City of Enoch

City of Enoch - Genesis 4:17

A diller a dollar, a 5 o'clock scholar was studying the Word of the Lord, When all of a sudden he noticed some things that would keep him from ever being bored. The City of Enoch, he noted, was built by the son of Cain.. How many people were there to help (?), Is something that was never made plain!

A diller a dollar, the 5 o'clock scholar wondered why not give the city a name of its own..? There were plenty of names that weren't already taken: like Paris, or New York, or Rome. A name like Enoch would just be confusing, and you'd have to stop and think... Is it the man or the City of Enoch that's meant? Is this city to Babel a link?

A diller a dollar, the 5 o'clock scholar noticed something else that was strange.. That the Enoch who "walked with God" had copied this very same name! "Why would he do a thing like that?", he thought, "What was so great about the name Enoch?" Did using that name help him walk with God? Or was that city especially scenic?

There is a name that's above all others; and the name of David is used for a city.. But many folks don't know the Way; they've lost the directions...more's the pity. The City of David is the City of Love -- it's the city named Bethlehem.. But the city we're looking for today is called "New Jerusalem"!

A diller a dollar, the 5 o'clock scholar heard the chimes that came from the tower, He'd been so engrossed in his studies, he hadn't realized it was the eleventh hour. The way to get to this City, he'd learned, was to start out by walking in love... and then to begin eating the Living Bread that was sent down from God above.

The story of Enoch as told in Genesis 5:24 leaves us hanging. We wonder: Where did he go? Not until Jude 14 speaks of "Enoch, the 7th from Adam" are we provided a crumb of a clue which brings awareness of the two Enoch's and two Lamech's and the generation count which eventually leads to David #33 and to Jesus #66.

The Naked Truth !

The Bible portrays us as Trees, as Clay, as Seeds, Temples, Vessels, and our body as a 'House'. We are Spirit, Soul, and Body, 1Thes5:23, and sounds like if our house got blown away, maybe we could get in the Chevy till the storm ceased? The evolution from Model T's to Cadillac makes me wonder whether God cares what kind of car we're dressed in?

2Cor5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. v.2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: v3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked".

2Tim2:20 "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. v21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work".

Heb3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Heb3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. v.4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.

Genesis 3:7 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons".

They were NAKED, but didn't even realize it until they ATE from the Tree!

Banning Cheeseburgers !

"..Thou shalt not ‘seethe’ a kid in his mother's milk". Ex23:19, 34:26, Dt14:21. Strongs: ‘bashan’, #1310, to bake, boil, cook, roast, ripen.

This law was written three times in the OT, and the repetition gives it an impetus worthy of note. This is reportedly the reason why dairy products are kept separate from meat products in Jewish communities, and cheeseburgers not allowed.

IMO there’s a much deeper reason. They ignorantly 'seethed a kid in his mother's milk' when they crucified Jesus on the cross with his mother looking on helplessly.

Both Paul and Peter spoke of the "Milk of the Word" - 1Cor3:2, 1Pet2:2. (In jest, perhaps: Father's Milk?) 1Pet2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”, and 1Cor3:2 “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able”.

SCAPEGOAT. Jesus was spoken of as "the lamb of God", and in the OT the scapegoat was part of the ritual for the Day of Atonement, Lev16:8, when the sins of all the people were placed on the head of the scapegoat (he wasn't responsible, but took the blame).

In the OT it was Isaiah who planted a clue about this: "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts". Isa28:9. And Moses alluded to the concept in Numbers 11:12 “Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

It may help to remember how "Almighty God" is known as 'the breasty one', from Gen17:1, and how “the letter of the law killeth, but the spirit giveth life”, 2Cor3:6.

Thoughts?

PRECEPTS

Melchizedek / Saul-David / Hezekiah

1. Genesis 14:18 - “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God”. After this cameo introduction, the Bible says nothing else about Melchizedek until a thousand years later in Psalm 110, and then it’s ANOTHER thousand years until the Book of Hebrews elaborates on how Jesus is the figure of Melchisedec (spelled with an ‘s’ and a ‘c’ in the New Testament). Melchizedek is a King AND a Priest, to contrast with how the kings of Israel were not permitted to usurp the duties of priests. 2Chr26:18. Ps 110:4 “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”. So the books of Genesis and Psalms and Hebrews all contribute to our knowledge of the King-Priest of ‘Jerusalem’.

2. The Hebrews desired to have a king over them (as the other nations), and God disapproved, 1Sam10:19, but granted them a king from the Tribe of Benjamin named Saul, who was ‘a head taller’ than others, 1Sam9:2, so I gather he looked the part, even though at first he seemed reluctant to receive the title. Gradually he became a ‘take-charge’ king and became envious of young David who seemed to be winning more battles than Saul. After David’s win over Goliath and Saul’s error in not waiting for the Prophet Samuel, the crown was taken away from Saul and awarded instead to young David.

