a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” - Genesis 3:23-24

The Revelation

of

The Flaming Sword

“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us,

to know good and evil:

and now, lest he put forth his hand,

and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” 

(Genesis 3:22)

Hebrew Expression

The last part of this statement is expressed as a figure of speech. The Hebrew expression shows a sudden silence. It expresses the grieve of Yahweh towards the Fall of Man and yet a great promise underscores His words. His action in driving Adam eastward sheds light on His words – “and now, lest he…”.

“Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” - Genesis 3:23-24

God drove Adam out of the garden of Eden. But how far away did God have to drive Adam out before Adam was out of the garden? This passage of Scripture is both literal and figurative. Though the garden of Eden was a literal place, it had no fence around it and no entrance or exit for it. We know that the tree of life was not a literal tree but the law of life in God’s Word and therefore the last verse could not refer to literal cherubim and a literal flaming sword guarding the way into It on the eastside of the literal garden. If the cherubim and the flaming sword were literal then they should still be there guarding the eastern side of the garden of Eden (which is the land of Israel), even to this day. And so would both the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, if they were literally natural trees.

“So he drove out the man;…” God divorced or detached the man from the place He had put him. God did not have to drive Adam out very far before Adam was separated from the place where God had put him. Adam had broken the law and judgment had to be passed. God had to affect a divorce between light and darkness, truth and error, life and death. Adam was not only separated from the natural garden where he dwelled but also from that spiritual Garden of God where God’s Presence truly dwelled.

Imageries

Remember that the events of the Creation and the Fall were penned down (in the Book of Genesis) some 2500 years later by Moses during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness after they came out of Egypt. The Spirit of God used various particular expressions to convey Truths whilst simultaneously hiding them. In relating the events, oral expressions and imageries of that era and place that the Hebrew people were familiar with were used. The Seraphim and Cherubim are such imageries with hidden mysteries. They are two heavenly beings with wings who are often associated with the Presence of God especially around His Throne (cf. Isaiah 6:2-6; Exodus 25:20-22; Ezekiel 1:4-28; 10:1-22; Revelation 4:5-9). 

Both are fiery burning spirits (Hebrew: saraph). Cherubim are also guarding angels of Light. In chapter 28 of his book, the Prophet Ezekiel was speaking of Satan as he directed his words at the prince of Tyrus. Satan was that anointed guarding cherub named Lucifer who had once possessed great authority and moved among all the other angelic principalities and powers (fiery stones) of God (vv.14). Remember that he had the ability to transform himself into an angel of light (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:14). After his rebellion, in which he sought to be seated in the position as Yahweh (cf. Isaiah 14:12-15), Satan was cast down and he became an adversary of God.

No sooner and right after the re-creation of the Heaven and Earth, Satan went straight into the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve dwelled. He came through the enchanting serpent (Hebrew: nachash) like a “saraph” and tempted Eve. Yes, he was a fiery serpent (Hebrew: saraph nachash, cf. Numbers 21:6-9).

[Numbers 21:6-9, New King James Version.

⁶ So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.

⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

 ⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.]

 

Today, cherubim have different imageries such as a chubby winged baby with a bow and an arrow. Religious approaches to the mysterious cherubim have conjured up different imageries of various angelic beings and their roles, but more so to the cherubim and the seraphim.

The Flaming Sword

Now, the Flaming Sword is a power that separates and destroys. It speaks of a hidden mystery. This mystery is later portrayed on the mercy lid (seat) of the Ark of the Covenant found in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle of Moses (cf. Exodus 25) where only the High Priest could enter in but once a year in Yahweh’s Presence with the blood of a sin-offering.

Both the Cherubim and the Flaming Sword are (in Genesis 3:24) expressed here as guarding the way to True Life. Such expression creates a sense of awe (in the mind of man), giving rise to an imagery of an unapproachable Light. Man is a fallen creature and therefore he can no longer return to God’s Paradise. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death;…” (Romans 6:23). But man’s fascination with the Flaming Sword till this day has never ceased. He had been, and still is, thinking of ways to get pass that sword and into God’s Paradise. No matter what a man does to try and find his way into God’s Paradise, he will surely come face to face with death. He can imagine, philosophize and devise ways to get into God’s spiritual Garden of Eden but he will never get pass the Flaming Sword that turns everyway. It’s the fiery law of death. No matter how venerated a man’s life may be and how devout and holy his approach, death will still stand before him and is ever ready to destroy him. God is as much a consuming fire as He is a holy God. Until a way is provided, man’s vain imaginations and religious approaches to get into the spiritual Garden of God remain futile.

O glorious mystery! God guarded the Tree of Life and kept It in Himself until He sent It forth in the form of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Yet Christ has the burning sword in His hand -- "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John.14:6). Jesus Christ is God’s Tree of Life manifested. Yahweh, Who is TRUE LIFE, the Word of LIFE, came to dwell in the flesh of His Own Son, Yahshua. It was this Light that came into the world and lit up a pathway for man to find his way into the Garden of God. Man could now taste and eat of the Tree of Life (Word of Life) in order to have the true and eternal fruitful life that was ordained of God. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4). He is the consuming fire of God. He must purge sin before anyone is to eat of the Word of LIFE and enter into the spiritual Garden of God.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” - Hebrews 9:14

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:” - Hebrews 1:3

Yes, unless God reveals His Truth to you, you will not see it. You may claim to have a revelation but if the Truth is not there, then you are deceiving yourself.

East

Strangely, why were the Cherubim and the Flaming Sword placed only on the eastern side of the garden? What reason was there for such a position?

A mystery lies here and unless one first sees the truth that the garden of Eden was Israel (and not Turkey or Armenia or a certain area in the Mesopotamian Basin) one will not be able to see the revelation of it. [For more proof that the Land of Canaan is the locale of the garden of Eden, read my message: “The Holy City, New Jerusalem”. Click here .]

The driving out of the man and the placing of the cherubim and the flaming sword are the schema of God that speak prophetically of a great mystery. As the First Man, the First Adam, was cast out eastward in death, the Second Man, the Last Adam, will surely come and bring Life back from the direction that Death went out. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45). “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: ( the Logos of) God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). Hence, True Life remained hidden as a mystery of God until He revealed It in His Son, Jesus Christ, Who was sent as the Messiah to the children of Israel according to the promise given to them.

It was Yahweh’s modus operandi to cast such imagery even with that of the rising of the sun (cf. Malachi 4:2). The simple structure of the Tabernacle of Moses (later replaced in Jerusalem by the temple of Solomon, and of Herod) was constructed with its entrance facing the east (cf.Numbers 3:38). Also, in his vision of the future (millennial) temple, Ezekiel witnessed “the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east” (Ezekiel 43:4).

