Pastor's Comments January 27, 2012

While exiled on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John saw in VISION “The World to Come” (Hebrews 2:5):

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. . . .”

In this writing I am incorporating the first three areas of the nine that was listed in the previous writing:

Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the High and Lofty ONE who INHABITS ETERNITY, whose Name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place . . .’ ”

Psalm 104:1-2 “O LORD my God, you are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover Yourself with LIGHT as with a garment. . . .”

Is there an area of space in heaven in which God and the Word at that time dwelt, and continues to dwell? Scriptures implies there is. Further, the Psalmist writes there is a city of God:

Psalms 48:2 “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the CITY of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation (margin: height), the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the earth.”

Though this Scripture is dual in meaning it nevertheless strongly implies God and the Word dwelt in Their beautiful city before the Creation of the Universe, the earth, and the angels. Consider the writing of the Apostle Paul:

Hebrews 8:5 “Who serves the COPY (PATTERN) and SHADOW of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the Tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the PATTERN you on the Mount.”

Moses was to make the COPY according to the ONE in heaven – the Temple of Solomon was built according to the same plans that Christ gave to King David. A miniature type of the Holy City to Come, New Jerusalem (Revelation 21). There will be no Temple in that CITY to Come, for as the Apostle John wrote: “But I saw no Temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple” (Revelation 21:22).

Isaiah 14:12-13 “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning . . . for you have said in your heart: ‘I will exalt my throne ABOVE the stars of God; I will also sit on the MOUNT of the Congregation (Job 1:2) on the farthest sides of the NORTH, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will like (or become) the Most High.”

Psalm 75:6-7 “For exaltation (promotion) comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south (the only direction left is the NORTH). But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”

Shortly before He was crucified, Jesus Christ prayed to His Father, God, to be returned to His former glory:

John 17:5 “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the GLORY I had with you BEFORE the world was.”

The WORD who became Jesus Christ revealed Himself as He was in His GLORY— and now is— to the Apostle John in Vision:

Revelation 1:12-15 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me . . . One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters . . . and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.”

Though the human mind cannot grasp it, God and the Word have eternally existed. Time as we understand and use it did not then exist (II Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). It only came into existence with the creation of the universe and the planet earth.

Colossians 1:15, 17 “He is the IMAGE of the invisible God . . . And He is BEFORE all things . . .”

Hebrews 7:1-3 “For this Melchizedek, King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God . . . to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated ‘King of Righteousness,’ and then also, King of Salem, meaning King of Peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a Priest continually.”

Contrary to what some of the former ministers and members of the Church of God believe and teach, these Scriptures are proof positive Jesus Christ never had a beginning – He, like God the Father, has existed eternally.

MYSTERY OF THE AGES, “Who and What is God”, Mr. Armstrong, Pages 38, 41:

“. . . What does the Bible reveal about WHO and WHAT is God? It is only in this inspired Book that God reveals Himself. . . . “To whom will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal? Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name by the greatness of His might, and the strength of His power; not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25-26).

[Psalm 147:4-5 “He COUNTS the NUMBER of the stars; He calls them all by NAME. Great is our Lord, and MIGHTY in power; His understanding is infinite.” To Abram, the word of the LORD came to him in a vision . . . He brought him (Abram) outside and said: “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”]

In time order the earliest revelation of WHO and WHAT God is – is found in the New Testament:

John 1:1-2 “. . . the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God, He was (or before) in the beginning with God . . . and the (Their) LIGHT SHINES in the darkness.’ ”

Page 42 > These Two Personages were Spirit, which is invisible to human eyes unless supernaturally manifested.

These passages show that the WORD, in the beginning—before ANYTHING had been created—was with God, and He, also, was God.

Though God is composed of Spirit and not of visible matter, God nevertheless does have definite form and shape. What is God’s form and shape?

In Genesis 1:26, “God said, let US make man in OUR IMAGE, after our LIKENESS.” We know the form and shape of man. That is the image, likeness, form and shape of God. In various parts of the Bible, it is revealed that God has a face, eyes, a nose, mouth and ears. He has hair on His head. It is revealed God has arms and legs. And God has hands and fingers. . . . God has feet and toes and a body. God has a mind.

One of Jesus’ disciples asked Him what God the Father looks like. Jesus replied: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

So now we know God has the same form and shape as a man. We also know He is composed of Spirit . . . And if so manifested we would see both God the Father and Christ now glorified in heaven with faces, though formed and shaped like human faces, as bright as the sun full strength! Their eyes like flames of fire and hair as white as snow (Revelation 1:14-16).

Pages 50, 57 > Now once again to Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God. . . .” . . . The Hebrew word translated “God” is Elohim – a noun or name, plural in form, but normally singular in grammatical usage. It is the same sort of word as family, church, group—one family consisting of two or more members—one church composed of many members—one group of several persons.

