Bible Study Cover to Cover

Modulous,You have a self defeating way of turning some readers off from carefully considering what you write. Here's one of the rules stated by the Forum Administrators. Rule # Ten of Forum Rules Reads: Stuff like you write below, should be discouraged: If you're one of the head haunchos around this Forum you might consider setting a better example. Are you sometimes a Moderator yourself or something ?Maybe your goal is not to educate or enlighten but just offend and insult some people. Anyway, I think you should speak here in public print as you would at home around your family. (I think). Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

It says to avoid behavior which is inflamatory.Do you actually think your flimsy tissue of an excuse helped his case ? I don't.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

You heard it from Taz folks. Preaching or just recounting a story rather than debating is OKAY!Now, where was I ? Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I would like to back up to the matter of Abram (Abraham).The backround of Abram's calling by God is the Tower of Babel. Here at the Tower of Babel God could not get through with the created race. So to fulfill His plans He starts a new line, a new race so to speak. He initiates the CALLED race. Abram is God giving up on the Adamic created race and initiating the called race headed by Abram.The dark backround of Babel is the reason for the starting of God , afresh, with the race under the called Abram.But you have to be careful. When I say God gave up on the created race I do not mean it absolutely. He is calling Abram out of Chaldee with a view to eventually blessing the Adamic race. In Abram all the famnilies of the earth will be blessed. In other words God will reach around again through Abram, head of the called race, in order to bless the Adam race.Now some of us Christians speak of the Fall of Man. But actually it is better to see in Genesis about four falls. Man kind of fell down and down and down four times. The last of these was the Tower of Babel incident. Then God gave up in a way and calls a new race headed by Abram.You'll have to read about it again. You fortunate folks. How many splendid hours of reading you have to look forward to in this book the BIBLE !

Now without quoting too much, I would like to give a little synopsis of the area around Genesis 12..We should not think that Abram was full of faith. The entire record shows that he hesitated, daoubted, dragged his feet, and was reluctant to answer God's call.Do not think of "father Abram" as that much unlike the typical person. He was full of doubts after God called him to depart his land, his father's house, his people, and to go to a land that God would reveal to him. Abram obeyed God's call only reluctantly.I think that reading between the lines we see that his dad may have been a hindrance. His brother Haran may have been a hindrance also. The Bible says that after the death of this or that person Abram moves on.You also do not see God telling Abram right away WHERE he is going. There is no map. In a sense God Himself was Abram's map. He must have moved according to his fellowship with God. When he felt that he arrived at a place where God was happy, he stayed there. Sometimes THERE he erected an altar and called on the name of God.This is a picture, I believe, of a man following God by the presence of God. He does not know exactly WHERE he is being led. But he is following his fellowship with God somehow.The first real test to this is the .... FAMINE. The famine causes Abram to have to depart down into Egypt. Not only does he get off track and assume that he has to go to Egypt. He is persuaded that he has to lie about his wife through whom part of God's promise is to be fulfilled, is to come. He almost sacrifrices his wife to protect himself.We might ask - "What about God's promise to you Abram? What about the SEED and what about the land and the descendents?"Abram's weakness is revealed in the Egypt affair. However, God is faithful. God reveals that Sarai is not his sister but his wife. In the midst of a famine Abram is sent away with loads of material wealth and a rebuke for lying about his wife.God has taken Abram through this test. Abram must have come out of Egypt feeling like a poor unbelieving fool. Yet God has been faithful and Abram has leaned a big lesson. God is well able to provide ALL of Abram's needs even in famine.The point here is that God will protect Abram for the sake of God's promise. Abram need not be worried. The well being of his prophet is to the vested interest of God.You'll have to drop down somewhere in Genesis 12 or so to read about it.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I am willing to forgive Modulous.I have. Even if he doesn't need or care for it, I am willing to forget it.Now I am speaking about going through the Bible. But I am not doing it in my customary fashion. I am making informal comments.I am not stopping to quote every relevant passage. Some of this is according to my memory without opening up the Bible, at least yet. I remember a lot because I have studied this Bible with great teachers and on my own for many years.To not always provide quotation often causes errors. But you all will have to read it to catch my errors. So it is a win win for me.