Entrapped By Grace

An Update....

2008-08-26T20:06:00.013-07:00

Wow...it has been quite a long time since I last posted anything... I believe it is time to post something...so here I am.

To begin with, I am now a bachelor, living on my own, with a church buddy and 2 other guys. That is a fairly new development, and so far it has been pretty good. I live in a 3 bedroom house that has an office that has been converted into a bedroom, I have the office/bedroom. It is quite comfy and I am very satisfied with it. Because of this new development school has been put on hold for the present with due intention of picking it up again sometime in the near future, but at the moment bills have to be paid so I must work.

On that note, I finally found a job, although temporary, it is a good paying job (12 bucks an hour). I am helping a plumber, from the PHX based company MC Plumbing, re-model a Fry's grocery store in Oro Valley, which is about 15-30 min away from my house, depending on which route the GPS decides to take that particular night. Currently my job is to assist and to be a "go-for," although recently I have learned how to connect pipes while in a 7 foot hole, solder copper pipes together, and how to use and identify the tools of the trade. So far I really enjoy my job, the boss, and my co-workers.

I am still trying to figure out what is wrong with my motorcycle, but my hunch is that the alternator is bad, and will need replacing, but hopefully in the morning I will take it to a shop and get it evaluated and figure out exactly what is wrong with it.

Recently I read Psalms 9 and here are some general tid-bits that I found while reading and although some of this is rather rudimentary, I found it comforting and uplifting. The only ones who find true refuge in God in times of trouble are those that truly believe and trust in God, and although they often go through horrible times of trouble and tribulation, they are always fully aware and satisfied in the solace that they can, and do find in God. One of the reasons that God saves the righteous from their troubles is stated in verses 13-14 "For He who requires blood remembers them; he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. Be gracious to me, O Lord; See my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death that I may tell of all Your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation." Something else that stuck out to me was that although the wicked may seem to thrive now and be the ones in charge, in the end, they will perish, and the only ones left standing will be the righteous that follow the Lord with all their hearts.

A Question / Debate (whatever comes first)

2008-04-13T22:41:00.002-07:00

Ok so here is the question that has been interesting me as of late....

Why did Christians "drop", so to speak, the act of crossing one's self when they became different from the Catholic Church? The second part to this question is.... Is it wrong for a Christian to cross himself/herself?

A Toast (butter and jam not included)

2008-04-13T22:11:00.002-07:00

Some of you know that recently (as of Friday the 11th) my older brother was married in Sacramento to his lovely bride. I was asked to be a groomsman and to give the official toast at the wedding reception dinner. What follows is just that....

"Hello everyone, if I could have your attention for a minute please. My name is Zach, and I am Dustin's younger brother. I have know him for a long time, and, come to think of it, my whole life. Although 7 years are between us we have done a whole lot of things together...everything from freezing on a winter hunting trip....drinking water out of bowls like dogs...and creating imaginary world while washing dishes. We have been through good times and bad times...and I still look up to him...although I am a little bit taller...and a lot skinnier. Last summer, while at a party that our parents hosted, he introduced the family to Celestina, and we came to know her as a quiet, thoughtful, and gracious young lady and began to wonder how some one that quiet would fit into our family. But, as we got to know her better we could see that she wasn't always as quiet as a church mouse, but could be quite funny at times. Knowing both of them, I can see that they are fit for each other, and I am glad glad that God brought them together and would like to invite you to join with me in a toast to their joyful and life-long marriage...To Dustin and Celestina! Dues Vult!"

Special Report From "The Inquisitor"

2008-02-23T20:56:00.004-07:00

While reading my favorite magazine The Inquisitor one article's headline in particular popped out at me. It read: Calvinist loose in Vegas... it caught my attention so I continued my perusing of the article. Here is an excerpt: "Calvinist elopes to Vegas with high school sweetheart known only as "fergie" ....gets drunk...smokes cigars like a chimney stack.....preaches to the crowd about predestination and is currently loose in Nevada"

Wow....you know who you are....this is what happens when your not around....karma baby..karma.... :D

Grace

2008-02-13T11:33:00.004-07:00

What a wonderful thing grace is. I personally have seen this in academic realm as of late. The Latin course that I am taking has been rearing its ugly head and although the want to finish the course and finish well was there....it was not strong enough. So, I prepared myself for my fate and resigned myself to get a F or even worse, a grade of incomplete, and sent my professor an e-mail relating to him these facts. He replied that he wanted me to finish and extended to me an extension in order for me to get the course done, and assured me that if I finished in that time period I would receive a grade without any demerits. God is good! But, yes, I am very thankful for this and will be finishing Latin, hopefully with a passing grade and on time. (Random post)

Is The Bride Ready?

