Vic - may our Father above bless you and the Christ that died and arose from the dead, so that we can live and have peace through the first resurrection, keep you in his love and peace.
You are there, just a little bit further. Please forgive me if I sound patronizing or as more than what God has given me.
When we think of spiritual things, we often keep them in a spiritual framework, however there is a physical side to Jesus Christ that we need to be careful not to ignore. When Christ ascended into heaven, the nature of his being was in a glorified state of "physicalness". When he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, he was in a physical state. The disciples saw and felt him while he was in a physical state.
John 20:24-29 (ESV)
24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus asked them about his physical nature and he ate with them after his resurrection.
Luke 24:37-43(KJV)
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled ? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have .
40 And when he had thus spoken , he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered , he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
(08-14-2011 01:25 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ] Jesus is our sabbath rest--every day. So I am thinking that Exo. is the shadow of when Christ was to come and is now spiritual rest every day, not the physical as the law dictated---and to which we are not bound to follow.
Very True. He is our "rest".
Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV)
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest .
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(Lord remind me daily to take your yoke upon me)
But we need to be careful to remember he is the
Lord of the sabbath, not the sabbath itself.
I don't want to get off the physical topic though.
(08-14-2011 01:25 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Except that Jesus said He fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the Messiah. He already holds the throne of David by fulfilled lineage and prophecy-- but His kingdom is not of this world which will be destroyed.
He is rightful king to the throne of David. But he has yet to come and take that throne - physically. We have yet to see some of those things that scripture indicates we will see - in the physical realm.
[color=#FF4500]1. Matthew 24:29-30
29 Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened , and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken :
30 And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn ,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
2. Zechariah 14:1-4, 9-11, 16-18
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh , and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken , and the houses rifled , and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth , and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turnedc as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up , and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited .
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up , and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
The bible says that
EVERY knee shall bow to Jesus as king, even of the earth:
Isaiah 45:22-24 (KJV)
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved , all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return , That unto me every knee shall bow , every tongue shall swear .
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come ; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed
Phillipians 2:8-11 (KJV)
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow , of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As of today, not every knee has bowed to the name of the Jesus Christ, and for those people that make it through the tribulation in the end times, for they will bow when they see him come in all his Glory.
We believers are humbled by this and are reminded when we read this that Christ is King and will rule this earth; for God's glory and to show man how it is to be done.
Yes, this earth as we know it will go through tumultuous times as spoke of in Rev. But, Jesus will rule this old earth. There are many things that are happening in this earth; in the seat of governments, in the palaces of earthly kings, in the streets and in the courts that are unjust and downright evil. We need a perfect king. And there will be a time where we think the perfect king has come. But it will be the most evil ruler that has ever ruled.
Matthew 24:15-16, 21-22
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth , let him understand 
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be .
22 And except those days should be shortened , there should no flesh be saved : but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened .
Revelation 12:12-16
12 Therefore rejoice , ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time *, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ
This is the part that concerns me the most. We as Christians should be aware of what is going to happen. God, through his prophets and writers of the Bible tell us what is going to happen - and about the approximate time that it is going to happen.
It appears that most people on this board know there will not be a pre-trib rapture. For those that believe Christ is coming in a "secret" rapture will be most hurt by this false teaching. Their hopes will be dashed because they will have thought that they were escaping what will come next. But they won't, and they won't be prepared.
But even so, we who know and believe that the only return of Christ will be the one time that he takes his throne, we need to be sure that we are prepared. We need to be aware that trials and tribulations such that have never NEVER been seen before will be upon us. We will be tested, our faith will be tried even unto death. We need to "watch" and "pray" that our love for God does not grow cold. We need to remember his promise. He will be with us, in the glorified physical state.
Revelation 21:3-6
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying , Behold , the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away .
5 And he that sat upon the throne said , Behold , I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write : for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done . I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things;a and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
After Christ's
millennial reign, there will be a new earth and a new heaven:
Revelation 20:13-15, 21:1-3 (KJV)
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years...
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them...
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying , Behold , the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
When you quote Gal 4:22-31,
Paul is also using this as a metaphor to confirm to the Galatians that the Mosaic law is under the power of what happened in Jerusalem upon Christ's death and resurrection. Paul even says he's speaking allegorically (interesting that this is only place in the KJV this word is used). So, I'm not clear on how this is being related to Jesus taking (or not taking) the throne of David physically on this Earth.
John 3:5-6 (KJV)
5 Jesus answered , Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot * enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
1 Cor 2:9-16 (KJV)
9 But as it is written * , Eye hath not seen , nor * ear heard , neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received , not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak , not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth * ; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither * can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned .
15 But he that is spiritual judgethc all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
I love this verse. God confirms that he tells us things before they happen:
Isa 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
(08-14-2011 01:25 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ]Death is swallowed up in victory now.
Very true again. Christ is victorious over death and hell. That's what his resurrection proves. Christ however has not yet destroyed Death and Hell, though he has the power to do so.
Revelation 1:18 (KJV)
18 I am he that liveth , and was dead; and, behold , I am alive for evermore *, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Death and Hell will be destroyed at the end of his millennial reign.
There is more to write on this. But this needs to be posted so as to not kill this topic.
(08-18-2011 05:06 PM)Vic Wrote: [ -> ][color=#1E90FF][b]Apparently I must have said something to kill the thread. 
Wow, I thought i was the only thread killer
JK
. This week has been very busy for me with very little time to read and post.
Tied up also, but hopefully get back to this soon.