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Gone Fishin'

~ …“Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men!”

Gone Fishin'

Monthly Archives: July 2012

The Dust Of His Feet

29 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Faith and Wisdom

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

anthropomorphism, clouds, divine manifestations, dust, feet, figurative language, storm, supernatural powers' effects, theanthropism, theophanies, whirlwind

Adonai is slow to anger, but great in power; and he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Adonai’s path is in the whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. ~ Nahum 1:3, CJB

 

Perhaps many of us never have imagined that God the Father has feet, let alone “dust” that He shakes off of His feet. Yet, despite the fact that the Scriptures clearly state that NO MAN can see nor has ever seen God the Father (cf. John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16, and Exodus 33:20), not only do Exodus 24:9-11 and Psalm 18:9 both describe Him as having feet, but also Nahum 1:3 specifically says clouds are the dust of God’s feet.  

What should be acknowledged here is that although a few of the Word of God authors declare that NO MAN has ever seen Father God, there are many biblical writers who not only describe Him as having feet but also attribute other human characteristics to God the Father, like hands and eyes. The point here is that, even though no man has ever seen Father God, and yet some men and women have seen Him, for example, seen His feet, there absolutely isn’t any contradiction in God’s Word.

The truth is that, throughout the Old and New Testaments, the inspired writers of God’s Word are describing God the Father in figurative language, by using images, metaphors, symbolisms, and so forth. This figurative language often is easily understood by humanity, like the cloud and footstool imageries/symbolisms.  Figuratively speaking, God is described in the Scriptures as having feet, like when Father God, through the prophet Ezekiel, predicts that He not only will reside in a future Jewish Temple that will be located in Jerusalem, but also He predicts that the soles of His feet will walk on that future Temple’s floors (cf. Ezekiel 43:7).  In addition to depicting Father God as having feet, in many Old Testament verses His presence, Glory, guidance, care, protection, and judgment often are represented as clouds, or they are described as being in clouds, as in the cloud on the wilderness tabernacle, or in the cloud over the Israelites (cf. Exodus 40:38; Numbers 10:34); or like the presence and Glory of God in or covered by a cloud (cf. Exodus 16:10; Exodus 19:9; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 34:5); or like a pillar of cloud (cf. Exodus 40:36; Psalm 78:14a); or as a bow in cloud (cf. Genesis 9:13); and/or as clouds that resemble the dust of God’s feet (cf. Nahum 1:3b).

Moreover, in the Old and New Testament, both Father God and His Son, Jesus the Christ, are described as coming in or on a cloud/the clouds, or with clouds (cf. Exodus 19:9; Exodus 34:5; Matthew 24:30;  Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:26; Mark 14:62; Luke 21:27; and Revelation 1:7). Furthermore, just like Christ Jesus ascended up and into Heaven via a cloud (cf. Acts 1:9), His true believers also are promised that they too will ascend up into Heaven (will be caught up) by way of the clouds (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17). 

Now concerning the mentioned feet or cloud images—God the Father’s appearances or Divine manifestations—that are in various “forms” (figurative languages) that humans easily can understand, throughout the Holy Bible there are several specific imagistic references to the Earth being God’s footstool. Indeed, in Isaiah 66:1, Matthew 5:35, and Acts 7:49, either Father God Himself or His Son, Christ Jesus, tells readers that the Earth is God’s footstool. Thus, the imageries (mental pictures) of His feet (clouds) resting on a footstool (Earth) actually symbolize Father God as being not only the possessor but also the Lord and Judge of this physical/natural Earth.  

Put differently, the imageries of the Earth being His footstool and the clouds being under Father God’s feet both suggest that clouds are like the dust off of His feet. Furthermore, both of these images not only symbolize Father God’s presence, Glory, guidance, care, protection, and judgment but also the Earth being His footstool and the clouds being under Father God’s feet (like the dust off of His feet) reinforce the biblical and Divine Truths about Father God being the Creator and Controller of Earth and, for that matter, the Creator and Controller of the entire universe (cf. Genesis 1:1; Exodus 19:5; Psalm 104).  

The bottom line is that unlike the literal and figurative dust that we are commanded to shake off of our feet (cf. Matthew 10:14-15; Mark 6:10-11; Luke 9:5; Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51), the symbolic dust shaken off of Father God’s feet accentuates both the literal goodness that comes from Father God’s Mercy, Grace and supernatural Power, and the literal wrath that also comes from His supernatural Power. In other words, although Father God is extremely merciful, gracious, and patient (willing to give human beings time to repent), and although He is strong in power, which is the same power that He used to create the Earth and the Heavens, and the same power He uses to display His presence, Glory, guidance, care, and protection, let there be no doubt about it. Father God never will acquit those individuals who choose to remain sinners—those individuals who reject His Son, Christ Jesus, as Lord and Savior.

