The Wisdom of God
I wanted to jump right to the sequence of the judgment. That sequence is in the Bible and it is written out. And written out in order. It is so easy to find. And when you read it, the sequence makes total sense. The problem is, the sequence God had recorded in the Bible is not the sequence of events most people believe in, accept, and teach.
As I was lying in bed praying, I could go through the sequence of events recorded in the Bible. I could see how I could quickly introduce that sequence, show you where it is, and explain how most people do not and will not accept the order of events God recorded. Then comes the hard part. You have the sequence in front of you. You read it. It is there in black and white, Every detail is backed up by scripture. I don’t need to add a thing or comment because God put it all together. The problem is, the chances of that sequence agreeing with what you’ve been taught is from slim to none. Even if you accept the sequence taken straight out of the Bible, there will be details you’ve been trained to add. And you will think, there are a few details that need to be rearranged because God doesn’t understand this modern world. And there are a few symbols you think you have figured out. The Bible will show how those symbols existed in the past, but not in the modern age. That doesn’t matter. A good threat from the past is a good threat to keep your eyes on today. There may be million reasons for you not to accept the judgment process God recorded in scripture. There may be a billion reasons why one person or another, or the next person will not accept that sequence of events. I have no idea knowing why one person will accept that sequence and why a million people will reject it. All I know is, the sequence will be rejected for one reason or another.
How do I know that? It’s simple. I prayed about it. Before I prayed, Jesus set up a sequence of events in my life to confirm the answer He gave me. That may all seem simple, but I suppose a few people will need an in depth explanation. So bear with me while I explain the prayer process I use and how it was confirmed before I prayed.
Prayer is simple. Prayer is talking to the ultimate source of knowledge in the Universe. Prayer is talking with God. I think everyone will agree with that. But 90% of prayer is listening. That is that hard part. For some people listening to God is nearly impossible. Moses wrote four books showing how difficult it was for the vast majority of Israel to listen to God. So we have more than adequate information from the Bible showing us, listening to God is an acquired skill. Moses had to learn how to listen to God. If you read the books Moses wrote, you will see how Moses began with fear, and wound up knowing God as the best friend He could not live without. Along side of that is a story about the majority in Israel who either didn’t want to talk to God, were afraid to talk to God, or didn’t believe a human can hear God. The devil took off on those human traits and created a few beliefs and doctrines designed to discourage people from listening to God. The term, “fear of God,” is one of them. People say they are God fearing. What does that mean? They can’t explain it. All they know is, other people say it. What they don’t know is, if they never grow and mature past that fear, they will never learn to listen to God.
Another monkey wrench the devil threw into the mix is the term Trinity. Is there a Trinity? All I can say is, I’ve seen too many people wasting too much time on the subject. They love to appear as if they can explain everything about an infinite God. A God they never met, talked to, or obviously listened to. The fact of the matter is, if they knew God, they would actually be able to explain God, and how He communicates with this world.
Abraham talked with God. God told Abraham to go there. And Abraham packed up and moved. One day Abraham saw three people coming down the road. They turned out to be angels on their way to Sodom to destroy the city. Abraham tried to save the city and everyone in it. Now think about that for a moment. Abraham a mere human negotiating with an angel. How does that happen? And what does that teach us? We can and should communicate with Heaven. If Abraham could do it, why not us?
Take a look at a few of the comments and studies on the Internet. What did you find? I found a few people who looked at both sides of the subject. The Bible has a few verses telling us, no one has seen or can see God. Is that in the physical or spiritual sense? Does the context of the story center on communication, choices, or the gulf between human and Heavenly understanding? You would have to open your Bible and read the entire story to find out the answers to any and all of the questions drifting through your head. But wait. There is another way to answer all those questions. You can rely on your memory, what you read, heard, been taught, what you were thinking at the moment, and a host of other, well earthly ways to come to a conclusion. In other words, form a personal opinion. Is your personal opinion based on – whatever – the same as an answer from Heaven? People may think so. People like to believe their thoughts are totally in line with Heaven. People like to believe they think exactly like God. Or is that the other way around? Does God modify His thoughts, actions, and plans to agree with this world? Come on now. Investigation is investigation. Research is research. Are you going to investigate a question or rely on a gut feeling? No wonder why no one can see God. If they ever listened to God and took God at His word, that person would die of embarrassment.