2008-02-10T20:12:00.002-07:00

In typical Jewish tradition when a wedding is planned the first thing that happens in the man goes to the young woman's father and asks what price needs to be paid for the bride. After that is fulfilled, a time called betrothal is put into place,and the young returns to his father's house and prepares for his wife's arrival. And when all is ready and put into place, he returns for his bride, and the marriage is completed. How is this relevant?

First off, let us identify the "actors" in this play. The young man seeking a bride would be Jesus Christ, and the Father whose approval he was seeking would be Yahweh, God the Father, and the bride to be is the Church.

Christ asked the Father what the price for his potential bride would be and the Father replied that he must pay with His life! That my friends, is the most expensive cost, but without hesitation because of his love for the Church, he went through with the plan, and because of His death on the cross He is able to claim the Church as His bride.

Because Christ has paid the cost for his bride, He has left her and returned to his Father's house in order to prepare a place for them to reside after the marriage. He will return when the time is right and whisk the Church, His bride, away.

Has the Church been faithful to Christ since his departure? A small minority perhaps, but for the most part, the church has been man centered and wants to have a large following that equals money, instead of teaching and preaching the Word, and keeping their fingers in the Text. Because of this, hard pastors are hard to find, the churches now days want to tickle the peoples ears in order to keep them coming, but as soon as a preacher starts teaching against something that is not "in vogue" (i.e. homosexuality, abortion, marriage) he gets the boot because no one want to know what an angry and just God demands. A time is coming when true Christians need to stand up and make a change, not be afraid to state the true things of God and be prepared to take a beating for it. The change is coming....the question is...are you gonna be a part of it?

New Look....

2008-02-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

What do you guys think of the new look? Good, bad, need tweaking? All comments welcome...

ZT

To Be Blessed Or Cursed

2008-02-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

A question that recently popped into my head is one that is confusing and has either no affect on our way of life, or will drastically affect everything as we know it.

The question is this: Is present day Israel the same Israel that God (Yahweh) promises to protect by blessing or cursing those who bless or curse Israel (see Genesis 12:3 and Numbers 24:9), if so does this promise continue in our day in age?

If this is true and continues to this day what would happen to the United States if a presidential candidate was elected and wanted to end all of our support to Israel and become a "neutral" country? Would we be put closer to our impending doom? Right now as a country, the United States is pushing the limits to being a good and long lasting country/civilization. Looking at history, all the great civilizations were destroyed or essentially reduced to history after being in existence for 200 years. The United States has passed the 2oo year mark, if the passage in Genesis is correct and still is in effect to this day, I believe that if the support or military alliance with Israel is broken, the doom of the United states will take a huge leap forward.

But, if this promise is not in affect any more, the United States has nothing to fear, and shall pave her own way to her demise in all good time.

Becoming Righteous Children

2008-02-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the Bible, there are many examples of godly men for us to model our lives and actions to, some well known are David, Daniel, Samuel, Moses, and Job

Moses was a man that spoke face to face with God, and talked with God like a friend. He enjoyed God's company and followed what He said although at times it did not make sense to him at the time.

Samuel, was a prophet of God and he had visions, and conversations with God, who told him what to tell the nation of Israel and her kings. He should be a model for Christians because he followed what God said, and was not afraid of the kings, because he knew that God would protect him.

David as most Christians know, was called a man after God's own heart, but he had some major downfalls that eventually led to the division of the Israelite kingdom. But, even though he was a sinful man, it was how he confronted sin that he is most remembered for. He acknowledged what he did was wrong, and humbly asked for forgiveness that he did not deserve. And from there he strove to never to re-commit that sin. Because of this, he earned the title of man after God's own heart. He prayed that sin be pointed out to him, no matter how ugly in order that it be rid of and his relationship be made right with God.

Daniel was a great man of God as, and because of his obedience and faithfulness to God in distressing times, he is an example for us to follow. Even when plotted against, and thrown in the lion's den, he did not recant his faith, and would have rather died, than shun his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Job, is the most godly man that the Bible gives us an example of, besides Christ incarnate. He is troubled by the Devil, tormented by pain and sickness, but never once blasphemes God or gives up his faith. How do we model ourselves in the traits?

First off we need a variety of all the traits shown in the men above, we need to follow God with child-like simpleness, listen to God's advice, wisdom, and discipline, confront our sins and deal with them with true sorrow for the sin committed, and stand firm in our faith when shaken or despaired. With all these things we can strive to become like the best man who ever lived - Jesus Christ. Jesus himself showed all these things, and by modeling ourselves after him, and allowing the Holy Spirit to mold and guide us we shall become like what the Father intended us to become - His righteous children.

