Posted on 01/21/2011 3:01:25 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psalm 2:1-3)
The first two Psalms go together. Perhaps it isn’t immediately apparent, because in some ways they are completely different, but I believe the Holy Spirit led those who placed them side by side as the opening of the Psalter.
Psalm one examines a lone individual, a God worshipping , scripture meditating disciple who has made a serious break with the thinking of his day. He is separate internally, he seeks other counsel than the prevailing opinions, he loves to be constantly re-oriented in his soul to the Word of God.
He is described in the singular, whereas the “ungodly”, the “sinners and the scornful” are pluralities in the Psalm. The assumption is that it is their worldview which is the prevailing thinking of the day. This one stands alone, and nourishes himself by a different fountain than everyone else.
The second Psalm, on the other hand, looks at the whole world. The entire planet is in a state of revolt, led by its political, educational, and religious leaders. The nations of the world are in turmoil, and their populations are gripped by an empty illusion,( A vain imagination). Traditional restraints are cast into the wind, a kind of social revolution is taking place, led by the elite on all levels.
I believe that though this Psalm has been fulfilled in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, involving the collusion of Pilate, Herod, and the corrupt high priests of Israel, (Acts 4:25-28) there is a further eschatological application of it as well. This Psalm is a prophecy of the geopolitical and cultural reality at the time of the coming of the Lord in Glory to Judge the world in Righteousness.
The nations are definitely in an uproar, indeed, “the heathen Rage“. Consider our times,
China rages, for it is awakening after two centuries of humiliating subjugation by western colonial powers,(the opium wars, etc), the harrowing World War 2 experience, a massive social upheaval , Communist revolution and the pragmatic decision to Capitalize their economy while remaining a totalitarian communist entity .
The perception is that it is time for China to take her place as a world power, increasing her presence in the competition for African resources, oil and gas, military dominance of the Pacific region , etc. China’s generals are bellicose in their pronouncements about their ability to reach cities like Los Angeles with their missiles. To the long remembering Chinese, there are definite scores to settle.
Russia also rages. The desire for the former glory as a world superpower has catapulted former KGB operative Vladimir Putin into a popular icon in Russia. The Russians have been newly empowered by oil money, they are re-arming at an alarming rate, and the brutal crushing of Georgia, in the final days of the Bush presidency was reminiscent of the worst of the old Soviet suppressions.
Russia also sees itself as a player in the middle east, arming Syria ,Hezbollah controlled Lebanon, and aiding Nuclear Iran in spite of world sanctions.
The Muslim World rages also, due to several converging factors. The rebirth of the State of Israel, and its successful repelling of invasions by combined Muslim armies has humiliated and inflamed the Moslem world. The existence of Israel, a modern, secular, western democracy in the very heart of the middle east is an affront to Muslim pride.
To make matters worse, the secularizing trend that swept the Moslem world after World War 1 has been seen as a failure in the Ummah, and perhaps even the cause of Islam’s failure to eradicate te Jewish state. As a consequence, Islamism has swept the world,in the form of Wahhabism, a puritanical Sunni version of Islam. It has been fueled by oceans of oil money , pouring out of Saudi Arabia, literally radicalizing once complacent Muslims from Indonesia to California, causing havoc.
When a Christian is revived and becomes more like Jesus, good things happen, people are helped, healed, encouraged, virtue is promoted and everyone benefits. When Muslims are revived to become more like the pirate and murderer that they consider to be ‘the perfect man’, bad things, terrible and even violent things happen.
The Nations of the World are in an uproar, Africa is turbulent, India and Pakistan are both Nuclear, and hate each other with a passion, Shia Islam has conducted the first successful modern Jihad, with the help of the Jimmy Carter administration, pulling the rug out from underneath the Shah of Iran. Europe is literally dying, due to birth control and abortion, and the Western democracies are going broke, thanks to the failed Socialistic policies that became widespread after World War 2.
This is the setting of Psalm 2, where the attention is turned to the leaders, the Kings of the earth, and the rulers.
This scripture in Matthew talks about what you were asking..
Matthew 25:73
They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
I have to say this if you don’t mind, you making a claim that the Gospels are un-true or did not happen is no different that Atheists saying there is no proof of G-d or that he was involved in writing the Bible...
