In The Beginning. . . .
A great place to start, so here we go.
In the beginning of my life of seeking and learning. Actually, seeking to understand what was true, and learning that it is difficult to discover the truth most of the time.
When you are very young and do not know yet how to walk, you are prone to fall down a lot. It really does not to much because it does not hurt to bad. It might hurt only enough to encourage you to stay up right, hence do not fall. Later, when we are a year or two older it starts to hurt because there is farther to fall, so more pain. As an infant, it seems that we learn what not to do, mostly because of pain. As we become more able to communicate with words, older people can helps us learn so that we don’t experience so much pain.
I hope that you can see that even when we are really ignorant of anything about the world, we recognize that pain hurts, and that we naturally desire to not have pain. A teaching tool, Yes?
In the beginning, when I was 5 and go my first New Testament because I could read it, slowly and with effort. I noticed that the preacher would start with a verse or passage and sometimes reference other verses or passages while preaching. I was frustrated to begin with because I could not keep up. I would find one of the references and start reading, noticing that what appeared to be the point of using this verse, did not match what was in the verse. I assumed that I just did not know anything yet, just keep trying.
When I as six, I won my first King James Bible with dictionary and concordance, wow! I was better at reading and keeping up, but I still could not figure out why what was talked about almost never matched the reference. Still to young, it will come, try harder. I learned a lot, from those books because I was always trying to make sense of what was going on.
I have been doing this study of the text for many decades, with a giving up for a few years because of what I had learned about religion. I did not forget what I had learned from the bible and my research, which was part of the problem. This knowledge served me well later, as I did not have to start from NO Knowledge, and when I was injured I knew who could and could not help.
I know that this is long, but it is very important. Especially, if you have not spent decades frustrated in this way. Remember, when you have a way to communicate(understand), it becomes possible to learn without the pain. Hopefully!
There is understanding now, though I must say, I really did not want to go with this, but like you, what I want now really matters little. What you do matters; the choices you make matter; your plans don’t matter. Really!
What matters? The LIVING GOD OF ISRAEL, Master of the Universe, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, HE MATTERS. That would be HIS GLORY. Because HE IS THE ONLY ONE, HE does not need to share. There is no other god to share with.
The rest of what follows is: How HE treats HIS HONOR; HIS GLORY; HIS WORD; HIS PURPOSE. These are why we Exist, and Benefit, are taught, tested, taught some more if we are good, or we maybe used to teach others what we refuse for ourself.
Let get started!
Exodus 14:
The Honor of The LORD!
4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get Me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.’ And they did so.
Exodus 32:
How important is HIS Honor?
7 And the LORD spoke unto Moses: ‘Go, get thee down; for thy people, that thou broughtest* up out of the land of Egypt, have dealt corruptly;
8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said: This is thy god, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’
9 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.
10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation.’
11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said: ‘LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, that Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil did He bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.
13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou didst swear by Thine own self, and saidst unto them: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.’
Numbers 14:
The Story of the Spies and the Rebellion
10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones, when the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel.
11 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘How long will this people despise Me? and how long will they not believe in Me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and destroy them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.’
13 And Moses said unto the LORD: ‘When the Egyptians shall hear–for Thou broughtest* up this people in Thy might from among them–
14 they will say to the inhabitants of this land, who have heard that Thou LORD art in the midst of this people; inasmuch as Thou LORD art seen face to face, and Thy cloud standeth over them, and Thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night;
15 now if Thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of Thee will speak, saying:
16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which He swore unto them, therefore He hath slain them in the wilderness.
[*”Thou broughtest up” this is from pain. The LORD in both of these cases: Exodus 32 and Numbers 14, THE LIVING GOD OF ISRAEL was rejected by HIS first born (Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh: Thus saith the LORD: Israel is My son, My first-born.). I do not know of anything that hurts more than being rejected by those you TRULY LOVE. In the instances given, HE does not take glory at having brought us out of the land of Egypt. How much pain does your actions inflict UPON THE FATHER OF YOUR SOUL? Think about it and pray that you are not given that pain.]
Isaiah 41:
Please note in these sections, not only does GOD Declare HIS NAME and GLORY, but included is a test that only HE PASSES(I placed in italics).
8 I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Isaiah 42:
8 I am the LORD, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isaiah 46:
12 Hearken unto Me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near My righteousness, it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory.
Isaiah 48:
5 Therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I announced it to thee; lest thou shouldest say: ‘Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.’
6 Thou hast heard, see, all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have announced unto thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known.
7 They are created now, and not from of old, and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say: ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened; for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For My name’s sake will I defer Mine anger, and for My praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have tried thee in the furnace of affliction.
11 For Mine own sake, for Mine own sake, will I do it; for how should it be profaned? And My glory will I not give to another.
. . . .
17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD thy God, who teacheth thee for thy profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 Oh that thou wouldest hearken to My commandments! then would thy peace be as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea;
Ezekiel 39:
7 And My holy name will I make known in the midst of My people Israel; neither will I suffer My holy name to be profaned any more; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
. . . .
21 And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgment that I have executed, and My hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God, from that day and forward.
23 And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they broke faith with Me, and I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I unto them; and I hid My face from them.
25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have compassion upon the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name.
There are more, much more to be reviewed and learned from. In the beginning, HE created the Heavens and the Earth, and all there in announce HIS GLORY.
There is no other with which HE WILL SHARE HIS GLORY. From the beginning, it seems to me that HE IS creating something which is completely HIS. HE TRUELY is the Ultimate FATHER to HIS children.
I Accept HIM, follow HIM, that is my choice. I am still learning, every time I look I understand something new, like the *note in the text above. The GOD Of Our Fathers, made it possible for you to read this, adding to what you have been given to know. So you can make a choice. What is your choice? The MASTER Of The UNIVERSE or not? Which way will you go?
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Shalom,
Yaakov