Firstly, great emphasis is given that the contents of this series are intended to give Biblical information and insights on some of its contents. They are not intended to scare or offend anyone. It is one’s prerogative to read and never be shoved into one’s throat.
This piece is a simple sharing of bible passages. It doesn’t endorse any specific faith, religion, denomination, system of beliefs or theology aside from those in the bible.
It is in the “exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference” as provided by The Philippine Constitution that this article was made.
If you find them scary, intimidating or offensive, please feel free to take them with a grain of salt and regard them like a badly written movie script.
The bible has some hidden messages
There are two ways the bible imparts the message it wants to share, literal interpretation and symbolism.
The task of classifying which parts of the bible is to be understood literally and which parts are used as symbolism is daunting on its own.
The adding of extraction of a hidden message from a symbolism is an even more intimidating undertaking.
As a part of aiding others who are studying the bible, the author hereby offers his layman understanding on selected bible passages that are different from the normal interpretation.
[Disclaimer: While the author’s understanding of the passages mentioned maybe similar with those of others, they are not offered as theological doctrines of any denomination or group to recruit or entice membership.
They are plain layman understandings offered as points of view for consideration of seekers of wisdom and knowledge from scriptures.]
Here is a sample of the verses that seems to attract attention and the meaning or message conveyed in my understanding:
Jesus saw “Satan fall like lightning from heaven“
This is found in Luke 10:18. Here’s the scene from the English Standard Version:
Jesus appointed 72 [70 in other versions] people and dispatched them in pairs to places where he was about to go for the purpose of healing the sick and preaching the Kingdom of God, with a warning they will be like lambs thrown among wolves in this mission.
The appointed disciples went their way and came back to report their progress. Joyfully, they reported aside from healing the sick and preaching the Kingdom of God, they also had the same abilities that Jesus and his original disciples showed to be capable of:
17The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
Jesus then addressed them with a powerful reply:
18And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
There are many interpretations of verse 18, both literal and symbolical, through time by different scholars. This is one verse which it’s meaning that can surely be argued upon.
My analysis:
The way Jesus reacted to what the 72 is not a presentation of a historical fact. He is likely presenting an analogy.
What Jesus seems to point out is their acts angered Satan, and he is coming with full might, at full speed to defend his turf, ready to strike with great destructive power.
My reason is contained in verses 19 and 20. See how He clarified what He meant by giving them a certain assurance right in the next verse:
19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.20Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
I find them a logical and perfect follow-up statement to verses 17 and 18 under this context. If Jesus knew Satan is going to attack his anointed ones, it is natural he gave them assurance they should have nothing to worry about in their spiritual battle with the devil.
His saying they will be able to withstand any demonic counter attacks, even those from the head of the demons, and anything they do cannot change the fact they already belong to God makes a logical, perfect response to an ordinary being who claims ability to make bad supernatural beings subject to them.
Here is another verse that would confirm nothing the enemy does will “hurt” a believer’s connection with God:
27My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. John 10:27-29, NKJV
Unbelief and failure to glorify God leading to possible wrongful worship prevented Moses from entering the promised land
One of the lessons taught by Moses’ life timelines was the consequence of causing others to sin, specifically against the commandment of worshiping other gods aside from the Lord.
As narrated in the book of Numbers, Moses displayed unbelief in God and failure to glorify God during a stopover in the wilderness.
The Israeli crowd was getting weary due to their wandering in the wilderness and was again complaining to Moses towards the tail-end of their journey for water.
After getting a process for a miracle in remedy for their complaints directly from God, he responded with display of anger and rebuke towards the crowd and failed to follow the instructions of God on how to bring water out of a rock.
After this incident, God declared to Moses and his brother, Aaron, they did not believe Him and did not hallowed Him before the children of Israel and, because of these, they will not bring the assembly to the Promised Land.
God then handed harsh punishments in the form of Moses and Aaron both dying atop different mountains before reaching the Promised Land to display his holiness. Here’s how it happened:
After being sent by God to free the Israelites from Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the desert on the way to the Promised Land, Moses died within sight of Canaan atop Mount Nebo.
48Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying: 49“Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people Deuteronomy 32:48-50, NKJV
Why did the Lord allow his prophet who was as described as exemplary of faith in the book of Hebrews, one who spoke to Him face to face multiple times, and one He allowed to perform acts and deeds that show God’s mighty power in the sight of all of Israel? Isn’t he so favored that the bible said God Himself buried Moses and Michael and Satan battled over his body?
Here’s God Himself explaining why: 51because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel. 52Yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:51-52, NKJV
Here’s what happened in Meribah Kadesh:
2Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”
6So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.
10And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
12Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
13This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them. Numbers 20: 2-13, NKJV
From the narrative, Moses committed the following: (1) Got angry at the Israelites; (2) hit the rock twice, instead of speaking to it, to bring out water; and (3) stated he and Aaron brought out water from the rock.
It was a blatant display of disobeying to follow instructions and grabbing credit intended for God.
The bible was silent on the specifics of what caused God to say Moses committed unbelief acts. The unbelief, however, is obviously not about God’s power and abilities as Moses saw on multiple occasions how He displayed his raw power.
My analysis:
Other narrations in other parts of the bible points to the unbelief being about the Lord’s planning. He was clear about what he expects during the incident. He wants to be hallowed in the eyes of His people but Moses and Aaron did not initiate the process.
(1) Moses’ display of anger despite knowing God’s plans and abilities is a telling story. He did have good reasons to call the Israelites rebels angrily during that time. God, Himself, had displayed anger against them in several instances. It can be reasonably concluded that one of the reasons why Moses was angry at the people is because he cannot see an end of their continuous complaining.
