Christ's
Ro. {15:30} Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus
Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive
together with me in [your] prayers to God for me
For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake.
For the love of the Spirit.
1 Cor. {4:9} For I think
that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were
appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the
world, and to angels, and to men. {4:10} We [are] fools for
Christ’s sake, but ye [are] wise in Christ; we [are] weak, but
ye [are] strong; ye [are] honourable, but we [are] despised.
{4:11} Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and
thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain
dwellingplace; {4:12} And labour, working with our own
hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer
it: {4:13} Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the
filth of the world, [and are] the offscouring of all things
unto this day. {4:14} I write not these things to shame you,
but as my beloved sons I warn [you. ]{4:15} For though ye
have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet [have ye] not
many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the gospel.
1 Cor. {7:22} For he that is called in the Lord, [being] a servant, is
the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, [being]
free, is Christ’s servant. {7:23} Ye are bought with a price;
be not ye the servants of men. {7:24} Brethren, let every
man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Let every man wherein he is called-
therein abide with God.
1 Cor {15:21} For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also
the resurrection of the dead. {15:22} For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. {15:23} But every
man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ’s at his coming. {15:24} Then [cometh] the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and
all authority and power. {15:25} For he must reign, till he
hath put all enemies under his feet. {15:26} The last enemy
[that] shall be destroyed [is] death. {15:27} For he hath put
all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are
put under [him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did
put all things under him. {15:28} And when all things shall
be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be
subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may
be all in all.
Afterward...
They that are Christ's at his coming.
2 Cor. {5:20}
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ’s stead, be ye
reconciled to God. {5:21} For he hath made him [to be] sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
We pray you in Christ's stead...
be ye reconciled to God.
2 Cor. {12:10} Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am
weak, then am I strong.
For Christ's sake...
for when I am weak then am I strong.
Gal. {5:24}
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. {5:25} If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. {5:26} Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
They that are Christ's...
have crucified the flesh.
If we live in the Spirit...
let us also walk in the Spirit.
Eph. {4:32} And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you
Forgiving one another...
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
1 Pet. {4:12} Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you: {4:13} But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. {4:14} If
ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy [are ye;] for
the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part
he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Rejoice...
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
For Christ's sake; those that are Christ's; Christ's sufferings; are Christ's; Christ's stead; Christ's servant.
We are Christ's. We belong to Christ.
We must live in the Spirit, the Spirit Christ gives to us.
Have you ever felt compelled by the Spirit? I'm not talking some mystical otherworldly experience but rather have you ever felt the tugging of a Spirit within you to go against the natural man in you? The Holy Spirit is real and has been given to us so that we may live in Christ.
Ps. {51:10} Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.
{51:11} Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy
spirit from me.
{51:12} Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me [with
thy] free spirit.
By the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ may the Holy Spirit live in us, sealing us, making us Christ's forever and ever. Please Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us, from me. By faith, through Christ's righteousness none of my own but through His alone, forever and ever.
Amen.
8/3/10
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Greek definitions--
BOUGHT-
G59
a????a´??
agorazo¯
ag-or-ad'-zo
From G58; properly to go to market, that is, (by implication) to purchase; specifically to redeem: - buy, redeem.
PRICE-
G5092
t?µ?´
time¯
tee-may'
From G5099; a value, that is, money paid, or (concretely and collectively) valuables; by analogy esteem (especially of the highest degree), or the dignity itself: - honour, precious, price, some.
SERVANTS-
G1401
d??????
doulos
doo'-los
From G1210; a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.
MEN-
G444
a?´????p??
anthro¯pos
anth'-ro-pos
From G435 and ??´? o¯ps (the countenance; from G3700); manfaced, that is, a human being: - certain, man.
You are REDEEMED with the HIGHEST DEGREE, A VALUABLE PRICE, be not the SLAVES in SUBJECTION of another HUMAN BEING.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
We are bought! Yet we don't often act like we've been bought because we want so desperately to be our own person, not to need anyone or anything else. We want to stand on our own two feet without any help, thank you very much. If we do have help from others we want those others to turn around and tell us how wonderful it is that we made it mostly on our own, that they only offered a token of help, that without us doing the majority of the work nothing would have happened.
Self-sufficient, self-made, self-supporting. We reject the idea of relying on anyone. We reject the idea of anyone 'owning' us. Slavery is appalling to us with good reason given the horrors equated with it. Being enslaved sounds awful. Yet if we are BOUGHT, and we are, we are owned. You cannot buy something and not own it. Yes, you can buy something and then give it away to someone freely, gift it to another but until it's yours you cannot give it away. Once you buy something you can do with it pretty much what you want to do with it. You can care for it or neglect it. If it's a living thing- our world has created certain laws to protect the living thing, animals for example- even then a lot of animals are bought as livestock in order to kill them- humanely of course. When you've bought something and it's yours you are at liberty to control what you've bought. We've been bought. Bought from whom? Who owned us before we were bought? These are questions we need to think about, right?
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Servants of sin.
Servants of righteousness.
