Satan is NOT in Heaven! Last week I had
a conversation with Don Spears. Don is a dear friend and a good
brother, and I really and honestly did not want to try to beat up on
him in a debate, especially since I would have had to out-yell him in
his own home just to get a word in, something which I did not desire
to do. So I basically left it to him to convince me that Satan was in
heaven, which he believes, and in the end I am not convinced. Don's
highly charged emotional arguments are not enough to persuade me,
especially when all of his Scriptural references offer only
inferences and not one clear indisputable witness to prove his point.
Don insists that Satan is in heaven, and he says that if I do not
understand that, then, as he insists, I do not understand the
spiritual things of God. Yet in the passage he referred to, Paul was
talking about the things of God, and not about the things of Satan
which are opposition to God.
Don really and
truly believes in the divine inspiration of what he calls the
“English bible”, ostensibly the King James Version, and only
looks at and observes the Greek when it is convenient for him to do
so. That attitude allows Don to define which of the English
understandings he likes and which ones he does not like, in spite of
the meanings of the Greek words or the Greek grammar in the readings
he likes. His defense of this is accompanied by cries for conformity,
but conformity means nothing if it is a forced conformity which in
any place in Scripture leaves ideas that are contrary to the language
at the time when the words were written. For instance, Don made a
point of discussing an obscure topic, the Greek word οἰκητήριον
as it appears in Jude and in Paul. Both writers used this Greek word
to describe a habitation,
so Don insists that they must be talking about habitations of an
identical nature. Yet Don would not let me define the Greek word for
air
as it applies in the understanding of first century literature,
because it is convenient to his Satan-in-heaven theory not to define
it, since the Adversary was called the “prince of the power of the
air” by Paul. Don wants to equate the air with the heaven, or some
part of the heaven, although the Greek words are clearly different.
In the Greek cosmology there are three layers of atmosphere, the ἀήρ,
the αἰθήρ, and the οὐρανός. The air is the immediate
atmosphere, and the οὐρανός is the heaven. The word αἰθήρ
describes the bright upper ἀήρ and the words are sometimes
interchangeable. But the air is not the heaven. If Satan is the
prince of the power of the ἀήρ, and not of the οὐρανός,
then Satan is not at all in heaven! In Don's world, two habitations
must be identical, because they are described by the same word, and
yet air and heaven, or some part of heaven, must be identical and it
is useless to see that they are described by different words, but in
reality they do indeed mean two different things. While this is all
merely semantics, it is Don who raised these points, but his view on
the issue contains some strange logic, which does not prove his case
upon close inspection.
The entire
argument that there is still a Satan in heaven, contrary to the words
of Christ in the Revelation, rests on three premises, and yes, they
are premises. The first premise is that the phrase “the host of the
high ones” in Isaiah chapter 24 refers to satanic spirits in
heaven. If we have to misapply the so-called “law” of first
mention to phrases, rather than to doctrines, then the first time the
phrase “high ones” is used in Scripture is in Isaiah chapter 10,
where it apparently applies to people, and not to angels in heaven.
Here in Isaiah chapter 24, the word would only apply to angels in
heaven at anyone's insistence,
and there is nothing which compels me to follow such an insistence
when interpreting the phrase. I would instead interpret it to refer
to the wealthiest merchants, bankers and king-makers, which are those
who really rule over Society.
The second
premise is that the reference to gods in the 82nd
Psalm refers to angels in heaven. Don Spears insists this is true
even though Christ Himself tells us explicitly at John 10:34-35 that
this applies to those men to whom the Word of God came. When I
pointed this out to Don, he called this the “Judeo-Christian
interpretation”, which is an ad hominem statement attempting to
discredit the plain word
of Scripture. In truth, even Judeo-Christianity is not wrong about
everything, and I will accept the plain word of Scripture over the
insistence of men. If Don had really wanted to discuss these Psalms,
rather
than try to run over me with them, he would have slowed down and
listened to my explanations. For instance, where the King James has
“men” in Psalm 82:7, in Hebrew the word is singular not plural,
and it should be read “Adam”. As Paul says, it is appointed for
man once to die, and then the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). In Romans
8:17, where Paul says that “in the transgression of one, death has
taken reign through that one”, he spoke of that same Adam. Don's
further arguments concerning the phrase “sons of the mighty”, or
“sons of God”, in the 89th
Psalm are directly related to this one. The plain word of Scripture
is that Adam is the son of God (Luke 3:38) and that the children of
Adam, and of course the children of Israel, are indeed the children
of God (Deuteronomy 14:1, Acts 17:28). Therefore the phrase “sons
of God” in the Psalms applies to the children of Israel, and not at
all to angels in heaven, as Yahshua Himself has told us in John
chapter 10 where He said “Is it not written in your law that ‘I
have said, Ye are gods’? 35 If He spoke of them as gods to whom the
Word of Yahweh had come, and the writing is not able to be broken, He
whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the Society, you tell
that ‘You blaspheme’, because I said I am a son of Yahweh?”
Likewise, the assembly of the “sons of God” in chapter 1 of the
Book of Job was not in heaven, but on earth, where both Satan and Job
were, as the book also tells us explicitly.
Now there are
in Scripture little-discussed and little-understood correlations
between the children of Adam and the angels in heaven, in that there
were, ostensibly, children of God existing in heaven before the
foundation of the world – as Job 38:7 seems to reveal. However this
alone does not refute the perspective supplied here, nor prove
anything concerning the 82nd
or 89th
Psalms or Job chapter 1, and none of it has anything at all to do
with angels cast out of heaven following their rebellion against God.