The Age of the Non-Thinkers

2008-02-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

As I went to my guitar lessons, fully unprepared, but fully ready to try to wing it, something very interesting came up in the alloted time period. As I struggled to remember my chord forms and notes around, and above the 5th fret he got mad and told me that this generation does not know how to think. He told me this because I had all the answers in my book for me to study, like I was suppossed to, but I still could not figure it out even though I knew the formulas for making the chords (i.e. minor, augmented, etc.)

He often goes on this rant, because what he sees in this country is a bunch of kids and adults that do not want to take on adulthood and want all the answers handed to them by their teachers, parents, and anyone else who will tell them the answer so that they don't have to think very hard. In fact, what he says has a lot of punch behind it. Today kids are glued to PS2's, iPods, and other things that let the person make their brain into mush. He states that many college kids don't know how many letters are in the alphabet (26), that many kids don't know what oceans are on the E or W cost of the United States. But, he is surprised to find that I do know these things, and does not realize that I am just a slacker at studying my guitar.... how is that for a random and rambling post?

The Light of Christianity

2008-01-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

How should Christians be positives light in the world? Should they go to extremes (in my opinion) such as the Amish, or should they tattoo up and dress as the times demand? What is a good common ground, or is there a common ground?

For example, the Amish, and I have nothing but respect for them, prefer to ride in horse drawn buggies, and keep their clothes together with clothespins instead of buttons. None of this is wrong, but to most, this is taking an extreme position of "be in the world, but not of it."

On the other hand, I see that Christian bands, with members who profess to be Christians that dress and act, at times, exactly like their counterparts. Ben Moody and Brian "Head" Welch. Although both men were a part of influential secular rock bands (Evanescence and KoRn respectively) because they had differences that revolved around their profession or conversion to Faith. But, besides that nothing really changed. The hair is still long, the tattoos are still there, and even in Welch's case, increased, and they still dress the same as before. To an outsider this would seem to convey a message that to be saved all you have to do is to say that you have been saved and then life goes on. Welch does indeed read the Bible, he said so himself while being interviewed on a secular radio station, but he does not go to church. Ben Moody on the other hand, professed to be a Christian, thanked God for helping him complete an album, but still uses language, and references things that should be appalling to any Christian. Both still dress no different, and one look at Brian Welch's book, almost scares a person. Is there a middle ground?

The middle ground should come about, but is not limited to a drastic change in a redeemed persons life. In my opinion this should be shown by leaving the past in the past and thoroughly starting anew. I know a man that was a motorcycle gangster that was converted, he was covered in tattoos and even worked in a tattoo parlor. But he always wore long shirts to Church and was ashamed of what many of the tattoos said and portrayed, he used his job as at the tattoo parlor to spread the gospel and try to convert his customers. That would be a drastic lifestyle change that would send a message to all that "this was a sinful past that I lead, and now see the new and improved me that I have with the help of Jesus Christ."

It is up to the individual themselves to where this is, but to me it must be a drastic change, one that is pointed towards Christ in everything that is done. But then this brings up a new question....how do we really know that a person is truly changed, but continues to look like they do in order to "connect" with a particular audience?

First off, a person cannot entirely know for certain, therefore what they do know is based on one thing, their observations. A pastor can re-affirm to a grieving family that the deceased loved one is going to heaven by the late persons faith and actions showing that. In the same way, what a Christian does is closely watched, not only by their peers, but by the outside world to see what the whole idea of Christianity is about. What should be seen is Christ reflected in us, and our actions should show that to those who are looking.

Answers to some questions that have been raised due to my paper

2007-11-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, from some of you who have responded to me in person or via e-mail, you had some very good questions so here are a couple of answers to those questions.

Q. How do we know that the Angel of the Lord who appeared to Hagar was divine?

A. I believe that we can know this through Hagar's response and attitude toward the Angel of the Lord. When He first appears to her, she immediately prostrates herself before Him. We look to Mary the mother of Christ Jesus, and we see the same actions, but there is one difference. That difference is between the way the Angels respond, The Angel of the Lord allows the prostration to continue, but Gabriel, the messenger angel, rebukes Mary and tells her to get up, for he is not to be worshiped. Because of this I believe that the Angel of the Lord that appeared to Mary was indeed divine.

Q. What exactly is your stance on who Melchizedek? You presented both sides pretty well, but then did not give the reader your stance.