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Now we are talking about going through the Bible cover to cover.I don't expect to really do that. But some thoughts on Genesis are in order.Now I will informally contribute some things. Some of you will be able to hear it. Others will not be able to. Now Abram pitches his tent inbetween two places - Ai and Bethel. Ai means "heap of ruins" or something close. Bethel means "house of God".Now this to some of us is not insgnificant. The Bible ends with the New Jerusalem as the house of God. It starts with the fall and ruin of man because of the curse brought on at Adam's failure.The RUIN is behind to the rear of Abram. And the house of God is before him. Check me out on this. I think one is on the west and one is on the east. This is kind of loose and informal until I get called on the carpet for it.The picture here is that behind Abram is the world in a heap of ruins because of the fall. Before the man of faith is the house of God because of God's promises. Abram is on a journey. from the ruination of mankind and his world to Bethel - the house of God. That is a full salvation where God and man are together.Now this is what I really want to say to those who can receive it. A good way, listen ... a good way to read the BIBLE is to get a firm grasp of the destination.I mean this. First read the 21rst and 22nd chapter of Revelation. No you will not understand it all. But you will get a general picture of WHERE the Bible is GOING. You see the DESTINATIION. You see the CLIMAX of the whole revelation of God. Read the last two chapters of the Bible. Read it often.Having DONE that then back to where you are in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, EZRA, Luke, Acts, or where ever you may be at the time. Then remember it is to THIS Conclusion that EVERYTHING is moving. This New Jerusalem is the culmination. She is the climax and ultimate destiny.In other words - ALL that God is doing throughout the whole Bible has THIS New Jerusalem in view. This is what it is all for. This is the direction all things are going towards.It is recommended that you grasp WHERE everything ends up in Revelation 21 and 22. It is recommended that you remind yourself "THis is how it is all going to end. And it is this that God is constantly working towards."Grasp something of the ultimate conclusion. And then keep your eyes on that through all the twists and turns of everything that happens in the Bible. It is all for the New Jerusalem. It is all headed in that direction and concludes at that destination.This keeps you on track in your reading through the Bible. It is all for the buildng and establishing of this eternal city where God and man are one - New Jerusalem.Try it. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

In Genesis 12 Abram builds an altar for the first time (Gen. 12:7). The altar signifies Abram is living by faith. He serves God and all he has is for God. Abram is offering to God of what he has.This is at least Abram's desire - to live for God; to live unto God; to offering his life and all that he has for God. Of course Abram will need perfecting by God to live this way. And immediately after offering to God in chapter 12 he is tested by the famine which causes him to go down into Egypt.If anyone can receive it, there is a deeper significance in the altar. The altar of Abram can be compared to the tower of Babel. The tower of Babel was made with bricks which the people burned (Gen. 11:3) In a deeper sense this is significant. Bricks for stone went into the building of the tower of Babel. And those bricks were burned. Abram used what was naturally found in the earth, stone.Remeber that the Bible concludes with a city New Jerusalem, built up with symbolic precious stones of 12 kinds. These are found naturally in the earth. But the bricks of the tower of Babel had to be burned.The earth was made to grow life. The burning of the earth to make bricks may signify then that the function of life was destroyed out of the earth. What was meant to grow life was burnt in order to make the proud tower in opposition to God, to make a name for mankind.Man's kingdom invariably has to destroy within man that which is there for the growing of the life of God. Man must be burnt, the capacity to receive God and to grow God must be exterminated out of man or man is no good for the worldly kingdom. In the rebellion of man all the people must be made rid of God and of the capacity to have God living in them. They must be thoroughly "burnt".However, man as he was created is made to grow God. He is made for the growing of God that God may build him up into a habitation of God - Bethel, the house of God. Abram altar was of the natural stones found in the earth. This is in contrast to the burnt bricks used for the tower of Babel.Man was created for the building up of the habitation of God - New Jerusalem seen symbolically in the closing pages of the Bible. But the enemy of God does not want God to build His habitation for God and man to dwell together. The rebellion causes all capacity of divine life and receiving to be "burnt" out of man to stake him up into a tower of spiritual death and godless pride.Here I hope some readers can see the constrast between Abram's altar of stones in Genesis 12 and the tower of Babel in Genesis 11.Remember that: Bethel means the house of God. Ai means the heap of ruins. In the eyes of God man's godless achievment is a heap of ruins. But the man of faith is journeying to the house of God - Bethel.In the house of God God grows in man, abides in man, and is the life of man in a joined and mingled way. He is the divine life dispensed into man for the building up of a mutual dwelling place for God and man.In the fall of man Satan collects the godless to burn all the divine life out of them and stake them up for a proud tower in opposition to God.The God of glory who appeared to people of faith and leading them from this ruination of the Satanic heap to the house of God, the New Jerusalem. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I lost interest after the expounder called God an MF.I guess I had little trouble seeing how that "dogma" was derived from the text. Somehow the pristine objectivity and freedom from subjective bias was lost. Can't imagine how. Not bad. Not real problem with that Purpledawn.Of course the very next few verses suggests a real test to his having everything he needs in the land. Ooops! What's this Lord ? It was hard to enjoy the land that God had given him if he couldn't find anything to eat.God needs to build up faith and trust in his prophet. Many experiences must be passed through. It is the same will all those who walk in faith following Abram. Sure, we give thanks and we have good intentions. But we trust in ourselves to do it. We have to learn that God is faithful. And God will do it. He will call not being as being. He will bring life from the dead.I think you are right that thanksgiving was in mind in Abram erecting an altar. I think I am right too. Abram intended to live for God and offer himself and his substance unto God. You can look at it that way if you wish.I am considering the whole big picture of Abram experience and all that is taught about him in the entire Bible. And your desire to splice and dice and "divide and conquer" the Bible making this and that part have nothing to do with each other, is in view of you pushing your dogma of skepticism.Got it.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Abram made an altar and pitched a tent. Both are significant to the man of faith.The tent signifies that he is a sojourner on the earth. It is not permenant.If it is not evident now it will eventually be evident that Abram was seeking something of another world to come. This especially is evident when Genesis takes a whole chapter to discrobe the particulars of his burial of Sarah his wife when she died. To most of us if we had such a promise of God to ourselves and our spouse, the death of the spouse would have meant the end of it all.Yet Moses takes great detail to discribe how Abraham secured a burial ground for his wife is a field full of nice trees.Hebrews says that Abraham looked for a city whose founder and architect was God. He looked for a better country. I think this means eventually he looked for a supernatural God ordained destination beyond anything this world could offer. I think Abram eventually understood that God's promise involved resurrection and supernatural power of some kind. On this earth he could only sojourn by faith as a temporary passer through. The land may be his someday. But it would be a kingdom of God with God's divine power as its source.

That is arbitrary of you to say that. It is the same book. How are you so sure that all that goes before is concluded and has nothing to do with this new section ?Plus the fact that when Abram has his unfortunate experience in Egypt, where does he go ? He goes BACK to where he was before.So we should not consider the connection lightly. After his hard lessons in Egypt, Abram comes out with his newly acquired wealth and ... You see the place of the first altar is the connection. The place where he first called on the name of the Lord Jehovah. The place between the "heap of ruins" (Ai) and "the house of God" (Bethel).So the stories are indeed connected. They are related. Abram arrives at a place where he fellowships with God. He moves away and descends down into Egypt in doubt and ubnbelief. Yet God is FAITHFUL and brings him out of there with all that he needs. Abram realizes that he needs to go BACK to the beginning. This beginning is where he made his first altar and called on God.Purpledawn's way of trying to cut and slice the story parts from each other darkens deeper significance of the writing.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The gist of Purpledawn's objection is "How do you know the Egypt experience signified any misfortune for Abram?" Well, it turns out by God's sovereignty that the tables were turned and it all became a blessing.But what were the things Abram was faced with which were adverse to him? I think we should contrast the promise of God with the actions of Abram. Here again is a God's promise. Yet Abram wavers and expresses this concern about the Egyptians. Abram fears for his life in going down to Egypt. Rather than expecting any potential harmers to be cursed he rather is concerned that he himself will be killed and robbed of his wife. So Abram schemes to escape murder at the hands of the Egyptians through the half-lie.Of course if Abram is killed in Egypt he will never see the fulfillment of God's promise of the good land. And God has also promised Abram's seed to inherit the good land. But there is reason for Abram to doubt. He is not only in danger of being killed but he and Sarai have not had any child yet. She was barren (Gen. 11:30). And there is a possibility in Abram's mind that any children born to Sarai may be those of an Egyptian.You have to sympathize with the prophet somewhat because when he entered Egypt it says: We may assume not to have tea.Now it does say that Pharoah treated Abram well on a account of Sarai. He thought that Sarai was Abram's sister. But think how Abram must have felt. Now what is going to happen to his seed? What is going to happen to God's promise of a the good land and the multiplied seed of Abram?A monkey