When we read this story with hindsight; knowing how the New Testament speaks of the ‘old man of the flesh’ and the ‘new, hidden man of the heart’, we can begin to see how the tale is telling in figurative language of how Saul becomes David. David is reluctant to kill off the old-man, because the two are ‘one’. The Amalekite’s are a type of Satan who eventually do the job (cause the suicide) 2Sam1:10. They’re the same nation that fights against Israel and loses whenever the hands of Moses are lifted (helped by Aaron and Hur, Ex17:12) and Joshua becomes victorious in the background of this figurative battle.

3. King Hezekiah is one of the greatest kings in the Old Testament; following after the LORD with all his heart, and observing a noteworthy Passover, 2Chr30. His story is told in 2K25 and 2Chr30, and in chapters 36-39 of Isaiah, and he’s the only person in the Bible who knows the year of his death, after being awarded an added 15 years. When he wants a sign to confirm he’ll go to the Lord’s House ‘on the 3rd’ Day’, 2K20:5, following those 15 years, it’s the shadow of the sun dial moving backwards for ten degree’s. Then, his only son, Manasseh, is born 3 years later, because he’s only 12 years old when he inherits Hezekiah’s reign. 2K21:1.

If we can believe our calendars at all, then Calvary occurred over 2,000 years ago, and when a thousand years are as one day, to the LORD, it has only been about two days. Therefore, we may be in the LORD’s Third Day right now! And Y2K may have been the beginning of our 15 added years – that is, if Hezekiah’s story had a deeper meaning than we’ve been giving it credit for…

Drinking Gold ?

    Drink Gold Dust?

"And it came to pass, as soon as he[Moses] came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. Exodus 32:19,20

  WOW! Is this weird, or not?
The Old Testament doesn't explain it at all, and the Book of Exodus leaves out some of the story -- the part about throwing the powdered gold into the brook that descended out of the mountain is from Deut9:21. It would seem the Israeli's were required to scoop up and drink handfuls of water mixed with gold-dust from the brook. To what purpose, I wondered?

Then I chanced to come across a book in a Christian bookstore: "The Chemistry of the Blood", by Dr. M.R. DeHaan. It informed me that gold dust in a colloidal solution with water had the appearance of blood! Evidentally it's something known to artists who paint ceramics, etc. Now it's been quite a few years since I read that book, but I recollect the author going on to say how the Children of Israel had recently left Egypt where God had said when He saw the blood he would PASSOVER them (an atoning action). His conclusion was that Moses had them drink the so-called blood to atone for their idolatry. That makes sense, doesn't it?

At first, it did. But then I recalled a pre-Law commandment to Noah which said they were prohibited from eating with the blood, Gen9:4, and the contradiction bothered me. Surely Moses knew the Kosher practice kept them from partaking of blood--I asked myself why Moses didn't just have them wash with that so-called blood, instead of having them drink it. Wouldn't that have satisfied the atoning action?

Maybe you can imagine my excitement when revelation finally came! COMMUNION!

The "most precious blood of Jesus", 1Pet1:19, is what we drink in taking communion -- and He's the Word of God which in Psalm 19 is compared to much fine gold. The so-called blood which Moses had them drink wasn't biological blood, and neither is the communion cup which we partake of under the New Covenant. Figuratively speaking we're drinking His blood, but also the most fine gold, in our toasting of the New Covenant! It's still an atoning action! So how long has it been since you've taken communion??

Other precepts of communion include Melchizedek, the Butler & Baker, and the Lying Gibeonites...

Who Am I ?

1. His mother named him Samuel “asked of the Lord”. 1:20 (Holy Spirit to them that ASK: Lk11:13)
2. There was much ado about his speaking and being weaned from milk prior to his priestly duties. 3:9 (From milk to meat: 1Cor3:2)
3. He personally anointed King Saul, and afterwards David. Just those two, 15:1 and 16:13. (1John2:27 for special anointing)
4. Samuel “wrote a book about the kingdom”, 10:25. (Not by will of men, but by Holy Spirit: 1Pet 1:21).

5. He was 'called up from the dead' in a ghostly seance by the so-called 'witch of Endor". 28:12 (Mark 1:8 Another name for Holy Spirit)

6. He wore a mantle. 28:14 (cp to Elijah/Elisha)
7. None of his words 'fall to the ground'. 3:19. (John16:13 - Whatever the Spirit hears, he speaks..)
8. To reject him is to reject God. 8:7. (Father, Son, Holy Ghost -- Trinity)
9. He's a Teacher. 12:23 (John 14:26 'leading to further truth')

(The Book of 1st Samuel introduces this special baby (Prophet: Acts13:20) into the era between the Judges and the Kings.)