Before the Ages of Time

Binding and Loosing & God's Plan has been worked out from the beginning!

Fred R. Coulter—January 28, 2023

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! Today we're going to cover something very important. I'm going to read you out of the KJV, which agrees with the people.

Matthew 16:19 (KJV): "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

That sounds like 100% carte blanche to make anything that you say, put the name of God on it, that God has to recognize it. Not so! There are a number of translations that have come out recently that have translated it correctly. The Faithful Version, in addition to correcting many errors that are in the KJV, corrected the translation.

The Greek language is such that it is very specific. It has for the noun 24 different spellings: 12 singular, 12 plural. In each of the cases they have a distinct meaning:

• when it's present tense, that is known
• when it's a verb, that is known
• when it's a participle, that is known

Let's read it in the Faithful Version and then I will explain the Greek behind it. There is no way that it can be translated the way I read in the KJV, because the Greek doesn't say that. Those who translated it did not handle the Word of God faithfully! You have to handle it faithfully!

Matthew 16:19 (FV): "And I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you may bind on the earth will have already been bound in heaven; and whatever you may loose on the earth will have already been loosed in heaven."

Can God make someone do something that He wants them to do, and have it done correctly? Yes, indeed! Look at the extreme of Balaam, who wanted to go curse the children of Israel and get all the money from Balak. God said not to go! Balaam came back and said, 'O God, I'll get all this silver. Look at what he's going to pay me! Let me go!'

God said, 'All right you can go, but you can only speak what I tell you to speak.'

Who was Balaam? The pope of Pethor on the Tigris River, the same office that the pope has today. So, he was going over to curse the children of Israel and God taught him a lesson.

Balaam's donkey kicked him off, threw him to the ground and he started beating the donkey. The donkey, in a human voice said, 'Why are you beating me?' Then he got on and got over there and Balak said, 'Come up here on the mountain and you can see all the children of Israel and curse them for me.' So, Balaam blessed them! Balak said, 'I paid you to curse them!'

I bring this out from the point of view that for the Old Testament the Jews have preserved it, and all changes by the scribes have been noted. Every place—the 134 places—where they changed 'YHVH' to Adonai are noted, because scribes had the code that to be a scribe if you changed something in the text you must note it in the margin.

Same way with the New Testament. God had men preserve it. Could He make them do it? Yes! So, the text for the Greek is what is called The Received Text or the text of Stephen 1550. I have two copies of it:

• I have a recently printed Stephens Text
• I have an actual 1550 text that was printed in 1550

What I noted in that was very interesting: everything that's in the footnote on all of the Interlinears, all of those variant readings were known in 1550.

In the late 1500s they found the Codex Sinaiticus that was in the waste can ready to be thrown away because it was so bad. Someone discovered it and then they said, 'oldest is best.' That's how the changes came about that are now in most modern translations.

But I used the Received Text and the 1550 Stephen's Text. This is called A Parsing Guide (shown on video), which is one of the most important things you can have if you want to know the real meaning of the words. So, there have been Greek scholars that God led to hold to the Truth so we can have it in the end days.

If you go online you can get a Parsing Guide on virtually any of the digital forms.

But when I was translating, I checked every single verb and participle with a Parsing Guide to make sure that it was right.

Matthew 16:15: "He said to them, 'But you, whom do you declare Me to be?' Then Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'…. [true statement] …And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father, Who is in heaven'" (vs 15-17).

• What does that tell you?
• Can God put a thought in a person's mind without them even knowing it? Yes, He can!
• Can God take men who are dedicated to looking for the Truth for the Greek and Hebrew for the Bible and lead them to the Truth if they are honest? Yes!

It was important that God did! Why? Because in the end-time we need it! God's purpose in the end-time was to have more Bibles out there than at any other time in history. Then, Satan always comes along!

Jesus told them He was going to Jerusalem to be abused, beaten and crucified.

Verse 22: "But after taking Him aside, Peter personally began to rebuke Him, saying, 'God will be favorable to You, Lord. In no way shall this happen to You.'…. [Peter was going to be the big strong man to save Jesus from that happening] Then He turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind Me, Satan!.… [Can Satan put thoughts into your mind? Yes, He can!] …You are an offense to Me, because your thoughts are not in accord with the things of God, but the things of men'" (vs 22-23)

In other words, if you have carnal thoughts rather than spiritual thoughts, it doesn't matter if you're Peter, you're wrong!

