08-24-2008, 02:40 AM
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[QUOTE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by George
Originally Posted by Scott Simons
Answer by George Anderson
Posted by Scott Simons
Aloha brother Scott,
WHO is Speaking - {The Lord Jesus Christ – Before His Death, Burial, & Resurrection; before the setting aside of the nation of Israel; before the establishment of the church. As of yet no one is "born again", because Christ hasn't established the New Testament by His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection - there are no Christians present and the New Testament church is not yet in existence.}
WHO is He Speaking to – {to Jews-Hebrews-Israelites, (not to the Gentiles; and certainly not to Christians or to the New Testament church, since neither exist at this time) who are looking for and expecting their King and the “kingdom of heaven”}
WHO does this apply to – {The Jews-Hebrews-Israelites of Christ’s day (and very probably in the Great Tribulation); Remember, although the Bridegroom was present – the “Bride” of Christ (the body of Christ-the church) was not yet present. [Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19; Luke 5:34] The ten virgins are NOT the “Bride” of Christ - nowhere are they referred to as "brides", they are called "virgins", for that matter (He isn’t going to have 5-10 wives! He has only ONE wife!}
WHO should follow and obey – {The Jews-Hebrews-Israelites of Christ’s day (and very probably in the Tribulation).
WHO is this written to – {To the believing Jews (first) and also to the believing Gentiles – for our “learning”. [ROMANS 15:4; Romans 1:16; Romans 3:2] According to the Scriptures - the Jews-Hebrews-Israelites of Jesus’ day were expecting “the kingdom of heaven” {a “term” peculiar to the Book of Matthew (The Gospel about the KING OF THE JEWS!) and found nowhere else in Scripture}. They must have understood what Jesus was referring to – even if most Christians don’t understand it today. These verses concerning the ten virgins are in relation to Jews-Hebrews-Israelites in the “kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 25:1] – they have no relation to the church or to Christians.
The term "kingdom of heaven" can only be found in the Book of Matthew (no where else in the entire Bible can this term be found). Look up all of the verses:
[Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 5:3,10,19-20; 7:21; 8:11; 10:7; 11:11-12; 13:11,24,31,33,44-45,47,52; 16:19; 18:1,3-4,23; 19:12,14,23; 20:1; 22:2; 23:13; 25:1,14;]
Historically – These verses applied to the Jews-Hebrews-Israelites of Jesus’ day.
Doctrinally - These verses applied only to the Jews-Hebrews-Israelites of Jesus’ day {And very probably to the Jews-Hebrews-Israelites during the Tribulation} – These verses are NOT to be applied to the “Bride” of Christ (His body-the church).
Spiritually – These verses might be used to teach Christians that we should be prepared to meet our Lord and Saviour – but they should NOT be used to teach us that the ten virgins are the “Bride” of Christ (the church-His body), because, as I said before, The Lord Jesus Christ has only One “Bride” (One Wife - Just like Isaac, who was His “Type” in the Scriptures.). He is not like Muhammad, who was a polygamist with multiple wives! [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]
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Aloha George,
I appreciate your insights on how you rightly divided the word. I did go look at you web site, I saved in my favorites for future reference. You have done a lot of work.
You have raised a few questions, that I though I would explore with you.
Did Jesus come to start a church? Or a new church?
When did the church first start?
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