Author: laurelanthenat

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Psalm 22:16-17

crosstwilight16 Yea, dogs are round about me; a company of evildoers encircle me; they have pierced my hands and feet — 

17 I can count all my bones — they stare and gloat over me;

This song was to be sung according to the tune, “The Hind of the Dawn”. And our Lord is our Hind who comes leaping across the mountains of vatar. [S of S. 2:17] This was the terrible day of that leap. For all who watched it seemed as though He failed to make the jump. However it is a long leap that took three days to clear, and clear it He did.

As our Lord reaches His end He feels like a hind surrounded by dogs. Now a dog will never chase down a Cervidae, all these animals can easily out run dogs. However if a pack of dogs incircle the poor thing, it will not get away. Two dogs will keep the head busy while a third will hamstring the hind legs. Once the deer cannot run it is doomed. Our Lord is now surrounded by evil men, They had wearied Him with their content attacks, and in the  end He never even sought to runaway. The Sanhedrin, Herod, Pilate, they all agreed to set aside their differences and surround Him. In the end they actually pierced His hands and feet just as dogs would hamstring a deer, and this thousand year old prophecy perfectly predicted this horrible death. (For which the Rabbis have no answer.)

He had been called a wine-bibber and glutton yet here He is in death, all His bone are exposed, He hung there naked and exposed. They gloated at His suffering.

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. Matt. 27:42

He died naked and alone that He might clothe a great multitude in robes of righteousness. That none of us should go exposed.

(“Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed!”) Rev. 16:15

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Psalm 22:14-15

crosstwilight14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; 

my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast; 

15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;

thou dost lay me in the dust of death. 

Now we come to the death throes of Messiah.

He was literally poured out like water.

 

34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.  John 19:34

He did feel dried up, as all the Divine wrath that is due to us, was poured onto Him.

28 After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psa. 69:21

The life of all sinners is forfeit, the only way out is to ransom the soul with the only sacrifice perfect enough to complete the transaction.

Crucifixion is a slow death by asphyxiation. In the end one must push up with the legs in order to take a breath.  This is why the leg were broken, without the ability push up they could not breath, in this way they hastened the victims death.

The entire weight of the victims hung on the arms, stretching the body and dislocating the joints. As Matthew Henry puts it, “His bones were put out of joint that He might put the whole creation into joint again,”.

Upon His death He was laid in the dust, for He was fully human and had a fully human body, and from dust we were made.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gen. 3:19

However few notice that it is the Serpent that eats dust.

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. Gen. 3:14 

Though he seeks to devour us.

Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. 1 Pet. 5:8 

Those who claim Messiah as their Lord, need not be devoured. For he has been given more than even he could ever swallow. The life of the perfect sacrifice.

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How Christians Will Know They Can Join Hands With Rome

by Eric Davis

Post-Tenebras-LuxWith Reformation Day coming up, this is a good time to recall why the Reformers departed from Roman Catholicism. In our day especially, it seems that many Christians have history-amnesia when it comes to the importance of what God did through the Reformers. During the Reformation, great confusion existed regarding what was, and was not, the true church of Christ. Rome had asserted itself as the true church for centuries, and continues to do so today. However, as the Reformers recognized then, Christians must follow in step today by recalling that joining hands with Rome is a departure from Christ. MORE. . . 

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Left Behind Hoax

Left-Behind-posterThey now have a new movie out based on the fantasy book “Left Behind” by Timothy LaHaye

Left Behind in US theaters October 3, 2014 starring Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan. Follows Rayford Steele (Nicolas Cage) who is piloting a commercial airliner just hours after the Rapture when millions of people around the world . . .   from movieinsider.com/m10845/left-behind/

With so many people in the Christian world having been deceived by this false teaching we’re sure that the movie will do well at the box office. (Guess not)

However there are some real problems with this entirely false teaching on how the prophecies should be interpreted. The rules for interpretation are called Hermeneutics. This view of prophecy i.e. The Futurist View has often been thoughtlessly taught and thoughtlessly received with little or no searching of Scripture. We have never figured out why this fantasy is so appealing to the masses of Christians, it does however demonstrate how few Christians actually read their Bibles, and even fewer have the courage after having read the Bible to stand up to these false teachers and call them out.

