April 15, 2010

• Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 by Pastor Don Moore

  We are taking a detailed look at the book of Isaiah. Pastor Don did a bit of a summary for we had many new people at Bible study.  Sometimes on a Friday afternoon we have to add more tables to fit all the people in which is a blessing. 

  Here is a picture of one of our recent Friday Bible studies:

  

  Pastor Don is seated at the left of the lady in the red shirt.

  Pastor Don pointed out that spiritual things are hidden in the scriptures so you need to carefully read to seek them out, but the Bible is it’s own dictionary.  The enemy is called by many names, lucifer, satan, devil, dragon.  The eternal being; lucifer has many names, and can disguise himself so that those on earth do not realize his influence. We see this today in the new age movements which are very skilled at hiding a lie amongst a lot of truths.  Another name given to him int he bible is the king of babylon.  Babylon was considered the cradle of civilization.  Early stories about Babylon include those of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. 

  satan masquerades himself as an angel of light – enlightenment.  He tries to convince people that they have special dispensations, that they are more superior than the rest of us, better at politics or theology, etc. What he wants to do is to get us to trust our knowledge, intellect, and emotions, to get us to become prideful.  He is successful by stealth (silent, deadly taking by subtle force), but then he comes down hard on those who accept his lies.

  Someone asked about the postmortem experience, can a person be saved in those few seconds after they died and before their spirit leaves their body. They also wondered about what happened to the souls that never knew Jesus, would they go to hell because they did not know Jesus. Pastor Don replied that with salvation, only God knows the heart and spirit of a person, we cannot make a determination of the person’s eventual outcome – only God can do that. We don’t know if with the last breath they cried out to Jesus – only God knows that.

  1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us^f]’> in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

  These are people who lived before the time of Noah, before Moses, and those who lived under the law of Moses, but did not know Jesus.  Moses died under the Law of Moses.

  1 Peter 3:21-22 There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,  who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

  Jesus goes and preaches to the souls in prison to what end? They cannot be judged until they have heard the Gospel message. They were in the spirit, and thus out of their body, but could not make a decision for Christ until they heard the Gospel. 

  Isaiah 6:5-7 So I said:  “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.”

  Isaiah was taken up to Heaven in the Spirit and saw the throne of God. He realized that he was a man of unclean lips. The angel took a coal from the the altar with tongs and touched Isaiah’s lips. God cleansed Isaiah through this.  Some of the saints will have to be cleansed before they can be in the presence of God. If your name is written in the Book of Life, you are going to have to unload at the eye of the needle all the baggage you have been carrying around with you.  The eye of the needle is a very small opening in the wall. Those who drove camels would have to unload the camels so that the goods could be searched. The camel would crawl through the eye of the needle on its knees, then the goods would be brought in and reloaded on the camel. We have the decision to make, will we remove the baggage and let God clean us?

  Revelation 21:4  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

  Why are there tears? In the presence of God there will be no hidden truths. We will be held accountable for every idle word. Salvation comes by faith in our hearts knowing that Jesus is Lord and we cannot get saved by the Law, it is accepting His Sacrifice for us on the Cross.  Only God can judge people regarding salvation, we are not able to do that. 

  Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

  The Tabernacle of God is with us. We will all have ideas that need to die at the Cross.

  Ephesians 4:9  (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first^b]’> son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:  ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

  Ezekiel 28 speaks of the King of Tyre. This was a spiritual area, not the physical city of Tyre.  For example the Emperor of Rome also was the Emperor of Judea and Greece and all the other countries that Rome conquered.  The King of Tyre was a spiritual jurisdiction of this spirit being. So when they speak of the King of Babylon and the King of Tyre they are not speaking about a physical ruler, but a spiritual jurisdiction.

  Ezekiel 28:12b (speaking of lucifer) You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

  There were four beings in Eden – The Lord, Adam, Eve and the serpent. The term “serpent” is a description of how he acts and performs.

  The serpent, lucifer wanted to rule and reign forever. He planed to replace God and make himself god over everything. God tells lucifer that he was cursed, and lucifer’s reaction is to try and destroy what is beloved to God – destroying God’s creation – the man and woman. Had Adam and Eve stood up to the serpent things would have had a different outcome. They could have said, “God said it and He meant it.”  What satan wants to do is everything he can to kill and prevent the bloodline that leads to salvation to continue. He started with Adam and Eve, but it continued when he tried to pervert the blood line – the sons of god mating with the daughters of men. That is why God needed to send the flood, for only Noah and his family had a pure bloodline – and that was needed for Jesus to be born.

  Genesis 6:1-4 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 saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive^shekinahed