If we are servants of sin- who owns us?
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
There is a father of lies, a father of sin, and that father is Satan. Satan brought sin to the human race and that sin has come to all humans through Him. As soon as we are aware of right and wrong and choose the wrong we are serving Satan. That sounds harsh but it's true. People don't like to talk about the accountability of children there is a great debate over it all but to me personally, accountability begins when you know better and still do it no matter the age. When we serve Satan by engaging in the works He's wrought He owns us. Is it no wonder we have to be born again daily? Is it no wonder that we have to ask for forgiveness daily? Is it no wonder we need to pray always?
Jesus bought us from Satan. Jesus bought us by paying the HIGHEST price one could ever pay. A God, setting aside His spirit form and taking on human flesh and in that flesh suffering the pain of living in a sin-filled world and being murdered while innocent of any and all sin. He died and by His death we are bought. Once we are bought we are not enslaved and tormented, we are loved as those adopted by God the Father. Once bought we have salvation from the sin of Satan, we are no longer in bondage to Him. On our own we cannot save ourselves. We cannot buy ourselves, we have to rely on our Savior. We don't need self-sufficiency we need God-reliance. We need to accept that we are so loved that the price paid for us was beyond measure.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
No matter our situation in life, no matter if our job is as a servant to others, no matter what we are called to do we have to abide with God. God is our master, we serve God, we serve our Savior, our full allegiance is first and foremost to God above all.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Bought by our Savior. We are His and once we are bought we are freed from sin and are owned by a loving Savior who owns us in pure love like we can scarcely imagine.
By the grace of God may we be servants of righteousness in Him and not servants of sin. All praise, glory, and honor to our loving Savior for His mercy, for His grace to us who are so undeserving.
Amen.
8/3/11
The next part of
the verse we are studying is…
Dan 11:30
'...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the
holy covenant
so shall he do;
he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy
covenant. '
The holy covenant
of God's was based on what? We
need to read Hebrews chapters 8,9, and 10. Yes, all of the chapters, it says so
incredibly much!
Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken
this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of
the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the
true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to
offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have
somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not
be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the
law:
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the
pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Heb 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out
of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his
neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know
me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he
hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to
vanish away.
Heb 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also
ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2 For there was a tabernacle made; the
first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is
called the sanctuary.
Heb 9:3 And after the second veil, the
tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
Heb 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the
ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot
that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Heb 9:5 And over it the cherubims of glory
shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
Heb 9:6 Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God.
Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high
priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself,
and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first
tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then
present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make
him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks,
and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of
reformation.
Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of
good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats,
and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh:
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator
of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Heb 9:16 For where a testament is, there must
also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after men
are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Heb 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of
goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book,
and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both
the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself
often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of
others;
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation.
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to
be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the
world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me:
Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume
of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither
hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified.
Heb 10:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a
witness to us: for after that he had said before,
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I
remember no more.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there
is no more offering for sin.
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the
house of God;
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so
much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we
have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and
hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The
Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.
Heb 10:32 But call to remembrance the former
days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of
afflictions;
Heb 10:33 Partly, whilst ye were made a
gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became
companions of them that were so used.
Heb 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my
bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that
ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Heb 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that,
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Heb 10:37 For yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back
unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
A
lot to read but oh how wonderful it is!!!!!!!
The old covenant
was one of many continuous sacrifices, the new covenant with the blood of the
Lamb, became the SINGLE sacrifice of our Savior.
Now we've studied
this before, the fact that the old covenant was enacted under the Ten
Commandment as well as the NEW covenant. Both covenants- old and new have their
foundation in the Ten Commandments of God. This
is undisputable. Our God, our Savior gave the Ten Commandments as a
foundation for all time. These Ten Commandments would NEVER be done away with!
Never! They were and are perfect!
The sacrifice for sin changed from being imperfect sacrifices to a
perfect sacrifice, but sin didn't end when that Perfect Sacrifice was made. Sin
remains the breaking of the commandments, and people continued and still
continue to break those commandments.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Transgressing the
law is breaking God's commandments.
Sin is breaking God's commandments.
So we need to
look at the covenant, old and new, based upon the Ten Commandments of God. So when we read this--
Dan 11:30
'...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the
holy covenant
so shall he do;
he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy
covenant. '
We need to
understand the Roman power in control at this time and the connection the Roman
power had with the Holy Covenant-
God's people who were given God's commandments, God's people who were
given God's Son.
Let's notice two
of the commandments-
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have none other gods before
me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven
image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto
them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth
generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 and shewing mercy unto thousands, of
them that love me and keep my commandments.
As the first and
second commandments we are directed to a practice that was paramount throughout
the world- Idolatry, worshipping of other gods before God.
If we look at the
Bible we'll find that idolatry was a HUGE sin against God and one that many,
many of God's chosen people had a problem with. All around God's chosen people
were a multitude of other people- far greater in number than God's chosen- and
they ALL worshipped false gods of one sort or another, they were all idol
worshippers choosing to build temples to their false gods and create days of
celebration for their false gods. It wasn't uncommon for people to worship
several false gods at one time- one false god whose attributes were of one
particular thing and another false god who had different attributes- all of
them FALSE, all of them of the Devil- the father of lies!