Christ says in Matthew 22:30 that the children of the resurrection
shall be as
the angels, or like
the angels, not that they will be
angels. Paul later says that the Saints shall judge angels, not that
they will be
angels. So there must remain differences between men and angels. If
there were not, then the event of Genesis chapter 6 may hardly have
been seen as a violation of the law of kind after kind, and cannot
have been compared by Christ to the race-mixing of modern times.
In light of the
plain word of Scripture which tells us explicitly who the sons or
children of God are, which has many Scriptural witnesses (Deuteronomy
14:1, Luke 3:38, Acts 17:28, Isaiah 43:6), we can then examine the
third premise: that the Masoretic Text is correct in its reading
of Genesis 6:1-4, which
calls those angels who mingled with the daughters of Adam (who is the
son of God) the “sons of God”. Rather, as we have pointed out in
the past here and in our papers at Christogenea, it is likely that
the correct reading of Genesis 6 as it is in some Septuagint
manuscripts and in the Enoch literature which Don Spears himself
likes to cite, may indeed be “sons of heaven”, and not “sons of
God”, and once that is realized then any apparent conflict which
that verse has with all of the plain statements concerning the
identity of the “sons of God” in scripture simply disappears.
Now I have no
doubts that Don Spears is a good man, and that he means well, and
that he has pure intentions. However on Saturday he did make some ad
hominem assaults on both my spirituality and upon my methods of
Scriptural interpretation, which I must now address. I am certain
that he did this with no ill intention towards me, and I do consider
him a good and beloved brother, however he did it nonetheless.
Don apparently
believes that I free-wheel my interpretations of Scripture, in spite
of the fact that I have indeed outlined my methods of interpretation
in papers in my writings. For example, there is the paper I wrote for
the Christogenea forum some time ago entitled On
Biblical Exegesis,
which I also presented in a program here a year ago. As I also said
several weeks ago here in my Luke chapter 4 presentation, Christ came
to reveal things kept secret since the foundation of the world. In
addition to this, the scribes having turned the Word of God into a
lie as we read in Jeremiah 8:8, referring to at least some places
in the Books of the Law, therefore the words of Christ and the
apostles in the New Testament must be the lens through which we
examine the Old Testament. While passages in the New Testament cannot
be taken out of context in order to refute the Old Testament, on the
other hand we cannot not use any understanding of Old Testament
ideas, inferences or allusions to refute plain statements in the New
Testament. This in some places may defy the so-called “law” of
first mention, but that law is a law of man, and not of God. It may
work in a world which has a perfect Bible, but our Bible itself
mentions its own imperfection and its own incomplete state. I do not
build doctrines on inference and premise. Rather, I strive to build
doctrine on plain and explicit statements, with two or three
witnesses, and from there interpret the parables and prophecies which
align with those statements, and not the other way around. So, for
example, if there are two or three explicit statements which tell me
that the children of Adam are the children of God, then no other
reference to the “sons of God” in any context will convince me
that it is talking about angels
rather than about the children of Adam. There are actually at least
three explicit statements to that effect in each testament, which
proves that the children of Adam are the sons and daughters of God.
There is not one explicit statement in any Scripture which states
that angels and fallen angels are the “sons of God”, as Don
Spears would like to read Psalms 82 and 89, which he claims reference
a Satan still in heaven. Doctrines are not based on inference alone.
Don talked at
length on Saturday about the need to follow the traditional methods
of Scriptural interpretation. Yet Don himself also claims that
Christian Identity truth is discovered with those traditional methods
of interpretation from the King James Version alone, without any
necessity to learn other languages and to inspect the source
documents. If any of the early Christian writers, and if any of the
major schools of recent times had ever arrived at the truth using
those traditional methods of interpretation which were devised by
scholars, then perhaps I would see merit in them. But they have never
arrived at the truth through those methods, and they reject that
truth today even when it is shown to them. Rather, those methods bind
men to laws which have been devised by man, not by God, and I see
them as the systemization of deception. I shall not be bound by the
laws of man respecting the Word of God. Don has learned the Israel
Identity truth, yet he clings to those old ways which have never
discovered the truth. He insists upon pouring new wine into old
bottles.
Criticizing his
estimation of my spirituality, Don claims that I do not want to
believe anything which I cannot perceive with my fleshly senses. That
is likewise his own fleshly perception of my spirituality. I believe
in all things Spiritual which are described by the Word of God. And I
also believe that the Spirit operates in us, as the Word of God says,
and that how we perceive the physical world and what we do in it is
driven by the Spirit in us, when we put away the deeds and desires of
the flesh. Although I may fail, I strive to reflect the things of my
spirit into the physical world, but I do not imagine the Spiritual
world to be like the physical. The prayer we are taught to pray is
that things be on earth as they already are in heaven, and that is my
prayer indeed – so I cannot believe that there is a Satan in
heaven! If there is a Satan in heaven, then God is a failure, because
His Word states that “neither was their place found any more in
heaven” and He asks us to pray that things may be “on earth as
they are in heaven”. If I cannot apply the things of my Spirit in
order to understand and evaluate the world around me, what I see and
feel and hear and touch, then the Word of God is of no use to me in
this world.
