Those who sanctify themselves, and purify themselves to the gardens, each one in the midst, eaters of swine’s flesh, and the hateful thing, and the mouse – these are cut off together, says Jehovah. (Interlinear Bible Translation)
Each one in the midst for me means the beast within us before our conversion and practising abominations idolatry and hateful things to God…. 2 Thes 2 : 4 Who opposes and exalts himself so proudly and insolently against and over all that is called God or that is worshipped, even to his actually taking his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming that he himself is God.
This splits, for me into three kinds of self-sanctification.
a) INDIVIDUAL: 2 Cor 10 : 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God….
The individual that follows their imagination and puffs up with self-exaltation, self-aggrandizement and self-approval…this is counter and in opposition to true knowledge of God.
Self-sanctification with the Beast in the midst of each one of us before conversion.
· Rom 2 : 8 But for those who are self-seeking and self-willed and disobedient to the Truth but responsive to wickedness, there will be indignation and wrath.
· Rev 21 : 8 But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters, those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God, and all liars, those who knowingly convey untruth (Church heresy) by word or deed, all of these shall have their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. Matt 23 : 9
And do not call anyone in the church on earth father, for you have one Father, Who is in Heaven. Matt 10 : 37 He who loves and takes more pleasure in father or mother more than in Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves and takes more pleasure in son or daughter more than in Me is not worthy of Me.b) NATIONAL: 2 Tim 4 : 3 …there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food – catch opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages.(The Message)
As in Israel’s sins of idolatry in the gardens with Asherah or totem pole type idols called tree here….The centres of idolatry were in the midst of wooden places or sacred groves and high places….(like the high places of Christendom, sacred groves of idolatry where statues are kissed and images are worshiped. These wooden places that will burn down as stubble under the consuming fire of God)
The idea here is that people will seek to be sanctified and ceremonially purified (accepted, tagged and labelled as belonging to this or that Church or sacred grove group. Made part of this group by public baptism into such a group made ceremonially united to their teachings through group traditionalism and customs of man made doctrine which are to God swine and mouse sacrifices to idols.)
· Lev 11 : 7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you….vs. 41-42…and every creeping thing (all creatures who move on their bellies like snakes, creatures, lizards, frogs, mice, rats, hares and all creatures having more than four legs were unclean to Israel.) that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten. Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
For me this widens into cultures that look away from Christ and are known to me as the Pagan religions with the Asherah pole in their midst and ( as in those who have entered by another gate who are the brigands and thieves in the sheep fold John 10 : 1
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, elsewhere, from some other quarter, is a thief and a robber )as in the little Foxes that spoil the vine working as employees of Mystery Babylon.
This is National to me because there are for me only two Nations. Those who know Christ’s voice, who follow and aspire to Him and those who don’t.
c) SPIRITUAL: Rom 9 : 27 And Isaiah calls out over Israel; Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea (many are called), only the remnant, a small portion of them( the chosen, the proven faithful one’s) will be saved from perdition, condemnation, judgment.
Heb12 : 15 Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look after one another, to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace, His unmerited favour and spiritual blessing, in order that no root of resentment, rancour, bitterness, or hatred shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it.( Is this perhaps the link to Matt 5 : 21 ?)
If we feel superior or prideful against those who persecute us, who slander us and those who speak contemptuously against us….if we do not forgive and pray for them who abuse us,…if we find ourselves in a situation wherein we know others are harmed because of our vanity or pride and we do not try to make peace…if we take our place before God at the expense of others…If we feel we are the elect and superior ones who are meat eaters and if we diminish the little ones of Christ though self appointed vanity and pride falling prey to thinking we are more blessed, more favoured and more important to God.. we can be liable to join them for whom the Lake of Fire is prepared!
Forgive them Father…for they know not what they do….is to us the direction we need assume if we are to lay down our lives for those who are stampeding us to death as they hurry on their way into delusions prepared for them by God and fire unquenchable made living in a real experience of unquenchable attachments to greed, lust, envy and all the burning worms that eat away at the soul given to the sins of the carnal prideful unloving vanity of the flesh..
I agree with you Gary
.....speaking of the carnality in each of us, that we desire to chose and make our own gods to gain the knowledge of good and evil, instead of relying on the one and only God I really enjoyed all the insights and this from Kat shows many self appointed religions who profess the authority to mediate between us and Christ!
In v.17 "Those who sanctify an purify themselves"
The elect are sanctify in Christ not themselves.....or others!....Christ is our Advocate before God not Pope, Pontif or mankind.
Hope to have your thoughts regarding how I see Isaiah 66:17....
Arcturus
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Topic: Members join in (Read 19199 times)