There were
numerous false gods.
Jer 2:28 But where are thy gods that thou hast
made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for
according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Jer 2:29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all
have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
For according to
the NUMBER of thy CITIES are thy GODS!
One false god who
seemed to be worshipped universally was- the sun god.
'A solar deity
(also sun god/dess) is a deity who represents the sun, or an aspect of it,
usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can
be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Hence, many
beliefs have formed around this worship, such as the "missing sun" found in many
cultures.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_deity>
Throughout MOST
of recorded history!
In VARIOUS
forms!
In MANY
cultures!
Now we need to
ask ourselves, was sun worship common in the Roman Empire?
'Apollo--
As sun-god and
god of light, Apollo was also known by the epithets Aegletes (...Aigletes, from
a..., "light of the sun"),[13] Helius (... Helios, literally "sun"),[14]
Phanaeus (... Phanaios, literally "giving or bringing light"), and Lyceus (...
Lukeios, from Proto-Greek , "light"). The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later
became associated Apollo's mother Leto, who was the patron goddes of Lycia ...
and who was identified with the wolf (...) [15] earning him the epithets
Lycegenes (...Lukegenes, literally "born of a wolf" or "born of Lycia") and
Lycoctonus (... Lukoktonos, from ..., "wolf", and ..."to kill"). As god of the
sun, the Romans referred to Apollo as Sol (... sol; literally "sun" in
Latin).'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo
Apollo was one of
the sun gods worshipped by Romans and known as SOL- Sun.
'Apollo was
worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion, and in the modern
Greco–Roman Neopaganism.'
'Apollo was
worshipped throughout the Roman Empire. In the traditionally Celtic lands he
was most often seen as a healing and sun god. He was often equated with Celtic
gods of similar character'
'Roman Apollo
The Roman worship
of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. As a quintessentially Greek god, Apollo
had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him
as Phoebus.[75] There was a tradition that the Delphic oracle was consulted as
early as the period of the kings of Rome during the reign of Tarquinius
Superbus.[76] On the occasion of a pestilence in the 430s BCE, Apollo's first
temple at Rome was established in the Flaminian fields, replacing an older cult
site there known as the "Apollinare".[77] During the Second Punic War in 212
BCE, the Ludi Apollinares ("Apollonian Games") were instituted in his honor, on
the instructions of a prophecy attributed to one Marcius.[78] In the time of
Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was
even said to be his son, his worship developed and he became one of the chief
gods of Rome.[79] After the battle of Actium, which was fought near a sanctuary
of Apollo, Augustus enlarged Apollo's temple, dedicated a portion of the spoils
to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour.[80] He also erected a
new temple to the god on the Palatine hill.[81] Sacrifices and prayers on the
Palatine to Apollo and Diana formed the culmination of the Secular Games, held
in 17 BCE to celebrate the dawn of a new era.[82]'
'The lifesize
so-called "Adonis" found in 1780 on the site of a villa suburbana near the Via
Labicana in the Roman suburb of Centocelle is identified as an Apollo by modern
scholars.In the late 2nd century CE floor mosaic from El Djem, Roman Thysdrus,
he is identifiable as Apollo Helios by his effulgent halo, though now even a
god's divine nakedness is concealed by his cloak, a mark of increasing
conventions of modesty in the later Empire.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo
'Sol Invictus
("Invincible Sun") was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. In 274
Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults.
Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin
cult of Sol,[1] a revival of the cult of Elagabalus[2] or completely new.[3] The
god was favoured by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until
Constantine.[4] The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387
AD.[5] and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it
necessary to preach against them.[6] A festival on 25 December is sometimes
thought to be responsible for the date of Christmas.[7]'
'Emperors
portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends,
only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI
INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used
with particular frequency by Constantine.[28] Statuettes of Sol Invictus,
carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch
of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol
until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his
reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned ("jugate") with Sol
Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS[29]
Constantine
decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of
rest [CJ3.12.2]:
On
the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities
rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in
agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often
happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest
by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should
be lost.[30]
Constantine's
triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of
Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from
the direction of the main approach towards the arch.[31]'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
The Roman Empire
for hundreds of years worshipped many pagan Gods, without any doubt this is
true, the sun god was chief among them, as the sun as a god is chief among MANY
cultures. Along with the sun god
- the male, there was inevitably a female god at his side. It's easy enough to
find knowledge of this just search the internet.
*
God's loathing of
pagan practices is clear through His word.
Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not give any of thy seed
to make them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the
name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Lev 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as
with womankind: it is abomination.
Lev 18:23 And thou shalt not lie with any beast
to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast, to
lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Lev 18:24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of
these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out from
before you:
Lev 18:25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do
visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Lev 18:26 Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and
my judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the homeborn,
nor the stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 18:27 (for all these abominations have the
men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Lev 18:28 that the land vomit not you out also,
when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
Lev 18:29 For whosoever shall do any of these
abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their
people.