wrench of the famine has disrupted everything. The prophet of God is in danger of his life. He has to lie (prophets weren't suppose to do things like that). And he may lose his wife forever. It is hard for me to imagine that Abram felt peaceful about this situation as if all was going "according to plan".It is a situation which Abram cannot solve. God Almighty comes in to solve the problem by striking Pharioah's household with a plague. And God signals to Pharoah that Abram is His prophet and that he best relinquish the prophet's wife. Thank God for the faithfulness of God to rescue the situation of his fearful prophet. Purpledawn before mentioned Abram's thanksgiving revealed in the building of the altar. You can believe that Abram really was thankful here too.He also must have been very humbled. He almost gave his wife away. I think he may have found it difficult to look into her face right away."Oh, you're reading too much into the story. We only care for what the text says and not all this dogma and conjecture." Some may say. Well, Abram is called the father of faith. And as a leading example those who follow him in the way of faith in God glean many important lessons from his experience.God is faithful. Taking care of the prophet is the concern of God for the sake of God's purpose. He will intervene in these tight situations for His sake of keeping His word and securing His interests. I believe that this was a big lesson that Abram learned.In chapter 14 I believe we see how Abram's faith in God encreased because of the lesson he had in Egypt.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I want to repeat that it is a good idea to grasp the conclusion of the Bible in the last two chapters, and use that scene as a calibration. Remind yourself that all things that happen represent God working towards this ultimate goal of the New Jerusalem.This keeps us from getting sidetracked and distracted because there are so many things in the Bible. The sight of the final destination should be the goal we ever keep in mind.Now I will relate this to Abram's tent. New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22 brings God down to the earth to fellowship with man for eternity. It is the city of God's and man's mutual participation. There in the final New Jerusalem the temple of God is for man to worship God and the tabernacle of God is for God to dwell. It is His house. It is also the Bride of Christ as His wife.This is where everything in the Bible ends up. This is the culmination of the eternal purpose of God.Now Abram built an altar and pitched his tent (12:7-8). The first thing Abram cared for in the place between Ai and Bethel, was to worship God. So he erected and altar. He took care of God's worship up front.Abram first pitched his tent at the place between Ai (the heap of ruins) and Bethel (the house of God) (12:8; 13:3) His altar and his tent were a testimony to the world that he lived unto God and for God.His tent was a miniature of the tabernacle of God built by his descendents in the wilderness. That tabernacle was called [b]the "tabernacle of testimony" (Exo. 38:21). And in that taberbacle God's glory came down and dwelt there. God came down to the earth so to speak and dwelt among the Israelites in the tabernacle of testimony.Remember that in New Jerusalem, the taberbacle of God also contains the God of glory who comes down to earth to be one with His people forever. Abram's tent in Genesis, the taberbacle of Israel in Exodus, and the tabernacle city New Jerusalem in Revelation all speak to this one matter. That is the testimony of God dwelling with man on the earth.Now I said that Abram's tent was a minature of the tabernacle in Exodus. We will see that in Genesis 18 God comes to Abraham and fellowships with him. Abraham's tent becomes the place where God and man have a fellowship together.In Genesis 13:18 Abram removed his tent to Hebron. That word Hebron means fellowship. Abraham's tent was a testimony to the world firstly and secondly a center for his fellowship with God.By Abraham pitching his tent God had a place on the earth to come down and fellowship with man. We should see the connection between Abraham's tent of fellowship with God and the tent tabernacle built by the Israelites in Exodus.God commanded the Israelites to build a taberbacle tent with an altar in (Exodus 26:1; 27:1). This may help some of us to be calibrated to the central lane of the Bible.God's eternal purpose is to come down to the earth and have fellowship, communion, with man. Eventually I will try to show that this really means that God will come into man and man and God will be united.Of Jesus Christ the Gospel of John says "And the word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and reality." (John 1:14)The purpose of God is very profound. Pictures are needed to uunveil it gradually. The tent of Abraham where God came to earth and fellowshipped with his prophet is a precusor a symbol of the ultimate union of divinity and humanity. God is seeking to join Himself to man and join man to Himself.We should remember that this was His original purpose in placing man before the tree of life in Genesis. He has not changed His plan. He is ever working to dispense Himself into man to be the eternal life to man. But I jump ahead a little.Please consider the tent of Abraham, the tent of the Israelites and the New Jerusalem as related. The testimony of God is with these tents. And the glory of God is for these tents. And these tents are for God coming down from heaven to earth to be one with man for His eternal purpose.

