TRUTH OF HIS WORD – 5

[5.1] "…that in the mouth of TWO OR THREE WITNESSES every word may be established" (Matt. 18:16).
[5.2] "…In the mouth of TWO OR THREE WITNESSES shall every word be established" (II Cor. 13:1).
[5.3] "And I will give power unto my TWO WITNESSES…" (Rev. 11:3).

This particular law of Scripture is constantly violated. We are to have at least a second witness to establish a Scriptural truth or doctrine.
Unfortunately, the Church does not follow this truth of God in establishing doctrine. Truth be known, others has not even one witness to support any of their doctrines! Example: The Scriptures tell us that man is "mortal," not "immortal." They teach that man’s soul is immortal. Where do they have a Scripture to support this claim? No Scripture—no witness. Where is their second witness to this claim? No second witness. They will not be encumbered with Scriptures to support their damnable heresies and lies.

God told Adam if he ate of the forbidden fruit he would die: "And the Lord God commanded…you shall surely die." (Gen. 2:17). Theologians teach that, "once we are born, we shall NEVER surely die." Say, doesn’t that sound like the very same thing the lying serpent told Eve? Check it out:

"And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall NOT surely die"
Can we all agree that the phrase: "shall NOT SURELY die" is a contradiction of the phrase "SHALL SURELY die"?
Does the Church teach what God said or what the serpent said? Why would you prefer to believe what the serpent said rather than what God said? Am I going to fast for anyone?
So do souls actually die, or are they immortal? Does the Church have "two witnesses" that souls do not die? They don’t have even one. Well then, do we have two witnesses that tell us plainly souls do die?

Yes we do:
"…the soul that sins, it shall die. (Say, isn’t that exactly what God taught us back in Gen. 2:17? Of course). (Ezek. 18:4). Doesn’t this then contradict both the lie of Satan and the Church?
"The soul that sins, IT SHALL DIE" (Ezek. 18:20).
Jesus tells us in parable of two great witnesses:
"Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which brings forth out of his treasure, NEW AND OLD" (Matt. 13:52).

What "new and old" treasures do "scribes" preserve for us regarding the "kingdom of heaven?" Why the NEW Covenant Scriptures and the OLD Covenant Scriptures, of course. And both the Old (Deut. 17:6 & 19:15), and the New (II Cor. 13:1 & Matt. 18:16) command that we must have two witnesses to establish every Word of God.

I will keep this truth short, as it overlaps with the next spiritual truth # 6 which requires that we compare and match spiritual with spiritual.

The next time your pastor mentions "immortal souls," "Christians going to heaven," "Jesus being in hell for three days," "not all men will be saved," "Christian tithing," "consciousness in death," "resurrection of the body," "parables make the teaching clear," "man’s will being free and independent of God," and dozens of other such nonsense, ask him to give you two Scriptures to support each of his unscriptural heresies.

TRUTH OF HIS WORD – 4

[4.1] "It is the spirit that quickens [gives life]; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are life" (John 6:63).
[4.2] "But this spoke He of the SPIRIT…" (John 7:39).
[4.3] "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the SPIRIT which IS the word of God" ( Eph. 6:17).

Everything from Genesis to Revelation pertains to a higher SPIRITUAL meaning than the physical examples, parables, metaphors, allegories, stories and symbols in which they are written. "Let us make man in Our Image" (Gen. 1:26) are words of SPIRIT: "…Surely I come quickly…" (Rev. 22:20) are words of SPIRIT.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word was MADE FLESH… grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:1, 14 & 17).

God is not "flesh." Jesus had to be "made flesh." And then AS flesh, Jesus had to "grow and wax strong" (Luke 2:40). God does not "grow or wax strong," but Jesus "made flesh" had to grow and wax strong. Jesus also had to "overcome" (John 16:33). God does not need to overcome anything. Jesus had to "suffer" and "learn obedience" (Heb. 5:8). God does not suffer: God does not learn anything, seeing that God is all knowing (Isa. 46:10).

Jesus was "troubled in His soul" (John 12:27). God is never troubled in HIS soul. Jesus got "weary" (John 4 6). God never gets weary (Isa. 40:28). Jesus became "exceeding sorrowful" (Matt. 26:38). God never sorrows. Jesus was famished after fasting for 40 days and nights. He was so "hungry" that he was ready to die (Matt. 4:2). God never gets hungry. God can never die of hunger. Jesus got very "thirsty" (John 19:28). God never gets thirsty. Jesus "wept" (John 11:35). God never weeps. Jesus was acquainted with "sickness" (Isa. 53:3). God never gets sick.

How sad that many Christians believe that nothing bad ever happened to Jesus before His crucifixion. If it were not for God IN Jesus, Jesus would have been as helpless as a newborn baby. In fact, Jesus said with all humility and truth: "I can of Mine Own Self do nothing…" (John 5:30). Jesus Christ is our Example of just how man (mankind) is to "be made into the Image of God." Jesus is our example, our way, and our destiny:

"For whom He did foreknow, [that’s US, and eventually all humanity, I Cor. 15:28], He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29).