If you think it is different how...
LOL..Not that this is funny but just ironic I come here in defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I go to the other secular site and have to defend the entire Bible that it’s not a fairytale and that 1 G-d exists that was the Creator of all created.
Many young people today are giving up on religion, they have no interest in G-d and the Bible...Very sad, but a Sign of the Times...
Well maybe I don’t understand what you are saying, but from what I read, the LORD has not exterminated the Angels.
Otherwise he would of already obliterated Satan and 1/3 of the Angels he banished from the Heavenly Realms...
Maybe I am missing something, but I just do not see in Scripture where Angels have been exterminated.
I see many have been banished...
I have another question for you...I would like to present a
scenario to you...Say the *Jesus story* never came about, the Jews had the Torah and the Gentile Pagan world went along living thier life....
What makes you think from Torah or the Tanakh that the Pagan world would of ever embraced the laws of Noah? Many ancient civilizations I have read about lived in Peace, were successful in there work, had and lived by a secular Code of Ethics and had no need for the G-d of the Jews..
Not every civilization was ruthless tyrannts like the Roman Soldiers and the constant wars in the Ancient Middle East....
So giving that scenario, how would the world of progressed in wanting to embrace *monotheism* when they had no need for it, and the Ancient Jewish People were not mandated by Elohim to spread the Laws of Noah.
The Ancient Jews were constantly persecuted by Pagan Societies they ahd no interest in loosing there lives by spreading the Laws of Noah, which civilizations had no interest in....
http://history-world.org/ancient_civilization.htm
You didn’t answer any of my questions at all AND you are using a particular source to verify itself. lol
Here, I’ll repost it for you so you don’t have to scroll up.
The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, writing during the second half of the first century AD, produced two major works: History of the Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, and he had not one word to say about this most extraordinary occurrence. Fifty days after the alleged event, Peter was giving a speech recorded in Acts 2, but said nothing about the saints rising. Paul, who spoke at great length (1 Corinthians 15) to convince his listeners that Yehoshua’s resurrection had occurred, had nothing to say about it either.
The appearance of these bodies “unto many” must have been the sensation of a lifetime for the residents of Jerusalem. If this remarkable event actually happened, why did only Matthew report it? About twenty percent of the gospels is repetition so it is not as if New Testament writers did not like to repeat what others have written; repetition of the most mundane events occurs everywhere, so why didn’t Mark, Luke, John, Peter, or Paul write about the dead bodies of the saints marching through Jerusalem, appearing unto many?
Also, how come Matthew doesn’t think we should know the names of the saints that rose from their graves? Why doesn’t he tell us with whom the bodies of the saints met, and what they said—assuming they said anything, and where they went after their appearance unto the many? Did the bodies of the saints dutifully return to their graves after a polite visit, or did they remain for years among the residents of Jerusalem? Is there proof for this event that has so many unanswerable questions?
You’re obviously not reading the posts.
From what I have read about it...
If you are asking me if I have solid *Proof* for this, not I don’t, but your claims are not verified by Proof as well..
We are lead by *Faith* not *Proof*
And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
Christ’s, and the accomplishment of a prophecy in Isaiah 26:19.(But your dead will live, LORD;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.
And they rose in the same bodies in which they before lived, otherwise they could not be called their bodies, or known by those to whom they appeared: but who they were is not to be known; some have thought them to be the ancient patriarchs, as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
In the Septuagint on Job 42:17, Job is said to be one of them, and a tradition is there recorded..
And so Job died, an old man and full of years.
“it is written, that he rose with whom the Lord rose.
But it should seem rather, that they were some later saints, such as Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, John the Baptist himself, good old Simeon, Joseph the husband of Mary, and others, well known to persons now alive. Some think they were such, as had been martyrs in the cause of religion; and so the Persic version renders the words, “and the bodies of many saints who suffered martyrdom, rose out of the graves”.
There is *Evidence* that “Flavius Josephus* knew of Christ...