Yes, Life did return to the garden of Eden (which is the land of Israel) when the Christ of Yahweh was born and died for a propitiation for sin, a reconciliation for iniquity. Having ascended into Heaven from the Mount of Olives, He will return once more to the same. “And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet,…” (Acts 1:10-12a). This return will be in the great Day of the Lord when Jesus Christ will come to fight in the Battle of Armageddon. In great glory He will descend on to Mt. Olivet and enter into the City of Jerusalem and the temple via the eastern gate (which is presently shut and sealed up). “Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same” (Ezekiel 44:1-3). “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (Zechariah 14:4).[ See Mount of Olives today here ] Christ will then sit upon the Throne of David (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; Luke 1:31-33) and in His glory He will judge all nations that are gathered before Him (Matthew 19:28; 25:31-46) prior to His Reign over the earth for a thousand years.

Revelation and Truth

All religions today that look to a Creator are, directly or indirectly, one way or another, traced to the worships performed by the two seeds born outside of the garden of Eden. 

● Abel, the seed of Adam, had the whole truth and the complete revelation of the way of approach to his Creator. 

● Cain, the seed of the Serpent, did not. He took half of the truth that he had learned from his stepfather, Adam, and approached his Creator with a carnal revelation. 

●The sacrifice must involved blood. 

 In seeking to destroy the True Worship of God, Satan had the two people marrying one another. After the Flood, the two seedlines of Cain and Seth (who replaced Abel whom Cain murdered) were thoroughly mixed into the three sons of Noah – Japheth, Ham and Shem. As the descendants of the three sons multiplied and spread all over the earth, they drifted further and further away from the Truth and more and more religions were created as core family groups broke up into sub-groups. Today’s false religions may embrace some spark of truth as they can all be traced back to the two seeds. But false religions have no connection whatsoever with the worship of the true God, Yahweh, because they lack the whole truth – truth that is true and real. They are but philosophies and the vain imaginations devised by carnal men trying to get past the Flaming Sword of death and into life.

Religious people of all the different false religions may claim they have the truth and answer to life after death. Of course, religious philosophers have no God in their religions; they only embrace the philosophies of venerated men whom they believe will lead them into eternal bliss. But for those religions that are concerned with “gods”, “goddesses”, “idols” and whatever the icons of worship, many of their worshippers are deep set in their belief that they do possess the real and true religious faith. However what is FAITH really based on? Man or God? The retort will almost always be that it is not based on man but on God. Well, it is truly on God, but what on? Many simply would just proclaim that they “have faith in God.” May I ask, “In which God; in what God?”

Faith is not based in a God, true or false as He may be. Faith is based on the WORD of God, the Creator, whom a true worshipper must relate to. For sure, true faith is not based on the words of mortal beings.

God is. If He speaks not, then we know Him not. As He speaks, He reveals Himself and we know Him. “In the beginning was the Word (Greek: Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God, and the Word (Logos) was God” (John 1:1). Without the Word we will never know the Creator and Eternal Life. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

Souls in Conflict

Many Bible believers in this end time have no understanding of the Truth that the Lord God Almighty has been revealing to His people since the beginning of the 20th Century. For the past 100 years, as the spiritual gifts of God were poured out and certain men were ordained to take a “Gospel Revival” to the world, God brought about a restoration of the Church to His Word. Instead of understanding the work of God in the different God-ordained ministries, followers of certain ministers congregated around their favourite preachers and formed personality cults and isms out of them. This is especially true with many of the followers of William Marrion Branham, the messenger of God to this Laodicean age. Till today (59 years after his death as of 2024) (April 6, 1909 - December 24, 1965)  many are still looking upon him as a man whose spoken words were literally that of God and equal with, or even above, the Sacred Scriptures. Many have misused and misquoted certain Scriptures to force-fit their revelation of the man and his words. They have formed an ism known among Christendom as Branhamism.

I feel sorry for the religious Christians. Oft times their souls are in conflict with the Truth they hear. Because they are so religious it is hard for them to fully comprehend the Truth of God. Hence, they have the tendency to hide behind some religious words of men, be they God’s servants or otherwise. Such are the many extreme believers of William Branham known as Branhamites. These Branhamites are not wise. They cannot be like the Bereans whom Paul commended for their nobility in that they were ever ready to receive the Word and to search out the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. For a believer to search out the Scripture to see if what Branham said was true, the Branhamites would call him an unbeliever.

Intellectual Mind

Several Branhamite preachers have sarcastically called me “intellectual” in their disagreement with my doctrines. They thought that they had me cornered because Bro. Branham spoke against “intellectual knowledge, intellectual reasoning”. The truth is they have misunderstood Bro. Branham’s usage of the words. There is intellectual knowledge and there is intellectual knowledge. One is carnal postulation based on mere words, the mental perception of things based on the natural human senses. The other is spiritual revelation, spiritual understanding of truth given by the Holy Spirit in accordance to His Own Word. This is what Paul said:

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man” (1 Corinthians 2:12-15). “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” - Colossians.1:9-10

Another reason for such name calling is to scare the believers away from knowing the Truth of God. I have been called a devil, a false preacher, an unbeliever of the message of Bro. Branham, a blasphemer, a man without love, etc. If these preachers have the Truth of Christ, why are they not at peace with themselves? Why do they not just preach the Truth they claim they have instead of preaching and running down other preachers with their lies? When I try to answer and clear up their charges and false accusations, they are only more infuriated. I know this because I have been a victim of their name calling and in defending the truth, the table was turned against me, and they call me a “mean person” or a “bad guy” and make me the accuser instead.

Are God’s people intellectually stupid? Or are they to act intellectually stupid so as to be true believers in the eyes of God (and perhaps in the eyes of their own kind) seeing that they have to believe every word uttered by Bro. Branham? Some Branhamites would think to justify their stand that they have to believe every word of the prophet, even if it’s contrary to the Truth, by this cursory quote of the Scripture: “believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (2 Chronicles 20:20). Shame, O shame! Such carnal intellectual reasoning and knowledge is exactly what Bro. Branham was referring to in some of his sermons.

God is intellectual. No one can deny it. The intellect of God lies within His Spirit. If a man is born again of His Spirit and His Word, then the man has the ability to learn of God with that same Spirit that dwells within him. God is his Father and he is His child. Therefore, as a child, a believer does possess spiritual intellect. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD:…” (Isaiah1:18a). But many just do not use it. Maybe they were afraid to use it, or perhaps, they do not know they have it. Anyhow, Paul told the Roman believers to use it. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (that is, your intellect), that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). “For who hath known the mind (that is, the intellect) of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind (that is, the intellect) of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

“It’s a revelation!”

When a Branhamite preacher propagates a peculiar teaching, with only a cursory reference or remark from the Scripture but many statements from the sermon books and tapes of Brother Branham, the preacher will try to enforce his teaching as truth by uttering a statement so commonly made and heard among the Message believers – “It’s a revelation!” This declaration has often been used to warrant that the teaching is true and unless one has a “revelation” from God about it, one will not have the “true” understanding of that particular doctrine as the preacher who propagates it has. The assertion of such a claim is a mockery when spoken among non-message believing Christians. One such peculiar carnal teaching is that William Branham, who died in 1965, is one day going to rise up from his grave to travel around the world preaching the Gospel once more before Christ comes to translate (rapture) the saints. But where are the facts of Scriptures for it? There isn’t one. Then what is it based upon? It is based on the carnal mind’s eye. It is based upon the opinion of some smart-alecky, intellectual preachers who carnally read into the statements of Branham. There is one such preacher who has even offered US$10,000 to anyone who could prove that the teaching is false. (No matter what, the man will surely twist Scriptures and statements of Branham to prove his so-called revelation right, and he will keep his US$10,000.)