In fact, we can use science to prove God exists. Some people do. But other people use science to prove other theories. The problem is, people are focused on proving whatever it is they want to prove. If they want to prove evolution, their mind is focused on evolution and will not accept one shred of evidence God does exist. People like that are bound and determined to skip over, miss, and reject every shred of evidence proving God created this world and the Universe. On the other side of the coin, a person dedicated to proving God created the Universe will be so focused on their train of thought. They can and will miss the majority of information and facts that should have been obvious. The point is, we have to train our minds to be open to Jesus when we are talking with Jesus. And we should be listing as well as expecting the unexpected.
Lesson number 1. We have to have an open mind. Lesson 2. We have to focus on the subject Jesus is teaching. Take the Trinity distraction. Imagine yourself opening the Bible to go over the same subject over and over again to prove your point. Is that Bible Study? Not by a long shot. That type of study cancels out common sense. Let’s use Abraham’s story as an example.
Does it matter if God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit took on a human form to talk to Abraham? It doesn’t matter. Whoever it was, they were on a mission from Heaven. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all agreed on the outcome, the reason behind it, the lesson that event would teach, and how that lesson would be used in the future. It wouldn’t matter which one you talked to, God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. You would get the exact same answer. I know it may be difficult for people to envision such an agreeable nature. But Heavenly beings are not human. We have to accept that and get onto more important issues. Like how Heaven communicates with this world. And why the devil wants to obliterate or at least confuse that communication. Now we can look at one of the ways Satan introduced static to God’s communication with this world. Or better yet, one of the ways God does communicate with this world. Through His Word.
The concept of dying if you ever look upon God is based on two verses. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. (Exodus 33:20 KJV). No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18 KJV).
Let’s take a look at those two verses. First of all, we have to agree on a study method. Using a Concordance to research the definition of key words seems to be one study method most people agree on. In Exodus 33:20 we will look at two key words, face and live.
FACE
H6440 פּניםnnpa^ni^ym paw-neem’
Plural (but always used as a singular) of an unused noun (פּנה pa^neh, paw-neh’; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.): – + accept, a (be-) fore (-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront (-part), form (-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him (-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look [-eth] (-s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, prospect, was purposed, by reason, of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them (-selves), through (+ -out), till, time (-s) past, (un-) to (-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with (-in, + stand), X ye, X you.
As you can see, the word face has many different meanings. Which one do we choose? How do we know which definition to use in that particular story? When we look at the definition of the word face, we see a host of words related to emotions. Accept, against, anger, battle, employ, endure, inquire, heaviness, and honorable are related to emotions in one way or another. When we see a Hebrew word that focuses on one aspect, and was translated outside of that realm, we have to ask why. Was God focusing on the His emotional aspects or the physical face? To answer that question we have to look at the context of the story. In other words, back up a bit and look at what lead into that particular event.
After Moses had gone in, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the door of the Tent, and the LORD would speak to Moses from the cloud. As soon as the people saw the pillar of cloud at the door of the Tent, they would bow down. The LORD would speak with Moses face-to-face, just as someone speaks with a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But the young man who was his helper, Joshua son of Nun, stayed in the Tent. Moses said to the LORD, “It is true that you have told me to lead these people to that land, but you did not tell me whom you would send with me. You have said that you know me well and are pleased with me. Now if you are, tell me your plans, so that I may serve you and continue to please you. Remember also that you have chosen this nation to be your own.” The LORD said, “I will go with you, and I will give you victory.” Moses replied, “If you do not go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth.” The LORD said to Moses, “I will do just as you have asked, because I know you very well and I am pleased with you.” Then Moses requested, “Please, let me see the dazzling light of your presence.” The LORD answered, “I will make all my splendor pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name. I am the LORD, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose. I will not let you see my face, because no one can see me and stay alive, (Exodus 33:9-20 GNB).
