Season 5 Podcast 3 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 23 “Hypocrisy.” Pt 1

Christ often spoke against hypocrisy.  Synonyms for hypocrisy are dissimulation, counterfeit, insincerity, guile, imposture, deceit, imitation, fraud, quackery, charlatanry, cajolery, dissembling, mockery, pretense, affectation, lying. 

1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:

3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

The scribes and Pharisees were the elite. They sat in Moses’ seat. In other words, they interpreted the law and passed judgment. Having rejected the prophets, they took upon themselves the role of judges of Israel. They were students of the law. For that reason, the Savior said, “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.” That is an interesting concept, isn’t it? Generally, we want to condemn all hypocrites and ignore anything they say. The Savior, however, distinguishes between their words and their actions. He added, “but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.  

I am reminded of one of Shakespeare’s most villainous characters, Iago, yet he often speaks honey. In the following famous lines Iago is baiting Othello, subtly feeding his natural jealousy.

“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands: But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed.”

Every word in Iago’s speech above is true; however, even while Iago is speaking of the virtue of a good name he is destroying the good name of the virtuous Desdemona, Othello’s wife, planting thoughts of infidelity in Othello’s mind though Iago knows that his wife is innocent. Iago further twists the knife by pretending to warn Othello of jealousy at the same time suggesting that Othello has cause to be jealous.

“O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!”

4 RON

The very word ‘cuckold’ refers to an unfaithful wife. The point, however, is that the advice of Iago is good. 

“He that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed.”

“O, beware of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on.” 

However, Iago’s intent is to drive Othello to a jealous rage. Over time it works. Trusting Iago too much and thinking his wife is unfaithful, Othello Praises Iago and strangles his innocent wife, and thus destroys himself just as Iago predicted. 

So, the question arises, ‘how do we deal with hypocrites.” Christ gives us the answer.  “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do.” In other words do as they say when what they say is truth, but do not follow their works.  

4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

Not only does the Savior warn against following the works of hypocrites, he is also saying by their works we can know their cunning. 

Season 5 Podcast 2, A New Voice of Freedom, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 21, “Conscience 3.”

Is there such a thing as a bad conscience? Certainly, there is such a thing as a misguided conscience if we choose to call good evil and evil good. 

Lucifer, not God, is the father of lies. In John 8 we read.

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

God, on the other hand, is the fountain of truth as taught so beautifully in the Book of John

John 15: 26

“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:”

John 16: 13-14

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

John 17: 16-17

“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 14:6

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

1 John 4:6

“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.”

We need to separate conscience from the desires of the heart and the wants of the body.  It is the desires of the heart not the conscience that is bad.  Conscience is related to perceptions of truth. Conscience doesn’t create values. Conscience classifies our pre-existing values and acts upon our own perceptions.  Truth comes from God, not conscience.  That is why on this spinning world there is no greater quest than to search for truth.

Truth is taught in the holy scriptures. Conscience can be no more accurate than the truths we have.  In other words, conscience acts on things we already believe are wrong; therefore, we need to guard the source of our truth.  Truth self exists. All truth is taught by the spirit of Christ and the Holy Ghost.  Truth is related to God; conscience is related to our desires for truth. If our desires are righteous, then our conscience will be righteous. If our desires are evil, then our conscience will be evil. Else agency could not exist.  

The purpose of true apostles and prophets is to teach us the truths of God, hence the Holy scriptures. The purpose of conscience is to provoke us to follow our perceptions of truth. It is as important to guard our conscience as it is to seek truth. Safety is in truth, not conscience, unless conscience is guided by truth.

Season 5 Podcast 1 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 11 Pt V Episode 37 “The Final Battle.” 

After being healed in the Well of Living Water, the Redcross Knight was again given power to fight the Dragon. The Dragon was not prepared for such a fierce onslaught. Hardened with the holy water, the sword of the Redcross Knight was able to penetrate the scaly armor of the Dragon. The Knight disabled one wing with one blow and with another he crushed the dragon’s skull. In this episode we shall conclude the great battle between good and evil. 

In desperation the dragon clamps his taloned feet on the shield of the Redcross Knight. Nothing could force the Dragon to let go his hold. With all his might the Redcross Knight chopped off the Dragon’s foot. Yet the severed foot continued to hold the shield. 

The Dragon, of course, represents Lucifer or Satan. One is reminded of the curse God paced on Satan in the Garden of Eden.

