God coming on the clouds in the Old Testament

GOD COMING ON THE CLOUDS IN THE OT 

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Part 1: Psalm 18 / 2 Sam 22

Saul is jealous.

Saul sets out to kill David.

Saul chases David everywhere to try to kill him.
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Yet none of that literally, physically occurred.

It's very dramatic to create an impact on the heart.

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God came out of heaven.. with flaming fire.. with a shout..

DARK CLOUDS WERE UNDER HIS FEET.

He mounted the cherubim and flew;

he soared[d] on the wings of the wind."

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I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

they fell beneath my feet.

you humbled my adversaries before me.

and I destroyed my foes.

to the Lord, but he did not answer.

I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets."

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He was writing about YHVH coming on the clouds to protect him.

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It was just poetry from David to give YHVH honor for his victories.

Context

David has been declared the successor of Saul.

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Psalm 18 is David's record of Saul attempting to kill him, David's appeal to God to deliver him, and God's response to David.

Take careful note of the poetic visualizations that David uses.

4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.

5 The sorrows of hell(Sheol) compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

7 Then the EARTH SHOOK and TREMBLED; the FOUNDATIONS also of the hills MOVED and were SHAKEN, because he was wroth.

8 There went up a SMOKE OUT OF HIS NOSTRILS, and FIRE OUT OF HIS MOUTH devoured: coals were kindled by it.

9 He bowed the heavens also, AND CAME DOWN: and darkness was under his feet.

10 And HE RODE UPON A CHERUB, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.

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Wow, that was super poetic wasn't it?

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You can read 2 Samuel 22, the entire account of Saul chasing David, and you'll find the same poetic visualizations there.

This is just poetic apocalyptic language.

David says..

riding/flying upon a cherub..

and he SHOOK heaven and earth..

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Keep in mind,

David said God CAME down.. and was 'flying upon a cherub'..

2 Sam22:10-11

even says God came down ON THE CLOUDS RIDING A CHERUB:

"He parted the heavens and came down;

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David is speaking about YHVH freeing him from his enemies and from Saul's seeking to kill him.

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That's the entire context of Psalm18 and 2 Sam22:

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"38 I pursued my enemies and crushed them;

39 I crushed them completely, and they could not rise;

40 You armed me with strength for battle;

41 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,

42 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—

43 I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth;

49 "from a violent man you rescued me."

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The point is to show poetic apocalyptic language being used to simply describe warfare.

God coming down on the clouds, riding a cherub or whatever, just meant one army would be destroying another army.

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In this case, David was fending off enemies and Saul. 

Adapted from David King

KINGDOM OF GOD = KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

KINGDOM OF GOD = KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

I once heard a speaker that expounded his knowledge and tell us how the Kingdom of God is different from the Kingdom of Heaven, and blah..blah..blah.

I nearly fell into that trap of misinterpretation. Or is it that the speaker was showing of how "superior" in knowledge he is compared to others.

Do not be misled.

The kingdom of "heaven" is used mainly in the book of Matthew. The words "kingdom of heaven" is not used in the other books of Mark, Luke and John.

There is a reason why it is only found in Matthew. Matthew was written to Jewish believers and the Law of Moses tells them not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

So they decided not to use the sacred name "God" for fear of breaking the commandment by accident.

Matthew used such a method to reach out to those Jews for Jesus, instead of offending them straight away.

So the "kingdom of God" is exactly the same as "kingdom of heaven".

The phrase "kingdom of God" appears 68 times in 10 different New Testament books.

The phrase "kingdom of heaven" appears only 32 times and ONLY in the book of Matthew.

For example:

Matthew 11:11
"Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of "heaven" is greater than he."

Luke 7:28
"For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of "God" is greater than he."

And many other examples.

Be Wise. Don't accept everything the speaker idolizes as the absolute Truth.

Steven Wong

Is the nation of Israel same as the Israel in the Bible?