Jesus was made a physical man so that He could show us the way to the spirit God. And so it was that this Jesus, in the flesh, who became human, became a man of flesh, was conformed into the spiritual "Image of God," and spoke to us through His "words of spirit." It is Jesus Who "was the word of God" back in Genesis, Who did the speaking when "…God [the Word] said, Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). It was "the word" in Genesis 1:26 Who said: "Make will We humanity in Our Image…"

What kind of words were those words, which The Word spoke back there in the garden? Why they were the words of Jesus, and Jesus plainly tells us that His words "ARE SPIRIT" (John 6:63). "And creating is God humanity in His [spiritual] Image. In the Image of God He creates it. Male and female He [spiritually] creates them" Gen. 1:27). Why of course, that is why Paul teaches us that we are, "…to be conformed to the Image of His Son." Jesus now is in the very spiritual image of God, just as He was prior to being emptied into human flesh, in the form of a servant:

"God is not a MAN…" (Num. 23:19), God is not in our image: neither are we yet in His Image. Obviously the words that Jesus spoke were "spirit," seeing that His very words came from GOD, Who IS SPIRIT: "For He [Jesus] Whom God has sent speaks the WORDS OF God, for God gives not the SPIRIT by measure unto Him" (John 3:34). Did Jesus give His Apostles the power to speak words of SPIRIT? Yes, He did:

"And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the SPIRIT and of power" (I Cor. 2:4).
"The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was in my tongue" (II Sam. 23:2).
"According to the word that I did covenant with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My spirit remains among you; fear ye not" (Haggai 2:5).
"For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom: to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit" (I Cor. 12:8).
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:17).
And we too are to speak with these same "words of SPIRIT"
"For it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaks [words of spirit] in you" (Matt. 10:20).
And of course the same thing was true for Christ:
"…the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s [God is spirit] which sent me" (John 14:24).
Now then, how did Jesus teach the multitudes, ALWAYS? In parables:
"All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitudes in parable; and without a parable spoke He not unto them" (Matt. 13:34; Mark 4:33-34; John 10:6; 16:25).

Parables are "words of spirit."
The day that we fail to believe Jesus when He tells us that His words "are SPIRIT," is the day that we will fail to understand anything spiritual. The words of Jesus are not to be taken literally, physically, materially, carnally. All of Jesus’ teachings are SPIRITUAL. I will keep this section short, as this principle overlaps with all of the rest of the principles.

TRUTH OF HIS WORD – 3b

Surely the question will arise: If at the end of Christ’s ministry, "they understood none of these things…," of what value were those three and one half years that Jesus taught them? This true that they did not understand Christ’s gospel and message during His ministry, and during this mentoring, but it was not for naught. Three things were to happen:

[3b.1] "But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you will REMEMBER that I told you of them" (John 16:4). This is how the gospel accounts could be written 30-40 years later, because God caused them to "remember" all these things. "These things understood NOT His disciples at that time: but when Jesus was glorified, then REMEMBERED they that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him" (John 12:16).
"Then REMEMBERED I the word of the Lord, how that He said…" (Acts 11:16).

[3b.2] "And He said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you… Then opened he their understanding, that they might UNDERSTAND the Scriptures" (John 24:44-45).

[3b.3] "I have yet MANY THINGS to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them NOW" (John 16:13).

And so the disciples understood many things [1] after they came to pass, [2] again when Jesus opened their understanding, and [3] many more things as they progressed and grew in their faith and ministry.

Peter learned to not call the Gentiles common or unclean. He preached to them the gospel, and they received God’s Holy Spirit. Paul learned the truth about being baptized by God’s Spirit rather than by water. The whole Church learned that Circumcision and the Law of Moses was not required for salvation at the Acts 15 Jerusalem Conference. And many more such things.
But primarily in this Truth, we are dealing with Christ’s opening of their understanding of the Scriptures after His resurrection.

Before Jesus opened their understanding of the Scriptures on the evening of His resurrection, no New Testament writer could have quoted Scriptures from the Old Testament and applied them to Christ as we find in our Bibles today. And why is that? Because many times the Scriptures that they quote in reference to Jesus Christ are taken completely out of their context, where they did not have reference to Jesus at all. Notice Matt. 1:23, "Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." Now go back to Isa. 7:14 and you will see that this verse has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, if we insist that it be IN CONTEXT.

In Acts 1:20 we see Peter putting into practice the "Scriptural understanding" that Jesus gave him the evening of His resurrection. Let’s notice what Peter says: "For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let His habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take."

Peter took half his statement from Psalm 69:25, but changed the word "their" to "his," and the other half of his statement is from Psalm 109:8, and neither Psalm appears to have anything to do with selecting a new Apostle to replace Judas. What is going on? "Then opened He [Jesus] their [the eleven Apostles] understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45).

But what was it about the Scriptures that caused them to understand the Scriptures? Just what did Jesus teach them that they didn’t already know? Back up a few verses for the answer.
Earlier that same day Jesus met with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. For the next seven miles Jesus explained to them the Scriptures. What did He teach them that in a few hours they were able to understand the Scriptures? "Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, , and to enter into His glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF" (Luke 24:25-27).

Are we to believe that in a few hours Jesus read to them the entire 39 books, 929 chapters, 23,145 verses of the Old Testament, with commentary and explanations? No, of course not. He taught them a principle, a spiritual truth, whereby they could understand all the Scriptures that pertained to Him.

The spiritual resurrected Jesus Christ does not represent the physical house of David, or the physical Tribe of Judah, or the physical nation of Israel. Jesus Christ is Spirit and His words are spirit. "As Jesus is, so are we" means that those who are spiritually (composed of almost exclusively Gentiles in this Church era) are the true Jews—not national Israel and Judah. National Israel and Judah are going into the Great White Throne of Judgment in the second resurrection during the period of the Lake of Fire. They will NOT be grafted into Jesus, the Tree of Life, before then. Jesus fulfilled all that is written in the Law of Moses and all the prophets—it ALL pertains to Jesus, and thus it all pertains to us (‘upon whom the ends of the ages are come,’ I Cor. 10:11).