“14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Satan is given power to bruise man’s heel which can cripple him but not kill him. Man is given power to crush Satan’s head. As we have seen earlier the Redcross Knight crushed the Dragon’s head. The symbolism refers to the cunning of Lucifer. Man is given the power to outwit Satan, thus the image to ‘crush his head.’  So far the Knight has crippled one wing, cut off one foot, and crushed the Dragon’s head. Spenser is teaching us that we all have the power to diminish Satan’s hold over us, no matter how much power Satan has. Of course, without bathing in the Well of Living Water, that is without the help of Christ, the Redcross Knight would have no power over the Dragon. 

The other foot, fast fixed on his shield,

Whenas no strength, nor stroks mote him constraine

To loose, ne yet the warlike pledge to yield,

He smot thereat with all his might and maine,

That nought so wondrous puissaunce might sustaine;

Upon the joint the lucky steele did light,

And made such way, that hewd it quite in twaine;

The paw yett missed not his minisht might, 

But hong still on the shield, as it at first was pight.

The Dragon belches fire. Fire symbolizes total destruction. Spenser compares the fire-breathing dragon to Mt. Etna, a volcano that is still active today. Satan wants nothing less than total annihilation of his foes. He is antichrist. He hates mankind because the Savior died to save mankind. Nothing less than complete subjugation will satisfy the destroyer. The force of the fire was so awful that it darkened the land with smoke. 

For griefe thereof and divelish despight, 

From his infernall fournace forth he threw

Huge flames, that dimmed all the heavens light,

Enrold in duskish smoke and brimstone blew:

As burning Aetna from his boyling stew

Doth belch out flames, and rockes in peeces broke,

And ragged ribs of mountains molten new,

Enwrapt in coleblacke clouds and filthy smoke,

That all the land with stench, and heaven with horror choke.

The heat is so intense that a second time the Knight is overcome. He retires from the dragon and the flames that belched from his vast belly. To save himself from the flames the injured Knight recoiled backwards guided by the hand of God, into the mire. However, the Knight was too feeble to stand. A second time he fell in dread and shame. 

Season 4 Podcast 196 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 22:34-46, Pt 7, “The Royal Law.”

The economy of the language of Christ is inspiring. He is the great synthesizer. Where most would use a thousand words to explain, Christ used only a few. Look how he Synthesizes the entire Gospel of Christ.

34 ¶ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

So that the lawyer couldn’t misunderstand what Christ was saying, he added.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Christ is referring to both the Old Testament, which contains the law of Moses, and the New Testament, which contains the full Gospel of Christ. Of course, Christ, or Jehovah, is the God of both the Old and New Testaments.

In one of his many prophecies of the coming Messiah, Isaiah describes the Messiah in this way.

1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11)

Isaiah, among the greatest of prophets, is also noted for economy of language; coupled with his poetic style, some may find Isaiah difficult to comprehend. For our purposes particularly note the following qualities attributed to Christ: the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding; the spirit of counsel, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of quick understanding. It is all attributed to the fact that “the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” 

The Royal law is divided into two classes or two distinct parts:

1.     Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

2.     Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

It is no coincidence that the Royal Law is a synthesis of the Ten Commandments. Let’s examine the first great law. Notice that three concepts in our worship must be considered:

1.     Love the Lord with all thy heart.

2.     Love the Lord with all thy soul

3.     Love the Lord with all thy mind.

Each represents a separate part of our physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual make up. The heart is equated with love, with feelings and powerful emotions. The heart is often associated with passion, spirit, nature, temperament, charity, benevolence, compassion, grace, mercy, magnanimity, love, courage, boldness, heroism, essence or kernel or center or core or base.  

The heart, I suspect, is first for a reason, for it is spirit responding to spirit. Many use the phrase, “with all my heart.” 

The soul has a different scriptural connotation than the heart. In the creation story in Genesis we read,

Season 4 Podcast 195 Argument for the Existence of God, What is Real

As eternal children of God we are expected to see not just through our eyes of jelly which merely serve as a camera lens, interpreted by the brain, but through the eyes of our understanding, seen by both the heart and the brain but perceived by the spirit and interpreted by the Holy Ghost.

Clearly, we all have a divine nature.  We are of equal birthright with infinite lives.  We are brothers and sisters.  However, because of the veil drawn over our minds causing us to forget our former home and prisoners to our flesh, we must redefine who we really are. What once we saw through spiritual eyes, we now see only through a looking glass which magnifies our flaws and obscures our beauty.  Tragically, too often, rather than redefine ourselves, we allow others to define who we are, using earthly criteria of classification and division. We are to the world as insects to a scientist, classified and divided and pinned to a wall and labeled for the world to see. With the weight of tradition, we allow them to “put us in our place”. Their criteria are false based on prejudice and the arrogance of pride.

