Wisdom and Faith
Category: Musings
The Parable of the Sower
In many churches, especially like the ones I attended, the Parable of the Sower is throw-away scripture. Once one has learned the necessary doctrine and understood it’s no longer about them, the scripture and its lesson are discarded to the “only for the lost” heap – never to be revisited. That is until the preacher needs some easy material and feels a bit more evangelistic than normal. Otherwise, life conveniently continues without looking back.
But here’s the actual truth:
There is only one sower, and it’s never the preacher: Jesus is the sower. You are forever the field.
God the Father wants you to know this: you have the potential to be any element of the field. You can be the rocks, the soil by the road, the thorny soil where the word is choked out. Or you can be the good soil that bears fruit.
This parable isn’t about salvation: it’s about your life and your perception of yourself. The parable certainly has utility for the evangelical, but it mustn’t be discarded to the useless heap we so often manage.
Father’s heart is this: He wants you to understand that you have the potential to be anything you choose to be in this field where the sower casts His word. How you receive His Word, His Heart, is up to you.
The parable of the talents teaches us that the currency of Heaven is Faith. And each of us has been given a measure accordingly. What we do with it is up to us. We can invest our faith or hide it. But the measure or quantity we have been given is irrelevant.
When the Word arrives in your field, is it
- Snatched away because of unbelief?
- Choked out because of the cares of the world?
- Withered away because of persecution against it?
- Or multiplied because of careful application of faith?
Don’t Study the Bible
If there is one word, one idea that I could promulgate to your soul, it would be this:
Don’t study the bible: comprehend it with your heart.
It’s like being married and watching your spouse cook you dinner for 30 years. You’ve learned every recipe, every ingredient, and every mixing and combining process. You understand when to mix, when to fold, and when to cut. You’ve learned so much you can cook better than your spouse with one hand tied behind your back.
But you never comprehended the why of baking pies and cakes, the purpose of sumptuous dinners, and tasteful picnics.
You never comprehended your spouse’s purpose or character.
In other words, you studied the wrong thing. You understood with your mind, but you never comprehended with your heart.
A Problem with Evangelicalism
I will not receive any brownie points for this blog post, but it’s something that needs exposure.
Consider for a moment that the New Testament does not begin with chapter 1 of the book of Matthew. Instead, it begins in chapter 27, at the crucifixion. So perhaps we might say the New Testament begins just before the book Acts.
As such, it is safe to assert that no one Jesus was preaching to was saved in what we today would consider a Biblical or Classical sense of the word.
A Good, Bible Teaching Church
What Evangelicals call a good message, preaching the word, or the gospel, is more akin to a historical message from the 1700s, known as Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I have friends – professing born-again Christians – who believe that if they’re not being condemned from the pulpit and don’t feel shame and discomfort, then the sermon is of little value.
This is the value we, as Evangelicals, have placed upon the non-churched: they are people of no value, worms not worthy of the light of God. These sinners deserve the justice of hell, an eternal condemnation of pain and misery.
So we scare and condemn them into heaven, just like Jonathan Edwards did. The very thing God our Father has comforted us against – fear – we recast as the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el “(Matt. 15:24). With that in mind, who was the audience of His first sermon, the one we commonly call the Beatitudes? Were these people who were saved in the classical sense? Or were these people the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el?
I would suggest that they were lost sheep of the house of Isra’el.
A Better Way
If you have not read Matthew chapter 5 in a while, you need to re-read it. Here are a few links to help you do that:
Matthew Chapter 5
KJV | NASB | CJB | ESV
Did you notice verses 13 and 14?
You are the salt of the earth
Matthew 5:13
You are the light of the world
Matthew 5:14
Jesus wasn’t speaking to born-again Christians. He was speaking to the lost sheep of Isra’el.
How can that be? How can sinners, in the hands of an angry God, be the salt of the earth and light of the world? It’s simple:
Jesus wasn’t speaking to their sin; he was speaking to their design.
In other words, the God of the Universe thinks the best way to help people see their need for Him is not to condemn them of their sins but to tell them who they are.
And that’s a problem with Evangelicalism. We’d rather use a weapon of evil than a blessing of righteousness to reach those who need Him the most.
Adonai Elohim has given me the ability to speak as a man well taught, so that I, with my words, know how to sustain the weary.
