Ishmael was greatly blessed by the LORD.
Sarai and Abram had decided to not wait on God’s promise, and concocted a scheme to get an heir, not believing what Abram had been promised by the LORD.
Bible
The Tents of Kedar, Psalm 120
Mohammed in the Bible
This is one of those Passages where we shake out heads and go “I don’t know”. However all the answers are in old theology books. There is nothing new under the sun. There is always someone in ages passed that knew what the passage meant.
Psa. 120:
A Song of Ascents.
1 In my distress I cry to the LORD, that he may answer me:
2 “Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.”
3 What shall be given to you? And what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war!
So where was or is Meshech and what or who are the tents of Kedar?
Meshech
Meshech is one of the sons of Japheth from whom the Europeans descended [Gen 10:2]. And it never has been a good place for the children of Israel to be in their wanderings. The Crusades, The INQUISITION, the progroms, and constant evictions followed them everywhere the wandered. It wasn’t until Oliver Cromwell in 1699 that they could even be buried in England.
Kedar
Maimonides a.k.a. The RamBam
Kedar was a son of Ishmael [Gen 25:13]. The question is why of all the sons of Ishmael this one and not one of the other 11? Because Mohammed was of the Koresh clan and they descended from Kedar. As the RamBam put it “for the Madman and imbecile is of the lineage of the children of Kedar as they readily admit.” Maimonides, “Letter to Yemen” 1:4. The RamBam wrote in Hebrew so the word translated as “Madman” would have been “Meshugana”.
Maimonides saw that this was a prophecy about the subjugation of the Jews to the Arabs because of the teaching of the Meshugana one. That this was because of the Jews sin, and there was noting to do but endure.
Remember, my co-religionists, that on account of the vast number of our sins, God has hurled us in the midst of this people, the Arabs, who have persecuted us severely, and passed baneful and discriminatory legislation against us, as Scripture has forewarned us, “Our enemies themselves shall judge us” (Deuteronomy 32:31). “Letter to Yemen” 1:4
You might also be interested in this Muslim sight Mohammed in the Bible
Types in the Tabernacle/Temple
The Mishkan or Tabernacle also called the Tent of Meeting or Ohel Mo’ad was full of types of Messiah, His life and His work. The Dispensationalist with their literal carnal minded interpretation lose the greater typological meaning by their insistence in a literal method of interpretation and clearly lose the intended typology. They are actually idolaters exalting Israel and its temple, priesthood, and sacrifices, while missing the mystical spiritual meaning of Messiah.
. . . because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2Cor. 4:18
Seeking the Literal
The Dispensationalist see in Amos 9 a future rebuilt literal temple, while missing that James at the Jerusalem council, Acts 15 clearly states that the prophecy is fulfilled in the body of the Congregation. (See Also: The Third Temple)
They search for the Ark of the Covenant even though Jeremiah says it is gone forever and not to be remembered.
And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD.” It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again. Jer. 3:16
The Dispensationalist get all excited become some group of Jews have built the lampstand. Forgetting that Messiah is the Light of the World. There is no need for anyone to walk in darkness.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
FYI: The Greek word translated as world here is actually cosmos.
They seek the a red heifer to make ashes of, so the Jews can be cleansed. However all are made clean by the Word of Messiah.
You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3
False Foundation
Their dispensations have no foundation in the Bible, but are fabricated from their own imaginations, dependent on the belief that God is not immutable. (See Also: Dispensations and Immutable)
While claiming to be free of the Law themselves (because they live in a dispensation they have named Grace) they seek to impose the laws of sacrifice on a vague future. Somehow they have lost their way in their literal interpretation.
Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. Rom. 3:31
They have missed that the ceremonial law is fulfilled but has not passed away, the temple is destroyed, and the moral law stands forever.
For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Matt. 5:18
Missing the Mark
What did the Law represent? It represented what was to be accomplished? The redemption of mankind. Which happened at the Cross. Of which the Temple was only a shadow.
While the Messianics study the Temple and its services are accused of being “under the Law” those that never study it, are ready to impose the Law’s sacrificial system on others. Thereby missing the point.
. . . he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Heb. 9:12
Messianics study the shadow to learn more about the spiritual, not to practice it. (See Also: Why We Keep the Feasts)
FYI: Dispensationalism with its Futurist interpretation of prophecy has infiltrated the Messianic Movement with this “literal” blunder. (See Also: Futurism and what it does to Faith)
Off the Track
All this dispensational nonsense started because they had to come up with some semi logical way of explaining their belief in a Rapture, as the Rapture has no Theological foundation. The Rapture’s true foundation is the ecstatic utterances of Margaret MacDonald and followers of John Darby and Edward Irving in the first half of the 1800s.
