that God would give all the land Abraham could see to him and his descendants forever. Abraham then begat Isaac, and Isaac then begat Jacob, and Jacob’s twelve sons became the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son of Rachel, was sold by his jealous brothers into slavery and carted away to Egypt. Famine drove the Hebrews to Egypt for food, and eventually they all became enslaved by a cruel pharaoh. Moses, a Hebrew baby orphaned into Pharaoh’s household, heard the voice of God telling him to lead his people out of captivity and into the Promised Land of Canaan, as He had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob so long ago.
Through great signs and wonders from God, Moses led his people out of captivity into the wilderness. And there, on Mount Sinai, He made a covenant with Moses, which we call the Ten Commandments; that as long as the children of God obeyed his Law, God would deliver them into the Promised Land. Moses led the Hebrews in the desert for forty years, as a nomadic people, and is considered the greatest prophet to ever live.
But still, idol worship and depravity plagued man, and evil prowled around like a hungry lion. As God’s children coalesced into a nation of Israelites, they were influenced by the surrounding culture and fell victim to societal and spiritual corruption more than ever before. Israelite kings, prophets, and even Priests broke God’s commandments; practiced idol worship, even naming their own children after Baal, a pagan idol; and practiced elitism by interpreting and enforcing the Law so strictly that it was impossible to follow!
Around this time, Isaiah prophesied, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel [God with us]. Curds and honey he shall eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.” ~Isaiah 7:14-15.
Hundreds of years passed and then God made good on His message, and sent Jesus, the Great Messiah, to our rescue. Messiah means savior. Jesus’ coming was prophesied by all the great prophets and was foretold by angels:
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s namewas Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” ~Luke 1:26-38
God desired to redeem us yet again from our debauchery and sinfulness by showing us that living just for God meant living humbly and simply, as Jesus lived. As opposed to the Pharisees of the time, it meant not exalting yourself, but debasing yourself for God’s purpose, whatever that might entail, even if it means death, as Jesus showed. It means that being innocent like a child is necessary to obtain the kingdom of heaven, versus being a corrupt holy high Priest, as Jesus taught.
Jesus demonstrates to us that a man can stay righteous and pure. That life is not easy, but living for God and the kingdom of heaven is worth it. Jesus avoided temptations and taught the devil the Law in the process!
As we reflect near this time of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it is important to know that Jesus’ perfect blood made a perpetual, everlasting atonement for us and for our sins. He knew his mission was Divine and that God wanted him to sacrifice himself for the sake of mankind. And he willingly did this. For us. What amazing love for us and for God, his Father. He didn’t want to die. He asked that this cup be passed from him, if there was any way. But there wasn’t. Jesus’ birth prevented our everlasting death. His death gave us everlasting life. Moses gave us the Law but Jesus needed to come to give us grace and Truth in God. Amen.
“For the LORD’S…
“For the LORD’S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.” ~Deuteronomy 32:9
The more one loves God
The more one loves God, the more it is that having nothing in the world means everything, and the less one loves God, the more it is that having everything in the world means nothing.
~Mary
The Three Branches of God
GOD [Holy Spirit]
The LAW JESUS
The three branches of God is not unlike our system of government: the executive branch (president), the legislative branch (the law), and the judicial branch (making sure the law does not abuse its power). When we falsely think of the trinity as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we miss a crucial part of the system–the real trinity–which is God’s Holy Spirit [or rhema the Living Word of God], the Law from the Prophets, and Jesus’ message of God’s Love and grace.
Currently, it is popular in modern Christianity to ignore the Law, which makes it impossible to be obedient to God. It takes more than the New Testament, Jesus, or the concept of the three-in-one trinity to keep us in God’s good graces. It takes obedience, love, and faith. Obedience comes in the Law of God, laid out in the Old Testament Torah, and to a lesser degree, the major Prophets. Jesus brings us the love [and with it, grace] of God and enables us to see the forest, not just the trees. And faith comes from knowing our God, and having His Holy Spirit move through us. All these are necessary for Truth! We cannot find God’s Truth by simply having one or even two facets of this, which is what we have when we adhere to the false concept of the traditional trinity as laid out by the Council of Nicaea.