Verse 18: "And I say also to you that you are Peter; but upon this Rock I will build My Church… [that's Himself] …and the gates of the grave… [not hell] …shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you may bind on the earth will have already been bound in heaven…" (vs 18-19).

In other words, not whatever you want to bind, but what your binding must be is in accordance with the Word of God! There is no other way you can translate it. Some do not have 'already' there in the translation, but I put it there so everyone would know that it will in this case was not future.

"…and whatever you may bind on the earth will have already been bound in heaven…"

How is it bound in heaven? The Word of God revealed and written down from heaven! The Word of God comes from God. If He inspires it, then it's been in heaven first, before it was on the earth.

"…and whatever you may loose on the earth will have already been loosed in heaven" (v 19).

How do we know that's the correct translation? Now, we'll get a little nomenclature here. The way the KJV translated it, it was future perfect. In other words: what you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven!The action comes from the earth to heaven.

No! Binding comes from heaven to the earth! It's not in present tense. In the Greek there is a perfect verb or participle. In this case in Matt 16 & 18 they are participles.

A participle becomes important because a participle always means on-going! In other words, it's not something that's going to be changing.

Perfect passive participle, nominative, singular neuter. That defines it exactly what it is. In the Greek the present tense is called 'deo' to bind. The Greek word from which it is translated is 'de de'! Whenever you have that doubled that tells you that this participle is past tense, already been bound!

So the full participle is pronounced: 'de de menon'; for loose is 'luo.' The participle is 'lelumenon.' It's the same way in Matt. 18:18, only it is in the plural, so the spelling at the end is a little different.

The only way that can be translated, and there were five translations showing that there are some out there trying to stick to what the Truth is.

• What does this tell us? We need to use the Word of God to find the Truth in situations!
• Where do we find it? In the Old Testament!

That's why Jesus said, 'Don't think I've come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish but to fulfill' or to complete! And what did He say after that? I say to you, heaven and earth shall pass away, but one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away!

That tells you that the Word of God, though we have it written here, is written in heaven! So, when we're looking to in any difficult situation, as with binding and loosing… Today most binding and loosing has to do with divorce and remarriage and financial things. Virtually nothing else comes into the realm of binding or loosing. That means that the core of all Law is based on two things:

• loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being
• loving your neighbor as yourself

On these two hang all the Law and the Prophets!

In the New Testament the same thing is true. Whatever was written was inspired by God! We can trust it. How do we be faithful with the Word of God?

• we believe the Word of God
• we rightly apply the Word of God

We know that it came from God! Remember that if God can make Balaam speak the Truth, who was dedicated to lying, don't you think He's capable of protecting His own Word? Yes!

Let's see what Peter says about this. This is interesting, because notice what he says:

2-Peter 1:15: "But I will make every effort that, after my departure… [he knew that he was ready to die] …you may always have a written remembrance of these things in order to practice them for yourselves."

That's why we have the Word of God! What did Jesus say about the Word of God? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God! What Peter is telling us here is that the New Testament is also the Word of God.

Verse 16: "For we did not follow cleverly concocted myths as our authority…"

The Catholic Church is full of concocted myths! Peter was never in Rome. We have a series on Church at Home {churchathome.org}—Was Peter Ever in Rome?—with nine half-hour segments and you're going to be surprised. Where did they actually find the tomb of Peter? They have covered it up because they don't want anyone to know. On the Mt. of Olives in Jerusalem!

If you have The New Testament in It's Original Order it's in there. You can go read it.

{note that this Faithful Version N.T. is no longer in print, but can be found on truthofGod.org—direct link: http://www.cbcg.org/franklin/FV_2005VP%2001-09-06.pdf}

"…when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His magnificent glory" (v 16).

Peter is talking about when he and James and John went up on the Mt. of Transfiguration with Jesus and they saw Him [in vision] in is glorified form. If you saw Jesus in His glorified form, and years later—when you know you're going to die because Peter was told by Jesus how he was going to die—don't you think you're be faithful with what you would write? Yes, indeed!

Verse 17: "Because He received glory and honor from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, 'This is My Son, the Beloved, in Whom I am well pleased.'" It also says, 'hear Him!'

What does 'hear Him' mean? It means to listen and obey! Listen and write!