The following excerpt contains the testimony of Josephus about Jesus Christ in paragraph 3. This famous paragraph is known as the “Testimonium Flavianum” in Latin, or “The Testimony of Flavius.” This reprint is from “The New Complete Works of Josephus”, translated by William Whiston, with commentary by Paul L. Maier. Copyright 1999 by Kregel Publications. Pages 590-591. I have reproduced the William Whiston translation of “Jewish Antiquities” here, including his footnotes.
3. (63) Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.
He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. (64) And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men among us, had condemned him to the cross [2], those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day [3], as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named for him, are not extinct at this day.
http://www.theistic-evolution.com/josephus.html
His first big blunder is trying tell us that Jesus name means salvation. It does not. It is highly deceptive.
First of all, if you go to The Blue Letter Bible online and look up Jesus in the Greek Testament, his name is Ἰησοῦς or Yehoshua, Which means G-d is salvation. Christians call him Yeshua, which is Hebrew is יְשׁוּעָה which is the Greek form of Joshua. So, in Hebrew it is, יְהוֹשׁוּעַ which means salvation but the problem is, that word is a feminine noun and is NEVER used as a name for someone. The other Yeshua in Hebrew that is a name is יֵשׁוּעַ is pronounced the same way (not exactly but very close)and is spelled different! It does not have a HEY on the end. And it DOES NOT mean salvation...it means HE IS SAVED.
So it is total deception to use the name Yeshua=salvation. Jesus name was Joshua per the NT.
Then he says this: Recently I met with a wonderful Orthodox rabbi and asked him: “How would the Jewish people recognize Moshiach when he comes?” He told me, “Moshiach would fulfill a number of predetermined signs that are known only by the sages”
That is either a total lie or he was not talking to an Orthodox Rabbi. The moshiach will perform a number of tasks that are CLEARLY articulated in Tanakh(OT) and therefore it will take NO FAITH to believe that messiah has arrived because it will be plainly observed by ALL MANKIND. Jesus did not fulfill any of these tasks. Therefore he isnt the one.
Then he says: In fact, what I’ve found most interesting in my research of Judaism is the inability of modern Jewsnot counting messianic Jews who believe in Moshiach to reconcile how the Servant Songs of Isaiah 42 and 53 can be fulfilled in one person, namely Y’shua.
The inability of modern Jews to reconcile? This is bunk. The reason why Jews dont accept Jesus as the suffering messiah of Isaiah is because the text is about Israel-the jewish people and says so plainly.
Isaiah For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;Since you are dear in My eyes, you were honored and I loved you. But you, Israel My servant(Singular), Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, who loved Me, "You are My witnesses,"(Israel in the plural) says the Lord, "and My servant(Israel in the singular) whom I chose," And now, hearken, Jacob My servant(Singular), and Israel whom I have chosen...Remember these, O Jacob; and Israel, for you are My servant(singular); etc...
Isaiah clearly identifies the Servant who suffers...Israel! The jewish people. If you have any doubts, look at the Roman slaughter of the Bar Kochba rebellion, The Crusades, The Inquisition, The many pogroms of Europe, Jews slaughtered and kick out of every country in Europe. and the crowning achievement of the goyim, the Holocaust. Even today, only 60 odd years after the mass murder of the Nazi's, Jews are considered viruses, untermenchen, subhuman, pigs, monkeys, apes, demons, vampires, mongrels etc...the only way to stuff 1.5 million children and 4.5 million adults into ovens,mass graves, gas chambers is to first mar their visage beyond that of a man. Jesus, although scouraged, was still identifiable on the cross and no one thought of him as sub-human.
Then he says this: As a result, Jewish sages looked for a two-Messiah solution—one who would die for the sins of the people and another who would come to reign as king. They called the first Messiah ben Joseph (son of Joseph), and the second they called Messiah ben David (son of David). They taught that Messiah ben Joseph would be killed in the Battle of Gog and Magog and that the Messiah ben David would come, win the battle, and raise Messiah ben Joseph from the dead. Today, this theory still exists. However, many Jews, including some Orthodox Jews, have supplanted Messiah ben Joseph as the suffering servant with the theory that Israel is the suffering servant.
Wrong again. messiah ben joseph is prophsied to be killed in a great war Zech 12:10. A midrash (like a sermon) speculates that messiah ben Joseph will be the first of all the resurrections that we (the righteous of G-d) will all experience at the end of days. And he is STILL a different personage than messiah ben David. The two messiahs (two of many many messiahs mind you) are living at the same time. Cant be Jesus.