Each morning he awakens my ear to hear like those who are taught.
Isaiah 50:4
Taking God’s Name in Vain
Who among you fears Adonai? Who obeys what his servant says? Even when he walks in the dark, without any light, he will trust in Adonai’s reputation and rely on his God.
But all of you who are lighting fires and arming yourselves with firebrands: go, walk in the flame of your own fire, among the firebrands you lit! From my hands this [fate] awaits you: you will lie down in torment.
Isaiah 50:10-11 CJB
—-
A person’s name is their reputation, character, and personal qualities.
Taking the name of God in vain is not using it as a curse word.
Taking the name of God in vain is connecting yourself with Him and subsequently refusing His qualities, power, and desires.
Adhering to cessationism is taking the name of God in vain.
Justice and Judgment
Don’t look at either of these concepts in the context of good or bad – extract them from those qualities. Neither concept requires a pretext of right or wrong.
Justice and mercy work together. They are sovereign.
Judgment and grace work together. They are not sovereign.
Justice determines what one fairly deserves. Justice does not touch the observed thing; justice is not manipulated; justice sovereignly discovers a fair assessment. Once the fair assessment is determined, mercy may be applied.
Judgment is giving one what they fairly deserve. Judgment touches the thing being observed; judgment can be manipulated. Once the judgment process begins, the recipient may plea with the judge and receive grace.
John 3:18 “The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”
The Seal of the 144,000
What is the seal of the 144,000 in the Book of Revelations?
Someone asked, “please do a blog on the seal of the 144,000 in Revelation.” I said, “sure, I’d be happy to!” But, boy… did I stick my foot in my mouth.
I didn’t realize how out of sorts I would be trying to put pen to paper. I didn’t know it would take a month of Sundays to approach a plausible understanding of those 144,000 people. One can’t just look at the Seal of the 144,000 without falling down a giant rabbit hole.
My Disclaimer
I do not assert that I have approached a final say on this subject: I continue to have questions.
What’s a Seal?
There are two seals, or two marks, in John’s Revelation.
Seal of the Beast
There is too much to unpack regarding the Seal of the Beast – better known as the “Mark of the Beast” – but let’s set some ground rules.
The Beast isn’t just a person; it’s also a kingdom and governance.
After this, I looked in the night visions; and there before me was a fourth animal, dreadful, horrible, extremely strong, and with great iron teeth. It devoured, crushed and stamped its feet on what was left. It was different from all the animals that had gone before it, and it had ten horns. “While I was considering the horns, another horn sprang up among them, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. In this horn were eyes like human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly.
Daniel 7:7-8
The Seal or mark is not limited to some printable or injectable device used to enable approvals of commerce. Should that be the only thing we’re expecting to observe, then we will have missed the presence of the Beast when it and he arrives.
The Mark of the Beast reflects a generally accepted paradigm, a way of thinking and behaving: just like the compliance with vaccine mandates and control of commerce during the government-enforced lockdowns. Those who were on board with those actions reflect the attitudes of those who will take the Mark of the Beast.
The Seal of God
This other Seal seems a bit more mysterious: we’re usually not familiar with it elsewhere in scripture, and it seems to be applied to a mysterious group of 144,000 people.
This is a Seal of God, and it has this effect upon its recipients: it protects them from the judgments of God –
And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God; and he called out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Revelation 7:1-2
The Purpose of Gods’ Seal
In other words, it is a seal of protection, just like the Ark sealed Noah and his family inside – protecting them from the judgment they were living through. It’s just like the lamb’s blood placed on the door posts, protecting those inside living through the night of death. So then, the Seal of God covers the 144,000 from the judgments described throughout the book of Revelation.
Who are the 144,000
So then, when reading about the 144,000 that are sealed, most people believe them to be a group of people being supernaturally selected (e.g., think along the lines of Calvinism) from the tribes of Israel for some purpose during the tribulation. This purpose is usually described as evangelism.
That was my assumption too. But then I discovered a problem: what followed after that.
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” … Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Revelation 14
Actually, I had at least four issues.
