More on : "Does God the Father hear the prayer of unbelievers who come to Him without going through Jesus?"

More on : "Does God the Father hear the prayer of unbelievers who come to Him without going through Jesus?"

View Point : Well,I believe that God hears everyone's prayers, believers or not. The question really is does He answer them. Of course His ear is turned to the repentant sinner, the Bible teaches that. However, I cannot presume upon Almighty God which prayers he answers and which ones He doesn't. Why, because the Bible shows us several examples where He directs non believers into accomplishing His will. In the New Testament, in the story of the centurion who needed healing of a lower soldier,it says nowhere in the scripture that this man repented. Yet Jesus spoke the word, and this soldier was healed. We must remember that our limited human reasoning is at least one week behind what God is planning, and that His ways are not our ways. I believe that God answers the prayers of unbelievers IF it suits His eternal purposes. That is the condition, He is totally able to use unbelievers to accomplish His purposes. Many of them become believers because of that!

Well, again,I said He hears them. As for ANSWERS, sometimes He will direct them to a believer, sometimes His answer is NO, just like He sometimes answers believers. I have to go by the entire Bible for this. When a non believer who asks God to reveal Himself based on no other knowledge other than belief in a higher being, and God chooses to reveal Himself as He did with Paul, that is for God to decide. The next step is in the person's control...to keep seeking, or to stop. However,the answer from God to a praying unbeliever "This Jesus is My Beloved Son,listen to Him" is an answer,is it not?

I am not saying that there is anyway to please God or go to heaven except by way of Jesus, as the Bible is clear on that. It also says that any good that is accomplished cannot be done apart from God, whether the person believes or not. GOD is always the one to start the ball rolling! What about prayers to God from unbelievers, "Please send someone so we can know you!". I am not being extra Biblical, but simply pointing out that even a believer cannot pray properly apart from the Holy Spirit, as He is our intercessor.

A : So when you say that Jesus answered the prayer of unbelievers, what does it mean? When the Centurion approached Jesus for the lower ranked servant of his to be healed, he was coming to God the Father through Jesus (Matt 8:5-13). In this case and even in other cases people had already approached the Father through Jesus, so Jesus spoke the word and the miracles happened. They went to God through Jesus! But what about the unbelievers who come to Father God bypassing Jesus? Can you clearly give just one example in New Testament? Even Cornelius who was a Gentile centurion was approaching God, but God heard to answer His prayer only on the condition for repentance only, he made a divine connection between apostle Peter and him through angels to impart salvation through the gospel, so that they could approach Him through Jesus (Acts 10:3-7). God always uses unbeliever for His purposes, but what about their prayers? The prayers of His children are the only thing that goes before him and which will surely be answered (John 16:23, 26). The prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16), the righteous man is one who goes to God through Jesus who has made him righteous before God (Rom 4:5-6; 2 Cor 5:21). When His word says it, that's it. There can be no other opinion that can be concrete unless it is again proved from the word of God!

When God says in the Bible, "This Jesus is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him" (Matt 17:5). This answer is the only reply of God which is not really an answer but the only solution to receive further answers from Him. This answer is like a automatic answer of God from His answering machine in heaven. It is not answers, but only a direction which God gives for all people on earth to get answers from Him. In the Old Testament it is the same, but the only thing was having faith in the prescribed way of blood Sacrifice through which people could approach God by faith in the coming Messiah, who is their Savior who will come to redeem them (Acts 2:27; Psa 65:3; Gen 3:21; 8:20-21; 22:10-18; Heb 8:3-6; 10:18-19). They looked forward in faith through the coming Messiah who is to come, we look backward to Jesus who has already come and have saved us (Isa 45:21-23; Heb 11:39-40). Blessings....

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Unbeliever's and Prayers

Does God the Father hear the prayer of unbelievers who come to Him without going through Jesus?

Q: Does God really answer the prayer of all unbelievers? Or in other words, all people on earth do call on the name of God differently in each of their languages. When these people who do not have faith in Jesus but believe that there is a God and believe that he is some where in the heavens, what if they just call on the name of God? Will God hear their prayers?