Verse 18: "And this is the voice from heaven that we heard when we were with Him on the Holy mountain. We also possess the confirmed prophetic Word…" (vs 18-19).

That means everything in the Old Testament that was prophetic about the coming of Jesus, and it's in almost every book of the O.T. one way other the other beginning in Gen. 3

"…to which you do well to pay attention…" (v 19). That means:

• study it
• learn it
• know it
• understand it
• see how it connects with the New Testament
• What does it have to do with our daily living
• What does it have to do with our relationship with God

All of those things are there!

"…as to a light shining in a dark place… [and there are dark days ahead of us ] …until the day dawns… [return of Christ] …and the morning star arises… [our resurrection] …in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture… [Old and New Testaments] …originated as anyone's own private interpretation" (vs 19-20).

Back in the 1880s there was Westcott and Hort and they got the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus, and the Vaticanus did not have the book of Revelation in it. They were changing the Received Text from which came the Revised Standard Version.

We have a wonderful publication New Testament Scripture Comparisons by Joseph Ackermann[transcriber's correction] which shows what the scholars have done to change the Word of God.

Remember what I said at the beginning: Every change is noted! Ackermann took 27 N.T. translations and compared verses to show where words were left out, words were changed. But the good thing about it is that it is known! Nobody has an excuse; they say 'men wrote it.' What kind of men?

Verse 21: "Because prophecy was not brought at any time by human will, but the Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

When they spoke it was written down! We have the same thing in 2-Tim. 3. This is important and we're going to see some things concerning the Word of God and how important that it is. Remember, what you bind on the earth—or what you practice on the earth, according to the Word of God—has already been written heaven above!

2-Timothy 3:16: All Scripture… [Greek means each and every one] …is God-breathed… [coming from the Spirit of God] …and is profitable for doctrine, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God… [referring to all the elders, or anyone: man or woman] …may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (vs 16-17).

What is every good work? Loving God and keeping His commandments! Don't you think that that's every good work? Living by every word of God? Yes!

I talked with Dwight Blevins, who is very good with numbers, comparisons, fulfillments and dates on which things happen. There are a lot of important things that happen over and over again. Example: What happened on 9/11 was something that happened in the Bible before, and on that day when it happened.

Daniel was given the 70-weeks prophecy in Dan. 9. Everything in the Bible from that time forward revolves around the 70-week prophecy, the #7 and the #24. Where do we find the #24?

• 24 elders sitting around the Throne of God
• 24 courses of the priests
• 24 courses of the Levites
• 24 courses of the soldiers coming in to guard the temple

Everything circulates around 7 and 24!

Everything going on in space goes in a spiral! Have you ever watched water, it goes down in a spiral. In the Northern Hemisphere it goes from left to right, and in the Southern Hemisphere it goes from right to left. That proves that the earth is a round globe, not flat. Anyone who believes that the world is flat has have been deluded to the highest degree possible.

As the earth is going around the sun, it's turning, and if you take that circuit it's a spiral at the North and South Poles and the tail that goes behind it. All the numerics fit in there. I'm telling you this so that you understand that God does things and does them in the way that Hedetermines. This is exactly what happened with the 70-week prophecy.

At this point—Dan. 10:19—Daniel was old and getting ready to die. Gabriel came to him:

Daniel 10:19: "And said, 'O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace be unto you; be strong; yea, be strong.' And when he had spoken to me, I [Daniel] was made stronger, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.' Then he said, 'Do you know why I come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come'" (vs 19-20).

This took a good number of years for that to happen. This tells you that every battle or war that there is there are angels fighting and demons fighting.

Verse 21: "But I will show you that which is written in the Scripture of Truth…."

Where is the Scripture of Truth? In heaven! That's why Jesus said. 'Whatever you bind on earth will have already been bound in heaven!'

Everything in the Old Testament is Scripture, that's in heaven. Everything that God does is based upon:

• His love
• loving God
• loving neighbor
• loving each other
• the Ten commandments

Watch the latest edition of Church At Home and there's a minister in there that blatantly says that you don't have to keep the Law, that it's been done away with. If there's no Law there's no sin! So whatever you do is not sin!

Why do you tell people to repent if there's no sin? When you leave the Word of God and are not faithful with the Word of God, that becomes a choice that each one of us has to make. Every elder and minister, every one who is a teacher of the Word of God had better pray to God, 'Please lead me to understand Your Word, and to teach Your Word to the people.' All the time, because remember what Peter said there can come along an idea!