A. I myself am not entirely sure, this being a totally new topic to me, I really have only thought about this issue for about 2 months. On one hand I think that Melchizedek was just a righteous man, because the Bible never clearly asserts his divinity, and that several other Jewish documents that talk of Melchizedek interpret the passage about him having no family, as him having no recorded genealogy. On the other hand, I can see how he could indeed be divine, and in fact a Theophany. This is seen by the giving of a tenth of the spoils, and by the Bible saying that He is like Christ. Now I know this is kinda giving both sides again, but for the MOST part, I do believe that Melchizedek was just a righteous human being that was used in the Old Testament to foreshadow Christ incarnate as our High Priest and King.

Theology Term Paper

2007-11-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

So, after a bit of a break due to term papers being due, I have decided to upload and post my more promising Theology term paper. Please feel free to disagree with it. So with out any more ado here it my Theology term paper..... Note: Some things such as name, class, and professor have been intentionally left blank

Yahweh – The Visible God

Theophanies and Christophanies

Nov. 11, 2007

Table of Contents

Yahweh – The Visible God: Theophanies

Table of Contents p. 1

I. Introduction p.2

II. God the Father’s Appearance to the Righteous p.2

Adam – in the Garden of Eden p.3

Abraham p.3

God’s appearance and promise

God’s appearance and command

God’s appearance before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

Melchizedek – God or a righteous man?

Isaac p. 5

God’s appearance – His promise and command

God’s second appearance in one day – His promise to keep and fulfill His covenant through him.

Jacob p. 6

God’s appearance, wrestling match, and giving of a new name during the night.

God’s appearance the blessing of Jacob and telling that through him the great nation of Israel shall come to be.

Moses p. 6

God’s appearance in the fiery bush that was not consumed by the flames.

God’s appearance in the form of a cloud, Moses’s entrance into the cloud to convene with God.

God’s appearance in the form of His backside, His goodness shown to Moses.

II. God the Son’s Appearance to the righteous – Pre-incarnate Christ: The Angel of the Lord p. 8

Hagar – The Angel of the Lord’s appearance to her while she is running from Sarah, Abraham’s wife. p. 8

Joshua – The Captain of the Host of the Lord’s Army appearance before the attack on Jericho. p. 9

Monah and his wife – The Angel of the Lord’s appearance telling them of the special son that would lead and judge Israel. p. 9

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego – The Angel of the Lord’s appearance in the fiery furnace. p. 10

Jesus Christ – The greatest Christophany presented to man. p. 11

III. Conclusion – Christianity is the only religion whose God shows Himself to righteous and does not discriminate His appearances by race, status, or gender.

I. Introduction

Theophanies are visible appearances of Yahweh, God the Father. Christophanies are visible appearance of Christ in pre-incarnate form. In the Old Testament Yahweh frequently showed Himself to men in order to advise, comfort, and tell them the happenings of the future. He showed himself to Adam, the Patriarchs, and Moses. But after Moses, God the Father’s visual appearances became less frequent and He manifested Himself through God the Son, Jesus Christ in pre-incarnate form. The Bible says in John 10:30 “I and the Father are one” and in John 14:9 it says “he who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Therefore, I would like to present the idea that, because God the Father and God the Son are equal, when a righteous man was blessed with an appearance by Christ in pre-incarnate form they actually saw God the Father through Christ Jesus, and therefore it is still to be considered a Theophany. But I do believe that they are two distinct persons, separate, but equal in the Trinity. Also something that I would like to point out is that Christianity is the only religion whose God showed Himself to more than just one person. This is in stark contrast with Islam and Mormonism where their god only showed himself to special people, which leads outsiders to look, quite rightly, skeptically at what these religions or cults proclaim.

II. God the Father’s Appearances to Men

A. Adam

Adam was the first man to be blessed with the visible presence of God the Father. Besides being created by God Himself, Adam enjoyed walking and talking with God in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:8). But sadly, his good relationship with God did not last long. All too soon the sinful nature of man was shown through Adam who began to decide right and wrong on his own, instead of following what God told him. What transpired from that decision was that both Adam and his wife, Eve, succumbed to the temptation of the Devil and ate from the Tree of Good and Evil; which resulted in the spoiling of their good relationship with God. The consequences of their actions was banishment from the Garden of Eden and the knowledge that their relationship with God would never be the same. After Adam and his wife’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the Bible never mentions God appearing to Adam again. The next person that is graced with God the Father’s presence is Adam’s righteous descendant Abraham.