But opposition is essential, or we would be like dead things. Earth is the perfect training ground designed for the purpose of helping us to know who we really are.  Without all three realities— the temporal, the spiritual, and the philosophical—governed by conditional law, we cannot experience, in full, freewill, freedom, agency, and liberty. Only through the exercise of freewill can we know who we really are.

Temporal reality and spiritual reality are imposed upon us by absolute law.  Truth lies only in temporal and spiritual reality. In other words, temporal and spiritual law. Philosophical reality, on the other hand, is based upon our perceptions of who we are. It is based upon our experiences, our culture, our environment, our beliefs, our traditions, our social interactions, learning, logical constructs, desires, emotions, drives, lusts, ambitions, opinions, language, possessions, commerce, literature, etc.

The first challenge in a world governed by temporal laws, spiritual laws, and manmade laws, is how to maintain our liberty.  The greatest assault on man is the assault against his freewill.  Everything appears bent on taking away our liberty. Everyone else appears to know what is best for us. It is in man’s base nature to want to control others. The evidence is ubiquitous. We are choked by a surfeit of manmade laws designed to force us to obey the will of others. How quickly power turns into control and unlimited power turns into unlimited control. 

“For the greater good” is the devil’s motto. Satan is a jailor, and many people voluntarily walk into his prison and slam the doors behind them, like Shakespeare’s Caliban, shouting “freedom! Freedom” Heyday freedom.”

Only when manmade laws are in perfect harmony with physical laws and spiritual laws can perfect liberty be achieved. Liberty is a mortal matter only; freewill, freedom, and agency are eternal matters.  Absolute truth, not man’s perceptions of truth, rules the hereafter.

Truth is knowledge of reality based on absolute law.  Truth is knowledge of the past, the present, and the future, of things as they really were, as they really are, and as they really will be.  We were sent to earth to find truth. In heaven, as spirits, of course, we found truth everywhere, however, without opposition, we could not comprehend truth.  We were like fish in water trying to define water without comprehending what water was. 

Only on earth does philosophical reality compete with temporal reality and spiritual reality.  

Season 4 Podcast 194 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 11 Pt IV Episode 36 “The Sword of the Spirit.” 

In last week’s episode, the first day of the battle, the Dragon, his fiery breath breathing from the depths of his flaming belly, scorched the Redcross Knight, the heat so intense and painful that he wished for death. The Redcross Knight in his weakened state was knocked down, unable to rise. Una thought the battle was over. However, unknown to the Redcross Knight, behind him was the well of living water that contained the healing of the nations. He fell over backwards into the life-giving well and emerged healed and stronger than ever, ready to again fight the dragon. The long tail of the dragon represents what Spenser calls, “errors endless train.” The fiery breath of the dragon represents the fiery darts of the adversary. The Redcross Knight did not have the power sufficient in himself to fight the ferocious dragon; however, he discovered that Christ did have the power over Satan. Everything changed. The first time he fought for himself and was nearly killed. In fact, Spenser said that it was ten thousand times more painful than the pain of an ordinary man. This time he emerges a new man in Christ. It was like a second baptism. His strength was greater, his armor stronger. In this podcast we enter the second day of battle.

In the following stanza Spenser, the narrator, confesses that he doesn’t know how the Redcross Knight was healed and became a new man. He said he didn’t know how the sword was hardened and the blade sharpened with the holy water. He wonders how his baptism in the waters of the living well strengthened his hand, making them larger and more powerful. He wondered what other secret virtues came from the living well.

Spenser does know that if the Redcross Knight hadn’t bathed in the well of living water, he would have had no strength restored to his arm nor could he have had the power to pierce the dragon’s armor with his sword. Without being renewed in the waters of the well the Redcross Knight could never have harmed the dragon by subtlety or cunning or might or sorcery.

I wote not, whether the revenging steele

Were hardned with that holy water dew,

Wherein he fell, or sharper edge did feele,

Or his baptized hands now greater grew;

Or other secret vertue did ensew;

Else never could the force of fleshly arme,

Ne molten mettall in his blood embrew;

For till that stownd could never wight him harme,

By subtilty, nor slight, nor might, nor mighty charme.

The dragon became enraged with the awful wound he received from the Redcross Knight’s sword. He bellowed because of pain. His cries were like a hundred roaring lions driven by ravenous hunger. The dragon tossed his extremely long train. His tail whipped the air so fiercely  that it was impossible to resist its force. The mighty strength of his long tail knocked down trees and broke rocks into pieces.

