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Authority and Submission

God’s Throne Established on Authority

The acts of God issue from His throne, and His throne is established on His authority. All things are created through God’s authority and all physical laws of the universe are maintained by His authority. Hence the Bible expresses it as “upholding all things by the word of His power, which means upholding all things by the word of the power of His authority. For God’s authority represents God himself whereas His power stands only for His act. Sin against power is more easily forgiven than sin against authority, because the latter is a sin against God himself. God alone is authority in all things; all the authorities of the earth are instituted by God. Authority is a tremendous thing in the universe—nothing overshadows it. It is therefore imperative for us who desire to serve God to know the authority of God. . . .

Authority, the Controversy of the Universe

The controversy of the universe is centered on who shall have the authority, and our conflict with Satan is the direct result of our attributing authority to God. To maintain God’s authority we must be subject to it with all our hearts. It is absolutely necessary for us to meet God’s authority and to possess a basic knowledge of what it is.

Before he knew authority Paul tried to wipe out the church; after he had met the Lord on the Damascus road he saw that it was hard for the feet (human power) to kick against the goads (God’s authority). He immediately fell to the ground and acknowledged Jesus as Lord. After that, he was able to submit to the directions given him by Ananias in the city of Damascus, for Paul had met God’s authority. At the moment he was saved he knew God’s authority as well as God’s salvation.

How could Paul, being a clever and capable person, listen to the words of Ananias—an unknown little brother mentioned only once in the Bible—if he had not met the authority of God? Had he not encountered authority on the road to Damascus he could never have been subject to that obscure little brother in the city. This shows us that whoever has met authority deals purely with authority and not with man. Let us not see the man but only the authority vested in him. We do not obey man but God’s authority in that man. Otherwise, how can we ever learn what authority is? We are on the wrong road if we meet man first before we obey ...

The Obedience of the Son

Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2.5-11)

Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation. (Heb. 5.7-9)

The Lord Initiates Obedience

The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus and the Father are one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. The heaven and the earth were made through the Word. The glory which God had in the beginning, even the unapproachable glory of God, was also the Son’s glory. The Father and the Son exist equally and are equal in power and possession. Only in Person is there a difference between Father and Son. This is not an essential difference; it is merely an arrangement within the Godhead. Therefore the Scripture says that the Lord "counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped"—that is, a thing to be seized. His equality with God is neither something seized upon nor acquired, for inherently He is the image of God.

Philippians 2.5-7 forms one section and verses 8-11, another. In these two sections our Lord is seen as having humbled Himself twice: first He emptied Himself in His divinity, and then He humbled Himself in His humanity. By the time He came to this world, the Lord had so emptied Himself of the glory, power, status, and form of His divinity that no one then living, other than by revelation, knew Him nor acknowledged Him as God. They treated Him as a man, as an ordinary person of this world. As the Son He willingly submits ...

How do You Definite the Heart?

Laws and the Inward Parts

“I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it” (Jer. 31.33b). To what do these inward parts refer? In order to understand we have to mention this matter of the “heart” (by heart here we do not mean the physiological organ). We will delve into this “heart” matter according to the record of the Scriptures and the experiences of many of the Lord’s people. So far as the Bible record is concerned, the heart seems to embrace the following parts:

(1) Conscience is attached to the heart—“having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Heb. 10.22); “if our heart condemn us” (1 John 3.20). Condemning is a function of conscience, showing then that conscience is within the realm of the heart.

(2) Mind too is linked to the heart—“Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” (Matt. 9.4); “reasoning in their hearts” (Mark 2.6); “the imagination of their heart” (Luke 1.51); “wherefore do questionings arise in your heart?” (Luke 24.38) All these instances are stories about the heart. “And understand with their heart” (Matt. 13.15); “pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2.19); “quick to discern the thoughts . . . of the heart” (Heb. 4.12). All these verses indicate that the mind is linked to the heart.