Look at all the trouble we went through because one man wanted to change the meaning of the Day of Atonement. Of all days to try and change! The Holiest day of the year! The day that pictures getting rid of Satan and the day that shows that the sacrifice of Christ takes care of the sins of the whole world—past, present and future!

"…written in the Scripture of Truth…" So, it's all written in heaven!

• Are there laws for angels?

or

• Are angels merely automatons? or robots?

No, they have free will!

• there can be no sin without free will
• there can be no obedience without free will
• there can be no understanding of the Word of God unless we submit ourselves to God and want His thoughts and His Words only

Ezekiel 28:14: "You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I set you so; you were upon the Holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire"—the stones that have glory, as we see in Rev. 22 in New Jerusalem!

Verse 15: "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created… [How powerful did God make him? Really powerful!] …until iniquity was found in you."

• What was that iniquity? He wanted to be like God!
• What commandment does that break? The first commandment, 'you shall have no other gods before you'!

The next commandment is that 'you shall not make any image of any likeness of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down and worship them.' So, Satan looked in the mirror and he was worshipping himself! Where do all idols start? In the mind!

Angels have free moral agency, and there is a penalty for them for eternity for sinning. That's what the Day of Atonement combined with the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles is all about, what their penalty is.

 (break@37:45)

Isn't it amazing that the book of Daniel 10:21: "…written in the Scripture of Truth…." Talking about being written in heaven. We tie that together where it says, 'that which you bind on earth will have already been bound in the heaven.' In other words, everything we need to know comes from God!

Let's look at some other places that verify it even more. All of you who have The Faithful Version let me encourage you to read and study all the appendices. {afaithfulversion.org}; they have a lot of information in them that will turn out to be quite amazing. All of that comes from following the Word of God.

Let's see the introduction in 2-Tim., which is similar to Paul's introduction in every one of His epistles. Many times you don't read it and that's how men come to the point that they lose the fact that it comes from God! The first verses introduce it.

2-Timothy 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God…" He didn't set himself to be an apostle!

I got an e-mail asking how to be a pastor with Christian Biblical Church of God. I sent that onto Eduardo because it was over in his area. Eduardo told the man that 'it takes years and years to become a pastor.'

Same way with Paul. How long was he a faithful Pharisee? Higher up the ladder of the hierarchy of the Pharisees in person and agreeing with killing of the Christians. Then God struck him down, and he always remembered that.

Just like you, there's something in your life that you remember. You remember when God answered your first prayer. We're not here because of ourselves! We're hear because of:

• God's calling
• God's Spirit
• being faithful to God in loving Him and keeping His commandments

That's why we're here!. We're not here to serve ourselves, or make ourselves feel good, or be popular, whatever it is. We're here to love God and prepare for the Kingdom of God, the greatest event that's going to happen in the history of the world!

"…by the will of God according to the promise of life…" (v 1)—eternal life! Remember that God always gives:

• a promise
• a covenant
• law, instructions on how to live

"…the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (vs 1-2).

Everything that follows in Paul's epistles is based on the introductory verses. That's what we need to remember on the inspiration of God. Let's see something that goes back in time:

Verse 7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound-mindedness." We need that today more than ever before! Look at all the crazy, kook things going on!

Verse 8: "Therefore, you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but jointly suffer with me for the sake of the Gospel, according to the power of God, Who has saved us and called us with a Holy calling—not according to our works… [and He knows that right well] …but according to His own purpose and grace…" (vs 8-9).

Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, grace is:

• the personal contact with the Spirit of God
• being able to pray to God directly
• being able to study His Word and understand it
• being able to have our sins forgiven

That's all part of the grace of God!

"…which was given us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time" (v 9).

God's Plan goes way, way, way back in time! So, the Holy Scripture of Truth written heaven, before the ages of time; God has got it all planned and worked out!

Verse 10: "But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who has annulled death, and has brought to light eternal life and incorruptibility through the Gospel.

This tells us what we are doing, what we are living, what we are learning and understanding all comes from God and are spiritual! What we are learning is beyond the ability of people who do not have the Spirit of God to comprehend. They may have an idea of this or that, whatever. But unless they're willing to come to God in repentance, and love and obey God, they'll never know.

Titus 1:1: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the Truth that is according to Godliness."