“Revelation” means “taking off the cover” of the something hidden. When a mystery of God’s Word (Fact) is uncovered by the Spirit of the Lord to us, we are then given a revelation of it. Therefore, that “it’s a revelation!” is true only when the facts are there in the Scriptures and that the Truth is consistent with other doctrines.

Take heed to these words: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6).

Faith

Beloved, Christ is the doctrine of the Scripture of God (cf. John 7:16; 5:39; Acts 13:12; 1 Timothy6:1). He is our FAITH – based on the Written Word of God. It is based on God’s PROMISED WORD, on what God had spoken (of which were later written and handed down to us in the form of Inspired Sacred Scriptures). FAITH is a REVELATION and FAITH is a FACT. It is by the revelation of the Spirit that we grow in the knowledge of our Lord God and His Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Ephesians1:17; 2 Peter 3:18). It is what the Bible is all about. There is no revelation of Truth outside of God’s Word. 

Some who do not know that faith is a fact may quote this verse of Scripture: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews11:1). This verse does not speak of a blind faith as if one is groping about for a particular thing in the dark. It speaks of trusting in God with the assurance of the things we hope for, and being certain, convinced, of the things we cannot see. This faith is not blind. It is based on the Promised Word of God. Because we have faith in God’s Word, we understand the things we cannot see.

Our daily life is full of natural faith being manifest. In eating, we do not fear as to what would happen to the food as we swallow. We have the revelation, the understanding, and the knowledge, that they would be digested and assimilated into the body by certain natural processes. What we cannot see is manifested later in the growth of our body. How about the switching on of an electrical lamp? We do not fear that the light might not come on simply because of the fact that we know the lamp has been properly wired up and connected to a flow of electricity. We are convinced of those facts and therefore we will see the light.

Similarly, here are two simple straightforward Biblical examples:

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” - Hebrews 11:7

Noah had not seen of what was to come upon the earth but God had warned him about it and told him also to build an ark. If God had not warned Noah about the coming deluge, would Noah be smart enough to know what was going to happen? Would he know to build an ark? Obviously the answer is “no”. But God gave him a revelation of what was to come. God had warned him. When God said it, He meant it. Noah believed it and he acted upon it. And later, Noah saw it. That’s just about what Abraham did, too.

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  - Hebrews 11:8-10

Acting on God’s Promise to him, Abraham obeyed and went out of his homeland under God’s leading to a place that he had no idea whereof but where an inheritance awaited him. Later, as he lived in a strange land, the land of promise given him, he was like a foreigner, living in tents with his son and grandson, heirs to the same promise of God. But Abraham’s action got him a reward. God uncovered a mystery for him. It’s a revelation of a well founded spiritual city being built by God Himself, and Abraham looked forward to be a part of that Holy City.

Blind faith certainly could not have convinced Noah and Abraham to see the reality of a blessing that awaited them. If a man says he could see without the Inspired Word, he’s already blind. He has deceived himself. Such is the blind who leads the blind.

With the Spoken Word handed down to us in a volume of sacred books, God maintains the same Revelation of Himself. He cannot stray one iota from His Word. He has to fulfill them all. Therefore He has to speak according to those same Word recorded by holy men under the inspiration of His Spirit. That is His Absolute to us.

So, we understand that it is God Himself Who uncovers His Truths to His Own elect. What we see then is a revelation that is based on God’s Mysterious Word. To a true believer of God, revelation is not someone’s intellectual extra-Biblical reasoning nor is it guess-ology. Revelation of Truth cannot, nor does it, come to the religiously intellectual who seek for it by signs and wonders only, the things they could see with their eyes (cf. John 4:48; 6:30). Such were those who came out of Egypt by the power of God under Moses. Though they saw all the signs and wonders of God, they could not enter the Promised Land because of their unbelief. They could not believe the promise of God (cf. Hebrews 3:16-19; 4:2). They could not see the revelation of it. True believers walk by faith, by revelation, not by sight (cf.2 Corinthians 5:7; 1Corinthians 14:6; Revelation 1:1). Revelation is God unfolding His mysteries to us as He calls us back to His Word and we obey as He speaks what has already been written. That’s the assurance that John the Baptist received when he was in doubt after he was cast into prison (cf. Matthew 11:4-6). Unlike John the Baptist, many today refuse to believe and to see because they have hardened their own hearts to the Word. “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7b).

Free

There are those who have misplaced words saying, “My faith has set me free.” An example are those Trinitarians who are dead set on their belief that if one does not have a faith in “the Trinity of God” one does not have the salvation of God. Such errant teaching surely does not come from the Spirit and the Word of God. It could have only come from hell and these men are accursed for denying that it is the simple Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that provides salvation. Even for one to claim a revelation of One God does not warrant one salvation.

Salvation is based on one’s act in accordance to Acts 2:38 after one is given the revelation of the Gospel of Christ. Truly, a revelation of TRUTH does set free a believer from a life of bondage in sin, fear and false doctrines. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). However, it is the TRUTH itself, and not a person’s revelation, that sets free the person. Truth is Truth. It does not change one bit by anyone’s opinion or revelation of it. However a false revelation of a Truth does not only bring forth a false doctrine but it will also further put a person deeper into spiritual error and bondage of iniquity. Such are those in the organized traditional religious system, and those in the cultic movements. Many of them who are caught deep into false revelation are so seduced by demons that they would condone iniquities and fight those God-fearing believers who expose errors, lies and sin.

Indeed the TRUTH shall set us free – truth that is given to us by a revelation of the Spirit of God upon His Own Written Word. That mysterious Flaming Sword still turns every way to face those who dare to misappropriate the Tree of Life. The two saraph cherubim watch over and shield the Shekinah and only Yahweh Himself will reveal to whom He so chooses (cf. Matthew 11:29). “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:1-3 NKJV).

“If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious”, then “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV). And the Word of Truth is the Sacred Scripture, the Holy Bible – “All scripture is given by inspiration of God [that is, God-breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

You cannot add to or subtract from the God-breathed Word. This is plain and simple, a Thus saith the Lord.

Adam is a type of Christ who was to come.

 

THE SIN OF ADAM

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What was the Sin of Adam? What had he done?

These are the words of the Apostle Paul as recorded in Romans 5:12-17:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned - (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Notice how in his revelation, concerning the transgression of Adam, Paul remarked: Adam is a type of Christ who was to come. It is a clear contrast but how is Adam a type of Christ Jesus when he brought death and Jesus brought life? To begin to understand the mystery, understood by Paul, we need to first have an understanding concerning SIN ― what it is.