(3) Will is also tied to the heart—“with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord” (Acts 11.23); “ye became obedient from the heart” (Rom. 6.17); “purposed in his heart” (2 Cor. 9.7); “intents of the heart” (Heb. 4.12). These all reveal that will is definitely linked to the heart.

(4) And emotion is joined to the heart—“his heart fainted” (Gen. 45.26); “Was not our heart burning within us?” (Luke 24.32); “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14.27). All of these passages confirm that emotion is joined to the heart.

On the basis of the above passages—and though we dare not assert that conscience is the heart, that mind is the heart, or that will is the heart, or emotion is the heart—we dare to affirm that the heart has at least conscience, mind, will, and emotion attached to it. The heart is able to exercise control over conscience, mind, will, and emotion. It may be said that the heart is the sum total of these four things. Conscience is the conscience of the heart; ...

I was reminded today of the devilish obstinacy and utter lack of humility of an old man in his flesh whom I have known for decades when he accused me of claiming to be God after I told him he needs to be Christlike because his anger and lack of discipline were showing up in his inordinate nose picking in confined and non-public places which I privately witnessed many times. I told him he should repent, to stop taking pride in his nose picking and that he needs to be Christlike. Is Jesus a nose picker? Christians don't believe we are God for we are not the uncreated Creator, obviously. Only God is uncreated. There are no gods beside Him, before Him, or after Him. He alone is God from everlasting. Let's take a look at some verses that support the need to be Christlike.

"Christ Be Formed" and "Transformed" and "Like Him"

As the law of life operates freely in us life will increase to the degree of having Christ formed in us (Gal. 4.19). In the measure that Christ is gradually being formed in us, in that same measure are we increasingly transformed (2 Cor. 3.18); and the goal of transformation is to be like Him (1 John 3.2). Christ formed in us is inseparable from the operation of God’s life in us. To the degree that the life of God works in us to that degree is Christ being formed in us and to that degree is there the amount of our transformation. As our inside is filled with the life of Christ our outside is able to live out and manifest Christ. This is what is meant in Romans 8.29 by "to be conformed to the image of his Son." It is both Paul’s pursuit and experience (Phil. 3.10, 1.20). It should be the calling as well as the practical experience of all children of God today. For us to be wholly like Him will of course have to wait until He shall manifest himself (1 John 3.2), that is to say, at the day of "the redemption of our body" (Eph. 1.14, 4.30, especially Rom. 8.23).

"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4.19).

"Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing" (2 Cor. 2.15). Ryan gets his nose in the way of the beautiful fragrance, because his fingers are in his nose way more than they ought to be. That was funny!

"But we all, with open face beholding ...

The City of Peace - The Lord's Future Reign in the Millennial Kingdom

Isaiah 1.1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, [that] the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

There is no more war in the millennial kingdom. This agrees with Rev. 20: "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season" (v.2,3).

Amillennialists will tell you this passage means something else, but it is clear during the future reign of Christ when He returns to earth, the wars will end and no more wars for a 1000 years till Satan is loosed for a little season out of the pit at the end of the millennial kingdom.


The Day of the Lord - A Warning of Judgment!

Isaiah 2.5-22 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD! 6 For the LORD has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans. 7 Israel is full of silver and gold; there is no end to its treasures. Their land is full of warhorses; there is no end to its chariots. 8 Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands. 9 So now they will be humbled, and all will be brought low--do not forgive them. 10 Crawl into caves in the rocks. Hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the glory of his majesty. 11 Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only ...

The 7 Trumpets in Revelation are the Tribulation. Trumpets are loud as the Tribulation will be. Whereas the 7th Trumpet with its 7 Bowls of Wrath are larger than cups, poured silently, because so much happens so quickly as if time stands still in the last trumpet of the 7 year Tribulation, this being Daniel's final seven -- the 70th seven of Daniel's prophecy. The 70th seven (which hasn't happened yet because Dan. 9.24 is unfulfilled) encompasses the parousia of Christ from the first rapture "before the throne" (Rev. 7.9) in 3rd heaven to meeting the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4.14-18) at the last trumpet (cf. 1 Cor. 15.23,50-52) to Jesus stepping down on the mount of olives (Zech. 14.4, Acts 1.11, Rev. 1.7) at the end of the 2,520 days of the Tribulation (7 years x 360 Jewish calendar days). Note: the rapture before the throne for Christians who are prayerful and watchful is before the 1st trumpet is blown (8.7).

