St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 12, The Vision: The Suffering of Elias and the Son of Man.

Our paragraph topic is:  (On the coming of Elias) Part4. 

The conversation was ongoing as they returned from the mountaintop.  The questions were still in their minds as to what they had been taught all these years about the coming of Elias and the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  Was that day upon them?  Was Elias about to appear?  Would the Lord bring down fire upon the proud and wealthy?  These were the questions that weighed upon them as they returned from the place where they had witnessed the miracle, the vision of Christ, the vision of Elias and Moses.

Christ had forbidden them to talk about it.  He had told them not to speak of it to anyone until the sacrifice was complete and he had risen from the dead.  But they needed answers so they continued to worry, continued to ponder what they would do, continued to think about all the things that were going to happen at the end.  To quiet their minds Christ had to speak with them.  Christ had to address their issues.  Christ had to put to rest the state of things to come.  So he told them:  "But I say to you that Elias has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also shall the Son of Man suffer at their hands."       

The disciples were expecting fire and brimstone.  They were expecting judgment to come.  They were on high alert as to the coming of Elias and the final judgment.  Yet Elias had already come and they did not know, they were not aware.  Where are we today?  Do we expect the world to come to an end tomorrow?  Are we prepared for the final call?  Have we made ourselves ready?

These are the questions that we should be asking ourselves.  Are we ready?  Yet being ready is the last thing on our minds.  We are more concerned about what we are going to wear tomorrow, how we look, wish we could hit the lottery so we could live a life of luxury.  Our thoughts are about playing, and texting, and gaming, and sex and lust, and the voice and American Idol, and who can dance, all the things that we are given by our society.  We are not concerned about dying, and what happens after death and being prepared, and the joy of heaven.  These things are not given to us by the society we live in.  The world does not want us to think about those things until it is too late and then we loose our souls as a result of not knowing, not thinking, not believing.

Elias had already come.  And they did to him whatever they wished.  And they will do to you what ever they wish unless we wake up.  Christ suffered that we might have life.  He did not come and suffer so that we would be lost.  And yet many are.  Many are unaware of who they are and it is up to those who do know to be an example for them.  It is up to those who do know to turn from the ways of the world and be a light unto the darkness.  First we must become a light.  We must open our hearts to the first light, the original light, the light that is and was and always will be that we may know that we are children of that light.  Because it is through Him and with Him that we are.  And it is with Him that we are complete and all our needs and desires are fulfilled.  For there is nothing else or no other, or nothing in this world that will complete us except the one true God, our Father.  

Come!  Know the truth of who you are in Christ.  A path has been given me to pass on to those who want to know, to those who desire, to those who will light up the world like a beacon in the night.  Christ will come to you.  The Holy Spirit will guide you.  And I will walk with you along the way.  I am but a humble light in the darkness, shining so that others may see the light.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 11, The Vision: Elias and the Restoration.

Our paragraph topic is:  (On the coming of Elias) Part 3.  

The disciples posed a question to Christ about the teachings of the Pharisees. They were taught that Elias must come first before the end. They believed that when Elias comes then the end is near.  There was conflict in their minds.  There was an understanding that needed to be had that was not forthcoming.  There was a sense of things that needed to be made sense of and they did not have that sense of knowing.   After seeing the vision of Christ with Moses and Elias they needed to have a sense of understanding.  As they came down from the mountain it all began to hit them as to what they had seen and heard.

It was a puzzling experience.  The voice of God the Father said to them that they should hear Christ.  In their efforts to hear him, they had to make sense of what they had heard and seen and experienced.  For this reason they believed that the great and dreadful day of the Lord was upon them.  They were taught that the Lord would bring fire upon the proud and the wicked upon that day.  On that day fire would be set to the wicked and there would be no root or branch but only dust.  And those who fear the Lord shall tread down the wicked and leap like calves of the heard.  These were the thoughts of the disciples as they tried to make sense of what they had experienced.  And they were in fear of the coming of that day and the coming of Elias.  So they asked Jesus, if that day was upon them, where was Elias.  But he answered and said, "Elias" indeed is to come and will restore all things."   

People today would describe fear and False Evidence Appearing Real.  In other words, our emotional reaction is based upon false evidence that is not real but only appears real.  And our reaction to that evidence is not justified.  We live in a world where our fears are minimized.  We are led to believe that we should not be afraid, that we should not fear being robbed, or raped, or shot by a stranger or bombed by a terrorist.  We are led to believe that we should live free of fear and terror and danger and unexpected events that would cause us harm.  We believe in a free society, protected from the danger.  In other parts of the world freedom is not so espoused as in the USA. 