Lev 18:30 Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that
ye do not any of these abominable customs, which were done before you, and that
ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
God hates sun
worship!
Eze 8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the
gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the
women weeping for Tammuz.
Eze 8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these.
Eze 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court
of the LORD’S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between
the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward
the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and
they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Eze 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit
the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with
violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the
branch to their nose.
Eze 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury:
mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine
ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
Deu 17:2 If there be found in the midst of thee,
within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that
doeth that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his
covenant,
Deu 17:3 and
hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon,
or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
Deu 17:4 and it be told thee, and thou hast
heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and
the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
Deu 17:5 then shalt thou bring forth that man or
that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the
woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.
As we've already
noted- Constantine was a sun
worshipper- 'Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular
frequency by Constantine.'
Let's look at a
wikipedia bit on Constantine--
'Religious
policy
Further
information: Constantine I and Christianity and Constantine I and Judaism
Constantine
the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantine
is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor; his reign
was certainly a turning point for the Church. In February 313, Constantine met
with Licinius in Milan where they developed the Edict of Milan. The edict
stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith of their
choosing.[200] This removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which
many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned
confiscated Church property. The edict did not only protect Christians from
religious persecution, but all religions, allowing anyone to worship whichever
deity they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then
senior emperor of the Tetrarchy; Galerius' edict granted Christians the right
to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them.[201] The
Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated
churches would be returned as well as other provisions for previously
persecuted Christians.
Scholars
debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his
youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.[202]
Constantine would retain the title of pontifex maximus until his death, a title
emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood, as would his Christian
successors on to Gratian (r. 375–83). According to Christian writers,
Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, writing
to Christians to make clear that he believed he owed his successes to the
protection of the Christian High God alone.[203] Throughout his rule,
Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted
privileges to clergy (e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians
to high office, and returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic
persecution.[204] His most famous building projects include the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, and Old Saint Peter's Basilica.
Constantine
did not patronize Christianity alone, however. After gaining victory in the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), a triumphal arch—the Arch of
Constantine—was built (315) to celebrate it; the arch is decorated with images
of Victoria and sacrifices to gods like Apollo, Diana, or Hercules, but
contains no Christian symbolism.
In
321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united
in observing the venerable day of the sun, referencing the esoteric eastern
sun-worship which Aurelian had helped introduce, and his coinage still carried
the symbols of the sun cult until 324. Even after the pagan gods had
disappeared from the coinage, Christian symbols appeared only as Constantine's
personal attributes: the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum, but never
on the coin itself.[205] Even when Constantine dedicated the new capital of
Constantinople, which became the seat of Byzantine Christianity for a
millennium, he did so wearing the Apollonian sun-rayed Diadem.
Constantine
burning Arian books
The
reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the emperor as
having some influence within the religious discussions going on within the
Catholic Church of that time, e.g., the dispute over Arianism. Constantine
himself disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and
controversies brought with them, preferring where possible to establish an
orthodoxy.[206] The emperor saw it as his duty to ensure that God was properly
worshiped in his empire, and that what proper worship consisted would be
determined by the Church.[207] In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North
African dispute concerning the validity of Donatism. After deciding against the
Donatists, Constantine led an army of Christians against the Donatist
Christians. After 300 years of pacifism, this was the first intra-Christian
persecution. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea,
effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so
classified). Nicaea was dealt mostly with Arianism. Constantine also enforced
the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating the Lord's
Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan) (see Quartodecimanism
and Easter controversy).[208]
Constantine
made new laws regarding the Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves
or to circumcise their slaves.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great>
We're going to
stop here tonight this is a lot to digest!
More tomorrow as
we tie this history into the prophecy and see God's wondrous hand at work!
By His amazing
LOVE!
Through His
FORGIVENESS!
Amen.
Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive
together with me in [your] prayers to God for me
For the Lord Jesus Christ's sake.
For the love of the Spirit.
1 Cor. {4:9} For I think
that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were
appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the
world, and to angels, and to men. {4:10} We [are] fools for
Christ’s sake, but ye [are] wise in Christ; we [are] weak, but
ye [are] strong; ye [are] honourable, but we [are] despised.
{4:11} Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and
thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain
dwellingplace; {4:12} And labour, working with our own
hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer
it: {4:13} Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the
filth of the world, [and are] the offscouring of all things
unto this day. {4:14} I write not these things to shame you,
but as my beloved sons I warn [you. ]{4:15} For though ye
have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet [have ye] not
many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you
through the gospel.
1 Cor. {7:22} For he that is called in the Lord, [being] a servant, is
the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, [being]
free, is Christ’s servant. {7:23} Ye are bought with a price;
be not ye the servants of men. {7:24} Brethren, let every
man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
Let every man wherein he is called-
therein abide with God.
