THE HOUR IS AT HAND
Tuesday – December 4, 2018, Kislev 26, 5779
Greetings precious brothers and sister in Christ Jesus. The Lord is so very good to all who believe. He is even good to all who do not believe, His mercy and patience is extended to all, sometimes with tears in His eyes. He paid it all and still many continue to reject the outstretched Hand of God. It is not the will of God that any perish but that all come to salvation. If you are receiving this teaching on Facebook don’t forget to hit the “like” and “share” buttons. The featured picture today is a nice fall shot for our enjoyment. Now let’s go to our primary text as we move forward in our Bible Study from the Book of John.
John 5:24-28 (KJV)
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
As we look at verse twenty-five above it seems to me that we must distinguish between people who are hearing Him (the Son of God) as living beings in the earth and those who have physically died in faith but the spirit man has gone on to Heaven. Next, let me point out that Jesus’ reference to “The hour” is not talking about sixty minutes or thirty-six hundred seconds on a clock but an incompletely defined space of time. The dead that Jesus is referring to are the spiritually dead. In just a few verses He will reference those who have died and are buried in faith and those who were not in faith (in the Word, in God). On first glance one might be tempted to think that just hearing Jesus speak during His earthly ministry, or in some fashion now, or just listening to a sermon can result in the obtaining of eternal life. However, that is not the case. Remember, the reference to hearing in our text has to do with hearing with the purpose of believing and doing. After all I suspect many if not all of us reading this teaching have sat through many a sermon and rejected the invitation to salvation. None of us were saved until we made the conscious decision to receive Jesus as our Lord which also meant receiving the Father and the reality that He, the Father, raised Jesus from the dead by the Eternal Spirit. As we move forward in our text into verse twenty-six let’s see it from a different translation of Scripture.
John 5:26 (GW)
26 The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too.
I think we can all see that this (God’s Word Translation) adds some clarity especially if one is not used to the King James Version of Scripture. We know from the creation description concerning man that the Triune God (Elohim) has and imparts life.
Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
In Genesis 2:7 the word “LORD” is referring to the one we now call Father and is the eternal self-existent One. The word “God” is translated as Elohim which is the pleural God or the Triune God. In this case the use of the word “God” likely represents the Word (later the Son of God) and the Holy Spirit. Alternately it could be telling us that the “LORD” was the initiating person. Remember we have talked about how the thoughts originate with the Father (LORD), Jesus is the body and voice, and Holy Spirit is the Spirit and the Power. Just as God is three persons in one so is man, spirit, soul, and body. Jesus did not have a body (physical) until the womb of the virgin Mary however from that day and forever He has a physical body. That body in the earth was corruptible but was never corrupted by sin as He did not sin. He, Jesus, now has an incorruptible body and soon so shall we all who trust in the Son, in God. Just as the Father (Jehovah) imparted life in the presence of the Word and the Eternal Spirit so does Jesus impart life to those who believe upon Him. Remember, the life, salvation, is in the blood. Our life is in the shed blood of Jesus, without that shed blood we would be eternally lost as would all of mankind. This is why there is a strict prohibition against eating blood and gave rise to “kosher” foods for the Hebrew (Jewish) peoples. The blood of animals for a season was the surrogate blood for the very precious Blood of the Lamb of God. Life came in a measure to the Old Testament saints through the blood of innocent animals and our life comes without measure by the most precious blood of Jesus.
Genesis 9:4 (AMP)
4 But you shall not eat flesh with the life of it, which is its blood.
1 Peter 1:18-20 (KJV)
18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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