However, Moses also knew a certain characteristic of God, He is slow to anger but firm on punishing the guilty.
18‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ Numbers 14:18, NIV
His getting angry could be perceived as a display of unbelief in the Lord’s capability of solving problems during the execution of His wishes. It was God who wanted Israel out of Egypt to be freed from slavery and worship of false Gods, and He is expected to take care of the ways how despite the people’s rebellious reactions.
He has to understand glorifying the Lord is the best counter against worship of false gods and God has been constantly displaying his majesty, some in direct response to the people’s numerous complaints.
(2) Not following God’s instructions could also be a form of unbelief.
Moses’ failure to follow God’s instructions to the letter preempted His thoughts and intentions for the miracle. God and Jesus have been known to use scriptures to point out parallelism and symbolism.
“Striking the rock twice with a rod” is totally different from “speaking to the rock”. Whatever symbolism or parallelism God intended for this miracle was messed up by Moses.
(3) Moses and Aaron claiming ownership of the miracle not only grabbed glory intended for God but also opened doors of possible worship of the brothers by the people.
Moses claimed in front of Israel that it was he and his brother who satisfied the thirst of the Israelis by causing water to come out of a rock instead of attributing it to the Lord and glorifying Him for its resolution.
This claim is could be a big reason to cause the vulnerable Israelis to fall into false worship.
Note the elements: Moses and Aaron were persons with great authority over Israel, both were very influential to the Israelis at that time. By glorifying themselves, saying they can perform miracles, instead of God, they created a scenario that could lead the Israelis into worshiping the brothers instead of God.
The books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy were clear on what God has been greatly emphasizing during the exit from Egypt. He was demanding sole worship as the people of Israel were into worshiping various objects as gods.
Becoming a reason why somebody will worship a god other than the Lord is probably the reason why death penalties for the brothers were merited in God’s eyes.
6“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6, NKJV
God’s handing of the death punishment allowed Him to show Moses and Aaron are not to be worshiped, reclaimed the glory the brothers took and showed Israel how serious He is on his jealousy of having other Gods beside Him.
God made clear how holy He was by not allowing both Aaron and Moses to enter the Promised Land due to the waters of Meribah incident. It establishes God was solely responsible for the miracles Moses performed and should be the only object of worship. It also displayed God was above the righteousness of Moses and Aaron and deterred any lingering thoughts of their worship in the heads of witnesses to this event.
The New International Version of Numbers 20:13 has a more layman way of describing it: 13These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.
Questions on the harshness of the penalties have been raised on this issue.
The imposition of death penalty clearly highlights God’s making a serious point in this case. He wants the narrative to go perfect. His prophets and messengers should be clear on the message delivered. Causing others to sin, like inducing one to worship someone other than God, is a serious offense in God’s eyes.
Confirming this analysis is the parallelism to the penalty being imposed on blasphemers against the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said an application of blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil, leading to the devil being glorified instead of the Holy Spirit.
28“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” 30for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mark 3: 28-30, NKJV
The picture painted here is very clear. Jesus clearly setting a sample situation that a person in authority who can led others to glorifying the devil for the miracles he had done is a big no, no.
Matthew’s version lays down the penalty for speaking against the Holy Spirit: it is an offense that will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:32, NKJV
Purpose of the bible
The bible made clear what kind of book is it. It is intended for those who want eternal life. It is not a medical, science, logic or history book. Many tend to forget this.
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. John 5:39-40, New King James Version
It also made its theme clear. While there are many tales narrated by the bible, one thing remains clear from start to finish: Humans caught in a crossfire between powerful adversaries and one of them, a loving God, is offering redemption/salvation.
The bible says the devil rebelled and continues to rebel against God and dragged humans along to be involved in this godly battle he started.
7And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. Revelation 12:7-8, NKJV
…she [Eve] took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband [Adam] with her, and he ate… And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” So the Lord God said to the serpent…I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed…. Genesis 3: 6, 14-15, NKJV
12Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Luke 8:12, NIV
God’s love and the danger posed prompted Jesus to come to earth and provided everyone a way to get out of the mess.
16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16, NKJV
8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8, NKJV
These verses encapsulates what the new testament is for. If you are encourage by these verses, you are invited to search the bible deeper and find out more about Jesus and his teachings.
Conservative approach
The presence of spirits and unexplainable events and multiple scientific, medical, and logical reasons that supports the bible and its authors’ credibility project a possibility that God do exists. If you are still unconvinced of the existence of God despite these proofs, being conservative might be the best alternative here.
Accountants describe conservatism as selecting the option that would show the worst possible financial standing of a business entity when two or more unproven alternatives are available. This is to remove the user of the account’s output be exposed to a bigger risk in case the worst possible scenario happens.
As it stands, the risk of not believing in and obeying God far outweighs the benefits of doubting his existence. It might be best to act conservatively, believe what the bible says, until you have absolutely proven that there is indeed no God nor hell.
By: Armando M. Bolislis
If you are inspired and want to give Jesus a try, continue a deeper search of the bible, especially the New Testament. This will show you how to become his disciple. Always ask the Holy Spirit for guidance in your search.
If you feel the want or need to belong to a Christian church or organization, find one that preaches the Word of God and will help you improve your relationship with Christ and lead you to his eternal promises.
The theologies and doctrines about faith contained in this article are solely from God through the bible. The author is just an instrument used to spread the word for the glory of God. The personal opinions and suggestions on issues outside of biblical coverage from the author doesn’t necessarily reflect the stance of Baguio Herald Express management and staff.