FYI: The oldest rule of hermeneutics is so old it is in Latin, “Quod non set Biblicum, non est Theologicum” translation, “If is ain’t in the Bible, it ain’t Theology.”
In their attempt to make sense of nonsense, the Dispensationalists make the make God too small. He is literally not omnipresent. They teach, that God lives in heaven, followed by a teaching that we will also live in heaven when we die, when the Bible says nothing of the kind. The creator God cannot be contain in any place whether it is called heaven or not, He fills all of creation. (See Also: Omnipresent and What Happens when We Die)
If you find that you have been taught by these Dispensationalist, and have no idea what is true and what is error. Please read our post on Hermeneutics, it is a short concise look at how prophecy is interpreted by protestants in general.
David’s Victory a Type of Messiah’s Victory
Now then bring it about; for the LORD has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’” 2Sam. 3:18
The Philistines stand in typology as the enemies of David and the Israelites representing the antitype of the spirit enemies of Messiah and the Congregation.
For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Eph. 6:12 (c.f. Rom. 8:38; Eph. 3:10; Col. 1:16; Col. 2:15)
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Rev. 12:10
Messiah’s authority to win this battle is a given.
Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Luke 10:19
. . . then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Rom. 16:20
. . . to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Eph. 1:6
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 which he lavished upon us. Eph. 1:7
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Cor. 15:57
Although Satan was defeated at the cross, he still afflicts God’s people, just as David defeated the Philistines, yet they continued from time to time to afflict God’s people. It was not until Hezekiah that the Philistines were finally defeated. (See Also: Philistia Who?)
He smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city. 2Kings 18:8
So Satan will not be defeated till he is thrown into the lake of fire.
. . . and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Rev. 20:10
The Lord’s Day
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet Rev. 1:10
The first commentary I ever read on The Revelation, went to great lengths to explain that, “The Lord’s Day” was Sunday the first day of the week. The second commentary I read went to equally great lengths to explain that it was the seventh day of the week or the Sabbath.
After many years of study it has occurred to me that these attitudes are born on both sides of anti-Jewish sentiment, and general ignorance of the Torah. For the rather obvious truth is that it is Yom Kippur/The Day of Atonement, which can fall on any day of the week. The reasons for this are plain as day.
First, the Lord presents Himself as the Ancient of Days with the right and power to judge. [Dan. 7:9; Rev. 1:14]
Second, the seven church’s for whom the letter was intended are warned of their short comings. [Rev 2-3]
Third, There are 24 elders all dressed as High Priests on Yom Kippur. They are wearing white and have golden crown and golden censors. [Lev. 8:9; Lev. 16:4, 12 Rev. 4:4; Rev. 5:8]
The rest of the book is about God’s judgements, on those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and those who is not. [Deut. 29:20; Dan. 12:1; Rev. 20:15; 21:27]
The entire book is one great call to get right with God for today is the day of salvation, today is Yom Kippur/the Day or Atonement. Its point is, that it is always Yom Kippur before the throne. The final sacrifice has been made. The way to the throne is open to all on this day, and it is always this day before the throne.
However at the end of the day, the offer of Salvation will be withdrawn, the gates will be closed, and there will be those left outside. [Rev. 22:15]
The Mystery Religion Lives On
To have someone lead a initiate to the god is right out of the mystery religions.
Pope Francis Tells Priests and Nuns: If They Do Not Love the Mother (Mary), and Pray the Rosary, Then Mother (Mary) Will Not Give Them The Son!
Psalm 22:29-31
Because the RSV really goofed the translation we are going to switch here to the KJV.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship:
all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him:
and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him;
it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born,
that he hath done this.
Being fat has for most of the earth’s history been a sign of prosperity, as food was not alway easy to come by before the industrialization of farming. Here the point is that death is the great equalizer, one cannot secure ones position in the afterlife with wealth or poverty in this life. In the end no one will escape from having to worship the Lord. All will bow either willingly or grudgingly.
. . . that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Phil. 2:10
A seed shall serve him, this is meant that only a few shall serve the Lord. It is not “their seed” for service to God, for it is not secured by birth but rather by obedience. It is not “The Seed” for that would reverence Messiah, and the first part of this Psalm was about His work, this is about our response. It is not “many seeds” for true believers are never many.
. . . knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ. Col. 3:24
Those that serve the Lord are His generation.
