30-second Bible
Many of the Christian blogs I frequent has posts about the new 100-Minute Bible that has been released in the UK. “Proponents say it is a gateway to the classic, a crash course in Christianity that will provide a useful tool to reach out to the curious, the lapsed, and the ignorant.”
I’d like to submit my own version of the Bible called the 30-second Bible. This one is completely endorsed by Jesus and ready to hit the shelves as soon as I get a publisher. What’s in it you say?
Mark 12:28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
32″Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Jesus broke it down into really simple terms, probably for days like these where there are many many things that aren’t covered in the Bible. Many Christians spend weeks upon weeks debating on things like abortion, stem cell research, and whether the newest TV preacher is actually the anti-Christ. I just find it really strange that loving your neighbor as yourself seems to be the one most forgotten. We mock, criticize, and sometimes pity our neighbor, but neglect to do one of the two greatest commandments that Jesus set forth to all Christians. Love your neighbor as yourself.
[...] So, there’s the answer. You must believe in God. I don’t see any rules or regulations to follow, the Bible is clear, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you just can’t grasp the fact that it is that simple, then I encourage you to follow the two greatest commandments in addition to this, which is almost just as simple detailed in my 30-second Bible for Christians. [...]
Thank you for sharing that! I would also like to add 1 John 3:21-24(NIV): “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”
Many people believe in God, or some version of a god, yet James 2:19 tells us that even demons believe (but clearly they’re not saved…) Verses like 1 John, as well as Acts 16:31 “They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.” further clarify the role of our Lord Jesus in our salvation.
I am proposing a new look at who the Branch is in the scriptures. I believe that the Branch is tied into the manchild of Revelation 12 and also the end times Elijah mentioned in Malachi chapter 3.
I believe this mysterious latter day personage is the fulfillment of the Jewish belief of 2 Messiah’s. Messiah Ben Joseph the suffering one and Messiah Ben David the ruling and reigning one. Now the normal Christian line of thinking is that Jesus fulfilled the first one and is coming back to fulfill the second one which I don’t dispute in the long run, but there is something that Christianity is generally missing and that is in between the two advents is the ministry of the Branch. If you look in Daniel Chapter 7 there is the figure of the Ancient of Days which I contend is the appearance of the Father into the world to Judge the world. If you look to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 you see that the Father’s ministry is to submit all things to the Son Himself excepted that God may be all in all.
Then we see in Roman’s 11:26 that the deliverer is coming from Zion so all Israel shall be saved. I believe that deliverer is the Father come to the earth and His ministry will be to gather the Israelites from the four corners of the earth and to establish Jerusalem as a praise in all the earth. He will put down the enemies of Christ and begin the reign of peace. If we look in the book of Isaiah chapter 4 we see the bride represented by the seven women as explained in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 about the seven churches calling out to the Branch to take away their reproach. The Branch takes away their stains and causes a pillar of fire and pillar of cloud to reside over Zion to be shade by day and refuge and shelter from the storm and rain by night.
Then when we go to Isaiah chapter 11 we see the shoot which is the Branch coming out of the stump of Jesse which stump we know as Jesus. This Shoot will be filled with the spirit of knowledge and wisdom and the whole chapter describes the day of the Branch and the root of Jesse which is Jesus and how the nations will seek Him as an ensign to the nations.
Now looking to Jeremiah chapter 23 we see starting in verse 5 the ministry of the Branch executing justice and righteousness and what He does is so big that the children of Israel will no longer talk of the deliverance from Egypt but talk about the deliverance of the Branch whereby the people had been in bondage and He now brings deliverance. In Jeremiah 33:14-17 The Lord repeats His promises but in a feminine form obviously talking about the role of the bride in this end time drama.
Then going to Zechariah chapter 6 we see shadows of the Branch portended though Joshua and the fellows who rebuilt the temple the second time. It is said that the peace shall be between the Branch and His high priest which is Jesus. If we look to chapter 3:8 of Zechariah we see that Joshua and his men are men of portend or omens of the Branch to come.
Now in Malachi chapter 3 we see the messenger preparing the way of the Lord to appear suddenly before the temple and who can abide His appearing? He shall refine the sons of Levi.
Now the question is how will the Father make His appearance in the last day, the day of judgment. Will He come in the clouds like the Son or will He be born of a woman like Revelation chapter 12 states. There is some scripture to back up His being born in the usual way. Looking to Psalms 40 we see a messianic figure with His sins almost taking Him under in the last part of that Psalm which the first part we so readily attribute to Jesus but it becomes kind of mysterious after verse 10 with the person talking about evils without number encompassing Him and His iniquities overtaken Him till He cannot see, they are more than the hairs of His head His heart fails Him.
I can see the Father delighting in running the same race He has set out for all of His people and like a mighty warrior stirring up His zeal to overcome just as He requires of the rest of His creation, that He might be justified when He judges and called the Lord our Righteousness.
Posted by Didymus at 12:32 PM
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