The very reason the US government is set up like this is to keep the branches in balance. Law without Love is what we had with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Holy Spirit without the Law or Jesus can leave us seeking God, yet sinful. And Jesus’ Love without the Law can lead us into a false sense of security, and to act out of false doctrines.
We need all three facets of God’s Truth to be holy and pure.
For the Law was…
For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ. ~John1:17
Give us this day our daily Bread~
Man has combined flour and water for millenia to produce various types of bread, which differ according to geographic location. I thought it would be interesting to go around the world to explore this simple food. Bon Appetit!
Denmark
Rugbrød
North America
White bread
Greece
Pita
England
English muffin
Middle East
Flatbread
Japan
Shokupan
India
Paratha
South America
Arepa
Mexico
Bolillo
France
French Bread
Africa
Injera
Israel
Challah
The Image of God
“God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” ~Genesis 1:27
God revealed to me recently that His image is like a cell. The ‘nucleus’ of the cell is where the brightest light and purest essence resides, made up of perfect loving energy inherent with all the qualities we attribute to God.
As we die to our earthly bodies and return to Him, our life force ends up somewhere in this cellular body, and where we land has something to do with being called by Him, and the intent of our actions while here. The sons and daughters of God might end up in the nucleus whilst common man might end up on the darker and farther reaches, more distant from his throbbing warmth; and everyone else falls somewhere in between.
It occurred to me after this revelation that our entire bodies are made up of cells! So in this way we ARE made in God’s image. It isn’t that God has a head and feet and hair, it’s that the building blocks of life remain the same between God and us, and all living things. And that is the simple cell. The unit of life. All life contains carbon as well, and we know that carbon molecules, along with iron and other fundamental metals that exist here on earth also exist in space; and are probably a part of God’s image (makeup) too, a gift from Him to us. Another interesting thought is that the DNA or RNA that exists within our cells and makes us us, might also come directly from God. And it might indeed be encoded with memory, or controlled by God in real-time in some way. Kind of like an invisible lifeline from our Creator to us.
Kind of ominous, isn’t it, to think of God being invisibly in control of our very bodies and minds, of our cells.
In this context, solar systems would be living things as well, because they exhibit cellular qualities, with a central ‘nucleus’ sun, and bodies that are contained near that sun, and are a system (solar) unto themselves. This is because God, at any time, has chosen where and when to create life, as He deems, and at His will.
What is nearly impossible for us as humans to grasp is that God’s image and His essence are one and the same. We are used to separating the physical and the spiritual, but in God’s Realm, there is complete and perfect uniformity and intent.
Why did he create us? Ahh….that is the subject for another post….;)
Genesis, the Decalogue, and the Circle of Life: An Everlasting New Covenant
The Book of Genesis has become my favorite book of the Bible, by far. There is so much wisdom and truth in it. Presented in such a tantalizingly esoteric and artistic way, I am overwhelmed at discovering it all, even though in my ignorance of Hebrew I fall far short of understanding it all properly.
The very beginning of the Bible is a scientifically accurate depiction of creation as we know it. It is in line with old earth creationism, and I have discussed this in a previous post.
But it is also a summation of the cyclical nature of God creating an Eden for us, a Promised Land; how we are exposed to evil, fall away from God with increasing depravity, until He is forced to annihilate us because He is so besotted over our grievous behavior; saving those who are most holy to begin anew, making a New Covenant with us.
I want to discuss the correlation of the Genesis story with the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, which are first expressly laid out in Exodus chapter 20, when God makes a New Covenant with Moses on Mount Sinai.
We will start at the beginning:
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and all the host of them.”
God is Sovereign Supreme Being
Enter Day 6 of creation, after God had created everything, creatures on the earth, and man…
Genesis 1:28: “Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Commandment 2: Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
God is saying that He is above man and man is above creature, so there is NO WAY that creature can be above God. If man does not honor God’s Original Sovereignty, man will be led to commit idolatry.
Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Commandment 3: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
God is saying that if everything He made is indeed very good, there is no reason to ever use His name in an unholy way. God is always holy. If man commits idolatry, man will also be led to believe God is mere vanity or emptiness.
Genesis 2:2-3 “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Commandment 4: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all they work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD they God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
God is saying we should work six days, and rest on the seventh because it is a holy day. If man believes God is mere vanity or emptiness, man will not feel the need to honor God’s holiness or holy things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here we have an intermission in the Genesis/commandment correlation. God creates a perfect world for us to live and dwell in with Him. But evil (which was created before man, as creatures were created before man) enters in and man becomes impure,
and falls away from God.
