LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

between the creatures, and out of the fire, bolts of lightning. The creatures flashed back and forth like strikes of lightning.' (Ezekiel chapter 1 verses 4 to 14 - MSG)

      Seraphim

      Seraphim are described in the book of Isaiah, when the prophet describes seeing the Lord who was, ‘sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!”

      Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.’ (Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 to 4 - NLT)

      Bad angels

      Not all angels are messengers of God.

      Satan was a powerful angel of God who rebelled and was cast out of heaven to live on the earth.

      Satan was cast out of heaven with all of his angel followers. These angel followers of Satan are commonly known as demons.

      Demons are spiritual messengers of Satan, and they are responsible for causing a lot of trouble in the world.

      ‘In the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead.’ (1 Timothy chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 - NLT)

      Mark describes an incident when Jesus had been preaching in the synagogue: when suddenly, ‘a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” But Jesus reprimanded him. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.' (Mark chapter 1 verses 23 to 25 - NLT)

      Demons (these angels of Satan) recognize and fear the power of Jesus Christ. ‘After sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.’ (Mark chapter 1 verses 32 to 34 - NIV)

      Heavenly angels are spiritual beings, messengers of God, who appear in human form on earth, and appear in amazing form in heaven.

      Christian believers enjoy the knowledge that these heavenly angels are constantly looking out for us on God’s behalf.

      Apostles

      The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos which can be translated as, envoy or messenger.

      Apostolos comes from apostellien, which can be translated to mean, to send out.

      Apostles were people who were personally chosen by Jesus Christ to be his envoys who would send out his good message into the world.

      There were twelve apostles chosen by Jesus Christ.

      ‘Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.’ (Mark chapter 3 verses 13 to 15 - NIV)

      The names of these twelve apostles are:-

      Simon, whom Jesus called Peter

      James, the son of Zebedee

      John, also the son of Zebedee

      Andrew

      Philip

      Bartholomew

      Matthew

      Thomas

      James, the son of Alphaeus

      Thaddaeus

      Simon the Zealot

      and Judas Iscariot

      And after Jesus Christ had been crucified and returned to heaven, Jesus appeared to Paul and appointed him as an apostle too. This amazing event is described in the book of Acts chapter 9. Jesus instructed a man called Ananias to go to Paul to help him, because, “This man [Paul] is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.” (Acts chapter 9 verse 15 - NIV)

      This is why Paul also calls himself an apostle: because he was a personally appointed envoy of Jesus Christ. Paul introduces himself as an apostle in some of his letters: for example, his letter to the Christian community in Rome begins with the words: ‘Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God’ (Romans chapter 1 verse 1 - NIV)

      The apostles are the people whom Jesus Christ appointed to send out his good message into the world, and establish his kingdom on earth.

      Paul uses the metaphor of a big building to describe the importance of the apostles, telling the Christian community in Ephesus that, “you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” (Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 to 21 - NIV)

      Baptism

      When I think of baptism I think of Namaan.

      You can read about Namaan in the Old Testament book of 2 Kings chapter 5.

      Namaan was a very powerful man; he was an important general in the army of the King of Syria. But despite his wealth and power, he was suffering from a horrible skin disease that was incurable.

      One of his slaves was a young girl who had been captured from the Israelites; this slave girl told Namaan’s wife that she knew of a prophet of God called Elisha who could cure his horrible disease. Namaan went to see Elisha, arriving with great pomp and ceremony.

      But Elisha didn’t even bother to greet the general; instead, he sent one of his servants to tell the great and mighty Namaan to go and wash seven times in the River Jordan.

      Namaan was very angry. Elisha had snubbed him, and told him to do something ridiculous: why should he bathe in the River Jordan when he could bathe in far superior rivers back in Syria?

      As Namaan was about to storm off back to Syria, one of his servants reasoned with him, arguing that they had come all this way, so why not just dip into the Jordan seven times while you are here? The servant argued that if Elisha had asked Naaman to do something difficult and impressive, he would have done it; but Elisha had asked him to do something very simple: just to wash in the river. So why refuse?

      Namaan agreed with his servant’s logic; he went down to the river and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, just as Elisha had instructed him.

      And Namaan was cured.

      Namaan’s skin was regenerated as soft and clean as the skin of a young boy.

      Baptism is that simple: it is being immersed into water.

      If you really, really wanted to become a Christian, and you were told that you had to sit a difficult examination, fill in application forms, put on your best clothes and be interviewed by a panel of intimidating recruiters, you might think that this sounds like a reasonable condition for being granted eternal life and all the wonderful privileges of being a member of God’s family.

      But you need to understand that Jesus Christ has already done everything for you, Jesus Christ has paid the price, Jesus Christ has made the sacrifice: all you need to do is believe.

      God is not asking you to do something difficult: he is asking you to do something very, very simple.

      Baptism

Скачать книгу