We go about our lives without the fear of the Lord and the coming judgment.  God is love and his love fulfills all our needs.  We search, in this world, for those things that would fulfill us and make us happy but we discover that, that fulfillment is only temporary.  Even love, as we know it, is temporary.  Because our love is based in the physical realm it is only temporary.  Spiritual love is everlasting and comes from God, for he is love.  He fulfills all and completes the need and desire for love.  Yet we live in a society, in a world, that would have us believe that we can have the desires of our hearts.  We live in a world that would have us believe that we are protected and provided for through our own efforts.  We have nothing to fear.  We should live and love and enjoy and have fun to satisfy our hearts desires and pleasures.  And there is nothing to fear, there is no fear of the Lord's judgment.

Our God is a God of love and he loves us because he created us in his image and likeness, an image of love.  To protect us and to provide for us he gave us the commandments to keep us from harm.  For he is the ultimate judge.  Before Adam and Eve sinned God proclaimed that they should not eat of the forbidden fruit.  And if they did then they would die.  Satan tempted them, based upon the logic of the physical mind, into believing that they would not die even though he knew that they would lose their souls and die spiritually.  And the judgment was final.  Only a propitiation would annul the punishment and bring back the spiritual life that was lost.  God is love and he loves mankind.  But there is evil in the world that would have man die spiritually and loose his soul forever.

Christ became the sacrifice in order to annul the sin and give back spiritual life eternal.  Do you know the truth of who you are in Christ?  Do you know the truth of who you are spiritually?  There is a gift waiting for you.  Come, you can discover who you really are, only if you look.  Christ wants you to know who you are.  The Holy Spirit wants to live with you, guide you, protect you, provide for you.  Come!  Seek the truth of who you are in Christ.  Christ loves you and so do I.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in!

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 10, The Vision: The coming of Elias.

Our paragraph topic is:  (On the coming of Elias) Part 2.  

They had witnessed the vision of Christ.  They had seen the vision of Moses and Elias.  They were puzzled by what they had seen and what they had heard.   And yet the disciples knew that they had witnessed a great miracle.  God the Father had spoken to them.  He had  instructed the disciples to listen and hear his son.  He had given them the proof that they needed to believe in Christ through the visions they had witnessed.  So they pondered within their minds the answers as to what they had seen and heard.  But Christ warned them not to speak of it.  He told them not to say what they had seen and heard until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

The sacrifice had to be completed.  The mission had to be finished.  The debt had to be paid so that mankind would be redeemed.  And what they had witnessed must be kept secret until that time.  The disciples were puzzled.  There were questions in their minds.  There were burning answers that needed solutions.  And they did not know how to proceed without answers to those questions.  For they had been taught from childhood by the Pharisees the scriptures of their religion.  They had been drilled as to the passages and the words that were passed down from old.  So they questioned Christ as to the correctness of what they had learned.   And the disciples asked him, saying, " Why then do the Scribes say that Elias must come first? "

Christ had taken three of his disciples up to the mountain that they may experience for themselves the truth of who he was.  He wanted them to know with all certainty that he was the Messiah, the Son of the Father.  So they were there to witness for themselves what they would hold within until the sacrifice had been made and the mission completed.  They asked for understanding.  They sought to know the truth of what they were taught and what they believed.  Christ spoke to them about the raising from the dead, an expression that they did not understand.  And today we ask that same question.

Will we die at the end our last days on earth?  Will we sleep for an eternity when our time comes, only to be awakened at the final call?  What will happen in the end?  Do we go to heaven now and wait for the final judgment to come?  Many have gone beyond death and returned to tell of what lies beyond.  Many have experienced the horrors of hell and come back to warn us of what we will face if we continue in our evil ways.  Does that deter us?  Does that turn us around?  There are many lost souls in the world that do not know the truth.  The message is out there.  We hear it being proclaimed in the background but do not listen.  We have some knowledge of what we are to do to avoid judgment but fail to do it.  We are weak.  We are misled.  We are influenced by the temptations of the world, born into a world destined to lead us away from the truth.

Looking back  on my life, I was lost.  I was misled.  I was caught up in the whirlwind of the world thinking that I had to compete, I had to succeed, I had to win the prize.  Little did I know that I was on the road to destruction.  And if I continued on that road, I would loose my soul and the life that had been given me by the sacrifice made by Christ.  I am grateful that he held on to me.  I am thankful that he gave me life.  I am blessed that he did not give up on me.  Now I know who I am.  Now I have found my treasure.  Now I know with certainty that I am a child of God and my father loves me.  And now I can see me through the veil of the physical and know me for who I am. 

If you are reading this message, come follow the path that is laid before you.  You will find peace.  You will find joy.  You will find happiness.  And you will find the truth of who you are in Christ, here and now.  Be certain.  Be knowing.  Be loved.  Christ loves you, the Holy Spirit will lead you, and God the Father will protect you.  May the gift of God be in your heart.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in!