https://youtu.be/YN8In8tzZ08
James 1:19-20; You know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;
20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
John 3:19-20; "This is the condemnation, that the truth has come into the world, and people loved the lie rather than the truth, because their deeds were evil.
20 "because everyone who does evil hates the truth, and does not come to the truth for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed.
Jer 17:9 (NET) The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?
Eccles 8:8; No man has authority to control the wind, the weather or the climate, or authority over the day of death; there is no discharge in the midst of a battle, and evil people will not be rescued by their evil deeds.,, they sow the wind And they will reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7a;
Eccles 8:11; Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.
John Adams said that our Constitution was made only for a moral religious people it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. This means that if voters become democrat socialist tyranny will be necessary because the Constitution is totally inadequate to control socialists.
Every nation is only one generation away from tyranny. Deception is not an excuse because people who are deceived want to be deceived. This means good for or bad, the voters are responsible for freedom or tyranny.
In the states where freedom was rejected the people of those states had previously used their freedom to vote for incipient tyranny. This means the voters in the states where the politicians stacked the election for security are responsible because they got what they voted for and in this case at least so far so does the entire nation.
If God overrules their bad choices it won't be because the nation deserves it. The nation has sown to the wind and deserves the whirlwind and that may be what is coming.
The greatest mass murderer of the 20th century wasn't Hitler or Stalin. It was Mao Zedong.
According to the authoritative "Black Book of Communism," an estimated 65 million Chinese died as a result of Mao's repeated, merciless attempts to create a new "socialist" China. Anyone who got in his way was done away with by execution, imprisonment or forced famine. The CCP continues to use those same merciless tactics to keep China enslaved to this day.
We are in a study on Smyrna, the base of the pivot power for the first gentile client nation SPQR. This took us to a study of the doctrine of historical trends.
When we left off we had noted that there is no prophesy in the church age. The next prophecy is the termination of the Church Age, with the Rapture aka Exit Resurrection of the Church, the resurrection of the body of Christ. In other words, there are no prophecies that have to be fulfilled before the Rapture occurs.
The Rapture aka exit resurrection was imminent in the first Century and still is.
Therefore Christ is the first, related to the first advent and the strategic victory of the cross. Christ is the second related to His tactical victory of the Second Advent. The first and the last, then, is a title of our Lord Jesus Christ as the prophetical key to all events in human history.
We are in Rev 2:8; where we were noting the four meanings for verse 8b:"the first and the last." The third meaning of our subject, the Lord Jesus Christ under the title of "the first and the last," refers to the uptrends and downtrends of history related to the believer in the lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is either first or last to every believer; there is no in between because every believer is either being controlled by God the Holy Spirit inside God's spiritual power system or being controlled by the OSN inside Satan's cosmic system.
If you are living inside God's spiritual power system you are operating on the basis of personal love for God and occupation with the person of Christ. This means that Christ is first.
But if you are a believer living in satan's cosmic system then there is no personal love for God and Christ is last in your scale of values and priorities. This shows us that the up and down trends of history are related to believer's recognition and acceptance of our Lord's title.
In other words, as goes the believer in Christ so goes human history in any generation. When the believer puts Christ first in his scale of values it is because he lives under the ministry and guidance of God the Holy Spirit which contributes to the up-trends of history.
When the believer puts Christ last in his scale of values it is because he lives under the control of the OSN which contributes to the downtrends of history.
Therefore, "first and last" also emphasizes the function of human volition in history. It emphasizes the importance of occupation with the person of Christ as well as the place of Christ in one's scale of values and daily priorities.
"First and last" also refers to the source of both temporal and eternal blessing for the believer. Our first blessing relates to time while our last blessing relates to eternity.
"First and last" is the fulfillment of the Christian way of life resulting in the imputation of both logistical and super grace blessing in time plus the imputation of eternal blessing and reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
The first two points are interpretation and the last two points are application of our Lord's title.
Rev 2:8; Next there is a relative clause that starts out with the nominative singular from the relative pronoun "hos", whose antecedent is "the first and the last." So it is translated: "the first and the last who."
Next comes the aorist middle indicative of the verb" ginomai" that means "to be" and it also means, "to become." We will translate it "who became."