At first glance it appears the Bible contradicts itself. In fact we could say, Moses contradicted himself. Moses wrote the Book of Exodus. Why would Moses contradict himself? Especially on such a serious subject. Would you say anything like, “I talked to God face to face.” Then later tell people, “God told me, I can’t see His face. Because if I did, I would die.” That doesn’t make sense. So the problem must be in the translation.
If the word face was actually meant to be something along the lines of emotions, we would see that in the previous conversation. As a matter of fact we do. Moses requested, “Please, let me see the dazzling light of your presence.” The entire conversation dwells on the emotional level. Moses does not want God to depart or leave. Moses relies on God’s presence, instructions, guidance, and protection. All of those words are related to other aspects found in the definition of the word translated as face in this story. If the entire story dwells on emotions, why would the main focus suddenly switch to God’s physical face? Before we can answer that question, we have one more word to look at, live.
LIVE
H2425
חיי
cha^yay
khaw-yah’ee
A primitive root (compare H2421); to live; causatively to revive: – live, save life.
Maybe revive would have been a better translation in this verse. If Moses ever saw all of God’s emotions, would he ever revive? Would Moses ever return to the same person he used to be? Did God need Moses with all of his faults? Was Moses a sort of bridge between God and Israel? Of course he was. Israel rejected God. Israel turned down the offer to talk directly with God. Israel wanted Moses between themselves and God. Israel demanded a man with faults. What would have happened if Moses saw all of God’s emotions and spirituality? That would have changed Moses forever. God knew what Israel needed and could only take Moses so far. God could only take Moses as far as Israel permitted. In a sense, Israel held Moses back. And we tend to face the same problems today. We can only tell people what they want to hear about God. We can only teach people what they are ready to accept. We need the Holy Spirit to prepare people for a message. If people aren’t ready, the message will be lost, disregarded, slandered, and trampled.
How do we get people past their fear of God? How do we get people past that belief that no one sees God, and that God doesn’t really talk to people? We can point out a few verses like the one in Exodus where Moses talked to God face to face like talking to a friend. We can show people a few of David’s experiences with God. We can show how God communicated with every prophet in the Bible. Some prophets received messages in visions, dreams, and some heard God’s voice. The Bible is filled with examples of people communicating with God. Not only prophets, but other people. Sometimes God sent angels as messengers. Pick a story. Any story. A story you can relate to. It’s up to you to either prove or disprove the fact, God has and continues to communicate with this world.
When I pray, I keep it simple. I ask to be forgiven. I think every Christian asks Jesus to be forgiven. At least those who plan on seeing eternal life. After that, I throw in a few sentences to remind me, Jesus created this world, the Universe, and everything in it. That sets my mind on the fact, I am communicating with a higher form of intelligence. Of course I thank Jesus for a few things that I remember at that particular time. Then I go over a list of details to pray about. You know, work, bills, income, and of course a list of people to pray for. Going over that list in my head shows me how little I remember. That opens up my mind to the next phase of prayer. What does Jesus want to talk about? What does Jesus want to tell me, teach me, warn me about, and in many cases, review a few details about my life. Ouch. That one can hurt. That is only a portion of the fear we have to learn to overcome.
When I open the floor to Jesus, I can hear His voice. Or at least thoughts that for the most part, are more detailed and make more sense than my usual thought patterns. In this case I focus on one subject. This book and this particular subject. I wanted to do one thing. But that didn’t turn out to be a very good idea. I had a conversation with Jesus that went like this.
Me: “Thank you for that list of events in the Bible that shows the process you are going to follow in the judgment process. As soon as I get this written out and posted, it will change the world.”
Jesus: “Go ahead. Copy and paste that sequence in our book. But what are you going to do after that?”
Me: “I don’t know. I guess I really don’t have to do a thing. You already explained everything.”