B. Abraham

Shortly after obeying God, who had told him to leave his family and everything familiar, in order to travel and occupy the land that He would show him (Gen. 12. 1), Abraham was visited by God the Father. During His appearance, Yahweh informed Abraham that He would make him into a great nation with descendants as numerous as the stars (Gen. 12:1-7). The second time that God the Father appeared before Abraham He made a covenant with him and gave him instructions on how to keep the covenant (Gen. 17:9-14). The last time that God appeared to Abraham was right before the dramatic destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It happened as Abraham was sitting in the front of his tent, three men approached and in the customary hospitality he fed and washed their feet (Gen. 18:1). Although he did not know it at first, Abraham fed and talked with God. After the meal was done it was revealed to him who his guest were and their purpose for the visit, Abraham then proceeded to walk for a while with God. During that time he bartered for the cities safety because he had a wayward family member living on the outskirts of Sodom. After reaching a number he thinks prudent, he stops and lets God continue on to the city of Sodom. This is the last time that the Bible clearly records God appearing to Abraham, the man whose belief was counted as righteousness.

The only other time that a strange visit to Abraham is recorded in the Bible, it is not clear whether the visitor was God or a righteous human, the visitor in question is Melchizedek. He showed himself to Abraham after Abraham defeated the Chedorlaomer king and the allied kings that had captured Sodom and enslaved Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Melchizedek’s name means “King of Righteousness,” he is called the King of Salem (Salem is a Hebrew word shortened to mean Jerusalem), and a priest of the God Most High. The other places in the Bible that mention Melchizedek are Pslams 110:4, and Hebrews chapters 5, 6, and 7. Throughout these passages the Bible never asserts whether Melchizedek is divine as a pre-incarnate form of Jesus or just a holy and righteous man. One side argues that because nothing is asserted of Melchizedek’s divine nature, Hebrews states that he was a man (Heb. 7:4), and that because he was not of the line of Aaron (his priestly line was ignored because it was seen as invalid) that Melchizedek was just a righteous man. The people who hold to the idea that Melchizedek is a righteous man say that he has no recorded genealogy because he did not come from the line of Aaron and that is why the writer of Hebrews can say that he was “Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning or ending of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually” (Heb. 7:3). Those who believe that Melchizedek was a righteous man say that he was a foreshadowing of Christ in that he was an example symbolizing the coming end to the priestly line of Aaron and the beginning of a new and everlasting priesthood. This is important because in the Old Testament when the High priest died and was replaced with a new high priest, the priesthood itself changed because of new leadership. The significance of the never changing priesthood is that Christ succeeded the Old Testament priesthood and installed a permanent priesthood with Him as the new and everlasting high priest.

On the other hand, those who believe that Melchizedek was Christ in pre-incarnate form use passages that say that Melchizedek had no beginning or end, that he was made like the Son to be a priest forever, argue that Melchizedek was God, and God has no beginning or end. Another point is that Abraham gives Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils, exactly the amount that most Christians today tithe, symbolizing the future tithing to God. Since a tenth of the spoils was a king’s portion they use that to say that Melchizedek was God in pre-incarnate form, and as God He would have no beginning or ending, and as God-king He was given a tenth of the spoils.

C. Isaac

The next human being who was privileged to be visited by God the Father, was Abraham’s son, Isaac. Yahweh appeared to Isaac and told him that it was through him that He would fulfill His covenant with Abraham, and make him a great nation (Gen. 26:2-5). But that was not all that He told him during His visit, He told him not to go to Egypt to buy food during one of the famines that ravaged the land, but to stay put and He would provide for them. Then once again Isaac is visited by God, twice in one day (Gen. 26:24)! During the second visit God reassures Isaac that he will fulfill His promise to Abraham through Isaac’s descendants. That was the last time that the Bible mentions God visibly appearing to Isaac, although he continues to talk with him and give him messages through dreams and visions. But God soon appears to a righteous man again, this time it is Isaac’s son Jacob, the future father of the nation of Israel.

D. Jacob

God appeared to Jacob, for the first time right before his dramatic reunion with his brother Esau. After Jacob divided his family into two groups he was left alone and during that long wait filled with fear of Esau, Jacob wrestled with God (Gen. 32:22-32). God came down and manifested Himself in a form that Jacob could wrestle with and prevail, but God showed that He could disable Jacob at any time, and did so by dislocating his hip. This happened because morning was breaking and God wanted to leave, but as it was Jacob would not let Him go, but held on and asked for a blessing. In response God disabled him and then blessed him and gave him a new name to signify the servant hood of Jacob to God. The next and last time that it is recorded in the Bible of God appearing to Jacob is found in Genesis 35:9 that says: “Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Pandan Aram, and blessed him” this was also the second time that God assured and promised Jacob that he would be the father of a great nation and blessed him. After this God talked to me through dreams and visions, but it is not recorded that God appeared to men until He deemed it the right time to save the nation of Israel from the oppression that she was under during her stay in Egypt.