The cruell wound enraged him so sore,

That loud he yelded for exceeding paine;

As hundred ramping Lyons seem'd to rore,

Whom ravenous hunger did thereto constraine:

Then gan he tosse aloft his stretched traine,

And therewith scourge the buxome aire so sore,

That to his force to yeelden it was faine;

Ne ought his sturdy strokes might stand afore,

That high trees overthrew, and rocks in peeces tore.

The dragon advanced, his tail held high above his head containing sharp stings. His tail came down so hard on the ground that even the earth appeared to be stricken dead. No living person could have survived the strike of the long tail. The tail hit the Redcross Knight and shot through the shield and pierced 

Season 4 Podcast 193 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 22:23-33, Pt 6, “The Abrahamic Covenant B.”

God kept his promises to Abraham. However, those blessings are eclipsed by the spiritual blessings. The spiritual blessings have no expiration date.  In other words, they are eternal.

1.     I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, 

2.     I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. 

3.     In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

4.     All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 

What are we to make of terms such as everlasting covenant, everlasting possession, to the seed forever?  And all families of the earth be blessed? We know the earth has an end. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

That appears to contradict the covenant made to Abraham. How is it then that the Abrahamic Covenant is an everlasting or eternal covenant as communicated in the language above: everlasting covenant, everlasting possession, thy seed forever. It can only refer to one thing. It refers to the earth after it has melted with fervent heat and becomes celestialized as recorded in Revelation 21. In other words, just like man, the earth is resurrected. That means that like man, the earth has a living spirit. If the earth did not have a living spirit, nature could not live and reproduce. In Revelation 21 John speaks of the resurrection of the earth.

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

That is the only way that God can fulfill his covenant to Abraham. Only if the earth is made an everlasting home to the just can it meet the requirements of 

1.     an everlasting covenant, 

2.     an everlasting possession. 

3.     to thy seed forever. 

To prove that Christ, in his teachings about the Kingdom of God is referring to the Abrahamic Covenant, let’s compare John 21 with the Beatitudes. The parallelism may surprise you.

1.     In the Beatitudes it says, 

·      “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

In John above it says, “7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God.”

Season 4 Podcast 192 Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 19, Satan

The comedian Flip Wilson had a great routine called “The Devil made me do it.”  I can still hear him affecting a woman’s voice and saying, “The devil made me buy that dress.”  If he got caught in a lie, he would say “The devil made me say that.” Wilson’s genius was in his expressions. It was a delight just to watch him, but underneath his humor rises that ever haunting question, how much power does Satan have over us? Can Satan make us do anything?

The answer is no. God limited Satan’s power as stated in Genesis 3.

“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

To bruise our heel means he may have power to cripple but not destroy us. To bruise his head means we have power to overcome his cunning and see through his deceit. With a physical body we are natural. With an immortal spirit we are spiritual. The physical and the spiritual are at war with each other. The natural man tends to be an enemy to God and the spiritual man tends to be an enemy to Satan.  Sometimes I think the devil has a lot of help. Agency has two parts.  First agency is the ability to discern between good and evil.  And second agency is the ability to choose good or evil. Why did we have to come to earth where Satan dwells?  Why didn’t we just stay in heaven where we could be eternally happy?

If agency is the ability to discern between good and evil, and agency is the ability to choose good or evil, it follows that evil is necessary to agency. Therefore, Satan is necessary?

In other words, for agency to exist, we must be enticed both by God and By Satan. Satan entices us to do evil and Christ entices us to do good.  We can choose between one or the other, but God and Satan cannot make us do one or the other.  It must be a choice. God guards our agency even though we use our agency to defy him. It is among the great paradoxes of Christianity. Christ said,

“woe unto that man by whom the offence cometh.”  

Satan rebelled against God, enticing a third part of the hosts of heaven to follow him.  He was once an angel of light, but he stood in open rebellion against Christ.  That is why he became a son of perdition.  God did not create Satan. God created Lucifer, a son of the morning, and Lucifer chose to become Satan.  He chose evil over good until he lost the ability to repent.  Satan has no agency because he can never choose the good.  That is why he and his angels were cast out of heaven and fell to the earth.

We were sent to the earth for two reasons.  One to gain a physical body and two to have agency.  Two things were necessary for us to have agency on earth.  One, we had to have a veil drawn over our minds so that we do not remember living with God in his kingdom.  Faith is a requirement of agency. On earth only through faith can we find God. Two, we can’t have agency without opposition. We must be enticed both by God and by Satan; however, they must remain invisible. 