1 Cor {15:21} For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also
the resurrection of the dead. {15:22} For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive. {15:23} But every
man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they
that are Christ’s at his coming. {15:24} Then [cometh] the
end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God,
even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and
all authority and power. {15:25} For he must reign, till he
hath put all enemies under his feet. {15:26} The last enemy
[that] shall be destroyed [is] death. {15:27} For he hath put
all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are
put under [him, it is] manifest that he is excepted, which did
put all things under him. {15:28} And when all things shall
be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be
subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may
be all in all.
Afterward...
They that are Christ's at his coming.
2 Cor. {5:20}
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ’s stead, be ye
reconciled to God. {5:21} For he hath made him [to be] sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
We pray you in Christ's stead...
be ye reconciled to God.
2 Cor. {12:10} Therefore I take
pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am
weak, then am I strong.
For Christ's sake...
for when I am weak then am I strong.
Gal. {5:24}
And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. {5:25} If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. {5:26} Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
They that are Christ's...
have crucified the flesh.
If we live in the Spirit...
let us also walk in the Spirit.
Eph. {4:32} And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ’s sake hath forgiven you
Forgiving one another...
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
1 Pet. {4:12} Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
happened unto you: {4:13} But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. {4:14} If
ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy [are ye;] for
the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part
he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
Rejoice...
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings.
For Christ's sake; those that are Christ's; Christ's sufferings; are Christ's; Christ's stead; Christ's servant.
We are Christ's. We belong to Christ.
We must live in the Spirit, the Spirit Christ gives to us.
Have you ever felt compelled by the Spirit? I'm not talking some mystical otherworldly experience but rather have you ever felt the tugging of a Spirit within you to go against the natural man in you? The Holy Spirit is real and has been given to us so that we may live in Christ.
Ps. {51:10} Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me.
{51:11} Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy
spirit from me.
{51:12} Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me [with
thy] free spirit.
By the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ may the Holy Spirit live in us, sealing us, making us Christ's forever and ever. Please Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us, from me. By faith, through Christ's righteousness none of my own but through His alone, forever and ever.
Amen.
8/3/10
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Greek definitions--
BOUGHT-
G59
a????a´??
agorazo¯
ag-or-ad'-zo
From G58; properly to go to market, that is, (by implication) to purchase; specifically to redeem: - buy, redeem.
PRICE-
G5092
t?µ?´
time¯
tee-may'
From G5099; a value, that is, money paid, or (concretely and collectively) valuables; by analogy esteem (especially of the highest degree), or the dignity itself: - honour, precious, price, some.
SERVANTS-
G1401
d??????
doulos
doo'-los
From G1210; a slave (literally or figuratively, involuntarily or voluntarily; frequently therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): - bond (-man), servant.
MEN-
G444
a?´????p??
anthro¯pos
anth'-ro-pos
From G435 and ??´? o¯ps (the countenance; from G3700); manfaced, that is, a human being: - certain, man.
You are REDEEMED with the HIGHEST DEGREE, A VALUABLE PRICE, be not the SLAVES in SUBJECTION of another HUMAN BEING.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
We are bought! Yet we don't often act like we've been bought because we want so desperately to be our own person, not to need anyone or anything else. We want to stand on our own two feet without any help, thank you very much. If we do have help from others we want those others to turn around and tell us how wonderful it is that we made it mostly on our own, that they only offered a token of help, that without us doing the majority of the work nothing would have happened.
Self-sufficient, self-made, self-supporting. We reject the idea of relying on anyone. We reject the idea of anyone 'owning' us. Slavery is appalling to us with good reason given the horrors equated with it. Being enslaved sounds awful. Yet if we are BOUGHT, and we are, we are owned. You cannot buy something and not own it. Yes, you can buy something and then give it away to someone freely, gift it to another but until it's yours you cannot give it away. Once you buy something you can do with it pretty much what you want to do with it. You can care for it or neglect it. If it's a living thing- our world has created certain laws to protect the living thing, animals for example- even then a lot of animals are bought as livestock in order to kill them- humanely of course. When you've bought something and it's yours you are at liberty to control what you've bought. We've been bought. Bought from whom? Who owned us before we were bought? These are questions we need to think about, right?
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Servants of sin.
Servants of righteousness.
If we are servants of sin- who owns us?
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
There is a father of lies, a father of sin, and that father is Satan. Satan brought sin to the human race and that sin has come to all humans through Him. As soon as we are aware of right and wrong and choose the wrong we are serving Satan. That sounds harsh but it's true. People don't like to talk about the accountability of children there is a great debate over it all but to me personally, accountability begins when you know better and still do it no matter the age. When we serve Satan by engaging in the works He's wrought He owns us. Is it no wonder we have to be born again daily? Is it no wonder that we have to ask for forgiveness daily? Is it no wonder we need to pray always?