WORTH READING

In the year May 14, 1948, the nation of ISRAEL got independence from the British rule in Palestine.
The current nations of Israel was formed. Since then the nation of Israel elects prime ministers (presidents) in their new political country.

Ask yourself, where was the "nation of Israel" before the year 1948.? 

Over 1000 years the nation was non-existent. How come the nation of Israel did not exist?

Because the Biblical Israel was fulfilled in Christ, ending their prophecies and making the nation of Israel scattered and desolated by the Romans in AD70.

According to the words of Christ in Luke 21:20-22;

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that ALL THINGS which are written may be fulfilled.

This fulfillment ended the nation of Israel and their "covenant with the Lord". This is what the book of Revelation talks about. The destruction and end of all their world. After that time God began to rule over All nations and all men.

The nation of Isreal of 1948, has nothing in common with those in the Bible. The Twelve Tribes of Israel do not exist today. Neither is their temple. Jesus also did not appear or die in the 1900's.

The current Israel are predominantly Muslims (Religion: 74.8% Jewish, 17.6% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, 1.6% Druze, 4.0% other).

The current Jews are not the true Jews. They are Jews from Turkey.

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After Jerusalem was completely destroyed in A.D. 70 by the Romans when the son of man came,
Jerusalem was renamed Aelia Capitoiina in 135 AD.

After the destruction, the Romans rebuilt a portion of the city and erected a temple to a Roman god called Jupiter on Mount Moriah and forbid access to any Jew who remain to enter into Jerusalem.

The Emperor Hadrian name it "Aelia Capitoiina" and the Moslems retained this name until the time of the Crusades.

El Khuds was next name given by the Mohammedans, and it is known by this name at the present time by them since they still LIVE there.

The name Jerusalem regained its name when Israel became a State and Country in May 14, 1948 despite the fact that the Muslims control the Temple Mount now.

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What the nation of Israel has now is purely a religious tourist sites. And they are the remains of what happened after the desolation in AD70. Nothing spiritual about it.

There is nothing left to be fulfilled in the scriptures today or even in the future. The words of Christ came true, because he is the Truth.

What ever teaching you are hearing about puting prophecies in the future would come to nothing. It all built on falsehood and the media (BBC, Al-jazeera, CNN etc) to which many pastors use for their prediction. All would come to nothing.

Jesus also said, after the destruction or desolation of Israel, that horror would never happen again.

Matthew 24:21;
For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and NEVER to be equaled again. (Relate it to Daniel 12:1-2).

Our failure to understand Apocalyptic languages of the epistles and Revelation has lead to all this fanciful predictions which keep failing and yet people never learn from it.

The Holy Spirit would never teach anyone anything that CONTRADICT The nature and words of Jesus. Because whatever the Holy Spirit teaches is from Jesus.

John 16:13-15:
Yet when the Spirit of Truth comes, he’ll guide you into all truth. He won’t speak on his own accord, but he’ll speak whatever he hears and will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, ‘He will take what is mine and declare it to you.’

Adapted From Jonathan Forgor

History interprets "Woman eats her Baby"

"Woman eats her Baby"

Matthew 24:7-8;
There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
But all these things are only the beginning of the birth pains."

Jewish women wept as Jesus was led to the place of his crucifixion. There were women mourning his impending death.

Jesus turning unto them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” (Luke 23:28). 
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This what happened in history;

"Finally where there’s hunger and famine people died in Jerusalem. Josephus speaks about about a woman eating her child.

“Among the residents of the region beyond Jordan was a woman called Mary, daughter of Eleazar, of the village of Bethezuba (the name means "House of Hyssop").

She was well off, and of good family, and had fled to Jerusalem with her relatives, where she became involved with the siege.

Most of the property she had packed up and brought with her from Peraea had been plundered by the tyrants [Simon and John, leaders of the Jewish war-effort], and the rest of her treasure, together with such foods as she had been able to procure, was being carried by their henchmen in their daily raids.