The Futurists have been teaching this “soon” Rapture since 1830, and like evolutionist they have no facts to show that their preposterous scenario has any possibility of being true. Once the mind firmly holds to this belief it becomes a mental habit, a habit that is constantly reinforced by books of fantasy, teachings from the pipit, or so called Christian TV. It cannot however be reinforced by sound reading of the Bible. That which is heard is supposed to be true, and assumes an authority of transcendent truth in the unsuspicious person’s mind. Then when different ideas are presented, no matter how logical or Biblically based they are, these are met with hate and prejudice. The mind has been so well trained to hate all other possibilities, that honest intellectual debate is obstructed. These Futurists accept less of the truth, because of their own agenda. That agenda is one of fear. Not being able see in their own Bibles what is being taught frightens many people.  The more they distrust their own judgment, the more they rely on the teachers. The more they rely on the teachers, the more money they put in the collection plate, hoping to somehow placate or bribe a God they now view as angry and despotic enough to plan a seven year tribulation.

We must return to what the Bible actually says.

The oldest rule of hermeneutics is—

“Quod non est Biblicum, non est Theologicum.” 

In other words, “If is ain’t in the Bible, it ain’t Theology.”

There is nothing in the Left Behind series that comes from the Bible. The Bible has no Rapture, no seven year Tribulation, and no political Antichrist.

The second oldest rule of hermeneutics is—

“The Bible is its own best commentary”

or “God is His own Interpreter”

This means that if one doesn’t understand a passage, instead of speculating, one should look up a similar passage and see if there is not some obvious answer to how it should be interpreted. So when it comes to prophecy one should look at fulfilled prophecies to see how they were worded and then look at the history to see what actually happened, another part of the exercise is to look and see what the people living between the prophecy and the fulfillment thought, as a kind of way to avoid the mistakes that they made. Because the prophecies are rarely completely understood until they are fulfilled. Then we can see that locust are armies, the heavenly bodies are political forces, and waters are people, nations, and tongues. (See Also: Known to be Fulfilled and Symbolism)

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Psalm 22:11-13

second-coming2Be not far from me, 

for trouble is near and there is none to help. 

12 Many bulls encompass me, 

strong bulls of Bashan surround me; 

13 they open wide their mouths at me, 

like a ravening and roaring lion. 

Trouble was not far from Messiah, and there was none to help Him

Even those of you who are “city people” probably understand that being surrounded by bulls is a bad situation. Bulls are unpredictable at the best of times, but when there is a herd of just the bulls, things are fairly uncontrollable. This is why cattlemen routinely castrate them, then they are steers, which is a much easier animal to control.

140915112354-cnnx-golan-heights-map-story-topNowadays, Bashan is called the Golan Heights, a large plateau on top of a steep cliff overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The area  belonged to the Amorites before the territory was possessed by the tribes of Dan and Manasseh. [Deut. 33:22; Josh. 20:8; 1Kings 4:13 ] On this plateau, the town of Golan became a city of refuge. [Josh. 21:27]

The tribe of Manasseh had large herds and asked Moses for land that was good for their herds. So we can speculate that at the time the Psalm was written, this area was known for its large herds of cattle.[Num. 32:33]

David compares the enemies of Messiah to these bulls. The enemies were the religious leaders of the temple, They were powerful and dangerous men to confront. Yet, Messiah boldly confronted them, over and over. We know that they plotted against Him at every opportunity. They knew He was teaching the people that they would no longer need them or their temple.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. John 4:23 

The religious leaders of that day were sure that the Messiah they envisioned and manufactured out of the Old Testament prophecies, would never have done away with the sacrificial system. Yet, here was this Man telling everyone that everything was going to change. He  taught that the kingdom had come and it wasn’t Jewish. So they roared at Him, with a roar not entirely of their own making.

Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour. 1 Pet. 5:8

One wonders what His return will really look like. When He comes with no rapture, seven year tribulation, or political antichrist, will today’s religious leaders know Him?