E. Moses

The first time recorded that God appearing to Moses in the form of a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire (Ex. 3:2). Although the divine figure that appears to Moses the first time is called the Angel of the Lord, it goes on to say that “God spoke to Moses”(Ex. 6:2). Because of this, an no previous mention of the Angel of the Lord, that is usually linked with Christ in pre-incarnate form, I believe that this is an appearance of God the Father. After this amazing and life changing experience for Moses, God did not visually appear to him for a long time, but during this lull period God spoke to Moses and gave him dreams in which He advised and guided Moses in carrying out the plagues on the hard-hearted Egyptian pharaoh. When God does show Himself to Moses again it is recorded in Genesis 16:10 “It came about as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.” Although this was just God’s glory it signifies that God was near, and later on we see that Moses actually goes into the cloud and speaks to God “Then the Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up” (Ex. 19:20). During the wilderness trek of the Israelites God frequently spoke to Moses, and the Bible tells us that He would speak face to face with Moses and give commands and guide him in governing the Israelites “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Gen. 33:11). One specific time God allowed Moses to view His goodness, His backside (Gen. 33:18-23). This was not a full view of God’s glory, because He Himself said: “You cannot see my face, for no man can see Me and live” (Ex. 33:20) At other times, after the tabernacle was built, God would descend upon the tabernacle and would speak to Moses from within (Leviticus 1:1). Even up to death, God was with Moses, He showed him the Promised Land that he would not enter, but could see from afar. Since the time of Moses, no other man has had the same relationship with God. Moses spoke to God as a friend and was blessed (Deuteronomy 34:12), God spoke to Moses face to face, appeared to Moses in different forms (i.e. burning bush, fire, cloud, His glory, and His goodness), his faith was counted as righteousness and the torch of leading the Israelites was passed to Joshua.

II. God the Son’s appearances to men

A. Hagar

Hagar the servant of Sarah was caught up in a situation that she did not have a whole lot to do with. When her mistress could not bear children, Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham in order to have a child that way (Gen. 16:2). In the Old Testament, this was an accepted custom for the mistress to give a servant to the man of the family in order to procreate more children, then at the time of birth the child would be handed over to the mistress to be treated as her own child. But the situation reeled out of control when Hagar began to act haughty and to treat Sarah with contempt about being able to bear children whereas Sarah could not. This action enraged Sarah and she treated Hagar harshly and as a result Hagar ran away “So Sarah treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence” (Gen. 16:6). When she fled she ran to the wilderness and that is where the Angel of the Lord found her and spoke and comforted her (Gen. 16:7). The Angel of the Lord told her that she would indeed bear a child and that God would make it a great nation, but He told her that the road to that would not be easy for the child. The Angel of the Lord told her to take heart and return to her mistress and submit to her authority, following His advice she returned and soon bore a child to Abraham, and named him Ishmael. But this was not the end of the rivalry between Sarah and Hagar, when Sarah finally conceived the promised child, Isaac, things turned for the worse between mistress and servant. One day Sarah saw that Ishmael was taunting and making fun of Isaac, that was the breaking point and in frustration she demanded that both Hagar and Ishmael be kicked out and not allowed to influence Isaac in anyway (Gen. 21:9-14). Against Abraham’s will, she did so, and this time provided them with a few provisions, but the provisions did not hold up very long and Hagar, in desperation, was ready to leave her child in the desert to die because of the lack of water. But, once again, the Angel of the Lord intervened and saved them both while reassuring her that Ishmael would be made into a great nation. That was the last time that the Angel of the Lord appeared or talked to Hagar.

B. Joshua

When the torch of the leadership of the Israelite nation passed from Moses to Joshua, his main responsibility was to secure the land and get the people settled in the long awaited Promised Land. To do this he had to be a great man of God and also had to be a great military leader, because securing the land involved a strategy that would rid the land of all dissenters and immoral nations. As a approached Jericho in order to figure out a good attack approach, he was surprised to find a man in front of him blocking his path with a drawn sword (Joshua 5:13). As Joshua questions him by asking whose side the stranger was on and getting a reply that He was the captain of the host of the Lord’s army. At which upon hearing this, Joshua prostrated himself before the captain and followed what He commanded “The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is Holy’ and Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:15). Although Christ in pre-incarnate form did not show himself again to Joshua after manifesting himself as the captain of the Lord’s host, Joshua did experience some of God’s glory while Moses was still alive, and would still have God guide him through audible commands.