 

WHAT IS SIN?

Dictionary defines “sin” as: “A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate. A condition of estrangement from God as a result of breaking His law.” However, in the Bible there are several words (in the Hebrew and the Greek) that are translated “sin”.

In the Old Testament (KJV), there are three Hebrew words that are translated “sin”:

i.) Pesha - Strong's Concordance # 6588. pesha', peh'-shah; from H6586; a revolt (national, moral or religious): − rebellion, sin, transgression, trespass.

ii.) Avon - Strong's Concordance # 5771. 'avon, aw-vone'; from H5753; perversity, i.e. (moral) evil: − fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment (of iniquity), sin.

iii.) Chattah - Strong's Concordance # 2398. chata', khaw-taw'; a prim. root; prop. to miss; hence (fig. and gen.) to sin; by infer. to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, (causat.) lead astray, condemn: − bear the blame, cleanse, commit [sin], by fault, harm he hath done, loss, miss, (make) offend (-er), offer for sin, purge, purify (self), make reconciliation, (cause, make) sin (-ful, -ness), trespass.

All three words describe “sin” yet there are differences. Notice the differences between iniquity, transgression and sin:

Psalms 32:5 (NKJV): I acknowledged my sin (chatta'ah) to You, And my iniquity ('avon) I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions (pesha') to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity ('avon) of my sin (chatta'ah). Selah.

Exodus 34:7 (NKJV): Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity ('avon) and transgression (pesha') and sin (chatta'ah), by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity ('avon) of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.

Sin is simply “missing the mark”. Take an archer for an example. An archer aims at the bull’s eye on the target with his arrow in his bow. The archer shoots and misses the mark. He sinned (chattah) - because he missed the mark. Therefore, when we miss God’s mark (target), we sin.

“Avon” translated as “sin” which means iniquity, perversity, depravity is worse than “missing the mark” (chattah).

“Pesha” translated as “sin” which means transgression, rebellion, revolt is worse than “missing the mark” (chattah).

As all dogs are animals and yet not all animals are dogs, therefore all “iniquity” and “transgression” are sin and miss the mark, but not all “sin” (missing the mark) is equal to “iniquity” and “transgression”.

The New Testament has two Greek Words that clearly distinguish between transgression and iniquity:

Strong's Concordance #264. hamartano, ham-ar-tan'-o; to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), i.e. (fig.) to err, esp. (mor.) to sin. – for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.

Strong's Concordance #458. anomia, an-om-ee'-ah; from G459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (gen.) wickedness: – iniquity, X transgress (-ion of) the law, unrighteousness.

1 John 3:4: Whosoever committeth sin (hamartia:G266) transgresseth (anomia) also the law: for sin (hamartia:G266) is the transgression (anomia) of the law.

Matthew 7:23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (anomia).

A Greek word akin to "anomia" is "adikia". From Strong's Concordance: #93. adikia, ad-ee-kee'-ah; from G94; (legal) injustice (properly the quality, by implication the act); moral wrongfulness (of character, life or act): – iniquity, unjust, unrighteousness, wrong.

Luke 13:27: But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity (adikia).

1 Corinthians 13:6: Rejoiceth not in iniquity (adikia) but rejoiceth in the truth; 

2 Timothy 2:19: Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity (adikia).

Now, lawlessness is not merely something we do but rather what we think. If you tell a lie, you transgress the law. It is sin, it is lawlessness. If you refuse to do what is right in the eyes of God, even if you are not breaking the "law", it is still lawlessness. If you do what is not the will of God, you commit presumptuous sin, it is lawlessness. There is a need for us to control our tempers, our gluttony to satisfy the flesh, even the consumption of food and drinks, and the words we utter. We need to bring every thought under control.

Proverb 23:7: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Mark 7:21: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Matthew 5:27-28: Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

James 4:17: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Deuteronomy 18:20: But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

Psalm 19:13: Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

 

SINFUL RESPONSE

Romans 14:14 & 23 (NKJV): I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean... But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

When a believer is taught God’s Truth and the simple fact of faith, he commits sin if he doubts, and fails to respond to, what is right.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV): But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Sin is the most general term for those actions which are wrong like an archer aiming an arrow to a target, shooting and missing the mark. Sin covers all wrong doings of any sort.

Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

1 John 5:17: All unrighteousness is sin:…

1 John 3:4: Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

 

THINGS THAT OFFEND

Our Lord hates things that offend.

Matthew 13:41-42: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend (skandalon), and them which do iniquity (anomia; transgression of the law); And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

From Strong's Concordance: #4625. skandalon, skan'-dal-on; a “scandal”; probably from a derivative of G2578; a trap stick (bent sapling), that is, snare (figuratively cause of displeasure or sin): - occasion to fall (of stumbling), offence, thing that offends, stumbling-block.

"Skandalon" is a word close to iniquity. When Abraham told Sarah to lie, he did not only create a mischief, a deception but also, knowingly or not, he had created a trap stick, a bent sapling that was just waiting to snare an innocent victim. Yes, by just bending the law, one deceives not only oneself but others. It’s an offence and a stumbling block that gives occasion for someone to fall.

Matthew 23:28: Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy (hupokrisis) and iniquity [lawlessness] (anomia).

From Strong's Concordance: #5272. hupokrisis, hoop-ok'-ree-sis; from G5271; acting under a feigned part; that is, (figuratively) deceit (“hypocrisy”): - condemnation, dissimulation, hypocrisy.

"Hupokrisis" is pretension, imitation that is deceptive. Such are the false prophets. They deceive their hearers by inventing stories, acting under a feigned part. Once, in weakness, the Apostle Peter fell into such condemnation but was rebuked by the Apostle Paul for his dissimulation among the Gentile converts (Gal.2:11-14).

 

IGNORANCE OF SIN

Acts 17:30: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

There was a time when God could overlook the ignorance of man as was in the case of Abimelech who took Sarah, Abraham’s wife, as his own wife.

Genesis 20:1-6: And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

In His mercy, overlooking his ignorance, God pardoned Abimelech and prevented him from taking Sarah to wife. If God did not intervene, even though Abimelech was innocent and a man of integrity, he would still have committed a grievous sin. Abimelech knew that his ignorance was not an excuse even though he was deceived by Abraham and Sarah. Certainly, it was an evil thing that Abraham and Sarah did to him. They had committed iniquity and had Abimelech to almost commit an unrighteous act.

 

WHAT IS INIQUITY?

Iniquity is in-equity; it refers to something that is unequal, unfair, or unjust. Sin deals with the action, or lack of action, that is wrong but iniquity deals more with the character, or nature, of the act.

David refers to “the iniquity of my sin.” His sinful actions had the character of iniquity; of being unequal: as in his sin of covetousness of another man’s wife and in the plotting of the man’s death.