Then we thy people, the flock of thy pasture, will give thanks to thee for ever; from generation to generation we will recount thy praise. Psa. 79:13
And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation for ever. Psa. 106:31
His great work on the cross that brought salvation to the who-so-ever wills and not just to the physical descendants of Abraham must be proclaimed to the people who are not yet born. Every generation must repeat the tale, we must tell the story of Messiah, from generation to generation.
For the work He promised, is done, it is finished, He kept the promise, there is no more that can be done. We must simple trust.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. John 19:30
Psalm 22:26-28
those who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live for ever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.
28 For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
What a marvelous promise for those of faith. We forget in this land of abundance that for most of the world’s history, people have struggled to get enough to eat. Our Lord promises satisfaction for those that seek Him. There are those who make these blessing passages about physical wealth and health in the here and now. However in the here and now, it is meant as spiritual sustenance.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matt. 5:6
The satisfaction is for the heart not the body. As we study and become closer to understand God’s plans and purposes, there is a satisfaction and peace that is hard to put in human words.
There will come a time when all will be brought into submission, and righteousness will be enforced with a rod of iron. Then everyone on the earth will remember. In order to remember something if must first be something that was forgotten or at least not brought to mind. The whole world has forgotten their creator. As a whole we have forgotten our willful sin of disobedience and the consequences of being out of fellowship or right relationship with our Creator. Because we do not remember our fall we forgot what it would take to make the relationship right.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15
There is usually a small twisted memory of this in almost all peoples and cultures. But it is so twisted that the truth was lost. But a time will come when they will remember that the Lord God who made heaven and earth would need to come and suffered for us. It is He and He alone who would restore the relationship between men and their God, as the beginning of this Psalm explained. He had to come and suffer, that was the only way.
All the nations belong to the Lord, even the ones that don’t know it. It is time to remember the forgotten truths of old.
. . . but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” Gen. 2:17
We ate a piece of fruit, or perhaps the fruits is the only way we can understand what our infinite forbearers did, since we are now finite. The essence of the tail is that they were told not to do something and they then did that forbidden thing, bringing death to everything and everyone, somehow their actions caused the second law of thermodynamics to come into play. (The Second Law of Thermodynamics, where everything runs down, waist aways, or ceases to be).
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; Rom. 8:22
We sit here groaning for things we do not completely remember. But dominion belongs to the Lord, and what was will be again. For our souls know redemption, but our bodies still wait for the fulness of the promise.
18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Rom. 8:18+25
Psalm 22:22-23
22 I will tell of thy name to my brethren;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee:
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!
After the humiliation and rejection of the crucifixion, we join the triumphant praise and exaltation section of this Psalm. It starts with a line that is repeated in the book of Hebrews. Where it states that He is not ashamed of us, even though in our weakness we are often ashamed of Him.
10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.” Heb. 2:10-12
His name is to be proclaimed. Not by ministers or priests but rather by “I” and the proclaiming is in the piel infinitive tense, which means “I” is caused to proclaim, recount, relate this information forever. We cannot stop, we must speak out. The only people who are mad at us for speaking the truth are those people who are living a lie. Keep speaking the truth.
I will praise Him in the congregation. It is only in the congregation that our admiration and reverence for His great act of love is even understood. (See Also: The Ekklesia)
The Psalm sounds as though it is restricted to just the children of Israel, however the writer of Hebrews is clear that all are children of God.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. Is. 8:16-18
This was the declaration given to the shepherds. The joy would not longer be extended only to the children of Israel but it would be for ALL people.
And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; Luke 2:10
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:14
Instead of our faith bing inherited through the blood line of Abraham our faith is now based on pleasing Him. To have peace with our maker is an act of obedience. The door is open too all.
I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 10:9
Fear the Lord
23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!
The post modern inherited churches have forgotten to stand in awe of God. The churches sing of an awesome God as if this word means some kind of casual greatness, or beauty. However to be in awe of something or someone is to be terrified or in dread. This new culturally sensitive theology has God as either their best buddy or a myth, either way there is no need to fear Him.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever! Psa. 111:10
When we are young we often think that the older people in the congregation are old and stogy. We make light of all things holy. We laugh and play with our grace, almost to the point of being sacrilegious. But as one gets older we often examine that tear in the vale of grace, and are terrified by what we perceive is there. Yes, indeed, God is awesome, and our souls are spared only because of that curtain of grace. Our suffering Redeemer earned our awe. When we step back and consider this curtain, we see that it is made of our Redeemer’s own blood.
We stand in holy awe, and fear for the ignorant young people.
Left Behind Hoax
They 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)