Problem #1
First, 144,000 is not such a large assembly of people that we can’t fathom trying to count them. Nowadays, it’s a number far less than a couple of the largest college football stadiums. So they can’t be a group of people “that no one could number.“
Problem #2
The ones coming out of the great tribulation are from “every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages.” Yet the 144,000 are specifically from the tribes of the sons of Israel.
Problem #3
In many traditions, the 144,000 are assumed to be Evangelists. But they must do so without the assistance of the Holy Spirit since He has presumably been taken out of the way – at least according to most popular doctrines (2 Thes. 2:7).
Since the people “coming out of the great tribulation” are at the throne of God, they must be those who are saved due to the evangelism of the 144,000 – right?
Problem #4
Nobody repents during the tribulation.
I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.
Revelation 6:8
The star is named Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they were made bitter.
Revelation 8:11
A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths
Revelation 9:18
So then, what is the result of the judgments? Do the people repent?
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
{the} People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
Therefore, the job of the 144,000 cannot be evangelism because if it were, then we would see repentance and salvation during the tribulation. If we called them evangelists, then we might even suggest that the word of God comes back void during this period:
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11
But even if we assume that the Gospel is used for judgment …
The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already …”
… a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
John 3:18-21; 5:22-25
… we still cannot excuse nor ignore that those people under the judgments described in Revelations “do not repent.” Therefore, the Gospel’s preaching is not required to enact God’s judgment during the tribulation.
Furthermore, the people who are sealed are protected against the judgment of God BEFORE those judgments are poured out – that much is clear. Therefore, those exposed to the judgments are not sealed; hence, they do not believe, seeing that they are “judged already.“
This is another way of saying we can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t have those being judged also finding repentance since scripture says, “they did not repent and give him glory,” and yet have them sealed later on so that they don’t suffer under other judgments of God. So the 144,000 are sealed before the judgments are released: “Do not harm the earth, or the sea, or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
Next things …
We need to continue an investigation into the Seal. Specifically, is it spoken of elsewhere? And if so, to whom is it applied?
Looking at those things will indicate who the 144,000 represent, that perhaps they’re not a literal Ekklesia or Congregation of people but a representation of something else.
Milktoast Christianity
Do you want to know what’s wrong with America and the world at large?
I’ll tell you.
Very early in the church, from its foundation, we were taught how to “preach the gospel,” how to “save souls,” but never did we learn how to disciple nations (Matt. 28:19-20). From the beginning, His people were to be a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5-6), but they were afraid and changed the contract: “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen, but do not have God speak to us, or we will die!” (Ex. 20:19).
What do you think He meant when He said, “the government will be on His shoulders” (Isa. 9:6)? Did you think Jesus was going to come down to earth and run things from day one, or did you think God wanted us to go to hell in a handbasket until the 1,000-year reign of Messiah?
No, neither.
We are the body, He is the head, and the government was designed to rest on His shoulders. But mistakes were made, and consequently – at the end of this age – we have a global society filled with milktoast Christians who are comfortable tolerating things worse than a bogus POTUS and Watergate-esque corruption.
Many of this generation’s Christians shall pass in their tribulation: we are likened to the Israelites that crossed the red sea, to those who would not enter, who would instead take orders from a preacher than enter into a real relationship with their King.
You need to decide this: will you be a complainer and a sitter, or will you be a Joshua or a Caleb in the days to come? Are you willing to choose something new?
But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.” It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. Romans 11:4-5
Seeking first the Kingdom of God – Part II
But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
What is the Kingdom of God?
the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, shalom and joy in the Ruach HaKodesh. (Romans 14:17 CJB)
the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (NASB)
I once heard someone say that the Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit. That is a simplistic view; it is not entirely incorrect, neither is it entirely correct. It is better to focus on righteousness, peace, and joy, and work backward from there.
Recall that everything we do can be manufactured from any spirit we choose to align ourselves from. We can choose happiness in a legalistic spirit or joy in a religious spirit. We can find joy in evil:
Don’t let those who are wrongfully my enemies gloat over me; and those who hate me unprovoked — don’t let them smirk at me. (Psalm 35:19)
For I said, “May they not rejoice over me, Who, when my foot slips, would exalt themselves over me.” (Pslam 38:16 NASB)
Thus, our fruit, the expression of Holy Spirit – the qualities of the Kingdom – must be grown from our relationship with Holy Spirit:
Beware of the false prophets! They come to you wearing sheep’s clothing, but underneath they are hungry wolves! You will recognize them by their fruit. Can people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every healthy tree produces good fruit, but a poor tree produces bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, or a poor tree good fruit. 19 Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire! So you will recognize them by their fruit. (Matthew 7:15-20)
Remember: trees do not labor nor choose to produce fruit at will. Fruit is a natural by-product of WHAT they ARE. Such is the fruit of the spirit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things. (Galations 5:22-23 CJB)
“… So you will recognize them by their fruit.”