For sure, even though God has never been in a hurry to punish mankind (He desires that no one should perish), His wrath (judgment), like a whirlwind or a storm (effects of God’s supernatural power), will pour quickly and suddenly from out of Father God’s enormously rich arsenal of mighty weapons and destroy human beings. The point here is that Father God’s wrath or judgment is ever present with Him. More important, in the end times, His ever present wrath will sweep over this world’s wicked people like the cloud of dust a massive army raises as it marches against its enemies!

Finally, the abovementioned Divine Truths are why the dust that is under Father God’s feet (cf. Nahum 1:3b) also symbolizes how this Sovereign God, on one hand, transcends the Earth, and the entire universe, which He created, and yet, on the other hand, is ever present in every one of humanity’s earthly activities, as well as all of those activities happening throughout the entire universe. Because Father God is ever present in every human being’s earthly activities, this is the main reason why every evangelist also must know and understand the ramifications of either physically or symbolically shaking the dust off of his or her feet, especially if this action is done because he or she is too impatient and/or too infuriated with some people.

While Christ Jesus does not intend for His evangelists to persevere wherever the sown Gospel Message’s seed is totally fruitless (wherever people neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message), the often ignored truth is that this dust-shaking action is a highly critical fault-finding gesture. For this reason, even though evangelists are responsible only for preaching an authoritative unadulterated version of the Gospel Message, that doesn’t mean evangelists hurriedly should shake the dust off of their feet. Nor does it mean that they should rejoice over being presented with reasons for and opportunities to shake the dust off of their feet.

Certainly, by shaking the dust off of their feet, evangelists are expressing God’s dissatisfaction with those households and/or individuals who neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message, while simultaneously issuing a warning about God’s forthcoming judgment that He will pour out upon them. Equally important to note here is this final point: Evangelists who shake the dust off of their feet personally are making a spiritual accusation—giving their own testimony (displaying their own sign of rejection; protesting) against those households and/or individuals who neither wanted to hear nor have received the full Gospel Message (cf. Luke 9:5; Luke 10:11)!    

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Keeping of the Sabbath Rest

09 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Spiritual

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

4th Commandment, cease from all efforts, Christ Jesus, finished work, Lamb of God, Original, rest in the Lord, Sabbath rest, shadow or type

The Sabbath Rest (1894) by Samuel Hirszenberg

Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. You have six days to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. For in six days, Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why Adonai blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself. ~ Exodus 20:8-11, CJB

 

There are many believers who condemn other believers for not worshipping God on the Sabbath, which to them is Saturday and never Sunday. Now while these Sabbath keepers are correct in saying that God established the Sabbath as a day of rest and a day of worship, they are wrong in pronouncing judgment against other believers who do not rest and worship on the Sabbath (Saturday), and they are wrong for accusing the same believers of sinning against God, just because they are not following God’s Old Testament pattern of work and rest. For sure, the Divine Truth is that, even though the Old Testament’s Mosaic Law Sabbath is a weekly mandated day of rest and worship, which usually is observed on a Saturday, in the new covenant ANY day of the week that a person receives the Lord and enters into the rest He offers is a Sabbath rest!

Put differently, Christ Jesus is every believer’s Sabbath rest. Remember, He says: “Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest” ~ Matthew 11:28, CJB. In this verse, the “rest” that the Lord gives is the same “rest” Father God takes after He completed the work of Creation. Father God rests not because He was tired but because He was finished—His work was done. Thus, His rest was a spiritual rest (an eternal rest), because on the day His rest begins there was no mention of an evening and morning.

Then too, because Christ Jesus’ work on this Earth has ended, He also is resting, eternally. He is resting because He has fulfilled (completed) ALL of the demands of the Law (satisfied all of the Law’s requirements), which called for perfect obedience and unwavering faithfulness. Now, if the Lord has fulfilled the Law, then that means He also has fulfilled the commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy. Therefore, since Father God made the Sabbath for mankind, and not the other way around (cf. Mark 2:27), which means Father God intended for the Sabbath to benefit human beings and not enslave them, this is the reason why the Sabbath rest is not about keeping a special day (Saturday or Sunday), but rather the keeping of the Sabbath rest is about ending/ceasing all of mankind’s righteous, holy, and good-life efforts, and finding in their place Christ Jesus’ spiritual/eternal rest that consists of a peaceful conscience, a relieved mind, and/or a calm soul. 

The Lord’s perfect fulfillment of the Law (via His life, death, burial, and resurrection) means that in Christ Jesus believers are now able to keep ALL of the Law faithfully and obediently. More important, since Christ Jesus is believers’ Sabbath rest, they now can cease from their own efforts (stop following their righteousness by works system of worship) and instead depend on and trust in the righteous work of Someone else (depend on Christ Jesus’ finished work). 

