Ideas about the Kingdom of the Heavens around us and the unity of believers in Christ within it
God gives us tests to use to determine whether a message we hear came from him or from somewhere else. Most of these tests apply regardless of whether the message comes from an internal voice or through the mouth or writings of another person who claims to speak for God. They start with the overarching test “do I recognize my Shepherd’s voice in what is said?”
The voice of God as found being spoken to various people in the New Testament, both publicly and privately.
Though God forgave David his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, this sin had a traceable chain of earthly consequences which extends to the present and which includes the death of Christ on the cross.
On both of the occasions when David is said to have sinned in his administration as king, God sent prophets to correct him. God corrected David’s great sin, the one involving Bathsheba and Uriah, by sending the prophet Nathan to confront him. By contrast, in the matter of the census David recognized he had sinned and asked God’s forgiveness as soon as the census was completed. The prophet Gad was sent to him not to bring him to repentance, but to give him a choice of public consequences for not honoring God in the census and instructions concerning how to rectify his error. David repented and was forgiven of both sins, but the first one nevertheless had severe long-term consequences.
When God sent Moses to deliver his people from Egypt, the Pharaoh who ruled Egypt responded to some of the plagues with false repentance. That is, he tried to “make a deal” with God, and even admitted that he was in the wrong, only to renege on his agreements as soon as God removed the plague. With each “deal” on which he reneged, his heart became more hardened. But this is always what happens when, out of fear or remorse, we try to “make a deal” with God rather than obey him.
Introduction: What are Angels and What was the Sin of the Angels that Sinned? Angels and Spirits—Basic Word Meanings The Nature of Angels—Messengers and Ministering Spirits Angels as Messengers to God An Angel as Mediator of the Law Angels as Messengers from God Angels’ Roles in the Delivery of Prophecy Though God’s Messengers, Angels’ Knowledge is Limited Angels as…
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The place and function of angels is not often mentioned in Scripture, because they exist as messengers and ministering spirits, serving us on God’s behalf, not themselves, bringing God’s message not their own. They are never the dominant subject of any scripture.
Korah’s rebellion was to insist on half the truth–that all in the congregation of Israel were holy, set apart to God, because the Lord was among them–but to reject the other half–that only the Lord had the right to assign each their functions. They denied this half of the truth to rebelliously assert their own authority, as false teachers today also do.
Balaam spoke with God and was given a true revelation of the way God viewed the children of Israel, but misinterpreted it. reversing its true meaning, due to his own greed. God said he saw no iniquity in Jacob because he had chosen them; Baalam thought he meant that he had chosen Jacob because he saw no iniquity in them. The result was fatal for Baalam and the Midianites.
It is our unity that makes Jesus visible to the world in us. It was practical unity that made the Jerusalem church attractive. Restoration of that unity was a precondition to the effective preaching of Steven and Phillip.