We will be gods
“I will praise Thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.” (Ps. 138:1).
What David means here is that he will praise God in the presence of powerful human leaders. Verse 4 clarifies this. “All the kings of the earth…”
We see a similar usage in Exodus chapter 22. “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.” (vs. 28). The Lord expected the people to respect the elders and captains of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands, and the priests whom He had anointed.
The whole nation was to be leaders over the world. Under God’s blessing they would develop into a dominating empire; the Lord promised that they would be masters of the world if they would be benevolent and stay free from idolatry. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: … And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.” (vs. 1,13).
The Lord’s hope for Israel was a high one. “Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:6).
Jesus told the Jews, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (Jn. 10:34). He quoted from Asaph in Psalm 82, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (vs. 6). The Lord God, the Lord of lords, King of kings, and God of gods, wanted to raise His whole chosen nation to heights they could hardly conceive of. Through obedience to His laws of love He could have exalted them in the earth.
Moses promised them that other peoples would seek out Israel saying, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” And then he explained to them, “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” (Deut. 4:6-9).
But they kept denying their heavenly King, and they lost everything. As Asaph appealed,
“How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” (Ps. 82:2-9).
Today we have been given the testimonies of the last prophet that delineate God’s high standard and condemn sin in all its chameleon-like ever-altering look, which rebellious hearts devise to dodge conviction. Our Law, the holy Bible, and those red books, provide the path to exaltation of Adventists if we will be sanctified by them.
But we have been disobedient to His Law, as Israel of old, and the Advent movement now suffers the desolations threatened on the ancient Jews. Backbiting, confusion of face, irresolution to prepare the world for Jesus’ coming, all declare our infidelity. “And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.” (Lev. 26:37-39).
Yet God will be merciful to His people. The light through ancient Israel’s darkness sheds light and hope on the modern Israel of God. “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.” (vs. 40-42). God is not done with us yet. He will yet send His latter rain for us like He sent His early rain on the Jews.
To His repentant Adventists come the promises of Isaiah, 61.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” (Is. 61:1-3).
Christ, in His most holiness, with the Investigative Judgment finalized and His eternal kingdom in hand, will save His Adventists who have been striving to stay with Him and obey His law.
“And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.” (vs. 4).
The 144,000 will quickly repair their old, paltry consecration and will rapidly ripen in faith and sanctification. They will have mercy and truth to bring to their Protestant brethren, and then out to the rest of Christendom, and to the non-Christian world. The empowered Adventists will serve humanity salvation and deliverances from a world steeped in sin and in ignorance of the true character of God and His Son. The revival will be unspeakably joyful and full of glory. “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” (Is. 11:10).
Those who receive the gospel will be so grateful that they will be forever indebted to their Adventist benefactors. “And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Is. 61:5,6). The Loud Cry and Latter Rain will form a hierarchy of gratitude. Hearts will gush out thankfulness to the Adventists. No longer will there be a disconnect between Adventists and the rest of Protestantism as it was between Judah and the northern kingdom; no longer will non-Christians be prejudiced toward Christians, as it was with the Ammonites and Edomites toward Israel.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” (Is. 11:11-16).
As it was in the apostolic church it will be again. “If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” (1Cor. 14:24,25). This Nebuchadnezzar did to Daniel, “King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.” (Dan. 2:46). For the great relief Daniel served his king and was treated as a god, we will serve and uplift those who are striving to know God, and they will hold us in high regard, and they will want to give us their whole heart and everything they have. We will give the world the genuine bliss with which the apostles gave it. “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” (Gal. 4:15).
Not that we will act as dictators, ruthlessly taking advantage of our benefactors. No, we will take their gifts and distribute them to the needy. We will walk as Paul did. “So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” (1Thess. 2:8-10).
Paul strictly obeyed the Lord Jesus, who said, “Give.” And he received the results, “…and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Lk. 6:38). Having received their love, we will give them more in return. And they will cleave to us as the believers did to Paul (Acts 17:34) and as Ruth did to Naomi (Ruth 1:14).
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” (Is. 4:1-4).
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father,” ”and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 1:5,6;5:10).
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” (Is. 60:1-5).
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” (Matt. 24:14). Then Jesus will return and receive us to Himself in the air to take us home, that where He is we may be also.
What David means here is that he will praise God in the presence of powerful human leaders. Verse 4 clarifies this. “All the kings of the earth…”
We see a similar usage in Exodus chapter 22. “Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.” (vs. 28). The Lord expected the people to respect the elders and captains of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands, and the priests whom He had anointed.