The writer of Hebrews concurs, saying:

So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God’s people. For the one who has entered God’s rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his. ~ Hebrews 4:9-10, CJB

In other words, because the Lord is believers’ Sabbath rest, then entering into the rest of the Lord is the only kind of Sabbath “works” Father God expects believers in Christ Jesus to do so that they will be sure to keep the Sabbath holy. For these reasons, apostle Paul says:

So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh-Hodesh or Shabbat. These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah. ~ Colossians 2:16-17, CJB 


The bottom line is that under the Law, the Old Testament’s Sabbath rest was only a shadow of the Original who was to replace it, and this Original is Christ Jesus (cf. Hebrews 10:1). As a shadow of the Sabbath rest that is in Christ Jesus, the Old Testament’s Sabbath rest, which the Mosaic Law established as a weekly mandated Sabbath day, was a Sabbath rest that, no matter how faithfully and religiously it was kept, never could have brought mankind back into right standing with Father God. For this reason, the real (the Original) Sabbath rest of God only can be understood and experienced by those Christ Jesus believers who not only have had their sins forgiven but also have been redeemed by the Lamb of God’s shed blood and atoning sacrifice.   

Shalom

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Very Inspiring Blogger Award

09 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Awards

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

beautiful place, blogsphere, encouragement, godliness, godly love, honor, inspiring blog award, kindness, respect, support

Nominated and Accepted on July 9, 2012

Love each other devotedly and with brotherly love; and set examples for each other in showing respect. ~ Romans 12:10, CJB

 

Paulette at Paulette’s Blog has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thank you Paulette for your favorable approval of my blog and me. I am so honored to know that in some way something that I have posted on my blog has inspired you. For this reason, it gives me great pleasure to accept this Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

Additionally, I want to encourage all of the individuals who visit my blog to check out the exceptionally inspirational and motivational postings on Paulette’s Blog. She definitely is doing her very best to guarantee that the blogsphere remains a beautiful place. Indeed, I am truly touched by the godly warmth, kindness, and love that not only beautifully emanate from all of her blog postings and comments, but also brilliantly radiate from every one of her Google+ postings and comments, as well.

 

Now, in order to accept this award, the nominees must follow these few guidelines:

1.  Acknowledge and thank the person who nominated you for the award, and link back to that individual’s blog.

2.  Add the award’s image to your blog.

3.  Share 7 things about yourself.

4.  Nominate 7 bloggers who inspire you.

 

HELLO World: The Seven Things About Me

1.  I love God more than I have ever loved anyone else.

2.  I earnestly and happily have surrendered my life to Christ Jesus’ Lordship.

3.  I preached my initial sermon on September 8, 2002 at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

4.  I am a Vietnam Era veteran. I served my country as a member of the United States Air Force.

5.  One of my spiritual gifts is “helps.” I always have had the desire and the ability to help others, which is why I became a teacher, and why I always have had a heart for serving God.

6.  I have a peaceable spirit, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot deal with confrontations.

7.  Gospel Music tugs at my heartstrings; even still, I also love to listen to music by the Temptations, Ebonys, Unifics, Temprees, and so many more 60s and 70s R&B/Soul singers.


Paying It Forward: My Seven Nominees

1.  Pastor Ross

2.  Jon

3.  Edwin

4.  Rigo

5.  Tony

6.  Jim

7.  Kim

 

Once again, thank you Paulette for your encouragement, appreciation, and your support. I pray that our God continues to bless you and your loved ones exceedingly and abundantly above anything that you could ever imagine, or guess, or request. Shalom . . .

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Happy Fourth of July, 2012

03 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen in Praises and Thanks

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Adonai, blessed, Christian nation, Christianity, enslaved, freedom, jealous God, morality, political prosperity

You are not to follow other gods, chosen from the gods of the peoples around you; because Adonai, your God, who is here with you, is a jealous God. If you do, the anger of Adonai your God will flare up against you and he will destroy you from the face of the earth. ~ Deuteronomy 6:14-15, CJB

Now, ‘Adonai’ in this text means the Spirit. And where the Spirit of Adonai is, there is freedom. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:17, CJB

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men & citizens. ~ George Washington’s Farewell Address, 19th September 1796

MAY OUR GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA WITH:

HIS GRACE, for everyone who is without
HIS FAITH, for everyone who seeks Him
HIS WISDOM, for everyone who leads others
HIS PEACE, for everyone who is worried
HIS FREEDOM, for everyone who is enslaved
HIS STRENGTH, for everyone who is drained
HIS COURAGE, for everyone who is frightened
HIS PROTECTION, for everyone who serves our country
HIS HOPE, for everyone who lacks confidence
 
 

Let Americans never forget:

How blessed is the nation whose God is Adonai….  ~ Psalm 33:12a, CJB

 

HAVE A VERY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

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Rev. Nadine Drayton-Keen

Sanctified Child

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