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SILENCE (Hush)

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.  (Revelation 8:1)

The scene is the throne room of God. Transported in a vision, John the Apostle witnesses the enactment of salvation, and he is moved to tears:

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.  And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 

And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 

And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”  (ibid 5:1-5)

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(The Promise of) VICTORY

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.  (Revelation 3:21)

In the Bible book that contains John’s apocalypse, Jesus reveals to his disciple an assessment of the seven churches; which, in the apocalyptic symbolism where the number seven represents completeness, is the assessment of the church in its totality.  It is a sobering read because the body of believers is clearly beset.  That it is persecuted should come as no surprise, but what is shocking (or should be) is the parlous internal conflict. 

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ORACLE

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  (Romans 3:1-2)

Oracles are divine utterances, λόγιον logion.  Paul is of course speaking about all Scripture, which was for him the Tanakh, the Law, Prophets and Writings, latterly called The Old Testament.

An oracle is prophesy, as seen in the Hebrew:

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PROPHET

The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.  The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.   For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”

The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. (Deuteronomy 18:14-18)

In the second reading of the Law brought down from Mount Sinai, or Horeb, Moses brings a message from Almighty God.  In this capacity Moses is acting as a ‘spokesman’.  The Hebrew word translated as prophet is נָבִיא nevi and it means just that, one who speaks on God’s behalf.

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Mind (of God)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14-16)

The Greek word for ‘mind’ is νοῦς nous, which is a loan word, ‘nouse’, in English, colloquially meaning ‘know-how’ or ‘common sense’; this is close to the Biblical sense of νοῦς, being ‘understanding’ and referring more to faculty of reason than the other Greek word for mind, ψυχή, psyche, which is more the containment or vessel of that faculty, and thus is understood to represent the soul.  

Broadly speaking human knowledge of God can be said to be threefold in nature, innate, informed or inspired.  The Bible shows that we may inherently know of God’s existence, need testimony as to His character, but knowledge of God’s mind, our Godly ‘nouse’, falls into last category, that of revelation.  

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Subject (to governing authorities)

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgement.  (Romans 13:1-2)

The word translated ‘subject’ is ὑποτάσσω hypotassó from hypo, ‘under’ and tasso ‘arrange; thus, under (God’s) arrangements.  Paul is unequivocally saying that God institutes earthly governance and all governments must be respected by God’s people.  Within ten years after this letter to the Roman church was written, the Emperor Nero unjustly blamed Christians for having starting a fire that devastated some two thirds of Rome.  One of the emperor’s capricious punishments was to position Christians on poles and set them alight, as so called ‘Nero’s torches’.  

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Marriage (Rites)

And Pharisees came up to (Jesus) and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”  (Matthew 19:3-6)

The Pharisees want to trip up Jesus regarding divorce; Jesus counters by reaffirming marriage as a sacred union and one that should not be sundered by any person.  Jesus quotes from the ‘commentary’ in Genesis (2:24) and the Greek Matthew employs translated ‘join’ is the verb κολλάω kollaó, derived from kolla which means ‘glue’.  Marriage is solemn and life-long commitment in the eyes of God.

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Knowledge (of Salvation)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.  (1 John 5:13)

Can any know that they are saved?  Surely faith and knowledge are mutually incompatible?  For those who believe may still doubt, whereas certainty excludes all doubt.

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Mother(hood)

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.  (Genesis 3:20)

When God created Adam and then for him a helpmeet, the woman, they were under no immediate obligation to procreate.  They were perfect in every way and there was no disease.  Adam and the woman would represent humanity and be undying.

Eternal beings are then created and nowhere in the Bible do the angels procreate; rather they are brought into being as celestial host and endure.

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(Second) Coming

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  (Matthew 24:27)

Jesus is speaking to four of his disciples telling them of what to expect in the end times and specifically, the signs of his second coming. The Greek word that translates the participle of the verb ‘to come’ is actually a noun παρουσία parousia; while this word has a common meaning, as here in Paul:

…God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming (parousia) of Titus…(2 Corinthians 7:6)

Actually, Jesus is referring the Parousia, the event of his glorious and triumphal return, where none will doubt his complete splendour and power; therefore, Jesus invokes the second and specific meaning of this Greek word, where the arrival of a King during a royal progression through his realm would bring his regal presence.

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