My Understanding of The True God - Cathrine Thomas (robert munsch read aloud TXT) 📗

sacrifice and the offering to cease; and upon the wing of detestable things shall be that which causeth appalment; and that until the extermination wholly determined be poured out upon that which causeth appalment.”

(These words do not refer to the time of Jesus, as some people think. Most scholars think that the “detestable things” that cause “appalment” refer to the horrors caused by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168-165 B.C.)

Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but the Jewish authorities convicted him for claiming to be the son of God, and the Roman authority for being the king of the Jews. Both of these were criminal prosecutions. None of mankind can die for another person’s sins. There will be judgement day when each of us will be judged for our own sins. God’s servant, the Messiah, will come to show us righteousness, to turn us back to the God of creation. God asked in the Old Testament that we should not be proud, that we should return to God, and then God will return to us.

Let us see what Jeremiah writes about the son of God.

Jeremiah 31:9: They come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am the Father to Israel, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
Jeremiah 31:20: Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord.
If Ephraim is God’s “firstborn”, how is it possible that Jesus is God’s only beloved son? The Psalmist says the Lord said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father” (Psalm 2:7).We are all children of God.
Let me tell you of my own experience as a mother of a child. I am a Mother, and my child disobeyed me and did not listen to me. This went on until I finally decided I could not do this anymore, and I decided that he would have to learn on his own: no matter how much I reached out to him, he would do exactly what he wanted to do. I was trying to prevent him from making mistakes. Reading about Ephraim, I asked, “Was he a pleasant child?” Although God spoke against Him, he still remained his child. I cry to think that God’s heart yearns for Ephraim. I know my heart is very sore to know that someone else has misled my child, and he will not listen to me but to someone else, even though he is my child, not someone else’s. (But that is the way children are: they think other people are more intelligent than their own parents.)

I came to realise God made us; we are all his children; we do not listen to God; we want to do things our own way; although He calls us, do we answer? When He warns us, do we take note? No we are too clever to obey and take instructions. I often wonder why God did this, is it because we insisted on having another god; we walked away from Him, just leaving him all alone; we do not even thank Him for creating us. I wonder how God must feel when all His children walk away. I wonder if He is crying; I wonder if His heart is sore. Is God waiting patiently for us to return? Will God perhaps create a new earth and new people with hearts that can feel pain, that obey Him? Surely God will give his new children hearts that will only obey Him? They will not have to make errors; they will do everything according to His instructions. I wonder how you are going to feel if God has already done this. When I think about this, I get upset and want to cry: God has left the damaged earth, destroyed by mankind. We have no righteousness, no justice, no peace, nobody to talk to, emptiness, no God to blame, no Holy city Jerusalem. Let us think about this ever so deeply in our hearts.

Now I am going to ask you to read Zechariah 13:1-9 and to see why I do not believe that we will go to Heaven, but rather that God’s good people will inherit the earth:
1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for purification and for sprinkling.
2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
(This is still to happen.)
3. And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begot him shall say unto him: 'Thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD'; and his father and his mother that begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be brought to shame every one through his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive;
5. but he shall say: 'I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondman from my youth.'
6. And one shall say unto him: 'What are these wounds between thy hands?'
Then he shall answer: 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'
7. Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is near unto Me, saith the LORD of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn My hand upon the little ones.
8. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
(Please note: “but the third shall be left therein”: not in heaven, but “in all the land”.)
9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say: 'It is My people', and they shall say: 'The LORD is my God.'
(The LORD “will say: 'It is My people', and they shall say: 'The LORD is my God.’” The “third part”, the Lord’s people, will remain on the earth and worship God.)

Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that the Lord says: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search with all your heart”, and Psalm 2:8 tells us that the Lord said to the psalmist: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” If we read the Old Testament, we shall seek and we shall find, and if we ask, we shall receive. We all need to seek and find the Lord; we all need to ask and we shall receive.

In Daniel 7 we have Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts: the lion, the bear, the leopard, and a fourth beast with ten horns, which is too horrendous for Daniel to identify as any known animal. It is this fourth beast to which Daniel gives most attention.
7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
(Some Biblical scholars regard the beast with ten horns as the Greek Empire and the ten horns as the ten kings of that Empire.)
8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before which three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
(Some scholars think that this other horn with “a mouth speaking great things” refers to Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.). The words “speaking great things” are sometimes translated as “speaking pompous words” or “speaking boastfully”.) and guess who I think this is?
9. I beheld till thrones were put in place, and one that was ancient of days did sit: his raiment was as white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire.
(The “one that was ancient of days” refers to the Lord God.)
10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
(This is God’s court case against the fourth beast.)
11. I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke, I beheld even till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire.
(Again, the “great” or “boastful” or “pompous” words are referred to. Did Jesus not use “great” or “boastful” or “pompous” words before he, too, “was slain”?)
12. And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
(This refers to the other three beasts mentioned in verses 4-6.)
13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and he was brought near before Him.
(This is Daniel’s prophecy of the Messiah, “like unto a son of man”.)
14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
(Is this true of Jesus: “all the peoples, nations and languages should serve him”?)
15. As for me Daniel, my spirit was pained in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head affrighted me.
(Often we, like Daniel, are pained and frightened by the truth.)
16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things:
17. “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth.
(Kings of the earth so often behave like beasts.)
18. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”
(The “saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom”; when will this happen? It has not happened yet.)
19. Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet;
20. and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell; even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose appearance was greater than that of its fellows.
(These verses remind us of verses 7-8. It is the fourth beast that most concerns Daniel.)
21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22. until the Ancient of days came, and judgment