This is a dramatic aorist tense, it states the present reality with the absolute certainty of a past event: the death of our Lord on the cross.
The idiom is a device for emphasis. The middle voice: our Lord's humanity participated in the results of the action. This refers to His physical death on the cross. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible fact.
Next we have the predicate nominative from "nekros" that refers to our Lord's semantic death on the cross. Literally, "who became dead." But it is an idiom so it should be translated "who died." Next we have the connective conjunction "kai" followed by the aorist active indicative of the verb "zao" that means to live. It is used for dead person who returns to life, or to become alive again.
A good translation is: "who died and came to life again" The aorist tense is a culminative aorist. It views the resurrection of our Lord in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of existing result that is the continuation of human history past the first advent.
This continuation of history is the subject of the book of Revelation. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb through His physical, literal, bodily, resurrection from the dead. The indicative mood is the declarative for a dogmatic statement of fact, the doctrine of the literal, physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
Rev 2:9; The verse begins with "oida" that means cognizance, present active indicative, and it refers here to our Lord's omniscience regarding the status of the church in Smyrna that would contribute to hundreds of years of glory to client nation SPQR where millions and millions of people were led to believe in Jesus Christ.
The accusative singular, direct object of "thipsis" is next, referring to pressure, to afflictions, to the various disasters that often occur in life. It is translated: "I know all about your pressures." It is in the singular, gathering up all of the pressures of these people into one concept.
Then we have the conjunction "kai" that in this case is best translated "even." It is followed by an appositional accusative of the noun "ptochia" (poverty), and with it the generic use of the definite article "ho" indicating that the poverty because of a specific reason.
Ordinarily it means, poverty, but here it is more than just poverty and we will translate it "including the destitution". It indicates that the poverty is for a specific reason. Smyrna was a wealthy city and many believers were, or had previously been extremely prosperous financially.
But they had become victims of the "ten-percenters" throughout the Roman Empire. The "ten percenters" began with the Domitian persecution of the Christians. The idea was that if a person could find a Christian, preferably a wealthy one, and prove in court that he was a Christian and he was sent to jail or killed and the Roman empire confiscated his wealth and ten percent of it was given to the informer.
Many of the believers in Smyrna were impoverished and killed by the Roman government. There were people who made this a profession. There was also a wealthy Jewish coalition that delighted in eliminating and destroying Christian business enterprises by using similar kinds of business tactics.
For the believers in Smyrna all of this was suffering for blessing. The spiritual status of these believers is mentioned next. Their financial status was mentioned because they were under pressure and were suffering privation because of their faith in Jesus Christ.
The spiritual status of the believers is given after the adversative conjunction "alla" that is correctly translated "but." Followed by "plousios" translated rich and then the present active indicative of "eimi "you are. The perfective present tense refers to a fact that has come to be in the past, (the believers of Smyrna have become mature believers).
This sets up a contrast between the financial poverty of the believers of Smyrna and their spiritual prosperity because they were living and functioning inside God's spiritual power system and passing the momentum testing by dealing with the adversities they were facing with the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit and God's Word of truth.
They did so at the cost of all of their wealth and possessions, but even though they are in a state of financial poverty they possess spiritual maturity and along with it the edification complex of the soul, something that very few people in history have actually attained.
This brings us to a study of the Doctrine of the Edification Complex of the Soul.
The doctrine of edification is based on the categorization of the Greek noun "oikodome" This noun is found in Rom 14:19; 2Cor 10:8; 2Cor 13:10; Eph 4:12,16, 29; 1Cor 14:5,12,26;
In all of these passages, "oikodome" has a dual connotation: Collectively it refers to the formation of the royal family of God during the entire Church Age; aka the building up of the body of Christ. When the royal family is completed, Church will be snatched from the planet.
Individually it refers to the spiritual growth of the positive believer, and/or the spiritual momentum that is developed from living in God's spiritual power system. The individual connotation refers to the execution of the protocol plan and the manufacture of the invisible hero, resulting in the glorification of God.
When the collective connotation is used, "oikodome" should be translated "construction, building up," or" building process." When the individual connotation is used it should be translated "edification."
