Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Simple exercises to help understand the Bible's self defining qualities

Exercises for Bible definitions
1. Compare these two verses;
Exodus 2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.
Acts7:35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
Now, give me three definitions, three synonyms, for what a “judge” is. Notice, how the definitions are entwined into the verses. See how the following verse helps, as well;
Judges 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

2. What is a cherub, or the plural, cherubims?

Ezekiel 10:20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

By comparing the image of the living creatures in the first chapter of Ezekiel and the living creatures around the throne in Revelation;

Revelation 4:6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. 8 ¶ And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

And looking at this speech by an angel;

Judges 2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

These statements;

Ac ts 12:15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel.

Revelation 21:17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Daniel 9:21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

And finally this statement;

Ezekiel 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Now, answer the following questions;

a. What are some differences between a cherub and an angel?
b. Was Satan a fallen angel, like the Roman Catholic Church claims?


3. The phrase after a colon folds back on the phrase before the colon explaining or defining, while the phrase after a semi-colon goes on to further actions resulting or to some further thought. Answer these questions.

a. In this verse; Hosea 1:6 "And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away", why is Hosea to call her name, Loruhamah?

b. In this verse; Revelation 2:26 "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father" what is the nature of the subject having power over the nations? How is he to rule? Is this the same manner as the Father has given Christ to rule?

c. In this verse; Revelation 6:4 "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword" why is the horse red and with what does he cause people to kill each other?

d. In this verse what two things follow each other in the order and what will be the result of obeying them as a separate event. 1 Timothy 4:15 "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all"? See, you don’t turn the clause after the semi-colon back on the one before, but it is a further step.

e. In this verse Revelation 4:1 ¶ "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter", why (the colon) was the door opened in heaven and what does the voice like a trumpet say (semi-colon). Notice that right after the colon the action that just happened is explained but within that statement there are two actions made note of; a voice sounds like a trumpet and it says something. Notice that two separate things are important here, one is how the voice sounds and two is what it says. If God simply wanted to point out what the voice said he would have had the translators use a colon but the semi-colon shows that they are two independent points to be made.

4. Context and meaning. With regard to the word “saved” in the following verses which ones refer to saved from the first death or from a physical problem and which ones refer to saved from the second? In other words, which verses refer to being saved from physical death or trouble and which ones refer to being saved from Hell and the Lake of Fire?

Psalm 106:10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

Psalm 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Matthew 27:42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

1Timothy 2:15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Acts 27:31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.

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