This leads me
to the next item which requires discussion. It amazes me, and I have
seen this same thing happen many times, how two men can read the same
Scripture and understand plain words in an entirely different manner.
On Saturday Don cited Titus 3:5 insisting that our Adamic Spirit is
not with us from birth, in refutation of what I understand and
expressed when reading the plain words of 1 Corinthians 15:44, in
conjunction with Genesis 2:7, 2 Corinthians 4:7 and other passages.
Don stated, and I will only paraphrase, that it is the Holy Spirit in
us which receives
the washing of regeneration and renewal that Paul describes in his
letter to Titus. Yet I read Titus 3:5 and understand that it is the
Holy Spirit which is performing
that washing of regeneration and renewal! If the Spirit is Holy, it
has no
need of washing! It is the Holy Spirit which performs the cleansing
of our Adamic spirits, and the Holy Spirit itself does not need to be
cleansed. From the Wisdom of Solomon, 2:23: “For God created man
to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.”
As Paul says, speaking of Israel, if there is a physical body, which
we are sown, then there is a spiritual body, which we are raised –
and those are his words. Even the spirits of those who sinned before
the flood were never extinguished, as Peter tells us that Christ
during His three days in the earth proclaimed the Gospel “to those
spirits in prison, who at one time had been disobedient”. We must
dispense with the old leaven, and reconcile all of Scripture.
In the
presentation of Luke chapter 4 given here several weeks ago, I made
the comment that I have never seen any Scriptural evidence of a
wicked demon spirit interacting with men unless the spirit was
embodied, and I offered to be shown such evidence. That offer still
stands. Don Spears attempted to meet my offer by citing 1 Kings
chapter 22, a story recounted in 2 Chronicles chapter 18. The
following account is lengthy, but it must be read in context.
1 Kings chapter
22:13-25: “ 13 And the messenger that was
gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of
the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word,
I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is
good. 14 And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith
unto me, that will I speak. 15 So he came to the king. And the king
said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle,
or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the
LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king. 16 And the king said
unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me
nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD? 17 And he
said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have
not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them
return every man to his house in peace. 18 And the king of Israel
said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no
good concerning me, but evil? 19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the
word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the
host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20
And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and
fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said
on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before
the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 22 And the LORD said unto
him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying
spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt
persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 23 Now
therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of
all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning
thee. 24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote
Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD
from me to speak unto thee? 25 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt
see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide
thyself.”
It is evident that Yahweh God communicated to the prophets in
visions, and while those visions had meaning, they were not to be
taken literally. In the passage from 1 Kings chapter 22 above, the
personification of the lying spirit is an allegory used as a
rhetorical device, just as Wisdom is personified in the Proverbs
(i.e. 1:20). The personification of the lying spirit is no more
literal than the “sheep that have not a shepherd” in the
preceding verses. In truth, this is fully evident in verse 23 where
the allegory is summarized and it says “the LORD hath put a lying
spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets”. The evil spirit is
not one of the fallen angels, nor is it one of the demons. Rather, it
is an evil spirit sent upon these particular men from God Himself.
Another instance of such an occurrence is found in 1 Samuel 16:23:
“And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul,
that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was
refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.”
Don Spears failed to notice the difference between an evil spirit - a
spirit which is evil in the eyes of men and which is sent by God to
accomplish the will of God - and a Satanic angel or demon spirit
which is in a state of rebellion and which is opposed to God, and
there is a huge difference indeed. Evil spirits from God are not
Satanic spirits adversarial to God.
Don also
mentioned that the laying on of hands was not prophesied in the Old
Testament, and he is right.
But there is a type
for it in the Old Testament, for instance in Leviticus 4:15 where it
says “And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon
the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be
killed before the LORD.” Now there is no longer any sacrifice for
sin, except that the individual members of the Body of Christ should
sacrifice themselves for their kinsmen by serving their kinsmen, as
Christ sacrificed Himself for our sakes. Therefore we lay our hands
no longer upon the bullock to be sacrificed, but upon each other
because we should dedicate our lives to one another, for we are the
body of Christ. At least that is my opinion, for what it is worth.
The Gospel
of Luke, Chapter 8 – Christogenea on Talkshoe, July 13th, 2012
1 And it came to pass thereafter, that He was passing through
each city and town proclaiming and announcing the good message of the
Kingdom of Yahweh, and the twelve were with Him, 2 and there were
certain women, who were healed from evil spirits and illnesses: Maria
who is called Magdalane from whom seven demons were expelled, 3 and
Iohanna wife of Chouza a trustee of Herodas, and Sousanna and many
others, who had been ministering to them from their belongings.
The Codex Sinaiticus
(א)
has the women having been healed from “unclean
spirits” rather than “evil spirits”.
The word Magdalane, is not a name. Rather it
means to describe a woman from Magdala, a town on the western
coast of what we call the Sea of Galilee. The label was obviously
expedient, there being several women named Maria, or Mariam, among
the intimates of Christ.
The Codices Sinaiticus
(א)
and Alexandrinus (A) have “ministering to Him from
their belongings.” The text follows the Codices Vaticanus (B),
Bezae (D), and Washingtonensis (W). These women, while not always
mentioned, were probably in the immediate company of Christ very
often. In Luke chapter 23, and also in Matthew 27 and Mark 15, we see
that these women witnessed the crucifixion, who were said to have
“followed Him from Galilee”, even though they are not mentioned
explicitly as being in His company in many of the intermediate events
which were recorded. During their travels following Him, these women
were ministering to Christ from their belongings, meaning that they
were women who had property and money, perhaps in their widowhood,
and from their wealth they were seeing to His daily needs. So we see
that even Christ Himself was sustained by those people whom He
blessed with the ability to be in such a position, that they could do
so.