C. Monah and his wife

Another time when the Angel of the Lord appeared, it was to the parents of a very unique man that would be a judge and hero to the astray Israelites. Monah and his wife were the parents to be of Samson, and the angel of the Lord appeared first to the wife, whose name has been lost or recorded (Judges 13:3). The Angel of the Lord told the barren woman that she would soon be the mother of a very unique child that was to be totally devoted to God, a child that would be a Nazerite from birth. After this startling appearance, the woman told her husband Monah who “entreated the Lord and said ‘ O Lord please let them man of God whom You sent come to us again the he may teach us what to do for the boy that is to be born’” (Judges 13:8). The Lord heard his plea and the Angel of the Lord once again appeared to both Monah and his wife. This time he repeated his words on how the mother was to eat and drink, as well as telling what the child was to be. After that they asked if they could provide Him with food, but He did not want food, but rather suggested that a burnt offering be offered, and during the process of the burning, the Angel of the Lord ascended to heaven with the flames and smoke. “When Monah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground” (Judges 13:20b). The Angel of the Lord never appeared to Monah and his wife again, but caused their son Samson to be stirred up and bring grief to the oppressive Philistines (Judges 13:25).

D. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego

In the time of Israel’s rebellion, God caused the Babylonians to come and conquer them, but through it all He caused good to happen. Among the captives taken were three young men know to us primarily as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They were friends of Daniel, one of God’s prophets, they as well as Daniel, because of their ability to learn and the great wisdom that God had granted them, were soon promoted to prominent positions in the Babylonian court. Some of the officials did not like the idea of foreigners being put over them and tried to find fault with them as often as possible. One of the things used against them, was that the trio did not worship the idol of the Babylonian king, and the punishment was death by a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:8-11). When the king heard about the disobeying on the part of some of his officials, he became outraged and ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than normal. As a result he lost several of his best warriors who escorted the trio to the furnace, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were unharmed (Daniel 3:22). But much to the king’s surprise, when he looked in the furnace from afar, he saw not three men in the furnace, but four! Although the Bible does not necessarily say that this was the Angel of the Lord, it was recognized by all those present that the God of the Israelites was with them, because after being take out of the furnace they did not smell of smoke or have any hair singed on their bodies (Daniel 3:27). The result of this was that the King of Babylon turned from his pagan beliefs and praised and honored the true God – Yahweh.

E. Christ

When God sent His own son down from heaven to be the perfect sacrifice and payment for our sins, it was the best and greatest Theophany of all. God not only showed Himself to a single person at a time, but allowed a whole generation of Israelites to see Him through His son, Jesus Christ. Because of Christ’s atoning work that He did while on earth, all men that choose to accept the free gift of salvation and have faith; they are saved and therefore will spend eternity with God. Not only did people see Christ in visible form, but they saw him do miracles. Without a doubt Christ Jesus, God incarnate, was the greatest and best Theophany to bless the human race.

III. Conclusion

To conclude, I would like to point out that this is all relevant to us in this day in age where religions are looked on as all the same and clumped together. Christianity is the only religion whose God appears to humans numerous time to many different kinds of people, everyone from slaves to prophets. He chose who He would appear to based upon their needs, ability to lead, righteousness, and He ministered and them on how to lead His chosen people. Unlike Islam or Mormonism, Christianity does not have a God that only shows Himself to one specific person, but to many so that it can be attested that He, Yahweh, is the one and only true God.

Bibliography

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Zondervan Publishing House, 1994.

Pounds, Will. “Christ in the Old Testement.” Reformation Online.com Tuesday, November 13,

2007. http://www.reformationonline.com/melchizedek.htm (Accessed November 13, 2007)

Balthasar, Hans Urs von. Theology: The Old Covenant. Ignatius Press, 1993.

Note: All Bible references are from the NKJV

Men of God and other misc. ramblings...

2007-11-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Reading through Genesis I am amazed that Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all were blessed by God actually appearing to them and working through them although they were sinners.

For Adam, he shared a friendship with God that many of his descendants did not even close to having. He walked and talked in the garden with God. (see Gen. 3:8) It was only through the sin of Adam that the relationship that he had with God was broken. In fact, every time Christians disobey they sever the relationship that they have with God, because God is holy and is not compatible with sin. Sin is revolting to him and by our committing of sin, we then are revolting to Him and he can not stand us and we are placed out of his favor. Now do not get me wrong. I do not think that a true Christian can ever lose their salvation. If they do loose their salvation, it then is not a question of if they were saved or not, but weather the commitment that they made was done in truth.

Abraham was a man that God chose to make a great nation out of. He was blessed with the physical appearance of God many times. (see Gen. 12:17, Gen. 17:1, and Gen. 18:1) Now he was not always the best man or did make the best decisions but he believed in God and it was counted as righteousness.

