Great, Greater, Greatest

This month our Power of Twelve group is focused on the word "greater" out of the scripture verse in 1 John 4:4;

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

"He who is in you", let's think about those words for just a few minutes.  As Christians we believe that when we accept Jesus as our Lord that His Spirit comes and lives in our hearts, our minds, and our souls.  He lives in us and through us as we walk with Him and learn His ways of living life here on the globe.  Think about what a miracle that truly is.  God the Father, The Creator of the Universe and everything else that existed at any point in time, comes to live in our bodies, our minds, and our spirits by way of Jesus the Son and by the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  To me that is beyond my human comprehension and understanding but I know this is what true love is.  A Creator who loves His creation whom He calls His "Little Children".  I did not have a loving earthly father but I knew others who did.  Their father was their protector, their guide in leaning the lessons of life, the one who was there for the joys and the sorrows of growing up.  He was there for his child when his child needed anything.  Father God is where this example of a father comes from.  This is why he made man to rule over the earth.  He was made to be a husband to his wife and a father to his children.  He was made to be the leader of his family.  The head of the house.  Father God is our first father and an example of fatherhood in a family.  We are the family of God the Father.  And just as the genes of our earthly father are in us so are the spiritual genes of our Heavenly Father.  This is why He lives in us! He is a part of us just as our earthly father is even for those who do not believe.  Every single human being born had an earthly father.  No exceptions.  Jesus of Nazareth is the only human being who walked the earth that was born of woman and Spirit.  Joseph was Jesus' father image on earth but his true Father was God.  We are blessed with a Father who loves us and is a part of us!

As I was thinking and praying about this scripture and the word "greater" as the words great-greater-greatest came into my heart.  When something is great it is wonderful, awesome, super, special.  When something is greater it is more, more than just great.  Then the word goes to greatest which is even more than greater.  It is the greatest.  It is the most of all.

The verse in 1 John says that "He who is in you is greater" and greater than he who is in the world.  The one in the world of course is the evil one who wanders around the earth looking to kill, steal, and destroy the little children of God.  The evil one is looking to spiritually kill, steal and destroy what The Father has for His little children.  His everlasting love and life in a family of love.  The Father gives us strength for the day to defeat what the evil one tries to do in our lives to make us doubt, falter, and deny.  The evil one does not want you to know and understand that God is greater than he is but this is the truth.   Jesus beat the devil at the cross.  The price of all sin was paid for at the cross of Jesus.  Jesus was the ultimate price, the last sacrifice for sin.  It is over.  I guess the devil is not as smart as he thinks he is and did not get the message.  He has no authority over the little children of God.  Since the beginning in the Garden he has not quit trying to lead God's little children away from their Father in whatever way he can.  We always have to remember and know that not only is our God great but He is greater!  Greater than the one in the world.  It's that simple.  

The Greatest God is greater than whatever the evils in this world can dish at us.

For a visual imagery the Lord dropped this.  The Oregon Coast Range of mountains shows how great the Creator is.  If you stand up on one of the highest peaks of this range you can see thousand s of acres of forest and mountains from the valley to the ocean.  How great is our God!  But off in the distance is the Cascade Mountain Range with higher peaks!  Standing on those peaks a person can see even farther from the ocean to the eastern desert part of the state.  This range of mountains is greater than the other.  We can now move to thoughts of the Himalayan Mountains.  The highest mountains in the world are located there.  Imagine what can be seen from the tallest peak.  These represent the greatest.

We have a God who is great, greater and greatest.  He has proven it by being a Father to the fatherless and by coming to live with and in all who call out to Him and follow Him.  It's all about love.  True love.  God knows we have to live our lives here on earth with the evil one constantly trying to hinder us and lead us astray.  This verse reminds us we have a Father that is greater than the evil one and has taught us how to resist and trample into the dirt whatever the evil one tries.  

Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.  This is truth for all the little children of God.

Psalms 95:3 - the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods.

John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

I Corinthians 13:13 - And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

A Proverb and A Byword

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

In my bible study of King Solomon I ran across this scripture from II Chronicles 7:20 that stopped me to search the meaning and history. These same words are repeated three times in scripture in Deuteronomy 28:37, I Kings 9:6-7, and II Chronicles 7:20 by three different writers of the Books.  Moses was the author of Deuteronomy.  Jeremiah is believed to be the author of I Kings.  Ezra is believed to be the author of II Chronicles.  Both Jeremiah and Ezra wrote God's words to King Solomon during his reign of Israel.  The repetition of these words is what struck my spirit today.  He warns the Kings and Jewish nation that if they do not follow His statutes and commandments they will become a ridiculed people.  They will be laughed at, mocked, held in low esteem, an object of horror thrown out of their Promised Land by the very God who brought them to the land of milk and honey.  Stories of their fall from favor and great demise will be told throughout the world forever.  

II Chronicles 7:20

(NKJV) then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

(NIV) then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.

(NLT)  then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations.

In the context of this scripture God is speaking to King Solomon and warning him not to fall away from the statutes and commandments of God and to live a life according to the laws God gave to the Tribes of Israel through Moses.  This exact same warning had been spoken by Moses to the Israelite's almost five centuries earlier.

Deuteronomy 28:7

(NKJV) And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord will drive you. 

(NIV) You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.

(NLT) You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.

I Kings 9:7

(NKJV) then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

(NIV) then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.

(NLT) then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations.

As I read and studied the words "proverb and byword" I began to understand why the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, the Tribes of Judah, the Hebrews, the Chosen People of God, are ridiculed and harassed today.  God warned them not to fall away from His statues and commandments. He had set them aside as a people of His very own.  He had called them out of slavery and bondage and shown them life with Him was miraculous and worthy.  He loved them dearly but they did not love Him in return.  They loved themselves more. They wandered off into the world and the evils of the world.  After all He had done to save them and care for them, they turned their backs on Him.  Then they crucified His son, the Messiah that God sent to save the Jews and Gentiles.  The Jews did not want a passive, peaceful Messiah.  They wanted someone to come in and kill their enemies.  They wanted a ruler who would bring peace to the land after he had killed their enemies.  But as it turned out they were the Messiah's enemies.  The religious snakes and vipers, the Pharisees and Sadducee's that lead the Jewish people were far from the statutes and commandments of the law of God. They made the common people hold to all the laws yet they did not.  Greed and power for these leaders were at the top of their own selfish purposes.  When they crucified Jesus, one of their own Jewish people, they become more of a "proverb and byword" to the world.  They sealed themselves into a lifetime of ridicule and mockery before the whole world.

Today the nation of Israel is strong and powerful even while living in a land constantly torn by war and killing.  What is left of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem has been taken over by Islam and serves as a worship center for their false religion.  They mock and ridicule the Jewish people right in front of all the world by being in control of what is left of this sacred Jewish temple.  All of their neighboring nations ridicule and hate them. They mock them and torment them just as the scriptures say would happen.  The Jewish people are still looking for a killing, fighting, warrior Messiah who will never come.  When they rejected Jesus as Messiah they rejected Father God.  They are still fighting against the Father who warned them to worship and serve only Him or suffer the consequences of their unbelief. 

From my studies of Revelation I believe that only during the Tribulation years will the spirits of the Jewish people finally wake up and see Jesus as Christ.  The truth will be revealed to the Israelite's when Jesus Messiah comes back for the final battle for the souls of mankind. They will kneel before Him as will all unbelievers of the world. The final Judgement will be upon them. 

Lord have mercy.