Psalm 32:5: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”

In its more narrow meaning, INIQUITY consists of the violation of the law of right (or duty) between man and man; wrongful or harmful actions towards another; grossly immoral acts with others. To practice iniquity is to be unjust and unequal in our dealings with someone. This is what we often read about in the Sacred Scripture. The workers of iniquity are, for example:

 

· those who eat up God's people like bread –

“Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the LORD?” (Psa.14:4);

 

· those who speak peace when mischief is in their hearts –

“Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.” (Psa.28:3);

 

· and those who lay snares for the saints –

“Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, And from the traps of the workers of iniquity.” (Psa.141:9).

 

The money Judas Iscariot received for betraying Jesus is called "the reward of iniquity" (Acts 1:18). Any preacher of the Gospel who knows the Truth but receives money to preach church traditions has betrayed Christ the Word of God. He has fallen into the hands of men with "the reward of iniquity". Such are some of the “things that offend” (skandalon).

 

NO INIQUITY WITH GOD

The Scripture is very clear concerning the character of God when touching on iniquity.

2 Chronicles.19:7: “There is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.”

To show respect of persons in judgment would be unequal; so would be accepting gifts as bribes for that’s "the reward of iniquity".

Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

Here, iniquity is contrasted with being just and right. Oft times, not only are we unjust in our dealings between man and man but also with God. We do not return unto Him as He has done unto us.

Isaiah 65:7: “Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills:”

1 John 5:21: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

 

Certainly it is not some man-made images that pagans or the Roman Catholics worship that were referred to by John. It’s whatever you have that’s preeminent in your life. You have turned from Him to serve lesser gods of this world. Oh, but what lesser gods? – You might ask. Your love for a man-made church system and traditional doctrines are two examples. Remember, deception is iniquity, even when one deceives his own self. Was not the Apostle Paul such a man before he was converted? The reasons he persecuted the church and tried to destroy it are 1) he was full of himself being a member of the “great” pharisaical sect and 2) he was “advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal.1:14).

 

Religious people may think themselves so righteous and holy that they are without reproach in their life. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1John 1:8 cf. 1Cor.3:18). Such confession is not only a lie, it is unjust with God, it makes God’s Word a lie.

We need to come to recognize the iniquity of our sin as David said in Psalm 32:5: “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”

 

WORD EMPHASIS

The Scripture says that “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom.4:15) for sin is the transgression of the law – “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1John 3:4). A wrong action itself is SIN against the law of God. But when an INIQUITY is committed it is more than a wrong action. The word INIQUITY lays emphasis on the true character of that wrong action committed.

God hates iniquity above all sin committed. He does not endure iniquity – “…I cannot away with; it is iniquity…” (Isa.1:13). This is perhaps the only reason our Heavenly Father could not look on His Only Begotten Son being crucified. It was because of the iniquity (that is, inequity) of One who had never sinned bearing the sins of many. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Hab.1:13).

 

INIQUITY’S VISITATION

Jeremiah 32:18: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, 

Exodus 34:6-7: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Exodus 20:5: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 

The Lord had Moses record down the iniquities committed by the three great Patriarchs of the nation of Israel, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the very first book of the Sacred Scripture, Genesis. Let’s look closer at the records to understand what they had committed.

 

ABRAHAM

Genesis 20:1: And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

2: And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3: But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

4: But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

5: Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

6: And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7: Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

8: Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

9: Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

10: And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11: And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

12: And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13: And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

The fear of a man in Abraham took the better of him so much that he was willing to lie that Sarah was his sister. Some preachers may contend that it was not a lie as Sarah was his half-sister. Still that does not justify the “white lie” when the act was a selfish one. It was more than just a “white lie” or a “half-truth” – the true character of that wrong action of Abraham was that it was done not only to protect his own flesh but one which is unequal and unjust to his own wife, Sarah, and the man who would take her to himself for wife. Abraham had committed the same sort of sin some years before when he went into Egypt in the days of famine. (See Genesis 12:9-19.) His very words reveal his true feelings within him: “Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee” (Gen.12:12-13 cf. 20:13).

Had Pharaoh (or Abimelech) taken Sarah and joined to her as one in wedlock, he would have committed adultery. Abraham would have caused both his wife and Pharaoh (or Abimelech) grievous sin. Abraham had violated the law of right (or duty) between him and his wife, and also between him and Pharaoh (or Abimelech). In both cases, he had dealt unjustly with his wife, Pharaoh, and Abimelech. His dealings with them were grossly immoral and harmful. Abraham, a prophet of God, was guilty of iniquity.

Had God not intervened in the life of both Pharaoh and Abimelech, history would have been written differently. God, in His grace and mercy, prevented them from sinning against Him.

 

ISAAC

Genesis 26:6: And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

7: And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

8: And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

9: And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

10: And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

11: And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Like father, like son. For fear of death, Isaac, like his father, resorted to deceiving the king and the citizens of Gerar. As Abraham was, so was Isaac. Both father and son committed the very same pattern of deception. They lied to save themselves but they did evil when they deceived others insomuch as to cause detriment to them.

 

JACOB

Genesis 27:18: And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

19: And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

20: And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.

21: And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

22: And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23: And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.

24: And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.

Notice that the spirit of iniquity is passed on down in the family. Sin is not passed down, iniquity is. Here we see the familiar spirit of deception is passed down to Jacob. Initiated and assisted by his mother, Rebekah, Jacob deceived his father and robbed Esau of his blessing. It was an act detriment to Esau’s life. (Note: Some may argue that Esau had sold his birthright to Jacob. Undoubtedly, but that does not give Jacob the right to deceive his father and to rob Esau of his blessing.) Indeed Jacob was a supplanter.

 

WORKERS OF INIQUITIES

Matthew 7:21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

When is prophesying and preaching the Gospel iniquity? Is it not God’s will to propagate the Gospel to save souls? When is casting out demons iniquity, and when is doing good works iniquity? Is it not God’s will to heal the sick and to deliver those oppressed, or possessed, of the devils, and to also help the poor and the needy? When are all these wonderful works iniquities? The answer is given in the passage. It is when you do these activities in your own will rather than according to the will of our Heavenly Father.

The question you should ask yourself is: “Is what I do about God’s will REALLY THE WILL OF GOD? Or merely what I think is God’s will?” Do take heed to King David’s words:

Psalm 19:12-13: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

Doing God a service according to His will is fulfilling God’s plan and purpose, not only in one’s life but also in the family of God. Many Christians presume to do God’s will when it is not God’s will. What they presume to do is not only a lie, it is unjust with God, it makes God a liar. They do not treat the Lord right or justly when they fail to be obedient to Him.

 

One time a group of people sought Jesus and asked Him: “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28). Yes, what is it that God requires us to do? And Jesus replied saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He sent” (John 6:29). Church tradition would have us believe that the preceding Scripture verse refers only to Jesus being sent. It is far from the true. Nothing is more wonderful, and good and proper to God than to see His children believe in His anointed one(s) that He sent to them in their age. In the First Century A.D., those who believed on John the Baptist, a man sent of God, have fulfilled those words spoken by Jesus. They have done what God intended them to do. When Jesus came, those who believed on Him have fulfilled the same. Likewise, when the Apostles were later sent forth, and other men of God after them throughout the Grace Age, all who believe on them, in their generation, have met the same requirement in the words uttered by Jesus Christ.