Isaac was also a man that also was called righteous because of his belief. But God was his friend and he (Isaac) had a very good relationship with God. (Gen. 26:2)

Jacob was the one who God fulfilled His promise to Abraham in. He was the descendant of Abraham that would create the nation chosen by God to succeed against all odds. During a "wrestling match" with God, Jacob was wounded and had his named changed to Israel, which his sons and descendants would use as their name and eventually be known as Israelites.

Now...on to more things.....Immigration...this seems to be the focal point on which all politics this coming election will be based on. Coming from a Hispanic that immigrated the right way, and actually knows how stupid and long the process takes, this is what I think should happen to the border.

Instead of wasting gas driving around the countryside to "try" to intercept border crossers, the Border Patrol should just line up all their vehicles on the border, within eyesight of each other, and just sit and wait for people to cross. When they do cross illegally, they then call for backup and make arrests and immediately deport them back to Mexico. Now this may seem rather simple, and it is but if it was done, they would not attempt to cross if they knew they would be immediately deported as soon as they set foot on US soil. As a matter of fact, the state of Arizona has 12 illegal immigrants for every 1 citizen,. That is just crazy! This issue needs to be stopped and the border needs to be tighter. Along with this they should make the process of correctly entering the US both easier and harder. Easier so that those who are good people and hard workers can obtain green cards faster. Harder in the meaning that not everyone gets one and they must submit things that tell of their qualifications.

It is not right that sons and daughters of illegal immigrants are able to run and be (if they want to) the President of the United States, while people like me who love the US dearly cannot do so, not that I want to, but hey I can dream....anyway..there is another rant..oh well...

2007-11-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

So in the Theology Forum there has been talk of Christ descending into Hades or Hell. Some people believe that this could not happen since how could a righteous man go to Hell? Others think it was part of his suffering in order to redeem us from our sins. Still others think that He went to Hell in order that it could be said that he conquered all sin and evil of and out of this world. I however hold to a little bit different view....Jesus Christ, God the Son, went down to Hades to preach and to bring the dead to heaven. Now before you start your rant, let me finish. Before Jesus's death all the righteous and sinners went to what was essentially a "holding area" or a place that was prepared for them to stay until they went to heaven. This was and is not purgatory. When Jesus Christ went to the depths of the earth he went to take gather the righteous from their "holding area" and take them to heave.

Now as my pastor stated last Sunday, there are several meanings to the phrase "went down to the depths of the earth." One means to be like in the womb, which Christ was. Another means to be in the grave, and another means to go down to hell. Now looking at the life of Christ, He did all of these things. He was born of a woman, just like all of us are and will be. He died and was buried in a tomb. He went to Hades to collect the righteous dead. So this is just an interesting fact brought up by a conversation.

Turning to other things, in a recent conversation with a friend I was playing the devil's advocate and asking how clothing affects or potentially harms a Christian. I was asking him things like "So a Christian dresses like a Goth and has tats and piercings, doesn't that look weird and give a wrong impression?" He had some good points. some being, it does not really matter what you look like on the outside, but whether you are on fire for God and whether you are truly a child of God. Now on the other hand, we must be careful not to upset or to cause another brother or sister in Christ to stumble because of our beliefs. By saying that I mean if sally does not like it when sue wears a certain outfit because sally thinks it is inappropriate, then sue should not wear that around sally because it causes sally to stumble. But then again maybe it is good for that to happen in order that sally then can quietly and gracefully rebuke sue about the issues of modesty and what not..now I am not picking on girls, that is just the demonstration that i used...But we should not be picky about what people look on the outside because John the Baptist did not look cool or hip he was a weirdo but was on fire for God. So in saying all of this we need to be careful in our judgments and really get to know the person before putting them in a certain box or categorizing them.

Starting Out

2007-11-04T20:41:00.001-07:00

So this is how it is eh? oh well here it goes...

For my Theology I term paper I am writing on the broad topic of Theophanies which are the visual appearance of Yahweh. This phenomenon occurred to many of the Old Testament Patriarchs. Adam saw God, Abraham saw God, Isaac saw God, and Jacob saw God. Not only them but the judge and leader of the Israel leader, Joshua, saw and spoke with The Commander of the Lords Army. In the first part of Genesis alone there are 7 times were God appeared to man. But the appearance are not only to men, but to women as well. The Lord appeared to Hagar when she was fleeing from her mistress Sarah.

Now some of these are appearances of Yahweh, God Himself (hence the name Theophanies) and others are God the Son, Jesus Christ, in pre-incarnate form. You can tell the difference because in the Bible it specifically says that God appeared to someone, but when it talks of Jesus Christ in pre-incarnate form, it usually calls Him The Angel of the Lord.

Turning to a more personal note, the name of my blog is Latin being translated to mean entrapped by grace.