The word ἐπίτροπος (2012), which is a trustee
here, may be “...one to whom a charge is entrusted, a
trustee, administrator...a governor, viceroy...a
guardian” (Liddell & Scott). Here the King James Version
has “steward”. The word also appears at Matthew 20:8 where in the
King James Version it is also “steward”, and in Galatians 4:2
where in the plural it is “tutors”. Of course, Herod himself was
an Edomite, as were many of the rulers of Judaea at this time.
However that does not mean that in the mixed-race society of Judaea
that all of those who worked for the establishment were Edomites, and
in fact, just as we see in our own Edomite-controlled government of
today, many of them were indeed good Israelite people caught up in
the “world”, so to speak.
The Kingdom of Heaven was preached by Christ during His
ministry, however His followers thought that He Himself was going to
usher it in at that time, to restore the Kingdom of God of earth.
In Daniel 2:44 we see the promise of the coming Kingdom of God
which was to follow the beast kingdoms of history which were also
prophesied, where after describing four great beast empires, Daniel
wrote: “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set
up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall
not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”
In Daniel chapter 7 we see a prophecy concerning the coming
Kingdom of heaven which is also a part of a much broader tapestry of
prophecy which was for the most part yet to be fulfilled in the first
century. Here is Daniel 7:21-22: “21 I beheld, and the same horn
made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the
Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the
most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”
This “Ancient of Days” is portrayed in much the same way that
Christ had portrayed Himself in the Revelation. Christ is indeed the
“Ancient of Days” because He is Yahweh God incarnate.
However in Daniel chapter 9 the prophet is given a vision which
dates 69 weeks of years from the rebuilding of the city Jerusalem
until the coming of Messiah, and says that in a 70th week
that “Messiah [would] be cut off, but not for himself”, which
describes perfectly the ministry of Christ. Understanding that the
first advent of Christ was not the time when the kingdom would be
restored to Israel – who are indeed the Saints of Daniel 7:22 - was
a point misunderstood even among the apostles. At Acts 1:6 we read
that “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him,
saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?” Of course, from the Revelation of Yahshua Christ we know
that we still await that final restoration, and we pray that it comes
soon.
4 And a great crowd coming together and upon their traveling to
each city with Him, He spoke in a parable: 5 “The sower has come
out to sow his seed: and in his sowing, while that which fell by the
road was then trampled and the birds of heaven devoured it, 6 then
others had fallen upon the bedrock, and sprouting it withered because
it did not have moisture. 7 And others had fallen in among the
thorns, and growing together the thorns strangled them. 8 Yet others
had fallen onto the good earth and sprouting produced fruit a
hundredfold.” Saying these things He cried out “He having an ear
to hear must hear!”
Matthew's version of the conclusion of the parable reads (13:23):
“But that having been sown upon the good earth, this is he hearing
the Word and understanding, who surely bears fruit and makes then
some a hundred fold, but some sixty, and some thirty.” The
explanation of this parable is not found in Matthew chapter 13, where
Christ is recorded as having set forth the parable of the Wheat and
the Tares and explaining that instead.
9 Then His students enquired of Him: “What could this parable
be?”
Note that while to His students it was given to know the mysteries
of the Kingdom, Yahshua nevertheless had to explain to them the
meaning of several of the parables, as they asked Him to do both here
and with the parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew chapter
13.
10 And He said “To you it is given to know the mysteries of
the Kingdom of Yahweh, but to the rest in parables, that seeing they
do not see, and hearing they do not understand.
The only difference between the apostles and most of the Israelite
people of Judaea is that Yahshua chose the apostles to understand and
to come to know the mysteries of the Kingdom. God Himself determines
which of us have open eyes, and which of us remain blinded. Of
course, there were also non-Israelites in Judaea, Edomites and other
Canaanites, who were and are always to remain blind.
[Because I believe this is quite important
to point out, I am going to repeat much of what I said in reference
to the Parable of the Sower when Matthew chapter 13 was discussed
here last year.]
Many Identity Christians, in order to make
a point to the uninitiated, or to the newly initiated, at times tend
to oversimplify certain aspects of Scripture. I myself have also been
guilty of doing so, and will probably not be able to avoid doing so
again in the future. Reading this passage, many explain that Christ
did not want the Canaanite-Edomite Judaeans to understand Him, and
that is true – but it is only partially true. Going back to the
original passage that Christ is quoting, let us read that first, from
Isaiah chapter 6:
Isaiah 6: “1 In the year that king
Uzziah [king of Judah] died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above
it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered
his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did
fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the
LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts
of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was
filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because
I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his
hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he
laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and
thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the
voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this
people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but
perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their
ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert,
and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until
the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man,
and the land be utterly desolate, 12 And the LORD have removed men
far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. 13
But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be
eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them,
when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance
thereof.” [As an aside, I would translate verse 13 differently,
where it is speaking about the remnant of Judah returning to the
land: “Yet a tenth will return and be kindled: a pillar of oak, in
order to be a monument. Because of their felling the holy seed will
be a monument.”]