We will have to agree to disagree on this point.If it is not clear that the Tree of Life was central to the Paradise that God placed man into in Genesis, it should be clear by the end of the Bible that the Tree of Life is central.If it seems a bit ambiguous to anyone the importance of the Tree of Life at the beginning of the Bible, by the time you reach the end, I think you should realize its centrality. This promise of Christ to the overcoming and victorious believers in the church in Ephesus indicates the centrality of the tree of life to the Paradise of God. It is the best thing going there. It is the most important feature of the Paradise of God. So I believe that the created man was placed before the tree of life which was in the midst of the Edenic garden.Then there is the final scenes of the redeemed man in eternity in the New Jerusalem: Here again we see the centrality of the tree of life. When man walks on the golden street which goes along the river of the water of life, on either side there is the tree of life.This is a sign revealing the Triune God dispensing His life into man. This is a symbolic picture of the Trinity flowing divine life out of Himself into His people. And this is what God intended from the very beginning at man's creation.If you cannot appreciate the tree of life in Genesis this lack of appreciation should be remedied by the time one reaches the final climax of the Bible. So I do stand by saying that the tree of life was the center of the Edenic garden and man was placed before it.Lastly, we have God's promise for the forgiven sinners in eternity, to wash their robes and eat of the tree of life, entering into the city of life, New Jerusalem: In Genesis Adam and Eve as the parents of all mankind, were excluded from partaking of the tree of life (Gen.3:22-24). The plan of redemption was to bring man back to the tree of life. That is to bring man back to God Himself as the eternal life. The barrier went up in Genesis chapter 3. And the barrier comes down in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.God brings those who believe in Christ back to the life of God, back to the tree of life.So I must stand by repeating that God created man and placed man before the tree of life. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I am glad Baily rought up the matter of the tree of life because there is a real connection to it and God's promise o Abram.God told Abram that through Abraham God would bless all the families of the earth. At the end of the Bible we see this tree of life. The fruit is for food for eating. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. This is symbolic. I think the meaning is something like this:Christ as the embodiment of God and the Redeemer will be for His indwelling the redeemed to be their eternal life. He will be the one the sons of God in New Jerusalem will "eat". That means constantly taking into their beings this Christ, this divine life of God, this Divine Person to dwell within them.The behavior and life of these people will be for the healing of the nations which live on the earth in the eternal age. These nations are not the sons of God. These nations have been saved and brought through the great tribulation and through the millennial kingdom to be the inhabitants of the new heaven and new earth.Revelation says that the sons of God will reign for ever and ever (Rev. 22:5).I do not think this means that the saved will reign over each other. There must be some peoples for them to reign over. The people they will reign over are the nations which live around the New Jerusalem. The city of God is the tabernacle come down to be in their midst. I believe that there is a distinction between those who live IN the New Jerusalem and those nations which live around her, in her light. The nations living around the New Jerusalem are healed by the leaves of the tree of life.The actions and life of the sons of God in the city will be both a light to the nations and a healing to the nations to maintain them for eternity. All the families of the earth are therefore blessed through Abraham and his seed - the saved Jews and the saved Gentiles who are the constituents of the New Jerusalem.Ezekiel also made a distinction between the function of the fruit of the tree of life and the leaves. One was for taking in as food. The other was apparently for healing by outward touch. He is talking about the marvelous trees growing on either side of the river pouring out of the house of God.Christ is the blessing on all the nations. Christ and His people are the blessing to all the families of the earth. Christ as life, the Holy Spirit as life, and the transformed sons of God as their model and healers are the blessing to the families of the earth.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.