What is Righteousness?
There’s no good, succinct way to explain righteousness as a concept, so I’ll refer you to this scripture and allow you to infer the implied qualities:
It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before Adonai our God, just as he ordered us to do. (Dueteronomy 6:25 CJB)
and it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to follow all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us. (NASB)
What is His Righteousness?
Jesus the Christ is God’s righteousness:
It is his doing that you are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and holiness and redemption as well! Therefore — as the Tanakh says — “Let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai." (1 Corinthians 1:30 CJB)
When those days come, at that time, I will cause to spring up for David a Branch of Righteousness. He will do what is just and right in the land. (Jeremiah 33:15 CJB)
And the Kingdom of God is?
The Kingdom of God consists of these qualities:
- Seeking after Jesus and His righteousness
- Living by the spirit, so that the fruit of the spirit is naturally produced in your life.
How to Make Scripture Your Own
We’ve all been told to read the Bible. I would suggest that we’ve all been told to meditate on its’ words:
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8
But it’s a difficult thing to do when all you’ve been taught is self-condemnation – when perhaps that’s all you’ve heard from the pulpit most of your life, or perhaps when the messages you’re most familiar with are about Christmas, Easter, witnessing, tithing, or eschatology. Those topics don’t seem to mesh or coalesce well with a lot of the other things we might find ourselves reading.
If any of those things above are true for you, then consider that you might have a bad spirit about you – one that’s beating you around the measuring-up bush, one that you can’t seem to shake. I’ve been there; done that.
But, I’ll wager there’s something here you’ve never heard. So keep reading:
Matthew 18:18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
And let the astute reader complain: “I’ve heard that plenty of times; what does it have to do with reading the Bible?“
Personalization
Let’s take a step back. The first thing we need to learn is how to personalize scripture: how to make it our own, to put it into a first-person tense that speaks directly to us.
Here’s a simple example:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
That’s the commandment. It’s one with which most of us are very familiar. So what we do next is this: move it out of what I call the “command voice” and into what I call a “personalized,” or “acquisition voice.”
I trust in the Lord with all my heart; I do not lean on my own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
That makes all the difference, and it’s entirely scriptural: you are what you think – which is the intention of Joshua 1:8.
For as he thinks within himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7
While it’s not possible to do this with any random verse, a great many of the Psalms and Proverbs do lend themselves to this type of personalization.
Self Acquisition with Binding and Loosing
First, let’s recall the power of speaking, or as some might say, the power of the tongue:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 One who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and one who cares for his master will be honored. Proverbs 27:18 A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but when it twists things, it breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4
The task, then, is to combine personalization with speaking the Word, and with binding and losing:
Matthew 18:18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.
Example: Pslam 37:1
Do not get upset because of evildoers, do not be envious of wrongdoers.
Personalized
“I do not get upset because of evildoers; I am not envious of wrongdoers.”
Personalization with Binding
“I bind myself to this Word: I do not get upset because of evildoers; I am not envious of wrongdoers.”
Example: Psalm 37:7
Do not get upset because of one who is successful in his way, Because of the person who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and abandon wrath;
Personalization
“I am not upset because with one who is successful in his way, because of the person who carries out wicked schemes. Therefore, I cease from anger and abandon wrath.”
Personalization with Losing
“I lose myself from being upset because of the one who is successful in his way, because of the person who carries out wicked schemes. I lose myself from anger and I abandon wrath.”
Summary
We’re doing four things here.
- Meditating on His Word.
- Making His Word our thoughts.
- Binding ourselves to His rigthousness.
- Loosing ourselves from unrighteousness.
It’s a form of taking up our cross. We are casting away those things that so easily beset us and taking up those things that enable us to run the race with endurance:
Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
A Recovering Legalist 