We know from Jeremiah (for instance from
chapters 2 and 24) and from Ezekiel (for instance from chapter 16),
that Jerusalem at the time of these prophets was also a mixed-race
population, with at least some mixed-race individuals, much like
first century Judaea was also mixed, and for that reason Judah was
deemed by Yahweh to consist of both good and bad figs. Yet Isaiah in
giving this prophecy concerning blindness was talking to the people
in general, and not to any specific group among the people. There are
races of people here who do not belong in the kingdom of heaven at
all – as we learn from the parables of the net and of the the wheat
and the tares later in this chapter of Matthew. Certainly Yahshua
does not care for them to understand His words, but the words here
are not intended for them. In our own uncleanness we ourselves do not
deserve the Truth of the Word of God, as we see in Isaiah chapter 6
verses 5 through 7 that even he did not deserve that truth, having
what he considered to be “unclean lips”. Therefore it is clear
that a lot of us, as well as those of our enemies, are to remain
blind as to the purposes of our God. The example here is primarily
that Yahweh Himself chooses out from among His people those who shall
see and hear and who shall learn His truths. The rest of the people –
whether they be His or not, Israel or not, they remain blinded for as
long as it is determined by Him. As for the children of Israel who do
not heed the Word of Yahweh, He relinquishes them to the enemy. For
that reason Paul, speaking of unrepentant sinners, instructs us to
turn such as them over to Satan for destruction of the flesh – that
the Spirit may be saved in the day of Christ.
11 “This is the parable: The
seed is the Word of Yahweh, 12 and they by the road are those
hearing, then comes the False Accuser and he takes the Word from
their hearts, lest believing they would be preserved.
The False Accuser or Devil, the “Evil
One” as he is called in the corresponding passage in Matthew – is
indeed the jew and his fellows and all of their false doctrines and
calumnious lies. Those who do not grasp the truth of the Word are
most susceptible to these things. The devil walks about seeking whom
he may devour.
13 And those upon the bedrock,
when they heard they received the Word with joy, but these do not
have roots, who for a time believe and in time of trial they
withdraw.
Root in the Word comes only through study
of the Word itself. If your knowledge is deep, you will not be easily
shaken. If you merely believe the message, but your knowledge is
shallow, you are easily entrapped when confronted by the schemes of
the adversary, not knowing how to answer and therefore being caught
in a seeming contradiction, which is no contradiction if only you had
studied. The enemy loves best to try to catch us in his own false
premises.
14 And those having fallen into
the thorns, they are those hearing and going off are strangled by the
cares and riches and pleasures of life and are not brought to
perfection.
Read your Bible on Sunday morning, and
forget every word of what you have heard or read because you are
watching football for the rest of the day. That is only one example.
We either care for the Word, and pursue the things of Yahweh, or we
care for the world and pursue worldly things. No man can serve two
masters, God and mammon.
15 But that which is in the
fair earth, they are those who are fair and good in heart, hearing
the Word, continuing they then bear fruit in patient endurance.
So we see that those who are fruitful in
the Word are the minority of the seed – although the seed being
sown here must all be good seed because Yahweh's law is “thou shalt
not sow thy field with mingled seed”. So the seed is a single kind,
and not many kinds. It is all good seed, but some of it lands in bad
places. Comparing ourselves to the seed, we have no control over
where we should land, and for that reason alone Yahweh shall have
mercy on all of Israel – and therefore we should not judge good
seed to be bad. As Christ Himself has told us, a good tree cannot
produce bad fruit!
16 “Now no one lighting a lamp conceals it in a vessel or
sets it under a couch, but sets it upon a lampstand, that those
entering in would see the light. 17 For there is nothing secret which
shall not become evident, nor hidden which shall not be known and
brought to light.
Both the 3rd century papyrus known as P75 and the Codex
Vaticanus (B) want the phrase rendered “that those entering in
would see the light.” The words light and evident in
verse 17 are from the same Greek word, φανερός (5318), “open
to sight, visible, manifest, evident...known...”
(Liddell & Scott).
Christ is talking about the good seed here also, for He has not
changed the subject from that which is in the explanation of the
parable of the sower. Rather, He is continuing His explanation of
that same subject. The people of God are fully manifest in the earth
and have been for centuries, as those who have produced the fruits of
the Kingdom of God. While many seed fell upon the rough ground, and
while some of that seed flowered at diverse times, it is primarily
the Saxon and related peoples of Northern Europe who have instituted
Christian governance throughout the world - for better or worse.
18 “Therefore you watch how you hear. Indeed whoever
has, it shall be given to him, and whoever has not even that which he
supposes to have shall be taken from him.”
As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, if a man builds upon
the foundation of Christ gold, silver, and precious stones, he shall
receive a reward. However if a man builds wood, hay and stubble upon
that foundation, he will receive no reward, and those things which he
has he shall lose because they burn easily in the fire. However he
himself shall be saved through those trials of fire.
19 Then His mother and brethren came near to Him, yet were not
able to meet with Him because of the crowd. 20 So it was announced to
Him: “Your mother and brethren stand outside wishing to see You!”
21 And replying He said to them “My mother and My brethren are
those hearing and doing the Word of Yahweh!”