Where does that Truth come from? From God and Christ!

John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.'" That's something!

Titus 1:2: "In the hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie…" That means He promised:

• promise
• covenant
• law

You follow that all the way through with God dealing with everyone He has dealt with.

"…Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time, but revealed in its own set time in the proclamation of His Word, with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior" (vs 2-3).

We all have the Word of God; all the elders have the Word of God. What does that mean? That means that we are entrusted with it and we have to use it in a trustworthy manner, a truthful manner!

All of that is there, and where does that go? That goes back before the ages of time of God's Plan. That's a miraculous thing when you think about the whole thing. That's why we have the book, it's amazing all the time. I think the older you get the more you think about it, because you're coming closer to the end when you won't be, but you really will be at the resurrection!

We all came from something that the naked eye cannot see. Much to the chagrin of the modernists today, there are two sexes—male and female—and that's what God said! No one can change that! God Who cannot lie! That why the Word of God has to be the way that it is.

Psa. 19 is one of the best Psalms to bring out to someone who maybe has some questions concerning the Law of God. After you explain to the individual about the Ten Commandments, and just briefly review them and ask them, 'How would you like to live in Perfectville where everyone kept all the commandments of God and everyone loved each other?'

• there was the right God
• no idols
• no false teachings about God
• no taking God's name in vain
• everybody kept the Sabbath and the Holy Days
• there is honoring of mother and father
• no murder
• no adultery
• no lying
• no cheating
• no stealing
• no coveting
• no police force

But you can't have that unless they all love God and keep the commandments. You can't do away with the police force today, because look, Satan fills a vacuum and it's full of nothing but evil. That's why we need the Laws of God!

Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect…"

If you have something that is perfect, would you throw it away? Would you get rid of it? We will see later how much it's worth.

"…restoring the soul… [keeping you as a whole individual] …the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" (v 7).

• God's way makes us educated
• God's way helps us to think correctly
• God's way helps us to have love instead of lust
• God's way helps us to love our neighbor instead of everything circling around me, myself and I

Verse 8: "The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes."

In other words, giving you understanding, so when Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, there it is right there. The Word of God enlightens your eyes—your mind—and you understand why.

God has a quick solution for thievery (Exo. 23). If there's thievery and he's caught, he will restore four-fold for cattle, five-fold for sheep. Think about that! Think about it in today's terms. If you can't restore it you go to jail. Don't you think that would stop a lot of thievery? Look at all the carjacking that's going on today because people are just evil and want to take. There's hatred of blacks against whites, blacks against Asians, blacks against blacks as demonstrated by the recent event in Memphis, Tennessee. There is hatred, violence and savagery in the heart of men and women when they reject God and go after Satan the devil. God's way is right and good!

Verse 9: "The fear of the LORD is clean…" What is the fear of the Lord?

• you fear to transgress the Lord because there's a penalty
• you fear to try and go your own way without first finding out what God says by studying His Word

 "…enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether" (v 9).

Those are pretty profound words, starting from perfect, to true and righteous altogether! Notice the value of it:

Verse 10: "More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned…" (vs 10-11). That's how you stay out of trouble:

• you don't transgress
• you fear to transgress because you love God

Fear and love go together!

"…in keeping them there is great reward" (v 11) That's over the whole span of your lifetime.

• What is the ultimate reward? Eternal life!
• What does it say in Rev. 22? Blessed are those who keep the commandments of God that they may have the right—the authority—to eat of the Tree of Life!

But excluded are all idolaters!

Verse 12: "Who can understand his errors?…."

How many times do we make mistakes and don't know why we make them. Sometimes it will be simple.

I remember when I was building a fence out in the backyard and slinging the hammer pretty heavily, and I said to myself, 'Fred, don't hit your thumb.' I hit my thumb! How is that for self-control.

"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12). The inner thoughts of your own mind that only you know! God can know them, and He can help you clean them up.

I recommend you study the whole 119th Psa. That is a tremendous study. It's laid out in acrostics, meaning that there's a pattern to it:

• there are 8 verses in each section
• there are 22 sections making 176 verses

The Levites were to memorize the whole thing to sing it by heart!

Every verse in each section starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The first section is Alpha; the next section is Beth, etc. All of these are very spiritual; none are carnal, none are to be done away with. Think about this concerning the laws and commandments of God.