Jesus bought us from Satan. Jesus bought us by paying the HIGHEST price one could ever pay. A God, setting aside His spirit form and taking on human flesh and in that flesh suffering the pain of living in a sin-filled world and being murdered while innocent of any and all sin. He died and by His death we are bought. Once we are bought we are not enslaved and tormented, we are loved as those adopted by God the Father. Once bought we have salvation from the sin of Satan, we are no longer in bondage to Him. On our own we cannot save ourselves. We cannot buy ourselves, we have to rely on our Savior. We don't need self-sufficiency we need God-reliance. We need to accept that we are so loved that the price paid for us was beyond measure.
1Co 7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
No matter our situation in life, no matter if our job is as a servant to others, no matter what we are called to do we have to abide with God. God is our master, we serve God, we serve our Savior, our full allegiance is first and foremost to God above all.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Bought by our Savior. We are His and once we are bought we are freed from sin and are owned by a loving Savior who owns us in pure love like we can scarcely imagine.
By the grace of God may we be servants of righteousness in Him and not servants of sin. All praise, glory, and honor to our loving Savior for His mercy, for His grace to us who are so undeserving.
Amen.
8/3/11
The next part of
the verse we are studying is…
Dan 11:30
'...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the
holy covenant
so shall he do;
he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy
covenant. '
The holy covenant
of God's was based on what? We
need to read Hebrews chapters 8,9, and 10. Yes, all of the chapters, it says so
incredibly much!
Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken
this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of
the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 8:2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the
true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 8:3 For every high priest is ordained to
offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have
somewhat also to offer.
Heb 8:4 For if he were on earth, he should not
be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the
law:
Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the
pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Heb 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant,
which was established upon better promises.
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out
of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his
neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know
me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he
hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to
vanish away.
Heb 9:1 Then verily the first covenant had also
ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
Heb 9:2 For there was a tabernacle made; the
first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is
called the sanctuary.
Heb 9:3 And after the second veil, the
tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
Heb 9:4 Which had the golden censer, and the
ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot
that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Heb 9:5 And over it the cherubims of glory
shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
Heb 9:6 Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God.
Heb 9:7 But into the second went the high
priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself,
and for the errors of the people:
Heb 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first
tabernacle was yet standing:
Heb 9:9 Which was a figure for the time then
present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make
him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks,
and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of
reformation.
Heb 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of
good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats,
and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh:
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator
of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might
receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Heb 9:16 For where a testament is, there must
also of necessity be the death of the testator.
Heb 9:17 For a testament is of force after men
are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Heb 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood.
Heb 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept
to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of
goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book,
and all the people,
Heb 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both
the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23 It was therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Heb 9:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself
often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of
others;
Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to
die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time
without sin unto salvation.
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect.
Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to
be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood
of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the
world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me:
Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume
of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither
hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins:
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his
enemies be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified.
Heb 10:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a
witness to us: for after that he had said before,
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I
remember no more.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there
is no more offering for sin.
Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the
house of God;
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so
much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Heb 10:26 For if we sin wilfully after that we
have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins,
Heb 10:27 But a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses:
Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and
hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The
Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.
Heb 10:32 But call to remembrance the former
days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of
afflictions;
Heb 10:33 Partly, whilst ye were made a
gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became
companions of them that were so used.
Heb 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my
bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that
ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Heb 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that,
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Heb 10:37 For yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back
unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
A
lot to read but oh how wonderful it is!!!!!!!
The old covenant
was one of many continuous sacrifices, the new covenant with the blood of the
Lamb, became the SINGLE sacrifice of our Savior.
Now we've studied
this before, the fact that the old covenant was enacted under the Ten
Commandment as well as the NEW covenant. Both covenants- old and new have their
foundation in the Ten Commandments of God. This
is undisputable. Our God, our Savior gave the Ten Commandments as a
foundation for all time. These Ten Commandments would NEVER be done away with!
Never! They were and are perfect!
The sacrifice for sin changed from being imperfect sacrifices to a
perfect sacrifice, but sin didn't end when that Perfect Sacrifice was made. Sin
remains the breaking of the commandments, and people continued and still
continue to break those commandments.
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Transgressing the
law is breaking God's commandments.
Sin is breaking God's commandments.
So we need to
look at the covenant, old and new, based upon the Ten Commandments of God. So when we read this--
Dan 11:30
'...therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the
holy covenant
so shall he do;
he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy
covenant. '
We need to
understand the Roman power in control at this time and the connection the Roman
power had with the Holy Covenant-
God's people who were given God's commandments, God's people who were
given God's Son.
Let's notice two
of the commandments-
Exo 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have none other gods before
me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven
image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 thou shalt not bow down thyself unto
them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth
generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 and shewing mercy unto thousands, of
them that love me and keep my commandments.
As the first and
second commandments we are directed to a practice that was paramount throughout
the world- Idolatry, worshipping of other gods before God.
If we look at the
Bible we'll find that idolatry was a HUGE sin against God and one that many,
many of God's chosen people had a problem with. All around God's chosen people
were a multitude of other people- far greater in number than God's chosen- and
they ALL worshipped false gods of one sort or another, they were all idol
worshippers choosing to build temples to their false gods and create days of
celebration for their false gods. It wasn't uncommon for people to worship
several false gods at one time- one false god whose attributes were of one
particular thing and another false god who had different attributes- all of
them FALSE, all of them of the Devil- the father of lies!