Here we see that Christ had literal brethren, meaning brothers
with the same mother. If that is not so, then these brethren would
not have been traveling about with their mother, and if they too were
merely fellow believers then the entire episode would be meaningless,
and the response of Christ in reference to those doing the will of
God would be unnecessary. Mary clearly had more children after she
had given birth to the Christ, for which reason Luke (2:7) calls Him
her “first-born son”. If He were her only son, then the Greek
word μονογενής, which was discussed here last week when we
presented Luke chapter 7, would have been appropriate. At Luke 2:7 he
used the term πρωτότοκος, which is absolutely and literally
“first-born”. (πρωτότοκος appears in the Majority Text
and some other manuscripts at Matthew 1:25 as well, where in the King
James Version Christ is also called Mary's “firstborn”.)
22 And it happened in one of those days that He
and His students boarded into a vessel, and He said to them: “We
should pass through to the other side of the lake”, and they set
out. 23 Then most of them had fallen asleep, and a furious storm of
wind descended upon the lake, and being filled with
water then they were endangered. 24 So
drawing near they aroused Him saying “Master, Master, we are being
destroyed!” And awakening He censured the wind and the waves of
water, and they stopped, and it became calm. 25 Then He said to them
“Where is your faith?” But being fearful they wondered saying to
each other “So who is this that He even
commands the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”
The word συμπληρόω (4845) is here “II. to fill up or
completely” (Liddell & Scott). Here where water is clearly
the intended subject of the verb, “with water” is added to
the text. In the Greek of verse 24, waves is actually in the
singular.
From the Septuagint version of Psalm 89: “8 O Lord God of hosts,
who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round
about thee. 9 Thou rulest the power of the sea; and thou calmest the
tumult of its waves.”
26 Then they came ashore in the region of the
Gadarenes which is opposite the coast of
Galilaia.
The account of this voyage, and of the events concerning the
possessed man and the swine, is also given at Matt. 8:23-34 and at
Mark 4:35-5:20. The order of events here in Luke agrees with the
gospel of Mark. However in the gospel of Matthew the encounter with
the Gadarenes is recorded as having occurred before many of
the events that Luke and Mark place it as having followed, such as
the chastisement of the disciples of Christ by the Pharisees for
plucking grain on the Sabbath, and the healing of the man with the
withered hand, among other things. For instances, compare Luke
chapter 6 with Matthew chapter 12. The name of the district in which
this event took place is a matter of much dispute and speculation,
even in the earliest times. Among the manuscripts five different
names for this district appear, and each of these will be discussed
briefly here, relying upon comments from Thayer’s lexicon.
Γαδαρηνός (1046), “of Gadara, a
Gadarene. Gadara was the capital of Peraea (Joseph. b. j. 4, 7,
3), situated opposite the southern extremity of the Lake of
Gennesaret to the south-east, but at some distance from the lake on
the banks of the river Hieromax (Pliny h. n. 5, 16), 60 stadia from
the city Tiberias (Joseph. vita 65)...” (Thayer). The references
from Josephus’ Wars and Pliny’s Natural History,
and Thayer also cites Josephus’ Antiquities further on,
show that Gadara is a likely candidate, and so it appears in the
text here.
Γαζαρηνός, “of Gazara, a Gazarene”, the word is
not treated by Strong or Thayer, since it appears nowhere in the
King James Version. It is the name of a town in Ephraim, far from
the Sea of Galilee (Lake of Gennesaret), and appears often in the
Septuagint (Joshua 16:5 and 21:21; 1 Chronicles 14:16; 1 Maccabees
9:52 et al.).
Γερασηνός, (which has no Strong # but is given an
entry in Thayer’s:) “Gerasene, i.e. belonging to the city
Gerasa (τὰ Γέρασα, Josephus b. j. 3, 3, 3): Matthew viii.
28 … Mark v. 1... Luke viii. 26 and 37 ... according to very many
codices seen by Origen. But since Gerasa was a city situated in the
southern part of Peraea (Josephus 1.c. [passage cited], cf. 4, 9,
1), or in Arabia...that cannot be referred to here” (Thayer). And
Thayer also cites an edition of Origen’s writing, which shows the
antiquity of the uncertainty concerning this location, which shall
also be evident below.
Γεργεσηνός (1086) “Gergesene, belonging to
the city Gergesa, which is assumed to have been situated on the
eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret : Matthew viii. 28...But this
reading depends on the authority and opinion of Origen, who thought
the variants found in his manuscripts Γαδαρηνῶν
and Γερασηνῶν … must be made to conform to the testimony
of those who said that there was formerly a certain city Gergesa
near the lake. But Josephus knows nothing of it, and states
expressly (antt. 1, 6, 2), that no trace of the ancient Gergesites
[A.V. Girgashites ...] (mentioned Genesis xv. 20; Joshua xxiv. 11)
had survived, except the names preserved in the O.T. Hence in
Matthew viii. 28 we must read Γαδαρηνῶν … and suppose
that the jurisdiction of the city Gadara extended quite to the Lake
of Gennesaret ...” (Thayer).
Γεργυστηνός, or “Gergustene, of Gergusta”, is
found nowhere but in one manuscript of Mark, and therefore it is not
treated by either Strong or Thayer.