The collective connotation of "oikodome" is based upon our Lord's third royal patent or title, King of kings and Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star that was given to Him as a result of His strategic victory in the angelic conflict.
The phrase "edification complex of the soul" is technical nomenclature found in the epistles of the New Testament that describes the attainment of spiritual maturity.
The consistent function of the "Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception" (GASP) under one's right pastor-teacher is the only way to construct an edification complex of the soul.
Mature believers possess a completed edification complex in their soul.
Doctrine perceived must feed both the human spirit and the human soul to develop capacity for both human and eternal life. The completed construction of the edification complex of the soul and spiritual maturity is the result.
Virtue-love is the means of reaching maturity and receiving an edification complex of the soul, 1Cor 8:1b;"Gnosis (knowledge) produces arrogance, but virtue-love edifies. Virtue-love is the indication that you have metabolized doctrine in your stream of consciousness.
You cannot have an edification complex of the soul unless you are using the virtue-love of spiritual maturity that is developed from the application of doctrine under the pressures of momentum testing from the adversities faced from living in the devil's world.
Some synonyms for the edification complex of the soul include: Light, 1John 5:7; that is used to describe God's spiritual power system and sometimes for the edification complex of the soul.
"Christ formed in you" in Gal 4:19, connotes both the edification complex of the soul and spiritual self-esteem.
"The new self," of Eph 4:24; and Col 3:10; refers to both the edification complex of the soul and God's spiritual power system
"That you may be perfect", referenced in" James 1:4.
"Imitators of God," Eph 5:1. There is a direct relation between the edification complex of the soul and the function of God's spiritual power system in spiritual maturity.
The pastor's authority for the communication of doctrine that is the basis of edification is found in a number of passages.
2Cor 10:8, "For even if I should boast about our authority, which God gave for your edification and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed."
The Corinthians wavered so much that Paul had to get tough with them and pull rank on them. The Corinthians were reacting to Paul's authority and as a result they were doing many things that were hindering their spiritual life.
In the context, "Our authority" refers to those with the communication gifts of apostle (Paul) and pastor-teacher (Titus, Apollos and Timothy). The authority of the communicator is established exclusively through the communication of doctrine.
Paul makes it very clear that the construction of the edification complex depends upon accepting the authority of a single pastor- teacher who communicates doctrinal information in a way that you can accept it.
People never grow up without recognizing and responding positively to legitimate authority.
2Cor 13:10; "For this reason, I am writing these things while absent, in order that when I am present, I may not use severity in compatibility with the authority which God has given to me for the purpose of your edification, and not for the purpose of destroying you."
No one can learn any subject without accepting the authority of the one who teaches it.
Therefore, the importance of understanding that edification and invisible heroship comes in one way, and one way only, that is through the teaching of the pastor in communicating the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
It is impossible for anyone with the gift of pastor- teacher to communicate Bible doctrine unless his authority is recognized. Therefore, the enforcement of good manners and thoughtfulness of others in the local assembly is a part of the exercise of his authority.
Notice that Paul thought it better to talk about authority in a non-face-to-face situation so that he would not have to chew them out face-to-face when he arrived.
1Thes 5:12; "But we request of you, brethren, that you respect those pastor-teachers who work hard among you (studying and teaching), who have command over you in the Lord and give you instruction."
The road to the edification complex is paved with hundreds and thousands of messages regarding the protocol plan of God. The benefit of the pastor's messages is dependant upon the believer accepting the authority of his teaching.
Believers who do not accept it are not edified and they should find a pastor who communicates in a way that they can accept what is being taught so they can be edified God assigns pastors to a flock so any given pastor is not everyone's pastor.
Heb 13:17; "Keep obeying (the teachings) of those pastors who themselves are ruling over you, and submit to their authority (by learning Bible doctrine), for these same pastors keep watching for the benefit of your souls as those who have to render an account. Keep obeying them, in order that they may do this accounting with joy, and not with groaning, for this is unprofitable for you."
God's objectives for the pastor are found in Eph 4:12; "for the purpose of equipping the saints, for the production of Christian service, for the edification of the body of Christ."