The whole nation was to be leaders over the world. Under God’s blessing they would develop into a dominating empire; the Lord promised that they would be masters of the world if they would be benevolent and stay free from idolatry. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: … And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them.” (vs. 1,13).
The Lord’s hope for Israel was a high one. “Ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:6).
Jesus told the Jews, “Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (Jn. 10:34). He quoted from Asaph in Psalm 82, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.” (vs. 6). The Lord God, the Lord of lords, King of kings, and God of gods, wanted to raise His whole chosen nation to heights they could hardly conceive of. Through obedience to His laws of love He could have exalted them in the earth.
Moses promised them that other peoples would seek out Israel saying, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” And then he explained to them, “For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” (Deut. 4:6-9).
But they kept denying their heavenly King, and they lost everything. As Asaph appealed,
“How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” (Ps. 82:2-9).
Today we have been given the testimonies of the last prophet that delineate God’s high standard and condemn sin in all its chameleon-like ever-altering look, which rebellious hearts devise to dodge conviction. Our Law, the holy Bible, and those red books, provide the path to exaltation of Adventists if we will be sanctified by them.
But we have been disobedient to His Law, as Israel of old, and the Advent movement now suffers the desolations threatened on the ancient Jews. Backbiting, confusion of face, irresolution to prepare the world for Jesus’ coming, all declare our infidelity. “And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.” (Lev. 26:37-39).
Yet God will be merciful to His people. The light through ancient Israel’s darkness sheds light and hope on the modern Israel of God. “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against Me, and that also they have walked contrary unto Me; and that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
Then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.” (vs. 40-42). God is not done with us yet. He will yet send His latter rain for us like He sent His early rain on the Jews.
To His repentant Adventists come the promises of Isaiah, 61.
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” (Is. 61:1-3).
Christ, in His most holiness, with the Investigative Judgment finalized and His eternal kingdom in hand, will save His Adventists who have been striving to stay with Him and obey His law.
“And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.” (vs. 4).
The 144,000 will quickly repair their old, paltry consecration and will rapidly ripen in faith and sanctification. They will have mercy and truth to bring to their Protestant brethren, and then out to the rest of Christendom, and to the non-Christian world. The empowered Adventists will serve humanity salvation and deliverances from a world steeped in sin and in ignorance of the true character of God and His Son. The revival will be unspeakably joyful and full of glory. “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” (Is. 11:10).
Those who receive the gospel will be so grateful that they will be forever indebted to their Adventist benefactors. “And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” (Is. 61:5,6). The Loud Cry and Latter Rain will form a hierarchy of gratitude. Hearts will gush out thankfulness to the Adventists. No longer will there be a disconnect between Adventists and the rest of Protestantism as it was between Judah and the northern kingdom; no longer will non-Christians be prejudiced toward Christians, as it was with the Ammonites and Edomites toward Israel.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” (Is. 11:11-16).
As it was in the apostolic church it will be again. “If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” (1Cor. 14:24,25). This Nebuchadnezzar did to Daniel, “King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.” (Dan. 2:46). For the great relief Daniel served his king and was treated as a god, we will serve and uplift those who are striving to know God, and they will hold us in high regard, and they will want to give us their whole heart and everything they have. We will give the world the genuine bliss with which the apostles gave it. “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.” (Gal. 4:15).
Not that we will act as dictators, ruthlessly taking advantage of our benefactors. No, we will take their gifts and distribute them to the needy. We will walk as Paul did. “So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.
For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe.” (1Thess. 2:8-10).
Paul strictly obeyed the Lord Jesus, who said, “Give.” And he received the results, “…and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” (Lk. 6:38). Having received their love, we will give them more in return. And they will cleave to us as the believers did to Paul (Acts 17:34) and as Ruth did to Naomi (Ruth 1:14).
“And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” (Is. 4:1-4).
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father,” ”and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 1:5,6;5:10).
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” (Is. 60:1-5).
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.” (Matt. 24:14). Then Jesus will return and receive us to Himself in the air to take us home, that where He is we may be also.
posted by David | 4:53 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks David for this post.
When I joined the Adventist movement several years ago, The church was united. All men of Daddy;s age I used to call them Dads, and we were real brothers and sisters. But today tribalism tendencies have entered the remnant church. Backbiting and all forms unchristian manners. When I read your post, I saw you mentioning some issues in Uganda conference which must be checked and put wright.
we need cooperate repetance. we need revival.
its only a pitty that the media (lesson) that reaches many of us is also running off truck
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