 

Nothing more is required than just that simple work of believing and receiving God’s anointed, for it is God Who is doing a work in our life, reconciling us to Himself. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph.2:10). God has the ultimate intention to perfect us in His Son as He carries out His plan and purpose through the Kingdom of Heaven. Truly, whatever it is that God requires of us, it is not for us to presume to do this or that. What is required of us is simply to believe on the one whom God sent – whoever that anointed man of God is. Yes, anointed man, the one that God sent, not the many false anointed ones out in the religious world.

 

In his quest to be like the Most High and believing that he had the potential to elevate himself so, Lucifer deceived himself (cf. Isa.14:12-14; Gal.6:3). Lucifer did not keep the Word of God to stay in his position (cf. Jam.1:22). His action shows an inequity with God. Lucifer knew to do right but he did it not. He did not do the will of God but his own. His iniquity resulted in not only his fall but with him a third of heaven’s angels who chose to follow him. Subsequently, the earth lay in chaos as Lucifer turned adversary to God and became Satan.

When Christians think that they have the potential to do God a service, they actually do not keep the Word of God to stay in their positions. Their willful intention to do according to their own will, and not God's, shows up in their actions. Their every good Gospel work is an action of inequity with God. On top of that, their every good Gospel work is self-glorification and self-preservation, given to filthy lucre to fill their coffer as they impart their doctrines (of which many are misleading and false) to their hearers. Their willful practice is unjust and unequal in their dealing with their hearers. And there are hundreds upon hundreds scattered throughout Pentecostalism and Charismaticism around the world. Yes, they may profess healings, salvation and blessings among their hearers, but their deeds are wrong and harmful to their hearers. They are immoral acts.

 

MYSTERY OF INIQUITY

Consider King Saul.

After a battle with the Philistines, King Saul offered a sacrifice to God but he was reproved by the Prophet Samuel because it was not done according to God's command. God commanded the priest to offer the sacrifice, not the king. When reproved, Saul tried to justify his behavior.

1Samuel 13:11-12: And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

Sometime later, in 1 Samuel 15, we see again Saul disobeying God. He saved sheep and oxen from the battle against the Amalekites so that he could offer them to God. Samuel reproved him because he failed to utterly destroy everything in the battle as he was commanded to do so. Once more, Saul tried to justify his behavior.

1Samuel 15:20-23: And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Why, oh why would men follow their own defective reasoning when there is available to us the infinite wisdom of God? So questions one preacher. How true! The mystery of iniquity is that men put their will above the will of God, their wisdom against the wisdom of God. Oh, what iniquity!

 

THE FALL

Romans 8:20-21: For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The Fall of Mankind is a part of God’s plan and purpose in creation design in order to bring about something far more glorious than the human mind can comprehend. In allowing the Fall, YAHWEH was manifesting certain attributes of His that was played out by His son, Adam, who was a type of His Only Begotten Son, Yahshua, who was to come later.

Now, carefully comprehend how God had the Apostle Paul worded the Scripture of 1Timothy 2:14: “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

What does the Word of God say regarding the deed of the woman? “…but the woman being deceived was in the transgression” (1Tim.2:14b). Being a by-product of Adam, the woman fell into the deception of the Serpent and literally worked iniquity against God's will, becoming a wrongdoer, transgressing the law. God’s judgment meted to Eve was a curse on her reproductive organ (Gen.3:16) for using it contrary to the law of God (Gen.1:24).

What does the Word of God say regarding the deed of Adam? “Adam was not deceived,…” (1Tim.2:14a). Notice that the Word of God, through Paul, does not state that Adam was in the transgression. It did state that he was not deceived. Without doubt Paul could have written “Adam was not deceived but he was in transgression.” But he did not. What was his reason?

Paul placed the emphasis on the deception of Eve – “…but the woman being deceived was in the transgression”. “Adam was not deceived” – that too was emphasized. Deception, whether by self (Jer.37:9) or by another (Luke 21:8), is a deadly tool that always leads to transgression against God. Truly, Adam did what was right – he was not deceived. Obviously, Adam knew what he was doing.

How could that be? If he knew what he was doing, does not it mean that he had willfully (as some would use the word negatively) sinned against God?

 

THE WILLFUL TRESPASSING OF ADAM

Christians who do not have a revelation of Adam’s action, when he chose to identify with Eve’s sin, believe that Adam made a bad choice when he chose to sin against God. To understand Adam’s willful action in his transgression, let’s look at these three passages of Scripture which use the Greek word "paraptōma".

Romans 11:11-12: I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall (paraptōma) salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

Galatians 6:1: Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault (paraptōma), ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

Matthew 6:14-15: For if ye forgive men their trespasses (paraptōma), your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

According to Strong's Concordance, we have this definition: #3900. paraptōma, par-ap'-to-mah; from G3895; a side slip (lapse or deviation), that is, (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression: - fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.

“Paraptōma” points to “a side slip, whether unintentional or intentional (willful) as to error, transgression, fall, fault, offence, sin and trespass.” Now, Adam committed a trespass (paraptōma) ― was it unintentional or willful? Of course, to say that Adam willfully (willingly, intentionally) chose to identify with Eve’s sin is not to imply that his action was an evil aspiration. However, Adam knew his action was a trespass on the commandment of God but he also knew what he was doing. To the Almighty, the “side slip” of Adam was an “offence”, a “transgression” but it was not an “iniquity”.

This is what Paul writes concerning the "transgression" of Adam:

Romans 5:12-17: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned - (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure (a type) of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense [paraptōma] death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Paul conveyed in this passage about Adam’s transgression and added that Adam was a type of Christ, parallel but not true to form. Adam was a type of Christ. Christ was the antitype of Adam. If so, what Adam did, Christ did in reverse. Both the First Adam and the Last Adam were direct creations of God. Beyond doubt, as direct creations of God, both men could not be deceived. They were true sons of God who knew the Will of the Father.

Adam knew what he was doing – willingly, willfully. He was not without understanding as to his choice of action. He had revelation to his purposeful act. Let me illustrate as to the act of one’s willing choice. Picture this scenario: Out at sea, in a heavy storm, a lifeguard on big boat sees a woman falls overboard. The woman struggles to keep her head above the water but the rolling waves prove too much for her. She begins to drown. Now, the lifeguard knows his duty and his responsibility. He also knows the condition of the present situation, and that as good a lifeguard as he is, it is sure death for him to dive into the water to rescue the drowning woman. But as a lifeguard, it is his honor to save life at all cost, even at the cost of his own life. It is a consequence he has to face. So, he willingly, willfully, jumps into the stormy billows to save the drowning woman. He saves her but death takes him.

