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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: There is a verse in the Bible that tells us about ourselves There is a verse in the Bible that tells us about ourselves Before we get to that verse, perhaps we should look at another verse that explains Jehovah God; John 4:24 (Jesus Christ speaking) God is a spirit, and those worshipping him must worship with spirit and truth. Understanding this is vital to understanding ‘make man in our image.’ (See the post; ‘Make man in our image’ put up some time ago in the Religion thread.) Now, let us look at the previous verse; John 4:23; Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. This is confirmation for what is said in John 4:24. Now; John 4:25; The woman said to him: “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. Whenever that one arrives, he will declare all things to us openly.” Note this; he will declare all things to us openly. I have posted before where the Christ testified that he had said nothing in secret. There are no mysteries in the Bible, period. Some of the material is difficult, and requires much study to understand, but NOTHING is hidden from view to the dedicated Bible student. John 4:26; Jesus said to her: “I who am speaking to you am he.” Alright, now let us jump forward in John just a bit; John 4:44-46; No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; and I will resurrect him in the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by Jehovah.’ Everyone that has heard from the Father and has learned comes to me. 46 Not that any man has seen the Father, except he who is from God; this one has seen the Father. One more time; No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; John 4:47; Most truly I say to you, He that believes has everlasting life. He that does not believe, well, no need to go into that; I am sure all of you understand, including those who claim not to believe in God. Draws him. Interesting, isn’t it. What does it mean? To begin to understand, let us look at that verse I mentioned that tells us about ourselves. James 4:8; Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you. … Wow. The power in that verse! What? You don’t get it?! Why? Oh, right, you haven’t studied the Bible! OK. Let’s break it down. First off, notice the comma. That tells us that there are two thoughts-actions in the sentence. And, they come in the order presented. In other words, the second thought-action in the sentence can not come before the first thought-action. It is understanding this separation of thoughts-actions that provides the power in this verse. But before we get to that, note this; nothing in the Bible occurs by accident. Everything that is written in the Bible is there for a reason, and the order of that writing is always important. That means that the order of this sentence is important. The first part of the sentence, Draw close to God, requires an action on our part, before there is a RESPONDING action on the part of Almighty God; and he will draw close to you. Do you understand this? This is important, because this deals with us and with free will, and with understanding how and why Jehovah God operates. Let us return to an earlier verse for just a moment; John 4:23; Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. The Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him, but why does He not simply demand that worship? Because He Created man with a free will. And because He is Perfect, He can not violate that which He has Created; free will. We … must … voluntarily … chose … to … worship … Him. Now, what did the Christ say?: no man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him; What does that mean? Jeremiah 17:9, 10; “The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it? 10 I, Jehovah, am searching the heart, examining the kidneys, even to give to each one according to his ways, according to the fruitage of his dealings. Jehovah examines everyone’s heart, and those that He finds acceptable, He will call to that person (perhaps by a knock at the door from someone offering to study the Bible with you). This is done in many different ways, but it is simply a call; it is not a demand. And that call is always to be answered by our first step closer to Him, or, we are in rejection of Him. Why? Because He can not move closer to us unless we FIRST move closer to Him. Always, our moving closer to Him is accomplished when we decide to begin to learn more about Him. This means Bible study. Because there is no other source of information available to us. Once more in John, we find, John 17:3; This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ. Is this important? We see this type of message again elsewhere in the Bible; Ephesians 1:17, 18; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit or wisdom and of revelation in the accurate knowledge of him; 18 the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he called you, what the glorious riches are which he holds as an inheritance for the holy ones. Everything in the Bible comes back to knowledge, gained from the Bible. And that knowledge is directed at how we live, and, the choices we make. I hope this goes someway in explaining to you an important message in the Bible, about how Jehovah God waits for us to make that first tentative step in His direction. That first step that is so important in acquiring accurate knowledge of Him and of His Son. There is another aspect of this that you need to think of. Any ‘church’ or religion that takes sides in a war, supports man’s government as opposed to supporting the government headed by Jesus Christ, is not a Biblical church nor religion. If you are confused about this, then I would suggest a serious effort on your part to begin to understand the message from the Bible. That requires that you study the Bible! I just had some dialogue with someone about the Roman Catholic church banning the reading of the Bible by anyone other than the priests of the Roman Catholic religion. Basically, they did not believe me when I said that the Roman Catholic church banned the reading of the Bible by ordinary people for hundreds of years. Not only banned such reading, but the punishments for doing so were very, very harsh, including death or losing the hand that dared to touch the Bible. (I am doing a post about the Roman Catholic church but felt that this post should come first.) If people would actually read the Bible, wars would not and could not occur. Period. That any of you do not understand this shows how little you understand about the Bible, and the information contained therein. And about the command to love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 18:20; For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. And I repeat something else that I have said before; I do not ask you to believe me, for that is the road to foolishness. It is your obligation to do your own studies, and learn the Truth of Jehovah God for yourself. I will further witness to you that reading the Bible on your own is not sufficient; I did that for more than 20 years, and I did not begin to truly understand until I began to study in a group. As in all things, this is a free will choice. Chose wisely, for eternal life is at stake. I assure you of this. If you have any questions, please ask. Privately, if you prefer.
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