Jesus: “And how long has that been sitting there?”
Me: “About 2000 years.”
Jesus: “And didn’t you just write a chapter about all the different beliefs? Didn’t you just read about how all those denominations changed the sequence of events, added to it, omitted important details, wrote cannons and doctrines on the subject?”
Me: “Well yes I did. But we agree on most points.”
Jesus: “You already know, when you agree with people, they consider you a reliable source of information. As long as you agree with them, you are a genius. But as soon as you bring up one point they don’t agree with, you turn into an idiot in their eyes. You go through that almost everyday. Haven’t you learned anything from those experiences?”
Me: “Well I guess I did. So what do I do next?”
Jesus: “ How did you end your last chapter?”
Me: “ With some scripture about you being the all knowing God, and people in this world have a difficult time accepting that fact.”
Jesus: “Can you tell me that story word for word?”
Me: “Well no.”
Jesus: “I can.”
Me: “Okay. So what do you want me to do next?”
Jesus: “The reason people do not seek my knowledge is because they don’t understand how to communicate with me. So you have to explain how you communicate with me.”
Me: “That makes sense.”
Jesus: “So we agree. That sequence of events has to wait. There are steps people have to learn before they can, for lack of a better term, open their minds and hearts to understanding.”
Me: “I see.”
Jesus: “Are you ready now?”
Me: “Yep. Now I am.”
Jesus: “Then let’s get to that book.”
Me: “Okay. Where do I start?”
Jesus: “By admitting you had the wrong idea.”
Me: “Ouch!”
Communicating with Jesus is not very difficult. But there are a few things you need to learn to put together. One of those things is the way Jesus sets a course in your life. Before you can hope to accept and understand the sequence of events concerning the judgment process, you have to learn how Jesus establishes events in your life for a purpose.
During this past week I was thinking of William Miller. You can search William Miller on the Internet and do some research on his life. You will notice, a lot of articles are biased. They either support Miller, or totally reject him. Why? William Miller is mostly known for his prediction of Jesus’ return in October of 1844. Of course Miller was wrong. We are still here. That is about all most people know about William Miller. But what prompted Miller to make that prediction? That is where the story gets interesting.
There is a popular second level some people follow William Miller on. That is based on the field and study of prophecy. Some people dwell on that level and never get past it. They think if they are able to see a few details in the future, they have some sort of security. I’m not sure what that is.
William Miller was a self taught student of the Bible. Or at least that is what main stream religion wants people to believe. Although William Miller was focused or restricted to time studies in the Bible, he did come up with s number of interpretations that are now accepted by quite a number of major denominations. Those denominations had to either rewrite a lot of their beliefs or add to them. It’s sad to think people focused and restricted their view on Miller to prophecy when Miller had so much more to offer.
Before Miller, the subject of Bible study had few if any rules. Miller came up with a set of Bible Study Rules. He published that list of Bible Study Rules with the scripture to back them up. Those rules became the back bone of theology institutions all over the world. The sad part is, people either ignored, or were afraid of Miller’s explanation of how he found and gathered that list of Bible Study Rules.
Main stream Christianity saw or created a threat out of Miller’s explanations. William Miller was not self taught in the art of Bible Study. Miller never claimed to be self taught. Miller never took an ounce of credit. Miller gave all the credit to God. Miller explained how God took him from one step to the next. There is a book called the Memoirs of William Miller. It is a great book and I would suggest you read it. That was one of the ways Jesus communicated with me throughout the week and confirmed our conversation before we had it. After about 3 years, I ran across my copy of the book, The Memoirs of William Miller. I gave it to a friend. I had no idea I gave away that book. It is a great reference source. A book I read three times. You see, William Miller was not ashamed to describe how Jesus communicated with him. Miller was not afraid to tell the world, Jesus taught him how to study the Bible. Miller was not afraid to tell the world, Jesus gave him that list of Bible Study Rules. Miller gave all the credit to God. I have no idea why main stream Christianity is afraid of a guy who gives all the credit to God. But that’s the way it is today. We just have to learn to deal with it.