In her bitter resentment the poor woman cursed and abused these extortioners, and this incensed them against her. However, no one put her to death either from exasperation or pity.

She grew weary of trying to find food for her kinsfolk. In any case, it was by now impossible to get any, wherever you tried. Famine gnawed at her vitals, and the fire of rage was ever fiercer than famine. So, driven by fury and want, she committed a crime against nature.

Seizing her child, an infant at the breast, she cried, "My poor baby, why should I keep you alive in this world of war and famine?

Even if we live till the Romans come, they will make slaves of us; and anyway, hunger will get us before slavery does; and the rebels are crueler than both.

Come, be food for me, and an avenging fury to the rebels, and a tale of cold horror to the world to complete the monstrous agony of the Jews."

With these words she killed her son, roasted the body, swallowed half of it, and stored the rest in a safe place.

But the rebels were on her at once, smelling roasted meat, and threatening to kill her instantly if she did not produce it.

She assured them she had saved them a share, and revealed the remains of her child. Seized with horror and stupefaction, they stood paralyzed at the sight.

But she said, "This is my own child, and my own handiwork. Eat, for I have eaten already. Do not show yourselves weaker than a woman, or more pitiful than a mother. But if you have pious scruples, and shrink away from human sacrifice, then what I have eaten can count as your share, and I will eat what is left as well."

At that they slunk away, trembling, not daring to eat, although they were reluctant to yield even this food to the mother. The whole city soon rang with the abomination. When people heard of it, they shuddered, as though they had done it themselves.”

(War of the Jews by Flavian Josephus. pp.443-444.)
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Fulfilling the words of our Lord and the prophets.

Matthew 24:19-20;
How terrible it will be for women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days! Pray that it may not be in winter or on a Sabbath when you flee.


Luke 23:28-29;
But Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem, stop crying for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children, because the time is surely coming when people will say, ‘How blessed are the women who couldn’t bear children and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

Lamentations 4:6;
The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown in a moment, With no hand to help her!

Lamentations 4: 9: 12;
Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord has fulfilled His fury, He has poured out His fierce anger. He kindled a fire in Zion, And it has devoured its foundations. The kings of the earth, And all inhabitants of the world, Would not have believed That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

Lamentations 4:9-10;
Those slain by the sword are better off Than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of the compassionate women Have cooked their own children; They became food for them In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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The women knew if they stayed alive the Romans would still kill or make slaves of them.

This is also recorded in the scriptures;

John 11:48;
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”

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Her properties she had was also taken away from her that lead her to eat her son.

These was why believers SOLD all their properties and distributed to the poor (Acts 4:34-37). 

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Why keep your properties when Jerusalem is going to be destroyed?
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It was this same horror Paul was admonishing the Thessalonians to be very careful of.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-5;
Now you do not need to have anything written to you about times and dates, brothers, for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
When people say, “There is peace and security,” destruction will strike them as suddenly as labor pains come to a pregnant woman, and they will not be able to escape. However, brothers, you are not in the darkness, in order that the Day of the Lord might surprise you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness.

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All these events happen between AD 66-70. They are not your future. They are past. 

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History proves exactly what is written. Once we ignore the history, we create a lot of Falsehood and deep lies.

Any pastor who tells you any scripture is yet in your future is a LIAR.

Study for yourself.

Jesus never lied about anything when he said ALL THESE THINGS WOULD HAPPEN IN THAT GENERATION.

Adapted from Jonathan Forgor

Transition between the Old Covenant to New Covenant

I so wish that every preacher of the gospel, every teacher, and every Christian would understand this:

When was the Old Covenant to New Covenant Transition?

There are two things that most Christians understand about the Old and New Covenants

1. Jesus Started the New Covenant at the Cross

2. Jesus Ended the Old Covenant at the Cross

Yet there is a third aspect which extremely few Christians (even many respected teachers) understand, which is the fact that the Old Covenant didn’t immediately disappear at the Cross, but

(#3) it began a process of disintegration which completed when the Temple was destroyed in 70AD.