Manuscript support for these various names is as follows:
|
|
Luke 8:26 |
Luke 8:37 |
Matt. 8:28 |
Mark 5:1 |
|
Gadara |
A, W, M |
A, W, M |
B, C |
A, C, M |
|
Geresa |
P 75, B, C, D |
P 75, B, C, D |
|
א,
B, D |
|
Gergesa |
א,
= |
א,
P |
W, M |
|
|
Gazara |
|
|
א |
|
|
Gergusta |
|
|
|
W |
|
NA27 |
Geresa |
Geresa |
Gadara |
Geresa |
|
A.V. |
Gadara |
Gadara |
Gergesa |
Gadara |
Based upon manuscript support, and the antiquity and perceived
reliability of the manuscripts, I would be obliged to follow the NA27
in each instance. However, I have chosen to follow the opinions of
Thayer in this matter, based upon the historians’ records. There
are several names in the Old Testament similar to Gadara, such as
Geder and Gederah, yet none of them can be connected to this place,
and all seem to be far to the south, in Judah.
27 And with His coming out upon the land He met a certain man
from the city having demons, and for considerable time who had not
worn a garment, and has abode not in a house but among the tombs.
The word ὑπαντάω (5221), which is simply “to meet”
here, implies a stronger meaning, to go to meet (Liddell &
Scott), signifying that perhaps the meeting was by design, and not by
chance.
28 And seeing Yahshua, crying out he fell down before Him and
in a loud voice he said “What is there with me and with You,
Yahshua Son of Yahweh the Highest? I beg You, do not torment me!”
29 Therefore He commanded the unclean spirit to come out from the
man. For many times he had seized him, and being guarded he was bound
in chains and shackles, yet breaking through the bonds he had been
driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30 Then Yahshua questioned
him, “What is your name?” And he said “Legion”, because many
demons had entered into him. 31 And they exhorted Him that He would
not command them to depart into the abyss. 32 And there was a
considerable herd of swine there feeding on the mountain, and they
exhorted Him that He would allow them to enter into them, and
He allowed them. 33 Then the demons departing from the man
entered into the swine, and the herd rushed headlong down the
bank into the lake and drowned.
So far as I have found in writings that may be esteemed to be
Scripture, it is only seen in the writings known as 1 Enoch,
from both the Ethiopic and from those parts of the work found among
the Dead Sea Scrolls, that wicked demon-spirits come from the spirits
of bastards. Yet the sectarian literature of the Qumran sect which
was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls also reflected this belief,
ostensibly from the Enoch literature. From The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, from
Volume 2, pages 1027 and 1028, translated by Martinez and Tigchelaar,
from the scroll designated 4Q510, a fragment of what is called the
Songs of the Sage, a part of Fragment 1: “...declare the
splendour of his radiance in order to frighten and terrify all the
spirits of the ravaging angels and the bastard spirits, demons,
Lilith, owls and jackals … and those who strike unexpectedly to
lead astray the spirit of knowledge, to make their hearts forlorn.
And you have been placed in the era of the rule of wickedness and in
the periods of humiliation of the sons of light, in the guilty
periods of those defiled by iniquities; not for an everlasting
destruction but rather for the era of the humiliation of sin.
Rejoice, righteous ones, in the wonderful God.”
From The Dead Sea Scrolls
Study Edition, from the scroll designated
4Q511, also a part of the same work, Songs of
the Sage, from fragment 35, “... I spread
the fear of God in the ages of my generations to exalt the name …
and to terrify with his power all spirits of the bastards, to
subjugate them by his fear, not for all eternal times, but for the
time of their dominion....” From The
Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, from the
scroll designated 4Q204, “Exterminate all the spirits of the
bastards and the sons of the Watchers”, which seems to have been
speaking prophetically. That “Watchers” is a word used of certain
angels is evident from the Biblical book of Daniel at 4:13, 17 and
23, where it is without doubt used of angels. Christ said, as it is
recorded at Luke 10:18-20: “I beheld the Adversary
falling as lightning from heaven! Behold! I have given to you
authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the
power of the enemy, and no one shall by any means do you injustice.
But in this you must not rejoice: that spirits are subject to you.
Rather, rejoice that your names are inscribed in the heavens.” Here
in the New Testament there is a direct connection between these demon
spirits, the allegorical serpents and scorpions which represent
people in our modern world, and that Satan whose fall is depicted in
chapter 12 of the Revelation, which is also “that old serpent”
whom we know from Genesis chapter 3.
Apparently, the demon spirits were not comfortable being cast out
of the man, where they would evidently be out-of-touch with the
physical world. Such is evident in the words of Christ in that
parable given at Luke 11:24 where the King James Version reads “When
the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry
places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto
my house whence I came out.”
34 And seeing what happened, the swineherds
fled and announced it in the city and in the fields.
The Greek word for swineherds
here is literally only feeders.
35 Then they came out to see what happened and
they came to Yahshua and found the man from whom He had expelled the
demons sitting at the feet of Yahshua dressed and of sound mind, and
they feared. 36 And those seeing it reported to them how He had saved
him being possessed by demons. 37 And the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, because they
were stricken with great fear. Then He, boarding into a vessel,
returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons were expelled had
begged Him to be with Him. But He dismissed him, saying: 39 “Return
to your house and describe what things Yahweh has done for you.”
And he went out through the whole city proclaiming what things
Yahshua had done for him.
There is nothing in Scripture or in
history that we can ascertain about the race of these people. Luke
tells us in verse 26 here that this district was adjacent to Galilee.
There were many settlements of Greeks, Romans, White Syrians (as
Strabo tells us that the Syrians were White) and possibly even some
remnant Israelites in this area. An examination of the Old Testament
reveals that there were children of Israel who escaped the Assyrian
captivity, who were not taken by the Assyrians, although they were
nevertheless cut off from their relationship with Yahweh, as they had
adopted paganism long before even the time of the Assyrians. Christ
did want the man to announce his blessings to his kin.