To make a long story short, William Miller thought he was working on a prophecy about Jesus’ return to this world and end of this world as we know it. He worked out so many details, it sort of spun his mind around. Miller made one fatal error. He set his mind on proving something he believed was true. Miller was convinced he was working on a prophecy about the end of the world. The prophecy was about cleansing the Sanctuary. Miller interpreted the Sanctuary as the earth. Cleansing the earth has to point to its destruction. But of course the Sanctuary pointed to the Heavenly Sanctuary. And cleansing the Sanctuary pointed to the beginning of the judgment phase of Jesus’ ministry in Heaven. We will look at more of that later.
The point is. William Miller wrote a book about how Jesus communicated with him, taught him, and every detailed step. That scares the stuffing out of religious institutions. William Miller is one of the few modern men to write an account of how he communicated with Jesus. And that information is being buried. Why? I really don’t care to ask why. I am more concerned with reviewing Miller’s book and learning from it.
Some institutions actually support Miller to one degree of another. They mostly rely on the prophetic interpretations Miller recorded. But to keep Miller’s communication with God at a minimum, they slice out the prophetic portions of his book, claim their highest ranking theologians studied his book, and saved you the problem of reading all 400 or so pages. Gee thanks. Those institutions made prophecy a path to God’s throne. They made prophecy the main focus and basically used prophecy as a smoke screen to hide the lessons Miller really focused on, his relationship with Jesus. The institutions replaced a relationship with Jesus with a handful of prophecies and the idea they can see into the future.
The fascinating part of the story is, Jesus allowed Miller to follow his idea in one particular area. The belief that the prophecy was about the end of the earth. History shows us, Miller was wrong on that detail. History also shows us, no one was able to explain the prophecy actually pointed to Jesus entering the Heavenly Sanctuary to begin the judgment process until after that prophecy was fulfilled. That is just the way God works. No one is certain about any prophecy until after it is fulfilled. The Bible contains over 300 prophecies about Jesus’ ministry on earth. No one was able to understand any of them until all were fulfilled, and Jesus rose from that grave and went back to Heaven. We just have to accept the fact, that’s the way God operates.
So do we condemn a man because he was wrong on one point? That’s ridiculous. Many of the prophecies Miller interpreted are accepted by many major religions. It took some time, but people began to see, you can’t argue with scripture. When Jesus entered the Heavenly Sanctuary, it was basically a repeat of history. No one understood the prophecies about Jesus’ ministry on earth until after they were fulfilled. Only a small number of people grasped onto the truth at the very beginning. It took years for other people to catch on. The same pattern was followed for Jesus’ ministry on earth, and His ministry in Heaven.
Here is an interesting fact I want to add here. Miller had between 50,00 and 500,000 followers world wide. Out of all of those people, only about a dozen took his Bible Study Rules and the information Miller taught about his relationship with Jesus seriously. That is well under 1%. Some groups accepted Miller’s Bible Study Rules and tried to continue the studies. They soon fizzled out. Other groups concentrated on the relationship side of what Miller taught. They didn’t last long either. The few who kept the two combined, in other words, Bible Study with Jesus’ Spirit, went on the write hundreds of books, teach a handful of other people, and see the world accept portions of Miller’s interpretations for some of the major prophecies in the Bible. It took time and the learning process it not over.
I thought it would be interesting to look at a few other facts. I looked up the book ranking on The Memoirs of William Miller. Here are the numbers.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,302,360 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
#332 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects > Protestantism > Seventh-Day Adventist
#440 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects > Protestantism > Seventh-Day Adventist
#446440 in Books > Religion & Spirituality
Surprisingly, the book ranks rather high. The book is also available as a free PDF download from a number of sources. The question is, if this book is that popular, why do we hear so little about the relationship William Miller had with Christ? The only logical reason is, people reading that book focus on the prophecies in that book and are not interested in the parts about his relationship with Christ Miller painstakingly recorded. Just another fact showing how the mind can quickly be closed to learning.