3 Main Themes I see in the Bible: Love - Image - Dominion

[AdHoc]

12 hours ago, Marilyn C said:

`they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power & great glory. And He will send His angels..`      (Matt.24: 30 & 31)

`When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him...` (Matt. 25: 31)

`The Son of Man comes in His glory, & in the glory of the holy angels.`  (Luke 9: 26)

`when Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God,..` (2 Thess. 1: 7)

 

These Holy angels are the army who come with Jesus when he brings vengeance upon the ungodly.

 

And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets...` (Zech. 14: 12)

Thanks for your counter. No doubt that the angels will be involved as we can see in Daniel 12:1. But not one of the scriptures you gave have the angels fighting. In Matthew 24:30-31 they are with Jesus and their job is to gather Israel from the "four winds".

In Matthew 25:31 they are there to gather "All Nations" for judgment.

Luke 9:26 does not say they fought

In Zechariah 14 you might have mentioned verse 5.

But I see it this way. The battle we have  is for the earth. But because God's Throne (seat of rule) is heaven, there is a large heavenly element. There are three enemies with which we do battle.
1. We do battle with our flesh. Although we are to take care of our bodies because they are members of Christ, we are to crucify the desires and clamors of the flesh. This is a daily battle. It will be won by self denial. It will be solved by resurrection.

2. Principalities and powers in heavenly places. This is a mixture of facing off with demons and maintaining our morality. The winners of this battle win a moral battle as Revelation in 12:11

3. To man was the earth given (Ps.8 & Heb.2). Daniel predicts a "stone" dashing Gentile rule to powder. This, I judge to be Armageddon. Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19 clearly say that that certain saints will be with Christ. Jude 14 confirms this. In Revelation 19 the Lord fights with a sword and in Zechariah 14 with a plague. But in Psalm 149:5-6 it the saints wielding the same sword.

The battle for the state of rule is heavenly. the battle for displacement of government is on earth. The heavenly part is fought by angels (Rev.12). Men win, not by physical battle, but by moral battle. The earthly part is won by the seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent. Since the wounds named for Jesus are real and physical (bruising the heel), we must take the crushing as physical. Israel fought physically for the Land, and so also is the battle of Armageddon physical. For earth it is the "seed of the serpent" against "seed of the woman". Those presently in government wield a Sword, while in the future government of Christ we all will wield "a rod of iron".

This is not to say that angels are not involved. It is only to show that the earth is mainly men's business. Where it becomes practical is that you, a gentle Christian, who has lived in the age of grace and forgiven your enemies, might have to become a Jael in one day. Remember, the Lord returns from Bozrah drenched in blood. If you are a "companion" of Jesus, you could very well have been involved in getting bloody. You will not change from a gentle Christian maid to executioner of justice in a minute. You will do it because you have learned to obey without question.

When God led Israel out of the Red Sea, He turned them away from the shortest journey "because when they see war they will not be prepared" (Ex,13:17). Settle it in your mind whether you would follow Jesus into a blood bath - now.

[Vine Abider]

1 hour ago, AdHoc said:

When God led Israel out of the Red Sea, He turned them away from the shortest journey "because when they see war they will not be prepared" (Ex,13:17). Settle it in your mind whether you would follow Jesus into a blood bath - now.

That is a very intriguing and sobering thought . . . 

And I'd not considered the ramifications of that verse before.  (BTW - what translation is that?)

[Mr. M]

2 hours ago, AdHoc said:

When God led Israel out of the Red Sea, He turned them away from the shortest journey "because when they see war they will not be prepared" (Ex,13:17). Settle it in your mind whether you would follow Jesus into a blood bath - now.

And this resulted in one of the first great teachings

of faith, apart from works of the Law!

Deuteronomy 8:

2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God 

led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness,

to humble you and test you, 

to know what was in your heart, (does He need to

find out what is in our heart, or do we???)

whether you would keep His commandments or not. 

3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and 

fed you with manna which you did not know nor

did your fathers know, that He might make you

know that man shall not live by bread alone;

but man lives by every word that proceeds

from the mouth of the Lord. 

4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor

did your foot swell these forty years. 