That is about as far as I want to go with this guy. He doesnt know what he is talking about.
Hey Blasater!
Glad to hear your opinion on this..What did you think of the part concerning *Islam* and Allah? I thought that was quite remarkable and how he equated that with the hidden name of *Lucifer*
Also do you believe the the *Gap Theory* that many ascribe to in Genesis 1 and 2?
Oh,
One other thing I wanted to ask you....it was concerning his book, do you think the *Holocaust* was already being prophecized in the Book of Isaiah and Zachariah? he said that horror that the Jewish People went through was a *Sacrafice for Israel* so the land of Israel could be establised again as the prophets said...
I just never heard of it put that way in Scripture....
On the gap theory, it has been a while since I have studied that in detail but I personally believe the Genesis account is 6 creation periods or era's which is permissible in Hebrew. Yom echad, Day one, can be a non-24 hr period of time. G-d would have to be deceptive in order to accomplish a literal 7 day creation by giving the "appearance" of great age, including deceptively setting photons in motion from distant points in the universe to make it "look" like these objects were of acient origin. G-d is not a deceiver, therefore the creation periods must be long. Also, we are still in the 7th day or 7th era. The bible doesnt mention the end of the 7th day.
Okay..Thanks for answering....I am always reading and mainly about religion and the ancient world!
Sometimes quantum physics, but that takes some time!
Yikes!
Shalom!
Tarah!
Experts have already shown that the Josephus account was a forgery.
Where did I say they were untrue? Which post specifically?
Interesting. The Maya's believe the present age will end in 2012 and that there have been several ages already. People tend to think the Maya's were saying that he world would end in 2012, but, that isn't what they were saying at all.
The ancient Egyptians too believed in many ages, one for each sign of the zodiac. I forget how many thousands of years each age was supposed to be.
Maybe this will help TaraP out.
Some of the NT is accurate, some is in error. Some of the errors were sincere mistakes, some were deliberate mis-translations.
The discrepancy in Acts also shows that there are errors in the NT. When the Masoretic text of the O(riginal) Testament was translated into Greek, some deliberate mis-translations and or deliberate mis-transliterations occured.
Jewish Rabbis translated the first 5 books, but that is all that they translated. Which also might explain the falsification of Yeshua's name.
Anyone that thinks that Jewish parents, that were strong adherents to the Judaic principles and lived in a Jewish contextual setting would give their son a Greek name is lacking in common sense.
The use of the name 'Jesus' is evidence that Christian leaders promote intentional error for the sake of tradition.
Whereas one could argue the early Greek name of Iesous may have been an innocent mistake, there is no excuse why today's Christian leaders continue to willfully promote a name for their messiah that is undeniably false.
The point is that there is a big difference between a translation and a transliteration, and 'Jesus' originates from a transliteration, NOT a translation of their Messiah's name. So, 'Jesus' is a defective pronunciation of the original Greek word, Iesous, which was a transliteration - NOT a translation - of their messiah's actual Hebrew name. The most profound fact, however, is that Christian leaders know this yet continue to intentionally misrepresent truth. They knowingly promote a false name for their messiah.
Acts 7 (KJV)
45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Hebrews 4 (KJV)
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Acts 7 (NASB)
45 "And having received it in their turn, our fathers (1) brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.
Hebrews 4 (NASB)
8 For (1) if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
In BOTH of these verses the person being referred to is Joshua - the servant of Moses that lead Israel into the promised land. The reason the KJV says 'Jesus' is because it comes from the exact same Greek word, Iesous, and the King James Version translators apparently did not catch the error.
These verses help to further understand the difference between translation and transliteration. 'Joshua' is NOT a transliteration, but it does come from the Greek word Iesous, which IS a transliteration. 'Joshua' is a correct translation from the original Hebrew and is the actual "english translation" of their messiah's name. The translators CORRECTLY rendered 'Joshua' because they knew it to be the TRUE translation of the original Hebrew name for the servant of Moses. In short, they ignored the Greek transliteration, Iesous, because they knew it to be faulty.
