NO ONE IS GOOD AND RIGHTEOUS, EXCEPT OUR HEAVENLY FATHER AND KING (SEE PSALM 24:1 - 10; ROMANS 6:1-14; REVELATION 19:11 - 21). ...The next day JESUS decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, Follow me. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - JESUS of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.Nazareth ! Can anything good come from there ? Nathanael asked. Come and see, said Philip (John 1:1 - 46)(NIV). As JESUS started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.GOOD TEACHER, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life ? Why do you call me GOOD ? JESUS answered. No one is GOOD - except GOD alone...But many who are first will be last, and the last first (Mark 10:17 - 31)(NIV). ...JESUS declared, Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the FATHER neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the FATHER in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the FATHER seeks. GOD is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. The woman said, I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us. Then JESUS declared, I who speak to you am he (John 4:1 - 26)(NIV). JESUS said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. JESUS said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this ? Yes, Lord, she told him, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. The TEACHER is here, she said, and is asking for you... (John 11:23 - 44)(NIV). ...He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my FATHER has promised; but stay in the City until you have been clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:36 - 49)(NIV). “ The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, for every trading ship and every stately vessel. The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day…” (Isa. 2:11- 22)(NIV). “ In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong City; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust…” “ But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer” (Isa. 26:1-21)(NIV). “… For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. The living, the living - they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD” (Isa. 38:13 - 20)(NIV). “ I am the LORD; that is my name ! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place , and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth…” (Isa. 42:8 -14)(NIV). “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you ! As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you ! For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who ACTS on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved ? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away…” (Isa. 64:1-12)(NIV). “… In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever” (Dan. 2:40 - 44)(NIV). “ As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened…” (Dan. 7: 9 - 27)(NIV). “ And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and Passover. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the ETHIOPIANS shall be at his steps” (Dan. 11:40 - 43)(KJV). THE LORD WILL MARCH OUT LIKE A MIGHTY MAN TO FIGHT AGAINST THE PRINCES OF BABYLON AND PERSIA (ZECHARIAH 14:3 - 11). “Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. “Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace ! Be strong now; be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my Lord, since you have given me strength. So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you ? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince” (Dan. 10:18 - 21)(NIV). “ At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found written in the book - will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the STARS forever and ever…” (Dan.12:1-13)(NIV). “ … But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.” Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A Scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. “ They will be mine,” says the LORD Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serve him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not “ (Mal. 3:1-18)(NJV). FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT IS, THE PRINCE OF PEACE (LUKE 1:26 - 33). “ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying , “Glory to God in the HIGHEST, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:13 -14)(NIV). “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him…” (John 3:14 - 21)(NIV). “…Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’ ? Who is this ‘Son of Man’ ?” (John 12:23 - 34)(NIV). “…Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, FATHER, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:1- 5)(NIV). No wonder apostle Paul wrote, “What shall we conclude then ? Are we any better ? Not at all ! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does GOOD, not even one…” “ For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in JESUS” (Rom. 3:9 - 26)(NIV). “… For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:1- 30)(NIV). In light of the Scripture fulfilled before our very eyes, “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast - as you really are. For Christ, our PASSOVER Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:7 - 8)(NIV). “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death…” “But thanks be to God ! He gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:24 - 57)(NIV). “…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:14 - 21). “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions ? He who descended is the very one who ascended HIGHER than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ…” (Eph. 4:7 -16)(NIV). THIS IS THE FIRST RESURRECTION OF THE IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE AND THE ONLY TRUE GOD (COLOSSIANS 1:15 - 27). Let us remember once again that Jesse’s seven sons had passed before Samuel and he said, “The LORD has not chosen these.” Finally, the eighth Person, David, the sweet Psalmist, was confirmed to be the LORD’S Chosen king after the seventh Person. “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven…” (1 Cor. 15:45 - 57). “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit…” (Jude verses 14 - 25)(NIV). “…On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “ Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a Son of Man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “ Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever ! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev.1:1-18)(NIV). After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: Fallen ! Fallen is Babylon the Great ! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird... (Rev. 18:1 - 24)(NIV). “Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years…” (Rev.20:6 - 15)(NIV). Shalom !
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:24:51 +0000
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