Adam willingly, willfully, chose to stand in the gap between God and the woman, his bride, to be a “saviour”. Adam did right, he did good, without iniquity, but transgression was made. Hence, death was imputed upon Adam or else God is not righteous as Judge. And so, “in Adam all die” (1Cor.15:22). Yes, there was no iniquity in his action as compare to that of Abraham (Gen.20:2), Isaac (Gen.26:7), Jacob (Gen.27:32), and those who do not the Will of God (Matt.7:21-23). O mystery!

 

SALVATION - IDENTIFICATION

It goes without saying that the human race could not come into existence without the woman, not just any woman, but the one who was taken out of the man Adam (Gen.2:23). The woman had sinned. (Remember that the word “sin” in Hebrew and Greek simply means “missing the mark”.) As the wages of sin is death it is obvious that Adam had to do what was right in his capacity to redeem his wife. Being in the image of God Adam knew to do right. He opted to stand in the gap as a mediator between the Creator-Judge and Eve. He loved his wife. To buy her back Adam had to identify with her sin and face God’s judgment on her behalf. For that he brought death to mankind.

Truly, the man, a direct creation of God, could not be deceived. He knew judgment awaited the woman that God gave him, and death was certain. Not doing anything would mean he would be the only man on earth for all eternity with the animals on the land, in the air, and in the sea for companions. However, Adam knew what he had to do to “save” his woman from her certain death. As a son of God, created in God’s very image, he knew he must act according to God’s utterance (Gen.2:18) and the prophetic words that he himself had uttered (Gen.2:23-24). And he willingly did it.

 

Once again, in emphasis, Adam was not without a revelation that his action would bring a condemnation on the human race. Adam hearkened to his wife and had to save her because she was a part of him (Gen. 3:17; 2:23). So, he identified with the fallen state of the woman who had fallen into the deception of the Serpent. She had committed iniquity. Sinless Adam was willing to buy her back by taking her sin upon him. Hence, Adam’s willful action was not rebellious against God nor was he deceived into willfully sinning against the Lord. But rather, he willfully identified with Eve’s sin, knowing the consequence of his act would result in the condemnation. His trespass brought death upon mankind. However, in his identification with Eve’s sin, what was Adam’s transgression? What had he done?

 

The woman was given to Adam for a wife. Before they could consummate in wedlock as one flesh, she was seduced by Mister Serpent and deceived into committing fornication with him. The Serpent and Eve became one flesh in an unholy wedlock (cf. 1Cor.6:16). Being one with the Serpent, the woman was defiled and Adam could not take her back to himself without being defiled.

 

But as love projected out of Adam, grace took over. In Adam was the attribute of a saviour. So, he stepped forth to rescue his fallen wife. He stood in the gap between the Creator-Judge and Eve as a provided way of escape for her. He identified with her sin by a sexual union with her, who was already one with the Serpent. Remember, she belonged to the Serpent. By such an act, Adam committed adultery (cf. Lev.20:10; Prov.6:32). And adultery is fornication. Exactly, Adam partook the same fruit as Eve (cf. Gen.3:6). [Note: Some may argue that Eve was actually Adam’s wife. In a way she was but she was not truly Adam’s wife as she had not joined herself to Adam. Consider Joseph and Mary – why Joseph wanted to put her away privately (Matt.1:18-19). Consider Israel whom God had chosen – she backslid and committed adultery, and God put her away (Eze.16:26; Jer.3:8).]

 

TYPE AND ANTI-TYPE

 

Now, Paul said that Adam was “a type of Him who was to come”. Jesus Christ was the antitype (in reverse) of Adam. What Adam did willingly (willfully) for his beloved was destructive; what Jesus did willingly (willfully) for His Beloved was saving. One brought condemnation, the other brought salvation, giving life back to all who believe in Him. What exactly did Jesus do? What had He done?

Jesus identified with our passion by putting on flesh like us sinners. He felt our pain and our sorrow, and took our transgressions and our iniquities upon Calvary. Exactly right. If Jesus Christ did not willingly identify with our sins and stood in the gap between us and the Father, we would have no life (John 10:14-18). He saw His Bride, like sheep, gone astray and bleating for help. Sinless as He was, He chose to identify with us in the likeness of sinful flesh and to lay down His life for us. Jesus was willing to be judged just to save us (Tit.2:14). The Word says that “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isa.53:12 cf. Luke 22:37) for “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:…” (Isa.53:5).

And what is a transgressor? God would not have Jesus numbered with the transgressors if “transgression” was not involved.

 

2 Cor.5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin (missing the mark) for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

 

God had made Jesus Who knew nothing about “missing the mark” to be such that He “missed the mark” for us, so that in Him we might be made in the righteousness of God. No wonder it pained the Father to see the vileness that was put on His Son. Read Isaiah 1:13; Habakkuk 1:13. [Note: Though Jesus “was numbered with the transgressors”, He was not of them, per se. Judas Iscariot left his bishopric vacant after he betrayed Christ. Though Matthias was chosen, not by a direct calling of God, but by a vote of choice (between him and Barsabas) by the 11 apostles, obviously he had to be “numbered with the eleven apostles” (cf. Acts 1:26). A sinner can be numbered with the Christians in a community but is he one of them?]

 

Like Adam who chose to save his woman, he was numbered with Eve. Jesus chose to do the same for His woman, the chosen ones who would make up His Church, He was numbered with us. Both Adam and Jesus identified with their wife. Both took sin upon themselves. Both transgressed – “missed the mark”. But the first Adam brought death and the last Adam brought life as He took death upon Himself.

 

A SIN NOT UNTO DEATH

1 John 5:16: If any man see his brother sin (hamartano) a sin (hamartia) which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

17: All unrighteousness (adikia, iniquity) is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

No doubt many Christians have studied to try to understand this passage of Scripture. All sins are transgressions of the law (1Jhn.3:4). And the wages of sin is death (Rom.6:23). But there is a sin that leads to death. It is a sin that cannot be forgiven. To blaspheme the Spirit of Yahweh, there can be no place found for repentance for such a sin, as Judas Iscariot found out after he betrayed Jesus Christ (Matt.27:3-5) and as Esau found out after he sold his birthright for one morsel of food (Heb.12:17), and also those who would fall from the faith to crucify Christ the Word afresh (Heb.6:4-6). Then “there is a sin not unto death” must tell us something of what Adam did, in his “missing the mark” to save Eve, and also in what Christ did, in His “missing the mark” to save His Bride.

 

Yes, there is certainly no greater love than this – that a man lay down his life for a friend (John 15:13). To be willing to stand in the gap to save is a noble act, more so because it is a very attribute of God (being a saviour) made manifest. Adam did right to save Eve. Jesus did right to save His Church.

 

Amen.

 

The voice of the Lord is

 Psalm 29:3-5, 7-9 (called the Psalm of the 7 Thunders) 

● “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord is over many waters. 

● The voice of the Lord is powerful; 

● the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. ● The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon….. 

● The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire. 

● The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. 

● The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and strips the forests bare; and in his temple everyone says, ‘Glory!’”

