For a while now, the Lord has placed upon my heart and mind to discuss three distinct subjects that are quite interesting as you will see. As we have done quite a bit of Elijah message material for a long time, I thought we’d detour this week to some other aspects of the Word.
The three subjects we’ll cover are:
- Who made what?
- Does God know everything?
- Matthew 10:23, how can that be true?
These are just discussions, and all the analysis is not claimed to be final truth of the matter, only placed for consideration. So this will be a discussion of ideas concerning these three subjects and anyone who has some input is encouraged to add your thoughts down in the comment section below.
WHO MADE WHAT?
In the beginning of the Bible we read–
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…”
and so on as it shows God created or made all things UNTIL it comes to verse 26 —
“And God said, Let US make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Here we see that no longer does it say “God created” rather “Let Us make”. That word “Us” is the only place in Genesis where it deviates from “God said” or “God created” in regards to creation of the earth, heavens and living creatures/man. So what are we to make of this? To make you ponder this more, let’s look at Isaiah 44:24.
“Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;..”
To be clear, the “LORD” here cannot be referring to God the Father because we read in John —
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-3, 14)
Um. So what do we have here? It appears that our Lord, Jesus Christ, created all things in our planetary systems, except He wasn’t alone in the creation of mankind. This was a “team” effort, a Triune affair (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) in the great and awesome work of the creation of mankind! Whose image is that of the Triune God.
DOES GOD KNOW EVERYTHING?
This one, we’ll have to open our thoughts up a bit to consider a unique view. In Isaiah 46:9-10 we read –
“Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:..”
“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” (Psalms 139:1-3)
There is no disputing that we serve an Omniscient God (all-knowing). However, we should also remember this important word of the Lord —
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11)
The key words above that I’d like to focus on is “for thy pleasure.” Let us try to put the ideas of pleasure in mind. How many of us would receive pleasure, for example, if we already know what each and every play of the Super Bowl would be? Each movement in advance before going to the game? Same with a movie, a tennis match, your children’s life, etc.?(note: I am not advocating any of the worldly things just used for example)
How could there be pleasure in this advance knowledge? What I am asking — Could it be that God “chooses” to withhold some knowledge from Himself in order to receive pleasure by watching the events unfold?
I remember as a kid I had an absolute thrill with this electronic game I made. Some of you may remember back in the 70’s there was a very popular electric board game called Electronic Football. It has these small plastic pieces that would vibrate forward and had a tackle, guard, runner, etc on top of the pieces. You would set up the play and turn on the board and watch them move upon the field.
I took these small green vibrating pieces and I put small plastic cars on these and then turned the football field into circular race car track. It was amazing as they would all run around the track, seemingly independently and pass and block and make maneuvers that were just fascinating. I must have played with that game for over 5 years! I keep scores and had season point standings to finally establish the top cars for the racing season. This brought great pleasure due to the unpredictability of it.
(picture of similar game we had)
Had I had the entrepreneurial spirit this game could have been a block buster back in the 70’s and 80’s.
This all was because my Dad was a top race car driver at the local race track and even raced against the “big boys” at Riverside International Raceway back in the 70’s (Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough included). So I idolized race cars and of course told everyone I was going to be a “great race car driver” someday.
My point is that this game was totally unpredictable. I never knew who would win or how. There could be the car in the back row that made some great moves and would finish on top after the 15 or 20 laps. But would I have received pleasure knowing all the moves beforehand and the exact results?
One possible clue that lends credence to this idea of withholding knowledge is found in Genesis 2:19.
“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.”
We know that He is the great reactor, One who is able to react to any circumstances. So nothing catches Him off guard and all is able to stay within His plans. We do know that there is a pre-planned mankind plan based on His prophetic Word and it is going to happen as His Word declares by His prophets.
MATTHEW 10:23, HOW CAN THAT BE TRUE?
“But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”
Here is one of the real puzzlers of the Scriptures. We see that the Lord says that the 12 Apostles would not finish going through the cities of Israel until He comes again. It’s been over 2000 years and the general consensus is that Jesus has not come back since.
But let us now turn to Revelation.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: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.” Rev. 1:10-18)
This shows that John saw the Lord as He even placed His hand upon him. So it appears that the Lord did indeed come back before all the cities of Israel were reached! This was presumed to have taken place on the Island of Patmos in the year 95 AD.
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
SOP counsels us —
“New light will ever be revealed on the word of God to him who is in living connection with the Sun of Righteousness. Let no one come to the conclusion that there is no more truth to be revealed. The diligent, prayerful seeker for truth will find precious rays of light yet to shine forth from the word of God. Many gems are yet scattered that are to be gathered together to become the property of the remnant people of God.”– Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 34.
Right now we can wonder but soon all will be made clear, let us wait in eager anticipation for such glorious times!
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor. 13:12)
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