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Psalm 22: 9-10

second-coming29 Yet thou art he who took me from the womb; 

thou didst keep me safe upon my mother’s breasts. 

10 Upon thee was I cast from my birth, 

and since my mother bore me thou hast been my God. 

Messiah acknowledges that God was with Him from His birth. It was God who was the midwife or doctor.

He was provided a safe childhood. As a breast is the safest place a small child can be, this represents all the love a mother has for her children. The Hebrew word for breast is shad which is the root to the title El Shaddai.

He was cast upon God, like all the children of Israel. From Abraham to Messiah there had been an uninterrupted series of continual, sustaining, wonders and phenomena that had kept the line that was cast upon God, safe. On His eighth day, this covenant relationship was sealed with circumcision. His parents agreed that this one was under the covenant their father accepted 2500 years before. [Gen 17] For it was this covenant whose mark scared the very organ that normally delivers seed. This ancient ritual pointed to the fact that the promised child would not come by the normal sexual way.

Messiah reminds God that His dependance on God had been so from the beginning. His devotion was real.

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Jer. 2:2 

Yet for all this He was now abandoned.

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Psalm 22:5-8

second-coming2To thee they cried, and were saved; in thee they trusted, and were not disappointed. 

But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. 

All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, 

they wag their heads; 

“He committed his cause to the LORD; 

let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

 Psa. 22:5 -8

We continue with Messiah’s complaint on the cross that He was abandoned. He reminds the Father that the fathers were not abandon. There is a realization that He is abandoned. In His distress Messiah declares that he is a worm, and all hate Him. Which is true, only those who follow Him love Him, all others despise and reject Him?

Messiah undertook to satisfy the dishonor we had done to God by our sins and submitted to the lowest possible example of shame and disgrace, crucifixion, a death reserved for criminals. His naked body was hung for public ridicule. Those standing there did in fact ridicule Him.

42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Matt. 27:42-43

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Is. 52:3

There He hung rejected by men and God. He was not to be rescued. He was the sacrifice Abraham did not make. [Gen 22] This time there was to be no ram in the thicket.

For He was

 

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Psalm 22:3-4

second-coming23 Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 

4 In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. 

At first glance and separated from the rest of the Psalm this looks like a praise, however it is actually a complaint. As Messiah hung on the cross, He complains that God the Father is not coming to rescue Him. In His agony and suffering He reminds God that He saved others.

He was delivered to His enemies, He felt forsaken, He felt that no one was coming to deliver Him, because that was the way it was.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand; Is. 53:10 

Only in being forsaken, only in being rejected, could victory be given to all. without obedience He could not become a source for all who OBEY Him.

8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, Heb. 5:8-9

There is always that little catch about obedience that the dispensational church has lost, with their false teaching that, “the law has passed away”.

As the Son of God was obedient unto death so we must be obedient to His teachings.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. John 15:10

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Psalm 22:1-2

second-coming2Sounds like a simple enough prophecy till one reads all of Psalm 22 which is a Psalm of David recounting a time when he was fleeing from his enemies. There is nothing in it that would make one reading think it was prophecy. It is only after reading John that we even consider looking at the Psalm as a type of the Messiah.

To the choirmaster: 

according to The Hind of the Dawn.

 A Psalm of David.  

“The Hind of the Dawn” would have been the name of a tune, that’s meter would fit well with the words. Like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The ABC Song, and Jesus Loves Me, are all the same tune. David meant for this psalm to be sung to The Hind of the Dawn tune.

 1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?  2 O my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer; and by night, but find no rest.  

In this type David feels that God has forsaken him. He feels that God does not hear him. We all cry this way from to time to time. We don’t understand why we are sick, or poor? We feel forsaken, even though He never forsakes us.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job 13:15

Like Job, Messiah had maintained God’s ways. Yet the very words Messiah cried when He was slain where this forsaken verse from the Psalm.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?” that is, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt. 27:46 

Help did not come for three days and three nights, then all was victory.

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear.  8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;  9 and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,  10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Heb. 5:7-9