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ABOUT YOU: GIDEON, CHAPTER 23 WHERE
IS HEAVEN? IT IS BEYOND SIGHT
03-21-04 Webmaster’s
note: Satan tried to stop this audio from being recorded. The first
5 minutes are gone, and there are a lot of extraneous noises of
unknown origin. I tried to clean it up as much as possible. I
apologize for the problems (Luke
17:20-21) And when he was
demanded of the Pharisees [the
established religious system of that day], when the kingdom of God
should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation [inspection, i.e.
ocular evidence (i.e. do not physically look outwardly for it)]:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold,
the kingdom of God [heaven]
is within you [entos;
inside: within]. 1.
“the kingdom of God” = 68x in the New Testament; “the kingdom of
heaven” = 32x in the New Testament; neither phrase is found in the Old
Testament. Upon comparative reading, a goodly number of Gospel verses present
the same text but utilize “the kingdom of heaven” in one Gospel, and
“the kingdom of God” in the other Gospel.
Further, Zodhiates relates in the lexicon of his Hebrew Greek Key Study
Bible under G3772 ouranos; heaven,
that the kingdom of heaven is synonymous with the kingdom of God. 2.
(Mat 19:14) But Jesus
said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of
such is the kingdom of heaven. 3.
(Mark 10:14) But when
Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the
kingdom of God. 4.
(Mat 19:23) Then said
Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly
enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 19:24) And again I
say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than
for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God. 5.
Last week 03-14-04, in the message entitled “Noah’s Ark” we
taught and clearly illustrated Noah’s ark to be a “hedge” (Job 1:10)
built about Noah and his family by God for formation, for protection,
and for restraint. Noah’s ark (wooden, i.e. formed from trees) is
also a biblical type and shadow (symbol) of the ark of the covenant, which is
the Bible, which is the Word of God, which is you (the antitype). By way of
graphic illustration we taught most emphatically, that the two tables of
testimony, the golden pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, which are
all three contained within the ark of the covenant, are types (symbols)
respectively of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost – which
three have residence inside you, if you are indeed the temple of the
Holy Ghost. 6.
(1 Cor 6:19) What? know ye
not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you,
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [Where
then is Heaven??] THEN
WHERE WILL THE SECOND ADVENT OF CHRIST COME FROM? (Luke
17:22-25) And he said unto the
disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of
the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.
And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go
not after them, nor follow them. For
as the lightning, that lighteneth [to
flash as lightning] out of the one part under heaven, shineth
[instantly] unto the other part
under heaven; so shall also the Son of
man be in his day [i.e. the day of
His second coming, the Day of the Lord; for Christ, the Glory, shall appear in
all born-again Christians at the same moment instantaneously].
But first must he suffer many things, and
be rejected of this generation. 1.
lightning = Gk: by anal. glare: lightning, bright shining /// to flash
as lightning: lighten, shine /// a star (as strown over the sky), lit. or
fig.:--star. 2.
(Rev 2:28) And I will give
[make, minister, have power] him the
morning star. 3.
shineth = Gk: to beam, i.e. radiate brilliancy (lit. or fig.):--give
light, shine. 4.
(1 John 3:2) Beloved, now
are we the sons of God [teknon;
a child (as produced): son or daughter], and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear [render
apparent, manifest, show (self) /// shine], we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 5.
(Heb 12:29) For
our God is a consuming fire [“fire"
(lit. or fig., spec. lightning)]. [Deut
4:24] 6.
(Rom 8:16-19) The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
[teknon] of
God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the
glory [glory (as very apparent):
dignity, glory (-ious), honour, praise, worship] which
shall be revealed in us [to
take off the cover, i.e. disclosed /// to cover up: hide]. For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation
[disclosure: appearing, coming, lighten, be revealed, revelation /// to
cover up: hide] of the sons
[huios; mature] of
God. 7.
(2 Th 1:7-12) And to you
who are troubled [afflicted,
suffer tribulation] rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven [Gk: ouranos]
with his mighty angels, In flaming fire [Judg
7:19,20] taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power; When he
shall come to be glorified in his
saints, and to be admired
in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in that day. Wherefore
also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of
this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work
of faith with power: That the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified
in you, and ye in him, according to the grace [the
divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life] of our
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. THE
CLOUD OF WITNESSES (Heb
11:39,40) And these all, having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made
perfect. (Heb 12:1) Wherefore
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before
us, (Acts
1:9-11) And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld [saw,
sight], he was taken up; and a
cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked stedfastly [intently]
toward heaven [(the
abode of God) the sky] as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white
apparel; Which also said, Ye
men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven [the
sky]? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven
[the sky/you], shall so come in
like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven
[i.e. out of the clouds – Luke 17:24: as lightning]. 1.
(2 Cor 5:7) (For we walk
by faith, not by sight:) 2.
anthropomorphize = Dict: to ascribe human form or attributes to. anthro
= man; morph = form 3.
(Rev 3:5) He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment [Rev 3:18; 4:4]; and I
will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his
name before my Father, and before his angels. 4.
(Rev 19:7-9) Let us be
glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb
is come, and his wife [the
church] hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen [white
linen] is the righteousness of
saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called
unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true
sayings of God. 5.
(Rev 1:7) Behold, he
cometh with clouds; and every
eye shall see him [immediately
after He appears in us, is disclosed in us, is revealed in us], and they
also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. Even so, Amen. Ye
are holy unto the LORD (Ezra 8:28) |