• What does it say in Heb. 10 about them?
• Where does God expect to find them? Written in your heart and inscribed in your mind!

They know that that's how our mind works; works better than any computer.

Sidebar: Why are dumbing down everybody? So they can tell them that they can be smart if they get this 'chip' in them! We will make you a robot but you won't know it. Everything in there is artificial intelligence thought up by some man who is very intelligent.

But you will be cutoff from God! Use your free moral agency to choose God's way!

Psalm 119:1: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the LORD." A way of life! Jesus said that He was the Way!

Not only the Law, but love, mercy, truth, forgiveness, understanding all come with it.

Verse 2: "Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart."

When we seek God and we're sincere, God will answer. But then we have to choose God's way! That is answering the call of God. When you answer the call of God you become:

• the called
• the chosen
• the faithful

God selected you, and all of those who are God's so that we can enter into His Kingdom. That's the whole purpose of Sabbath, Holy Days and teaching, praying and studying. We are preparing for eternal life! What kind of a blessing is that? Absolutely amazing!

Verse 3: "They also do no iniquity… [you're not living in sin] …they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!" (vs 3-5).

He's admitting his own faults and mistakes. That's what we do when we come before God and pray and yield ourselves to Him.

Verse 6: "Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all Your commandments." All of them!

That's quite a thing! So, what we're finding out is:

• we have been called by God
• we have been chosen by God
• we need to be faithful

because He is offering us eternal life!

Verse 17: "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your Word."

In other words, everything that His mind was set on was the Word of God. Then David says:

Verse 18: "Open my eyes…"—meaning opening your understanding to see what God is teaching; that's what the Spirit of God does!

"…so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law" (v 18).

• Didn't we look at some wondrous things today?
• Before the ages of time?
• The plan and purpose of God?

Why do we have problems, trials and difficulty.

Let's look at Abraham and we will see what we have already covered, which is promise, covenant, law!

Gen. 12—here's the promise! The covenant does not begin here, because there's no sacrifice here for a covenant. We'll look at it Gen. 15, and see what God does and how God handled Abraham. God dealt with him directly.

The Promise:

Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you.'"

Abraham didn't know where he was going. When God called you, you're wondering what's next. What's next is follow God!

Verse 2: "And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing."

Everything else in the Bible comes from Gen. 12 as far as God's Plan is concerned.

Verse 3: "And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed."

We know from the rest of the Bible that means past, present (in whatever generation you're living in) and future! Families means each and every individual. This is quite a promise.

Verse 4: "Then Abram departed, even as the LORD had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran."

Gen. 15—Abraham is 10 years older at this point, so he waited 10 years. He did a couple of things that were questionable in saying that his wife was his sister. She really wasn't, but was his first cousin.

• Did Abraham have human nature? Yes, he did!
• Did his wife have human nature? Yes, she did!

We will see that we're still living with that!  Now here's where the covenant comes. Gen. 12 was the promise, here is:

The Covenant:

To fulfill two things that God said He would do is here:

Genesis 15:1: "After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.' And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless, and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'" (vs 1-2).

There was a law that if there are no inheritors of the family, the leading servant could become adopted as a son. Well, when you're 85-years-old that's what you would think would have to happen.

Verse 3: "And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.' And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, 'This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir'" (vs 3-4).

That's a promise that is leading to a covenant! Here the promise continues, and becomes part of the covenant:

Verse 5: "And He brought him outside… [this has to be at night] …and said, 'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'" We find in another place as the sand of the sea!

It was a maledictory sacrifice, and Abraham cut the animals for the oath and God goes between them and burned up the sacrifice. When Abraham woke up all he could see were the ashes. He knew at that point that what God said He was going to carry out!

Gen. 17—here's the physical seed: We have the one who would be born of Abraham's own loins—Isaac! God appeared to Abraham when he was 99-years-old; so from 85-99 is 14 years and God gave him the covenant of the physical seed through Isaac. You know what happened.

That was sealed by the sign of circumcision. And you know what happened with Sarah. She said, 'Here's my handmaid, let's have children by her, she's young and I'm old. That was a mistake! Ishmael was born and we have the problem with us to this day.

What would have happened—because there is free moral agency—if she would have said, 'God is righteous, I'll be able to give birth'? But when she was told she was going give birth, she laughed! The Lord said, 'You laughed.' And she said, 'No, my Lord!' He said, 'Yes, you laughed.' Then Isaac was born after that.