If the translators of Scripture elsewhere, especially in the O(riginal) Testament and also in most modern versions of the New Testament, CORRECTLY render the SAME Greek word, Iesous, as 'Joshua' in Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8, why do they refuse to correct the false rendering of 'Jesus' for the name of their messiah? IT IS THE SAME GREEK WORD! The English equivalent of their messiah's name is 'Joshua' (Yeshua, Yahshua, Yehosua), NOT 'Jesus'.
Why is their messiah's name correctly translated ONLY in the cases where it doesn't apply to him? Why does Christianity willfully refuse to correctly render their messiah's Hebrew name even when they correctly render the exact same Greek word in cases where he is not the one being referenced?
This shows that even translators know 'Jesus' is NOT correct.
There was no J common in the English language until around the 16th century. Prior to that time, those words now shown with a J were pronounced as though the J was a Y. So 'Joshua', even in English, is proven conclusively to be (Yeshua, Yahshua, or Yehoshua) when the original Y sound is used. Thus, it is IMPOSSIBLE for 'Jesus' to be anything close to the true name, because the 'J' sound did not exist when he was alive!
Did you catch that? The name 'Jesus' is proven to be incorrect simply from the fact the word 'Jesus' did not exist until only 500 years ago because there was no such thing as a J in the language!
This fact, alone, shows that 'Jesus' is a false name for their messiah.
IF the church can't even get the name right - one of THE most basic things - how can one believe their other doctrines are correct? If church leaders can't get the name right, I'm not going to trust them with anything else - especially not my eternal soul!
This is a "picture" of the gentile kings (world leaders) being astonished at the rise of Israel from the ashheaps of history. For 2000 years the land of Israel has been a wasteland. The crusaders could not bring it back to life. The 1400 years of Mulim occupation left it a wasteland. Now after the gastly horrors of the Holocaust, the Jewish people return with NOTHING but the shirts on their backs to Israel. And after only 62 years, look at Israel! As of 2010, Israel ranks 17th among of the world's most economically developed nations, according to IMD's World Competitiveness Yearbook rankings. It has more start-ups than Silicon Valley and has the highest number of patents per capita in the world. Spiritually, the is more Torah learning now in Israel than at anytime in History!. Israel has had astoshing miracles of battle. It is a land of miracles!
Israel is afflicted by G-d for her sins butG-d never gave the nations permission to murder them by the millions. G-d will judge the nations harshly for that. The word holocaust means "whole burnt" like a sacrificial offering or korban. The Jewish people were in a sense collectively martyred. In doing so, they bore not their own sins, but the sins of the nations who participated in their murder. Again, G-d does not subject the Jewish people to murder. It is the gentile nations who sinned in slaughtering the Jews without cause.
LOL..Yes GOD is so nit picky that the wording of his name is a make it or break it deal...
IMO that is utterly ridiculous...
How many gazillions have been on this earth??? Many tribes and civilizations have used a name or term for the *Christ*
GOD does not think like you, or any human being, he knows the heart, the mind and the soul of everyone on earth or who has been on earth.....
Yes Jesus was a Jew had a Jewish family and they gave him a hebrew name but that name is not what transformed people it was *Who he was* that transformed people....
I will let GOD be the one to decide on who he is going to punish for using a name in-correctly to different tribes and civilizations in the world....
Netizen,
No offense, but you make G-d sound like some Big Universal Angry King, ready to whip anyone with the infinite strap who is not obedient...
Give G-d a break he is more love than anger...
He is slow to anger and Wrath...
Every person I have asked why they believe in Jesus Christ is because of a *Transformation* the Holy Spirit....That is what transfomed them not a Biblical Classroom, where they said: Oh wow did you know Christ is the Son of GOD?....
So either the Holy Spirit is some greater false spirit than G-d that has transfomed millions of people on the earth for over 2000 years, or the Holy Spirit is the Spirit the Christ has blessed on those who believe....
.....
I respect very much the Jewish freepers and Noahides on Free Republic that have great knowledge of the Biblical texts and I have learned quite a bit, like from blasater1960, but my belief in *Christ* is something engrained in my heart and soul and nothing can remove it...
I guess G-d could but he hasn’t.....
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