To not understand this third aspect is to misread much of the context of the New Testament.

The clearest picture of this fading is in:

Hebrews 8:13: “By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

Yes the cross made the Mosaic Covenant obsolete and outdated in 30AD, but it was still in the process of disappearing, which was completed in 70AD.

Another picture is in First John:

“For the darkness is disappearing and the true light is already shining.” -1 John 2:8b (NLT)

In the New Testament, the Old Covenant is consistently referred to as a time of darkness and the New Covenant is shown to be an age of light.

Based on that imagery, the New Covenant light was already shining since the cross, but the darkness was still in process of disappearing.

Also the Apostle Paul speaks of that OC Age passing away and the Temple System rulers passing away with it:

“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.” 1 Cor. 2:6 ESV

“Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.” 1 Cor. 2:6 NASB

When a teacher only acknowledges that the OC was made obsolete at 30AD and the NC was established at 30AD, but they ignore that the OC lingered until its removal in 70AD, the whole backdrop of the New Testament will be distorted.

Debates that were raging in the early church such as the following will make no sense: 

who is a true Jew (Rom 9:6-9), 

are genders and races equal (Gal 3:28), 

does circumcision still matter (Gal. 6:15), 

and what of OC celebrations (Col. 2:16)?

These debates only make sense in between 30-70AD, but should not extend beyond that time period. 

70AD settled those debates.

Oh that all good teachers of the Word would begin to understand this simple concept which clarifies so much of the New Testament!

"After reading this, maybe some people will learn to start redefining what the 'kingdom of darkness' and the 'kingdom of light' actually were.

This is also the true meaning of Israel being 'born from above' and the true meaning of 'setting the captives (of the Old Covenant) free'. "

Adapted from David King’s marvelous note.

Moving away from the Old Covenant

From Harper Study Bible:

Introduction to Hebrews:

"The book of Hebrews does not state to whom it was written. But a reconstruction of the history of the times leads to the conclusion that the Christian church was moving away from the synagogue,."

No more synagogue practices. No more synagogue articles (prayer shawl, blow horn, scented oil, incense). No more Pharisaical habits. The Pharisees were 110% in Jewish custom practices.

Today, when we call someone a Pharisee, we tend to have a bad connotation. But in those days, the people are proud to be called a Pharisee. Because they are trying their very best to keeping the Laws of Moses. In fact, every person aspire to be a Pharisee, because they are seen to be very "holy" people. Almost perfect. BUT perfect in the eyes of man, but are totally unrighteous in the eyes of God.

God says perfection does not come from human effort, but from the free gift of perfection found only in the person of Jesus. And when Jesus became our sanctification, we are made perfect in the eyes of God. It does not come with feelings or any act on our part, but entirely the work of God.

"for by one offering (Jesus as our offering), God has perfected for ALL time those who are made holy."

Introduction to Hebrews

From Harper Study Bible:

Introduction to the book of Hebrews:

"Since persecution was seen as imminent but had not yet come, and since the author wrote as though the temple was still standing, it appears that the letter can probably be dated before the sack of Jerusalem (A.D. 70). That would make it the mid to late 60s."

The persecution was coming, and it happened in A.D. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed, and all physical links of the Jews to the old Jewish system, the old covenant was physically destroyed.

It surprises me that churches today are calling for a going back to the old Jewish system, the old covenant, the old Feasts, the old practices of the temple !! This is against what the author of Hebrews is telling the Jews.

Jesus Christ came and ushered in the new covenant. The physical destruction of the temple, completely destroyed every trace of the practices of the old covenant.

Do not go back to the old system of the old covenant. Jesus Christ has ushered in a better covenant, the new covenant. It is an insult to God's plan and to the risen Savior, when we go back. It is saying the sacrifice of Jesus is not enough. We need to do more. We need to add more. We need to show more (more self ego).

Repent. Change your mindset. Renew your thinking, and look to Jesus who is the author of our faith in Him.