There were
numerous false gods.
Jer 2:28 But where are thy gods that thou hast
made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for
according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Jer 2:29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all
have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
For according to
the NUMBER of thy CITIES are thy GODS!
One false god who
seemed to be worshipped universally was- the sun god.
'A solar deity
(also sun god/dess) is a deity who represents the sun, or an aspect of it,
usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and sun worship can
be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Hence, many
beliefs have formed around this worship, such as the "missing sun" found in many
cultures.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_deity>
Throughout MOST
of recorded history!
In VARIOUS
forms!
In MANY
cultures!
Now we need to
ask ourselves, was sun worship common in the Roman Empire?
'Apollo--
As sun-god and
god of light, Apollo was also known by the epithets Aegletes (...Aigletes, from
a..., "light of the sun"),[13] Helius (... Helios, literally "sun"),[14]
Phanaeus (... Phanaios, literally "giving or bringing light"), and Lyceus (...
Lukeios, from Proto-Greek , "light"). The meaning of the epithet "Lyceus" later
became associated Apollo's mother Leto, who was the patron goddes of Lycia ...
and who was identified with the wolf (...) [15] earning him the epithets
Lycegenes (...Lukegenes, literally "born of a wolf" or "born of Lycia") and
Lycoctonus (... Lukoktonos, from ..., "wolf", and ..."to kill"). As god of the
sun, the Romans referred to Apollo as Sol (... sol; literally "sun" in
Latin).'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo
Apollo was one of
the sun gods worshipped by Romans and known as SOL- Sun.
'Apollo was
worshiped in both ancient Greek and Roman religion, and in the modern
Greco–Roman Neopaganism.'
'Apollo was
worshipped throughout the Roman Empire. In the traditionally Celtic lands he
was most often seen as a healing and sun god. He was often equated with Celtic
gods of similar character'
'Roman Apollo
The Roman worship
of Apollo was adopted from the Greeks. As a quintessentially Greek god, Apollo
had no direct Roman equivalent, although later Roman poets often referred to him
as Phoebus.[75] There was a tradition that the Delphic oracle was consulted as
early as the period of the kings of Rome during the reign of Tarquinius
Superbus.[76] On the occasion of a pestilence in the 430s BCE, Apollo's first
temple at Rome was established in the Flaminian fields, replacing an older cult
site there known as the "Apollinare".[77] During the Second Punic War in 212
BCE, the Ludi Apollinares ("Apollonian Games") were instituted in his honor, on
the instructions of a prophecy attributed to one Marcius.[78] In the time of
Augustus, who considered himself under the special protection of Apollo and was
even said to be his son, his worship developed and he became one of the chief
gods of Rome.[79] After the battle of Actium, which was fought near a sanctuary
of Apollo, Augustus enlarged Apollo's temple, dedicated a portion of the spoils
to him, and instituted quinquennial games in his honour.[80] He also erected a
new temple to the god on the Palatine hill.[81] Sacrifices and prayers on the
Palatine to Apollo and Diana formed the culmination of the Secular Games, held
in 17 BCE to celebrate the dawn of a new era.[82]'
'The lifesize
so-called "Adonis" found in 1780 on the site of a villa suburbana near the Via
Labicana in the Roman suburb of Centocelle is identified as an Apollo by modern
scholars.In the late 2nd century CE floor mosaic from El Djem, Roman Thysdrus,
he is identifiable as Apollo Helios by his effulgent halo, though now even a
god's divine nakedness is concealed by his cloak, a mark of increasing
conventions of modesty in the later Empire.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo
'Sol Invictus
("Invincible Sun") was the official sun god of the later Roman empire. In 274
Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults.
Scholars disagree whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin
cult of Sol,[1] a revival of the cult of Elagabalus[2] or completely new.[3] The
god was favoured by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until
Constantine.[4] The last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to 387
AD.[5] and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it
necessary to preach against them.[6] A festival on 25 December is sometimes
thought to be responsible for the date of Christmas.[7]'
'Emperors
portrayed Sol Invictus on their official coinage, with a wide range of legends,
only a few of which incorporated the epithet invictus, such as the legend SOLI
INVICTO COMITI, claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used
with particular frequency by Constantine.[28] Statuettes of Sol Invictus,
carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch
of Constantine. Constantine's official coinage continues to bear images of Sol
until 325/6. A solidus of Constantine as well as a gold medallion from his
reign depict the Emperor's bust in profile twinned ("jugate") with Sol
Invictus, with the legend INVICTUS CONSTANTINUS[29]
Constantine
decreed (March 7, 321) dies Solis—day of the sun, "Sunday"—as the Roman day of
rest [CJ3.12.2]:
On
the venerable day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities
rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country however persons engaged in
agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits because it often
happens that another day is not suitable for grain-sowing or vine planting; lest
by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should
be lost.[30]
Constantine's
triumphal arch was carefully positioned to align with the colossal statue of
Sol by the Colosseum, so that Sol formed the dominant backdrop when seen from
the direction of the main approach towards the arch.[31]'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
The Roman Empire
for hundreds of years worshipped many pagan Gods, without any doubt this is
true, the sun god was chief among them, as the sun as a god is chief among MANY
cultures. Along with the sun god
- the male, there was inevitably a female god at his side. It's easy enough to
find knowledge of this just search the internet.