5 You should know in your heart that as a man

chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

I know of no better OT example to foreshadow

our walk of faith!

[Vine Abider]

@Mr. M When I started this thread I simply wanted to point out that these three things are what I see as main themes in the bible.  I think each are easy to demonstrate as being key themes. As I and others have come up with different things that might be themes, to me these other things fall under the big three: Love, Image & Dominion.  But this is just what I'm seeing.

For instance, I thought @AdHoc had a good response to @Neighbor when it was brought up that redemption is a key theme.  Redemption was needed because man fell from God's original intention that He stated in Genesis 1:26, which was for man to have His image & likeness and to have dominion over all the earth and all on it.

While redemption is huge, I see this emanating from His love for us.  So I went back and added redemption under "love" in the OP.  Howzat?

[Neighbor]

Oh there are lots of themes I suppose, but there is one thing, just one thing, that is the key theme ; that is the reveal of Jesus the redeemer throughout the Bible OT and NT. Can't have redemption without Jesus.

[AdHoc]

7 hours ago, Vine Abider said:

That is a very intriguing and sobering thought . . . 

And I'd not considered the ramifications of that verse before.  (BTW - what translation is that?)

I was naughty. It's a paraphrase. But I'll rest my case on Saul. He had the same sentiments with Agag. It cost him his Kingship

" ... and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. 27... The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, ... And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. 33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal." (1 Sa 15:26–33).

I wonder how many tender sisters on this Forum can carry out the Lord's command. The death penalty will still be in force during the Millennium.

 

[AdHoc]

6 hours ago, Mr. M said:

And this resulted in one of the first great teachings

of faith, apart from works of the Law!

Deuteronomy 8:

2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God 

led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness,

to humble you and test you, 

to know what was in your heart, (does He need to

find out what is in our heart, or do we???)

whether you would keep His commandments or not. 

3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and 

fed you with manna which you did not know nor

did your fathers know, that He might make you

know that man shall not live by bread alone;

but man lives by every word that proceeds

from the mouth of the Lord. 

4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor

did your foot swell these forty years. 

5 You should know in your heart that as a man

chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

I know of no better OT example to foreshadow

our walk of faith!

Amen bro! When I have pain or discomfort, whatever the circumstances, I keep these verses before my eyes. My heart is regularly exposed - ah, what a fallen heart!

[AdHoc]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Oh there are lots of themes I suppose, but there is one thing, just one thing, that is the key theme ; that is the reveal of Jesus the redeemer throughout the Bible OT and NT. Can't have redemption without Jesus.

I sometimes waste a few moments to think what it would have been if Adam had not eaten from that Tree. There would have been dominion without redemption. But the thought is academic. As I said in a previous post. Christ on Golgotha is the single most wondrous act ever recorded. It displayed God at His best, displayed how immovable the councils of God are and the boundless love of Jesus for His Father. It displayed a whole list of superlatives.

[Vine Abider]

4 minutes ago, AdHoc said:

I sometimes waste a few moments to think what it would have been if Adam had not eaten from that Tree. There would have been dominion without redemption. But the thought is academic. As I said in a previous post. Christ on Golgotha is the single most wondrous act ever recorded. It displayed God at His best, displayed how immovable the councils of God are and the boundless love of Jesus for His Father. It displayed a whole list of superlatives.

Exactly! I read a book once that explored the "what if" of Adam not sinning.  But as I recall, the author (DeVern Fromke - heard of him?) demonstrated that in the way it happened, that this would show the depths of God's love in the redemptive work of Christ. So therefore it needed to happen.  (Can we perhaps say it was intended to happen? the answer is above my pay grade)

And, of course, there's that mysterious verse in Rev 13:8, "The Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world."  Will we ever fully wrap our minds around that!?!?

[Marilyn C]

10 hours ago, AdHoc said:

You will not change from a gentle Christian maid to executioner of justice in a minute. Settle it in your mind whether you would follow Jesus into a blood bath - now.

I am part of the `new man,` no male or female, but like Christ, (new man).

But then I think you may be the `gentle maid` if you see yourself as the `bride.` 

Mmmmmm