Tag: God (page 2 of 9)

Angels

Joan – I wonder if you might know the significance of these verses. I’m having a hard time understanding why “the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God” and not directly to God Himself. All my searching has been in vain so far. It seems as if commentators just skip over this. Who exactly are these particular angels of God? Do you know?

Dave – I think if we combine your Scripture in Luke with Matthew 10:30-33, the answer to your question presents itself. Both Scriptures are similar. The context in both is Jesus encouraging people, and that for those who have believed and have told others they belong to Jesus, Jesus will honor that person before both God and the angels. We do not know how many angels there are in heaven that stayed loyal to God, but I suggest that there are billions. Revelation 5:11 and Daniel 7:10 state there are thousands of thousands of angels. So, the whole point of these two Scriptures is to let us know what a big deal this is going to be. This should lessen or eliminate our fear of what others think of us as Christians when we realize that confessing Jesus before them leads to such an honoring moment in heaven.

Doing Enough

Ruth D. – Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.'” These verses make me fearful, how do you know if you are giving enough denial of self? Should we also ask God to show us our sinful nature when we ask him to forgive us of our sins?
Dave – Do not fear these verses. You are not a person who “practices lawlessness” (willfully doing wrong with no conscience convicting you and no willingness to change). These verses apply to evil people who may fool humans but not God. But did these evil ones actually do those powerful things? Although these examples can be real and done by folks abiding in Jesus, they can also be faked by charlatans. Also, we do not need to know if we are denying our self enough for salvation because no one does. God’s mercy and grace are sufficient for you. If you walk with Him via this, you actually will be denying yourself more than if you sat around fretting about whether or not it’s enough.🙂 We walk by faith in His grace, not by sight (or mentally thinking we are perfect). Therefore, do not “set the bar so high” that it exacerbates you so much that you walk around under condemnation (Romans 8:1-2). In other words, do not strive to be good enough to please Him, but live life loving Him and others, feeding on His Word and you will be pleasing to Him. If your love for Him begins to fade, repent, meditate on his crucifixion, and ask Him to fill you with His love. Again, do not strive to “get in love with Him.” Remember – In Christ we are no longer condemned by The Law. 😊

Feedback so far:

Alona R – Amen to your answer – it took me many years to realize that I didn’t need to strive for that!

God in Jesus

Nelson – While doing my readings and prayer time this morning, I came upon this – “No one knows about that day or hour not even the angels of heaven nor the Son but only the Father”– Matt. 24:36. If The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are one, how could they not all know when Jesus will return? I’m excited about His soon return but my old mind often wonders about such things. Should I just praise the Lord and not question things like this?

DAVE: No, I believe we should always question things as long as it comes from the proper spirit. Your question is a good one. First, the Word does not say that the Holy Spirit does not know the hour of Christ’ return, only the Son. The key to understanding how Jesus is God yet the Son of God at the same time is found in Philippians Chapter 2. When God existed on earth as a Son, He was limiting Himself to play a role that could learn to submit to a higher authority (Hebrew 5:8). While limiting Himself in this role, He could not be omnipresent like the Father in heaven. Perhaps this was the only time when God good be tempted to sin, although I’m not sure. Jesus also did not have unlimited knowledge – He did not know the hour of His return as you have quoted from the Bible. I think He knows now, but not during those 3+ years of “in-person ministry.” I’ve wondered if Jesus could explain Euclidean geometry or how the pyramids were built or explain airplane flight before its invention or state all the laws of physics. Not that this is very important, but it’s just the way my mind works. I want to know Him intimately.

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