Miscellaneous and Varied Truth's of scripture! -

The Branch, who is that ? and what shall He accomplish ?

Zech 6:12

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:

Remember when Jesus said this of the OT scriptures ? Lk 24:25,27

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

The word expounded here is the greek word diermēneuō and means:

to unfold the meaning of what is said, explain, expound

It should be no doubt that this Man the Branch is none other than The Son of David the Lord Jesus Christ Jer 23:5

5Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth

Isa 11:1

1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

It is stated in the Prophecy of Zech 6:12 that this Man the Branch SHALL build the Temple of the LORD ! I believe the Temple is this one Eph 2:21

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

And would not that also be the same as the Church that the Branch said He came to Build Matt 16:18

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

I believe this is Jesus stating here that He was the One , the Branch that was to build the Temple of the LORD from Zech 6:12. Yes the Temple and the Church are the same. Also the same is the Tabernacle of David Acts 15:16

After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

This above reference includes the Gentiles in the building of the Temple, which Paul alludes to in Eph 2:19-22

Now the Branch Himself shall accomplish this Great Work for the LORD, not the freewill of men. The Branch gets all the Glory for building the Temple for the LORD, and not one Stone will be missing..

 

Crucified with Christ !

Gal 2:20

20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Paul says here " I am crucified with Christ" ! Lets stop right there for a minute. When was Paul crucified with Christ ? The word crucified here is the greek word Sustauroo and means:

to crucify alone with

Its also translated crucify with five times ! The word is also a Perfect passive indicative verb.

You see, Paul as well as all for whom Christ died, in their stead and behalf, were in Christ when He was Crucified and God reckons it as they also were Crucified together with Him. This is a real reckoning in the Mind and Purpose of God. 2 Cor 5:14-15

14For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:

15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Paul here again means all where crucified with Christ, when He the One who died for them died, hence so all were dead with Him !

Notice Paul says in Gal 2:20, nevertheless I live ! Thats equivalent to saying what is said in 2 Cor 5:14-15, that all were dead , that they should live, and that not unto themselves, but unto Christ that died for them.

In Gal 2:20 Paul says Nevertheless I live, and He lives by the Faith of the Son of God, thats because he was given Life by Him that died for him. For all that Christ died, He becomes to them a quickening Spirit 1 Cor 15:45

45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

This ensures that they all are quickened or made alive Spiritually ! This word quickening is the very same word used here Jn 5:21

21For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

Jn 6:63

63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The Holy Spirit is employed by Christ in the Covenant of Redemption to quicken or make alive Spiritually all whom He died for and whom by Union with Him died with Him, were crucified with Him, and so because He lives, they too must live also..

 

What is Idolatry ?


Idolatry is a very subtle sin, in fact, all by nature are Idolaters Rom 1:18-32 and the only deliverance from it is an effectual work of the Holy Spirit convincing us of this sin Jn 16:8-9, and this of course is effected by the Cross of Christ, His Person and Work. Quite often when we think of Idolaters, we consider people falling down before before pieces of wood or stone or some other graven image Ps 115:4-8

4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

8They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

or perhaps those who worship the planetary elements like the sun , moon or stars ! No doubt those things are forms of and ways of Idolatry. There however is another way that is more subtle, and that is for those of us who attribute Salvation in any degree to the will of man, or something man must and can do, an act or actions of his, yes if we do that, we are Idolaters, and have made ourselves God, the creature, because Salvation from beginning to Eternity belongs to God, and is Solely of God. We take upon ourselves a prerogative that belongs only to God, and that is He alone determines the final destiny of all His creatures according not to their will but His own will and pleasure ,purposed in Himself Eph 1:9

Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

If and when we attribute any portion of Salvation to ourselves, even though we piously deny it, we become our own Savior, because in the final analysis we make our will, our choice the determining factor in Salvation, and that is Idolatry.

 

True Salvation gives no reason to boast !



Men we are by nature boasters 2 Tim 3:2

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Romans 1:30

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

And so when writing about Salvation the Apostle Paul says Eph 2:8-9


8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

In order that no one has a reason to boast, Salvation is by Grace through Faith and that not of ourselves ! Whats not of ourselves ? Salvation by Grace through Faith is not of ourselves, thats what ! You see both the Salvation and the Faith to believe it make up the whole of the Gift of God. Remember The writer of Hebrews speaks things that accompany Salvation . Heb 6:9

But, beloved,we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

This word accompany is the greek word a verb echo and means:

used of those joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or marriage or friendship or duty or law etc, of attendance or companionship

That adhere together or that are closely Joined

to hold one's self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to

a) to be closely joined to a person or a thing


The thought is of things being joined together or companions or that which clings with.

The ESV Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation

The BIBE But, my loved ones, though we say this, we are certain that you have better things in you, things which go with salvation

The DBT But we are persuaded concerning you, beloved, better things, and connected with salvation, even if we speak thus.


Well Faith is one of those Things with Salvation that accompanies it or is connected with it, and Paul says , don't boast, its all a Gift of God's Grace.

So Neither Item in the whole Phrase Salvation nor Faith is of ourselves, and hence there is no ground for boasting.

One cannot say, well I am saved because I had Faith or I believed and you did not. Now I am not suggesting that those of us who believes that their act of Faith or believing is the ground of their Salvation opposed to one who had the same opportunity and did not believe or did not exercise Faith and so remained lost, I am not saying that they make a thing of boasting consciously about it, but nevertheless you have a reason or ground to boast, simply because you believe your act opposed to the no action of the lost one, is that which made the difference between saved and lost, so you were the closer, you closed the deal, and not the effectual benefits of the Death of Christ.

So any of us believing that by our Faith, our belief, our accepting,is the reason for Salvation, we are Trusting in our works, in the arm of the flesh for Salvation , and unless God grants to us repentance from this evil thinking., we are under His legal condemnation and that means Christ did not die for us, in order to give us Repentance, a Change of Mind ! Acts 5:31;11:18

 

They go together !

Faith and Salvation go together, both by the Grace of God. The Gift of God's Grace Rom 5:15

15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

The Gift by Grace is "Salvation by Grace through Faith " Thats why Paul says believers believed by Grace Acts 18:27

27And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace:

Faith and Salvation must go together because Faith is the means by which God communicates to the one being saved the spiritual assurance and evidence that they stand Justified and have been made Right with Him based upon the work of Christ. The communication of this assurance and evidence results in Trust, Trust that things are as they have been communicated. Eph 1:13

13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Trusting was not and is not a condition one meets to get saved, but the result of having been made known that one is saved. Its reliance upon a Truth revealed !

Those that God saves by the Merits of Christ wants them to know it, and give Him thanks through Christ for it !

Col 3:17

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him[Christ].