It is referring to precisely the same Persons, making up or composing the one God, as we found in John 1:1—the Word and God—and each of those Two Persons is GOD.

IN OTHER WORDS, GOD is now a Family of Persons, composed so far of only the TWO—God the Father and Christ the Son.

[The Word, or Name, ELOHIM is used 2,606 times in 2, 240 different verses of the Old Testament. Obviously this Hebrew Name is not used in the New Testament.]

Page 57 > God is Creator of all that exists. Both God and the Word (who became Christ) have existed eternally and before all else. From Them emanates the Spirit of God, by which God is omnipresent and omniscient. God the Father is the divine Father of the God Family, into which truly converted Christians shall be born.”

The holy Bible also reveals a very real but invisible world of angelic beings created by God existing along with our own world— to serve and aid God our Father and Jesus Christ in Their Work. They were created before physical matter and the physical universe.

Revelation 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders (24); and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands.”

Daniel 7:9-10 “. . . A thousand thousands ministered to Him; 10,000 times 10,000 stood before Him. . . .”

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do NOT wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts and wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Revelation 4:4-11 “Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads . . . Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God (5:6) . . . And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living spirits full of eyes in front and in back. . . .”

MYSTERY OF THE AGES, “The Supreme Invisible Power” Mr. Armstrong, Page 60

“The Great God through the Word first designed and created these SPIRIT BEINGS—angels, each individually created—millions or perhaps even billions of them! Angels are actual personal spirit beings, each having a mind of greater capacity and ability than human minds, capable of attitudes, purposes and intentions. It is stated that even Jesus as a human was made “a little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7). They are composed wholly of spirit. They were given self-containing life—life inherent—immorality. They have no blood circulating in veins and do not need the breath of air to sustain life, but have self-containing inherent life.

Angels are, because created by God, called sons of God (Job 1:16), but they were not begotten and born sons of God.

“To aid Them (God the Father and the Word) in the work of creating, governing and managing what was to be created, the first of all created other spirit beings on a lower plane than the God Family. Angels were created to be ministers, agents, helpers in God’s creation (John 5:17).

Page 62 > Angels are invisible, immortal spirit beings with power and knowledge superior to humans (II Peter 2:11). They have seen all the activities of mankind on the earth and therefore know more about the human mind, psychology, sociology, science and all the arts than any living man.

Angels serve a great function in carrying out God’s purpose for humanity. They are His invisible agents often ministering in ways few understand to us poor humans who are heirs of salvation.

“God has had angels specifically assigned to supervise and protect His Church throughout all its history (Revelation 1:4, 16, 20; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). He has angels who continually walk through the earth to observe and report back to Him the overall conditions on earth (Revelation 5:6; Zechariah 4:10; II Chronicles 16:9).

And God has angels specifically assigned to look after His begotten children (Acts 12:15; Matthew 18:10). God promises: “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11).

Angels are messengers. They appeared to Abraham, Lot, Moses, Manoah, Gideon, Elijah and many of the prophets and apostles. When these angels manifest themselves to human beings, they generally do so in the form of men.

“God assigns angels responsibilities, but God created within them MINDS—WITH POWER TO THINK, TO REASON, TO MAKE CHOICES AND DECISIONS!

But there was one super-important quality that even God’s creative powers could not create instantly by fiat—the same perfect, holy, righteous CHARACTER inherit in both God and the Word. [This proves that Jesus Crist was NOT created!]

That kind of character must be DEVELOPED, by the CHOICE and the INTENT of the one in whom it comes to exist.

“First of all, God had created angels. After that, and for angels and for humans who were to be created later, God formed and brought into existence the earth and the entire universe. And so we come now to that which is revealed in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning [of the physical universe] God created the heavens and the earth.”

It is therefore indicated that at that time—after the creation of angels—the entire universe was brought into existence at the same time as the creation of our earth (Genesis 2:4).

The original Hebrew words imply a perfect creation. God reveals Himself as Creator of perfection, light and beauty. Every reference in the Bible describes the condition of any completed phase of God’s creation as “very good” —perfect (Genesis 1:31).

In Job 38:4, 7 God is speaking specifically of the creation of the earth. He said all the angels (created “sons of God”) shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that angels were created before the creation of the earth—

How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed. It might have been millions—or even billions—of years [science now believes the earth has been in existence for 12 billion years.]

4) The Antediluvian World -- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (or pre-diluvian) period – meaning "before the deluge" – is the period referred to in the Bible between the Creation of the Earth and the Deluge (flood) in the Biblical cosmology

"Entire contents copyrighted. The Church of God. All Rights Reserved. The copyright subsisting in material quoted in this publication and trademarks appearing in this publication belong to the respective owners thereof and no claim of ownership therein is made by The Church of God."