Season 3 Podcast 211 Recognizing the Hand of God Pt V Commandment with a Promise
Recognizing the Hand of God Pt V: Commandment with a Promise
Before listening to this podcast, we recommend, if you haven’t already. that you download and listen to Podcast 204, 205, 206, 207, 209 & 210. They will give context to the message; however, each is independent of the other.
Mortality is temporary. It is the only way that we can advance in freewill, agency, liberty, and freedom. Birth is the only ingress into mortality. Death is the only egress out of mortality. One is greeted by tears of joy, the other by tears of sorrow. Both birth and death were designed by God in the great plan of redemption. It is the only way we can discover who we really are. All things are comprehended by contrast. Everything in this world has its opposite or we would learn nothing. 9/11 happened because we live in a fallen world. Satan is real. Heroes stepped forward and gave their lives to save others because the spirit of Christ is alive and still dwells in men’s hearts. He too is real.
We must know the good from the evil. In the resurrection we will get our bodies back and they will be perfectly formed. God counts the hairs of our head, and he restores everything in the resurrection. No teeth will be missing, no imperfections will exist. The difference between individuals, however, will not be in the perfection of the flesh for all resurrected beings will be perfect. The difference will be in the glory of the body. As Paul said, some will shine like the sun, some will shine like the moon, and some will shine like the stars. “As one star differeth from another star in glory”
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. (1st Corinthians 15)
It takes faith and works to bring about the blessings of God, but it also takes faith to recognize the blessings of God. Together, let us analyze a commandment with a promise as if it were a law. I intend to use it as a model in analyzing other commandments of God. Let us go to Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament:
“8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. 9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. 12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:8-12
Let’s take the law apart proposition by proposition. What is the law referred to above? It is the law of tithes and offerings. As with all laws with conditions, it has both a curse if we do not obey the law and a blessing if we do. Malachi points out to the Jews that the famine is caused because they did not observe the law of tithes and offerings.
God is never arbitrary. Notice the connection between the law and the curse. Tithes and offerings go to building up the kingdom of God on earth and to helping the poor and needy. Remember the parable of the sheep and goats
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