We are told to look for signs before Jesus' 2nd coming. Before the first trumpet is blown 3 things happen in very precise order (Rev. 6.12):

1) Great earthquake. We know in 2010 Haiti experienced an earthquake where 320,000 people died which is the 2nd most deaths of any earthquake recorded in human history. In 2011 Japan had an earthquake that was the 4th greatest in magnitude ever recorded anywhere on planet earth. Back to back, year over year, this has never happened before. It was a first for the record books. Truly this is a great earthquake that meets the criteria.

2) Black sackcloth sun. There are 4 kinds of solar eclipses. The rarest is the Hybrid occurring 5% of the time. And there are 3 kinds of hybrids of which the H3 is the rarest occurring 5% of that 5%. The H3 completes itself as a total eclipse to produce that black sackcloth effect. They are even more rare according to NASA when they last 1 minute and 30 seconds or more. Just such a solar eclipse occurred on Nov. 3, 2013. It was the 4th since Christ and won't happen again till 2172.

3) Red blood moon. NASA records red blood moons as Tetrads when there are two in a single year then two the following year. There were no Tetrads in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They are even more rare when they land on the 1st feast of Passover and the 7th feast of Tabernacles and again the following year. This is called a Total Lunar Tetrad or Feast Tetrad. The 6th time this happened since Christ was 1949/50. Israel became a nation ...

We are told to watch for signs. If we are not watchful we won't know when Jesus returns (Rev. 3.3). The most amazing thing to me in the Bible eschatologically is Rev. 6.12 in which we are told 3 things happen in precise order before the Tribulation:

1) Great earthquake. In 2010 Haiti had an earthquake that killed 320,000 people. This is the 2nd most deaths of any earthquake recorded on earth ever. Then in 2011 Japan experienced an earthquake that was the 4th greatest in magnitude ever recorded in earth's history. Back to back, year over year, two such earthquakes of this intensity and damage have never occurred before.

2) Black sackcloth sun. There are 4 kinds of solar eclipses. The rarest is the Hybrid occurring 5% of the time. And there are 3 kinds of Hybrids, the rarest which is the H3 occurring 5% of that 5% so very rare. The H3 completes itself as a total eclipse to produce that black sackcloth effect. They are even more rare when they last longer than 1 min. 30 sec. according to NASA. On Nov. 3, 2013 this very rare eclipse occurred for the 4th time since Christ. It won't happen again till 2172.

3) Red blood moon. Red blood moon lunar eclipses are more rare in the form of Tetrads. A Tetrad occurs when you have two red blood moons one year, followed by two more the next year. For example, there was none in the 17th, 18th and 19th century. But they are even more rare when they land on the first Jewish feast (Passover) and the 7th feast (Tabernacles) then doing the exact same thing again the following year. This is called a Total Lunar Tetrad or Feast Tetrad. It won't happen again till 2582/83 (nearly 600 years away), and there is no unique solar eclipse attached to it so the time is now for the Lord's return. "In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know His return is very near, right at the door" (Matt. 24.33). A unique event related to the Jewish nation occurs each time there is a feast Tetrad. The 6th (1949/50) was when Israel became a nation May 1948. The armistice treaty was signed in 1949. The 7th (1967/68) was when Israel took over Jerusalem June 7, 1967. And 2014/15 is the 8th feast Tetrad wherein construction of the 3rd Temple comes into view. You see the pattern: from the land of Israel to the city of Jerusalem to the 3rd Temple where Christ will return to reign in for 1000 years on earth with His overcomers (Jude 14,15; Rev. 2.26,27; 20.4-6). "Give a portion to seven, and ...