Let's see the trial, because we'll see something in Gen. 22 that's important. This had to be when Isaac was 15-years-old. If you want to know the difference in the 400 and the 430 years Roger Tointon made up a chart showing how both numbers apply {truthofGod.org}

Gen. 22—God told Abraham to take your only son that you love and come to a mountain near Moriah, which I will show you, and you will offer him there for a burnt offering. So, Abraham went on a three-day journey along with other servants. He brought the wood and had the coals in a fire pot. Isaac was with him and Abraham was going to offer him.

As they were going, the young men were told to wait until they came back. As Abraham and Isaac were going, Isaac said, 'Father, I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?' What did Abraham say? My son, the Lord will provide!

This tells us a lot. When we come to a trial and God wants to know what we're going to choose, He determines that He does not know what you're going to do until you choose. Otherwise there would be no free moral agency.

People will say that if God is all knowing, how can that be? Well, God is all powerful and He does something we can't do, which proves His power. He can determine that He is not going to know what Abraham is going to choose until he makes the choice.

Genesis 22:9: "And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son" (vs 9-10).

Why would he do that? We don't have the answer until Heb. 11!  That says that Abraham counted God worthy to raise Isaac from the dead, because he was the progenitor of Isaac when his body was dead. So, if God could do that then He could raise Isaac from the dead.

Here in this example, we find something very interesting:

Verse 11: "And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know…'" (vs 11-12).

Abraham was with God 40 years up to this point. So, this shows that God had to not know by choosing not to know! Not that He wasn't all powerful—because He was—not because He was not all knowing—because He was—but since there's free moral agency He wanted to see what Abraham would really do. After all, what did Abraham do with Hagar? What did he do when Sarah said, 'Here's my handmaiden'? That was a blemish on Abraham and Sarah's standing with God. So, God wanted to know would they choose Him in the most extreme circumstances of their life:

• the son of promise
• the son that they loved
• the son who was to have the progenitor of what we now know as the children of Israel

Verse 12: "And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…'"

This is a great example for all of us. We are all going to face some kind of trial so that God will know what we will choose! When we come to that, God is going to withhold knowing until each one of us make the choice to obey Him! Then He will know!

• How many people were attending the Churches of God?
• Where did they go when the trials came?
• What did their lives end up being?

You all know some, because they didn't pass the now I know test, which Abraham did!

"…for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me" (v 12). What is it that you would put between you and God?

The covenant is finalized here. Remember: promise, covenant and law.

Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, 'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.' And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said…" (vs 13-16).

Notice what God did when He saw what Abraham did and that he passed the test:

"…'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD… [that goes all the way through all the rest of the Bible, Old and New Testaments] …'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand, which is upon the seashore…. [all the physical descendants of Israel down through time and history] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice'" (vs 16-18).

Genesis 26:5: "Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."

Likewise with us! We, brethren, have been called of God from the ages of eternity past up until this point. To live with God in His Kingdom into the ages of eternity future!

That's why we have the Scriptures in the way that we do! Everything we do, as we found in Matt. 16, is based upon the Word of God. Then we fulfill what Jesus said, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God!'

That's something to have the Word of God come from God, given to us in this time, that we can read it, study it, know it, pray to God and be His sons and daughters! Keep that in mind and be sure to study all the Appendices in The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version {afaithfulversion.org}

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 16:19, 15-17, 22-23, 18-19
• 2 Peter 1:15-21
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• Daniel 10:19-21
• Ezekiel 28:14-15
• Daniel 10:21
• 2 Timothy 1:1-2, 7-10
• Titus 1:1-2
• John 14:6
• Titus 1:2
• Psalm 19:7-12
• Psalm 119:1-6, 17-18
• Genesis 12:1-4
• Genesis 15:1-5
• Genesis 22:9-18
• Genesis 26:5

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 18:18
• Genesis 3
• Daniel 9
• Revelation 22
• Exodus 23
• Hebrews 10
• Genesis 17
• Hebrews 11

Also referenced:

• Book: A Parsing Guide to the Greek New Testament by Nathan Han
• Booklet: New Testament Scripture Comparison by Joseph Ackermann
• Message & Chart: How to Figure the 400 & 430 Years
• Church at Home {churchathome.org} Was Peter Ever in Rome?

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 2/17/23

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