God and flowers

 Bible Verses About Flowers

What does the Bible say about flowers?

In the Bible, flowers are often used as symbolism for beauty, growth, temporal things, fullness, and more. The gospel can be seen in all of creation. Flowers are a beautiful reminder of our glorious God. 

Christian quotes about flowers

“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.” Martin Luther

“No Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation. The flowers of God’s garden bloom not only double, but sevenfold; they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.” Charles Spurgeon

“The sweetest scents are only obtained by tremendous pressure; the fairest flowers grow amid Alpine show-solitudes; the fairest gems have suffered longest from the lapidary’s wheel; the noblest statues have borne most blows of the chisel. All, however, are under law. Nothing happens that has not been appointed with consummate care and foresight.” F.B. Meyer

“Flowers are the music of the ground from earth’s lips spoken without sound.” -Edwin Curran

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

“Love is like a beautiful flower which I may not touch, but whose fragrance makes the garden a place of delight just the same.”

“Evil things are easy things: for they are natural to our fallen nature. Right things are rare flowers that need cultivation.” Charles Spurgeon

“Every flower must grow through dirt.”

“Lovely flowers are the smiles of God’s goodness.”

“Holiness appeared to me to be of a sweet, pleasant, charming, serene, calm nature; which brought an inexpressible purity, brightness, peacefulness, and ravishment to the soul. In other words, that it made the soul like a field or garden of God, with all manner of pleasant flowers.” Jonathan Edwards

“Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.” Henry Ward Beecher

“God is in all creatures, even in the smallest flowers.” — Martin Luther

“Most marvellous and enviable is that fecundity* of fancy which can adorn whatever it touches, which can invest naked fact and dry reasoning with unlooked for beauty, make flowers bloom even on the brow of the precipice, and turn even the rock itself into moss and lichens**. This faculty is most important for the vivid and attractive exhibition of truth to the minds of men.” Thomas Fuller.

[fecundity = * noun:

1.The quality or power of producing abundantly; fruitfulness or fertility.

2.Productive or creative power.

"fecundity of the mind."

3.The quality or power of producing fruit; fruitfulness; especially (Biology.), the quality in female organisms of reproducing rapidly and in great numbers.

Similar: fruitfulness]

[**Lichen ( noun ) found on tree bark;

Composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi in a symbiotic relationship.

A lichen is a symbiosis of algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species, along with a yeast embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualistic relationship. ]

“If a skillful workman can turn a little earth and ashes into such curious transparent glasses as we daily see, and if a little seed that bears no show of such a thing can produce the more beautiful flowers of the earth; and if a little acorn can bring forth the greatest oak; why should we once doubt whether the seed of everlasting life and glory, which is now in the blessed souls with Christ, can by Him communicate a perfection to the flesh that is dissolved into its elements?” Richard Baxter

Flowers will fade

You can give flowers sunlight, you can give the proper amount of water, but one thing will always remain true. Flowers will eventually fade and die. Anything in this world that we put our hope in will one day wither away. Whether it be money, beauty, humans, stuff, etc. However, unlike flowers and the things of this world God and His Word will always remain the same. God’s sovereignty, His faithfulness, and His love will never fade. Praise be to our God.

1. James 1:10-11 “But the rich should take pride in their humiliation–since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.”

2. Psalm 103:14-15 “For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”

3. Isaiah 28:1 “What sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria–the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel. It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. It is the pride of a people brought down by wine.”

4. Isaiah 28:4 “It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will fade like a flower. Whoever sees it will snatch it up, as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.”

5. 1 Peter 1:24 “For, All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.”

6. Isaiah 40:6 “A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.”

7. Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

8. Job 14:1-2 “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.”

9. Isaiah 5:24 “Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies; they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

10. Isaiah 28:1 “Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley— to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!”

11. James 1:11 “For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”

God cares for the flowers of the field.

God cares for all of His creation. This should cause us to rejoice in our trials. If He provides for even the smallest flowers, how much more will He provide for you! You are so loved. He sees you in your situation. It might seem like God is nowhere in sight. However, don’t look to what is seen. God will take care of you in your situation.

12. Luke 12:27-28 “Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?”

13. Psalm 145:15-16 “The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.”

14. Psalm 136:25-26 “He gives food to every living thing. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.”

15. Psalm 104:24-25 “How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small.”

16. Psalm 145:9 “The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.”

17. Psalm 104:27 “All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.”

Spiritual gardening and the Christian growth process 

When you plant a seed eventually it will grow into a flower. For a flower to grow it needs water, nutrients, air, light, and time. In the same way, we need things to grow in Christ. We need to discipline ourselves spiritually.

Every flower must grow through dirt.

We need to (wash ourselves and feed ourselves) with the Word. We need to be around a (positive environment) so our growth is not hindered.

We need to (spend time) with the Lord. As we do these things there will be growth in our life. Just like there are some flowers that grow faster than others, there are some Christians that grow faster than others.

18. Hosea 14:5-6 “I will be like dew to the people of Israel. They will blossom like flowers. They will be firmly rooted like cedars from Lebanon. They will be like growing branches. They will be beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like cedars from Lebanon.”

19. 2 Pet 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the honor both now and on that eternal day.”

20. 1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment.”

The sweetness of the presence of Christ. 

Flowers are used to illustrate the beauty of Christ and His Word.

21. Song of Solomon 5:13 “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.”

22. Song of Solomon 5:15 “His legs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon Choice as the cedars.”

23. Song of Solomon 2:13 “The fig tree has ripened its figs, And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, And come along!”

The flourishing estate of the church

Where there was once dryness, there will be fullness because of Christ. Flowers are used to illustrate the joyful flourishing of Christ’s kingdom.

24. Isaiah 35:1-2 “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.”

Reminders

25. James 1:10 “But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.”

26. Isaiah 40:7 “The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass.”

27. Job 14:2 “He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.”

28. Hosea 14:5 “I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots.”

29. Psalm 95:3-5 “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”

30. Psalm 96:11-12 “Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! 12 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy.”

Examples of flowers in the Bible

31. 1 Kings 6:18 “The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen.”

32. 2 Chronicles 4:21 “the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs—all of the purest gold.”

 33. 1 Kings 6:35 “He carved on it cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold plated on the carved work.”

34. Song of Solomon 2:11-13 “Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone.12 The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air. 13 The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming. Rise up, my darling! Come away with me, my fair one!” Young Man”

35. Isaiah 18:5 “For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.”

36. Exodus 37:19 “Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand.”

37. Numbers 8:4 “And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.”

38. Exodus 25:34 “And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.”

39. Exodus 25:31 “Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them.”

40. 1 Kings 6:29 “He carved all the walls of the house all around with carved engravings of cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers, [both] the inner and the outer sanctuaries.”

41. Psalm 80:1 “To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth.”

Bonus 

Song of Solomon 2:1-2 “I am the rose of Sharon, The lily of the valleys.” “Like a lily among the thorns, So is my darling among the maidens.”