But God still provides for man and cares for him. Then the story proceeds…
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Genesis 4:1 “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man from the LORD.”
Commandment 5: Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God givith thee.
God is saying that children born to parents should honor them, not dishonor them. If man does not honor God’s holiness or holy things, he will also not honor his own parents.
Genesis 4:8 “Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose against Abel his brother and killed him.“
Commandment 6: Thou shalt not murder.
God is saying that we should not kill those whom we hate. If a man does not honor his parents, he might also commit murder.
Genesis 4:19 “Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.”[Lamech means warrior or conqueror, and this is the first case of polygamy in the Bible]
Commandment 7: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
God is saying that to Him polygamy is adultery. If a man is capable of committing murder, he will also desecrate the holy sacrament of marriage.
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Here we have another intermission in the Genesis/Commandment correlation. God sees the increasing depravity of man. Man has now dishonored and murdered within his own family, and with his act of committing adultery,
his sin is starting to spill over into mankind.
Yet God still continues to give him another chance and Adam has a new son, Seth [which means ‘compensation’ in Hebrew]. Then the story proceeds…
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Genesis 6:1-2 “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God [angels or, likely in this case, fallen angels] saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”
Commandment 8: Thou shalt not steal.
God is saying that now matter how powerful you are, or alluring the prize, stealing is wrong. If a man commits adultery, he will also be willing to steal from others.
Genesis 6:4 “There were fallen ones on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.”
Commandment 9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
God is saying that the fallen angels tricked the daughters of men into thinking they were good, so that they would bear them wicked children. If man steals, he will be willing to swear falsely by his neighbor.
Genesis 6:5 “Then God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every thought of the thoughts in his heart was only evil continually.”
Commandment 10: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
God is saying that your wickedness grows until every thought in your heart is bent on evil and attaining your own glory. If man is willing to swear falsely by his neighbor, there is no end to the lengths man will go to make himself more lofty.
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Final intermission. “And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” ~Genesis 6:6
Man has fallen so far away from the beginning, so far from
God is Sovereign Supreme Being
That a rip occurs between man and God because man slips so far from God, and since man cannot exist without God, man is annihilated. However, God saves Noah and his family because Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. God floods the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. 40 is the archaic way to describe circle, because there are 400 radians in a circle. Life, exposed to evil, had come full circle.
Then the story continues…
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So, Commandment 1 stands alone and also brings us back full circle to the beginning. Commandments 2, 3, and 4 are about us and God. Commandments 5, 6, and 7 are about us and our family. And Commandments 8, 9, and 10 are about us and society. As we get further and further from God, sin is like a cancer that spreads and spreads until it has corrupted all of society. This reflects number symbology of 1/3/3/3. Which means One LORD whose realm makes a circle with 3 representing pi: a circle within a larger circle within a larger circle, representing the ripple effect of sin as it transmits from mans’ relationship with God into his family, and finally into society, 3 being coded for often in the Torah (see previous posts).
Finally, we end with Commandment 1: I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
God is saying He will bring those He deems worthy [the Chosen Ones] out of captivity, out of the bondage that we will get ourselves into [time and time again]. All He asks is that we recognize His sovereignty, honor Him, obey Him, and love Him, and if we do this, we will not continue along the slippery slope of sinfulness, where we will inevitably meet our utter destruction.
This is a perpetual covenant which He renews with us over and over.
He is full of grace. And LOVE.
Praise be to God. Amen.
The Seventh Day~
Genesis 2:2-3:
“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Exodus 20:8-11:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Isaiah 58:13
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath [watch your step], from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and fed you with the heritage of Jacob your Father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Whether you call the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday, it matters not according to the Bible. What matters is that the things you do honor and glorify God. It’s that simple.
Ways to honor God:
- Attending church or meditating on God and His word
- Fellowship with other believers
- Charity
- Breaking bread with family and friends
- Praising Him through singing and talking
Ways to dishonor God:
- Fraternizing places that employ people on the Sabbath
- Home remodeling
- Watching television
- Glorifying oneself and one’s body
- Practicing profanity or sexual immorality
Shalom
~Mary
~Song of Mary~ 