*
God's loathing of
pagan practices is clear through His word.
Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not give any of thy seed
to make them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the
name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Lev 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as
with womankind: it is abomination.
Lev 18:23 And thou shalt not lie with any beast
to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast, to
lie down thereto: it is confusion.
Lev 18:24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of
these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out from
before you:
Lev 18:25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do
visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Lev 18:26 Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and
my judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the homeborn,
nor the stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 18:27 (for all these abominations have the
men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Lev 18:28 that the land vomit not you out also,
when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
Lev 18:29 For whosoever shall do any of these
abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their
people.
Lev 18:30 Therefore shall ye keep my charge, that
ye do not any of these abominable customs, which were done before you, and that
ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.
God hates sun
worship!
Eze 8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the
gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the
women weeping for Tammuz.
Eze 8:15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? thou shalt again see yet greater abominations than these.
Eze 8:16 And he brought me into the inner court
of the LORD’S house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between
the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward
the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and
they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Eze 8:17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen
this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit
the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with
violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the
branch to their nose.
Eze 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury:
mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine
ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
Deu 17:2 If there be found in the midst of thee,
within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that
doeth that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his
covenant,
Deu 17:3 and
hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon,
or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
Deu 17:4 and it be told thee, and thou hast
heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and
the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel;
Deu 17:5 then shalt thou bring forth that man or
that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the
woman; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die.
As we've already
noted- Constantine was a sun
worshipper- 'Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor, used with particular
frequency by Constantine.'
Let's look at a
wikipedia bit on Constantine--
'Religious
policy
Further
information: Constantine I and Christianity and Constantine I and Judaism
Constantine
the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantine
is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor; his reign
was certainly a turning point for the Church. In February 313, Constantine met
with Licinius in Milan where they developed the Edict of Milan. The edict
stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith of their
choosing.[200] This removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which
many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned
confiscated Church property. The edict did not only protect Christians from
religious persecution, but all religions, allowing anyone to worship whichever
deity they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then
senior emperor of the Tetrarchy; Galerius' edict granted Christians the right
to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them.[201] The
Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated
churches would be returned as well as other provisions for previously
persecuted Christians.
Scholars
debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his
youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.[202]
Constantine would retain the title of pontifex maximus until his death, a title
emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood, as would his Christian
successors on to Gratian (r. 375–83). According to Christian writers,
Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, writing
to Christians to make clear that he believed he owed his successes to the
protection of the Christian High God alone.[203] Throughout his rule,
Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted
privileges to clergy (e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians
to high office, and returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic
persecution.[204] His most famous building projects include the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, and Old Saint Peter's Basilica.
Constantine
did not patronize Christianity alone, however. After gaining victory in the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312), a triumphal arch—the Arch of
Constantine—was built (315) to celebrate it; the arch is decorated with images
of Victoria and sacrifices to gods like Apollo, Diana, or Hercules, but
contains no Christian symbolism.
In
321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united
in observing the venerable day of the sun, referencing the esoteric eastern
sun-worship which Aurelian had helped introduce, and his coinage still carried
the symbols of the sun cult until 324. Even after the pagan gods had
disappeared from the coinage, Christian symbols appeared only as Constantine's
personal attributes: the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum, but never
on the coin itself.[205] Even when Constantine dedicated the new capital of
Constantinople, which became the seat of Byzantine Christianity for a
millennium, he did so wearing the Apollonian sun-rayed Diadem.
Constantine
burning Arian books
The
reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the emperor as
having some influence within the religious discussions going on within the
Catholic Church of that time, e.g., the dispute over Arianism. Constantine
himself disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and
controversies brought with them, preferring where possible to establish an
orthodoxy.[206] The emperor saw it as his duty to ensure that God was properly
worshiped in his empire, and that what proper worship consisted would be
determined by the Church.[207] In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North
African dispute concerning the validity of Donatism. After deciding against the
Donatists, Constantine led an army of Christians against the Donatist
Christians. After 300 years of pacifism, this was the first intra-Christian
persecution. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea,
effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so
classified). Nicaea was dealt mostly with Arianism. Constantine also enforced
the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating the Lord's
Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan) (see Quartodecimanism
and Easter controversy).[208]
Constantine
made new laws regarding the Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves
or to circumcise their slaves.'
Pasted
from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great>
We're going to
stop here tonight this is a lot to digest!
More tomorrow as
we tie this history into the prophecy and see God's wondrous hand at work!
By His amazing
LOVE!
Through His
FORGIVENESS!
Amen.