It is not clear as to what the mechanism God uses to harden hearts is; allowing such or in someway forcing such. It would be easy not knowing why God would want such for us to have difficaulty with this passage. With such passages it is best to give God the bennefit of our doubt and seek through for a more understandable why.
Why? Hearts tend to harden or soften on their own given situations whether reasonably our unreasonably. These peoples hearts had been hard and continue to be unreasonably hard to this day. Perhaps God knowing that their hearts would not soften (or only temporarily) set in motion the final hardening (atleast for this time). Neither do we know the demonic warfare occurring behind the scenes that God may have been cleansing out of the area.
What was the criteria used here? Once you begin allowing for some foreigners don't you have to allow for the rest? Doesn't this contradict what you were told by God to do? What your other brethren are also attempting to perform? Doesn't this begin a snowball process of rationalized disobedience?
Again, there seems to be contradiction here between loving all and hating father and mother. As we've seen before, there is something more that the Spirit wants us to search out. The truth of His teaching here must first come in the form of a kjv@Proverbs:1:7kjv@Proverbs:1:22-23 approach. Clear the heart, clear the mind, honestly seek the Lord, you'll be shown the answer. How different might it be from we first considered?
Many believe that since the temple destruction AD70 and resultant worldwide dispersion of the Jews that we have now lived in an "time of the gentiles" era. With drawing of the Jews back to Jerusalem since 1948 we now see a signal of the closing of the age and the drawing near of our redemption; The Lord's second coming. There are others that say that this all happened AD70 and that the Lord has already returned. Some believe that none of this happens until the end of the world. I believe that kjv@Luke:21:24 is the key verse suggesting the dispersion/age interpretation, "be led away captive" I have yet to find evidence of in other end time prophecy.
In whom there was no guile (trickery/craft)? Could this character trait of our savior be observed in a brief initial glimpse? Had Nathaniel acquainted himself with Jesus from afar in a different way? Was this more like a polite greeting?
Why is it so easy for the son to follow the evil of a father and so hard to follow his good? Perhaps in part, it could be said that to do good takes a personal decision and the personal conviction to stand against and see it through, evil only takes continuation and cowardice.
It is clear that when God reveals such a massive addition to the faith HE does not put every apostle immediately into the loop; the matter was not conferred upon then implemented. It was implemented because of the way God brought it forth outside of the constructs of either man. Then it was conferred upon by the greater whole.
It appears that the Spirit did not directly have to tell them to send relief, they were able to determine that themselves. Perhaps He had impressed upon them, perhaps He had developed the desire in their hearts, but, the decision to do it was theirs.
This may be the first example of the gift of prophecy in the 2nd covenant dispensation by non-apostles. It has to do with a unusually terrible famine ahead. dict:torrey prophecy
I sense the suggestion that before creation the plan was all laid out, Jesus was to be our redeemer. Wisdom became all that which moved that plan forward, the establishment of the covenant, the law, Israel, the prophecies, the conviction of the Holly Spirit. Wisdom was there when all these essential things were framed, it is there evident in all creation revealing even the Godhead so that we are without excuse kjv@Romans:1:20. Wisdom is the purpose and direction and establishments leading all men back to their savior.
It is not that the righteous will not go through trials, it is that they will be delivered through/by them. NT writers consider these trial and tribulations as a edifying process of refinement.
Should now we Gentiles glory that we have done better than Israel in obeying the Lord? No, no man shall glory except in Christ kjv@1Corinthians:1:27-31
The Lord is righteous. A large measure of that righteousness can be found in the fact that He announces what will be before it happens. It is not to show off, though it is impressive, it is to warn and instruct. It is righteous for instance for the highway department to put a warning sign before a sharp curve or steep decline. Whether there is good ahead or danger it is right of the Lord to show it in advance. It also shows that He is a Lord like no other with vision and capability to perform it.
I see two possible explanations as to why the language very similar to kjv@Genesis:1 would be used here. 1a: This coming judgment will so severe as to symbolically set Israel/Judah back to the beginning as if none of this covenant had ever been. 1b: It will be so devastating as to appear as dark and chaotic as earths infancy. 2: Gap theory suggests a gap between kjv@Genesis:1:1 and kjv@Genesis:1:2 where this type of judgment actually occurred to a pre-Adamic human or angelic race on earth; that what we read is not an account of creation but of a earth's first restoration. Both explanations may not be exclusive as well.
The questions raised by this description of Lucifer are numerous. Of primary importance would be when did this fall happen and where, especially if the where was here on earth. If on earth, that would most likely place the when between kjv@Genesis:1:1 and kjv@Genesis:1:2 suggesting a gap between creation, a world that then was, and later a complete 6 day restoration following a major judgment perhaps like the world has since never known (not even the flood). This would explain why the Spirit hovered over a earth that was void and without form.
The imperial city of Nineveh, royal seat of then Assyria is in modern day northern Iraq near Mosel on the Tigris river. It's ruins have only recently been found.
Of the many details about creation given in this first chapter, perhaps the most peculiar is the division between verse strkjv@Genesis:1:1 'in the beginning' and verse strkjv@Genesis:1:2 'and the earth was'. To me the key word is 'was' which I suggest more properly should be translated 'became' as used in other text. Notice Heaven and Earth created in the beginning strkjv@Genesis:1:1. Notice Heaven and Earth not being divided till strkjv@Genesis:1:9. What happened that they were in the beginning but not divided until the third day? Many would say that they were created without form and void, the native language can just as easily say they became uninhabitable being a place suffering judgment.
Another peculiarity we should not let escape our attention is that while there is a division between light and dark strkjv@Genesis:1:3-5 called Night and Day, the actual objects visually determining those observances for earth were not until kjv@Genesis:1:14-19 after even vegetation. Light and darkness till then were from a different source and that source was sufficient for massive plant life. In kjv@Revelation:21:23 we see a similar occurrence in the new earth.
They, the race at that time (either majority or all) journeyed in an attempt to remain one people to a place in the valley of Babylon where they could make one large city. It does not seem to be opposed at first by God until He saw what they were trying to build in it's midst.
Who does the Son reveal His Father to? Those who come to the Son toiling and heavy ladden in the convicting burdens of sin. Once relieved of such burden, having taken on His yoke humbly and with meekness, shouldering a sample of His burden, then one comes to know the Father. Such immense time released revelation is only by exchanging our burden for His Son's and carrying His Son's burden forward. It is not any other way around. The so called wise and prudent systematically avoid to see this.
2012 - pBiblx2 Field Wise Bible System Version 2.0.9d - GPL3
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