What is obvious here, however, is that these people
who asked Christ to depart from them would rather continue to suffer
with the status quo, than to see change come even if it were for the
better. They preferred the world – and their swine – to the Word
of God. That, to me, is a very good portrait of most of our own race
today. Most so-called Christians would never trade in their swine for
any amount of the Truth. Most so-called-Christians would also never
exchange their current level of comfort – no matter how miserable
they truly are – for any Truth which may make them feel less
comfortable than their current perceived condition.
40 And upon the returning of Yahshua the crowd received Him,
for they were all expecting Him. 41 And behold, there came a man with
the name Iahiros, and he was a leader of the assembly hall, and
falling by the feet of Yahshua he invited Him to come into his house,
42 because his best-loved daughter, about twelve years old, was in it
and she was about to die. And upon bringing Him
the crowd constrained Him.
The name Iahiros is spelled in Greek either Ἰάειρος,
or Ἰάϊρος. The name appears often in the Septuagint, in the
form Ἰάϊρ (for Jair the son of Manasseh and others) - if indeed
this is the same name, which is apparent on the surface, and which
Strong and Thayer maintain. See Strong’s Hebrew #2971, where Strong
gives the name’s meaning as “enlightener”, and Thayer as “whom
Jehovah [sic. Yahweh] enlightens”. I must conjecture, that this
name may not be related to the Old Testament Ἰάϊρ (“Jair” in
the A.V.), but rather (if the spelling Ἰάειρος is discarded,
appearing nowhere in the ancient manuscripts, but only in the
lexicons) it may be a combination of Ἰά (Yah-, shortened form of
Yahweh appearing often in Hebrew names, also as -iah) and the Greek
word ἱερός, often written in the poets ἱρός, and therefore
it may mean “Yahweh is mighty” or something quite similar.
The word for “best-loved”, or perhaps literally
“only-begotten” is once again μονογενής (3439), which
was discussed at length last week with our presentation of Luke
chapter 7.
The following account of the woman with the flow of blood breaks
into the account of Christ's going to heal the daughter of Iahiros.
43 And there was a woman with a flow of blood [literally
“with blood that flows”] for twelve years, who had spent her
entire livelihood with physicians, who was not able to be healed by
anyone,
The third-century papyrus known as
P75, and the Codices Vaticanus (B) and Bezae (D) are wanting
the phrase which says “who had spent her entire livelihood with
physicians”, which the NA27 includes but marks as doubtful, perhaps
appropriately. The text
follows the
Codices Sinaiticus (א),
Alexandrinus (A), Ephraemi Syri (C), Washingtonensis (W), and agrees
with the Textus
Receptus in this instance.
44 who approaching behind Him grabbed the hem of His garment
and immediately the flow of her blood had stopped. 45 And Yahshua
said “Who has grabbed Me?” Then all denying, Petros said “Master,
the crowd constrains and presses upon You!” 46 Then Yahshua said
“Someone has grabbed Me, for I know that power has gone out from
Me.” 47 And the woman, seeing that she had not gone unnoticed, came
trembling and falling before Him because of the charge that she had
grabbed Him, announced before all of the people even how she was
immediately healed. 48 And He said to her “Daughter, your faith has
preserved you, go in peace.”
Preservation, or salvation, can refer at times to the body in this
life as well as to the spirit in the life to come, depending upon the
context of the passage where it is used. Calling the woman
“daughter”, whom He did not know personally, Yahshua discretely
asserts Himself to be Yahweh our Father.
Once the woman is healed, the narrative returns to the healing of
the daughter of Iahiros.
49 While He was speaking someone comes by the assembly
hall leader saying that “Your daughter has died. Trouble the
Teacher no longer.” 50 But hearing it Yahshua replied to him “Fear
not, only have faith, and she shall be preserved.”
Once again, preservation, or salvation, at times refers to
preservation of the body in this life.
51 And coming into the house He did not allow anyone to enter
with Him except Petros and Iohannes and Iakobos, and the father and
the mother of the child. 52 And all were weeping and mourning
her, and He said: “Do not weep. For she has not died, but is
sleeping.” 53 And they were deriding Him, knowing that she had
died.
Evidently they were mourning the girl by holding what we may call
a wake. In the account as it was related by Matthew Yahshua's initial
words to the crowd were more pointed, where it is
reported that He said “Withdraw! For
the child has not died, but sleeps!”
54 Then grasping her hand He cried aloud, saying “Child,
arise!” 55 And her spirit returned and immediately she stood up,
and He commanded to give for her to eat. 56 And her parents were
astonished, and He instructed them to say nothing of what happened.
Matthew 11: “5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up,
and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he,
whosoever shall not be offended in me.”
The resurrection of the dead before the passion of Christ, before
the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in Acts, the return of the spirit
to a girl who had never heard the gospel, all of this is further
evidence that the traditional Baptist view of these things which we
have seen described here last Saturday is wrong. For there is the
spirit of Man imparted to our race which is an image of God, and that
spirit survives after death regardless of its relationship to the
gospel when a person dies. Then there is the Spirit of God Himself,
and as Paul says in Romans 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God”, we meaning the
children of Adam, and not some satanic rebel angels who are wrongly
supposed by Baptists and Dualists alike to be in heaven unto this
day.
A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles is currently being presented by William Finck on Christogenea Internet Radio every Friday night at 8PM Eastern.