Season 4 Podcast 191 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen, Book I, Canto 11 Pt III Episode 35 “The Well of Living Water.” 

In last week’s episode, we see a close-up of the fiery dragon. His eyes burn like fire. His scales are like steel and could not be pierced with ordinary weapons. His tail was over three football fields long. His wide wings were like the sails of a ship. 

Badly wounded the dragon cries in anguish. Fire shot from his mouth deep from the furnace of his vast belly. The Redcross Knight was astonished at the fierceness of the dragon’s cries. The heat was so intense however that it singed even the Redcross Knight’s face and even burned his body through his armor. He could not endure such pain and considered taking off his armor and his helmet. This of course represents the torment of hell which is compared to a lake of fire and brimstone. 

Then full of griefe and anguish vehement,

He lowdly brayd, that like was never heard,

And from his wide devouring oven sent

A flake of fire, that, flashing in his beard,

Him all amazd, and almost made affeard:

The scorching flame sore swinged all his face,

And through his armour all his body seard,

That he could not endure so cruell cace,

But thought his armes to leave, and helmet to unlace.

His armor burned like the poisoned garment of Hercules that burned the flesh from his body. The Redcross Knight felt the sorrows of ten thousand such sufferings from his fiery steel which before protected him but now caused him tremendous harm. 

Not that great Champion of the antique world,

Whom famous Poetes verse so much doth vaunt,

And hath for twelve huge labours high extold,

So many furies and sharpe fits did haunt,

When him the poysond garment did enchaunt,

With Centaures bloud and bloudie verses charm'd;

As did this knight twelve thousand dolours daunt,

Whom fyrie steele now burnt, that earst him arm'd,

That erst him goodly arm'd, now most of all him harm'd.

The Redcross Knight was tired and sore and embroiled in grief from heat, toil, wounds, and fire such that no other man had felt. He felt that he would be better off dead, but death never comes when needed though he often desired it. He was disheartened just by looking at the dragon. The dragon decided to end the battle and grant him not one more breath. With a mighty stroke he knocked the Redcross Knight to the ground. 

Faint, wearie, sore, emboyled, grieved, brent

With heat, toyle, wounds, armes, smart, and inward fire,

That never man such mischiefes did torment;

Death better were, death did he oft desire,

But death will never come, when needes require.

Whom so dismayd when that his foe beheld,

He cast to suffer him no more respire,

But gan his sturdy sterne about to weld,

And him so strongly stroke, that to the ground him feld.

Fortunately, unknowingly to the Knight, behind where he stood was a gushing well that from ancient times rushed forth a silver flood, full of great virtues and effective medicine. The Knight discovered it before the cursed dragon defiled it with the blood of innocent souls. It was nothing less than the Well of Life which the Redcross Knight in his anguish had forgotten. It is, of course, none other than that which is offered by Christ Himself when at the well he offered living waters to the woman of Samaria. As we read in John 4:

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

Season 4 Podcast 190 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 22:23-33, Pt 5, “The Abrahamic Covenant A.”

In the previous Podcast we discussed The Marriage Covenant and the Resurrection. In this Podcast we shall discuss The Abrahamic Covenant. It is necessary to understand the Abrahamic Covenant because it ties everything together, the Old Testament and the New Testament.  In this and the following podcast I shall show how the Abrahamic Covenant is tied to everything in the previous podcast as well as how it is tied to the Ten Commandments, The Letters to the Seven Churches, and the coming of the New Jerusalem as recorded in the Book of Revelation. It is incredibly revealing. Let’s first turn to Matthew 22: 31-33 which is a direct reference to the Abrahamic Covenant in which the Savior ties the Abrahamic Covenant to the resurrection. Keep in mind as you listen to this and next week’s podcast that the Abrahamic Covenant, the eternal marriage covenant, and the resurrection are not separate things. I think of the words of Paul, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable.”

“But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.”

Of course, the Abrahamic Covenant began first with Abraham and then it was given to Isaac, the son of Abraham, and then to Jacob the Son of Isaac. And from Jacob we have the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Before examining the covenant, I shall first show how it applies to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through scripture. All three prophets saw God.  All three prophets received by revelation the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. In other words, the Abrahamic Covenant came through the above Lineage. Abraham had many sons, but only through Isaac came the Abrahamic Covenant. Isaac’s oldest son was Esau, but only through Jacob the younger son came the Abrahamic Covenant. That is what is established in the following scriptures.

Genesis 17

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.”

Genesis 26

“And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

 Genesis 28

 “And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.”