A : I believe that the prayers of a unbeliever cannot reach God even though they may be calling the name "God" looking towards heaven, believing that he is somewhere there. Their prayers can reach God only through Jesus. Jesus stands as the God appointed Mediator between God and man, so that no prayer can by pass Jesus and reach God without his name (1 Tim 2:5). He is the only legal gate and heavenly check post you have to cross in order to reach God, God has placed Jesus as a check post to honor Him because He is only one in the whole universe who has entered in to covenant with God legally as God's representative for all humans by giving His own life (John 10:1, 7, 9, 17-18; Heb 9:12).

A human cannot reach God without calling on the name of Jesus first. God himself has encouraged all men across the face of this planet earth to first contact and call on the name of Jesus to be saved and be connected to heaven (Rom 10:9, 13). All humans are sinners in their natural state and therefore unrighteous, God cannot answer them cause He is a Holy Being without a blemish of any sin (Rom 3:23; 5:12). So Jesus the Son of God whom God sent from heaven, became a man and took our sins over Himself on behalf of us and died finally as a perfect substitute before God (Heb 9:26, 28). God accepted the perfect Sacrifice of Jesus and finally accepted those who believe in Him as those who are friends with him (Eph 1:6-7). God hears us perfectly when we come to Him in the name of Jesus (John 16:23). This is the reason Apostle John clearly said, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:23).

Only when a person accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior, then God hears him and will answer that prayer that is done towards him (John 16:23, 26-27). All other prayers that people in the world make do not have guarantee of an answer and are like the prayers of pagan Baal Prophets before Elijah (Matt 6:7; 1 Kings 18:25-29). Inspite of having no relationship personally with all heathen people, because God is good to all, He chooses to bless the heathen people and atheists physically (Psa 145:9; Mat 5:45). But spiritual blessing is the greatest blessing for any human, this blessing is reserved only for his children who believe in the name of Jesus (John 1:12-13; Luke 16:11-13; Gen 32:26, 29-30; 47:10; Matt 15:24-28). Blessings....

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Moses and the Red Sea

Why did Moses divide the sea and not walk over the sea like Jesus did?

Q: Why did Moses divide the sea? Instead he could have made Israel walk over the sea......??? Is it pointing towards the Baptism of Israel?

A : Moses himself when he obeyed God day after day in simple obedience, I don't think that he would have understood along with the people of Israel that they were fulfilling a physical type of the spiritual anti-type which will be fulfilled by Christ and the Church nearly 1500 years later and onward. If God was the one who was making these types to fall in to place according to his orchestration, then the question 'Why did Moses divide the sea? Instead he could have made Israel walk over the sea......???' can simply be answered saying, Moses could not have made the people to walk over the sea because it was not in the blue-print of God. Moses had no ability to do anything apart from God (John 6:32), he simply did what God told him to do, and as a result of it the great miracles came in to being.

It is indeed pointing towards the Baptism of all Israel in the water, which is the water Baptism we take in the New Testament. Then they went under the cloud and were baptized in its shadow and fire in the night. This represents the Holy Spirit Baptism the believer receives after he is saved and the fire Baptism that Jesus promised to all believers. All the Old Testament happenings are a type of the New Testament Spiritual Truth (1 Cor 10:11; Rom 15:5; Heb 8:5; Col 2:16-17). This is the reason when Moses disobeyed God, He got so angry to see the spiritual type got broken, that Moses was prevented from entering Canaan land because of it (Num 20:12).

Moses was primarily prevented by God to enter the land of Canaan because he disobeyed God and disqualified himself the blessing of Canaan like his fellow Israelites did through out the desert journey. What can we learn from this? God will not baptize a person with the Holy Spirit which is New Testament's Canaan's land, until a believer starts to obey the words of Jesus earnestly from their heart and thirst for him (Acts 5:32). Another lesson we can learn from this is, the judgment for a leader of the flock is more strict than for the people who follow him. To whom more is given, more is required of them by God (James 3:1; Luke 12:48). The people time after time hardened their heart, from the time they first saw Moses' miracles (Exod 4:2-4, 6-9, 28-31), then the miracles He did to free them from Egyptians, walking through the red sea and all the miracles in the wilderness journey after that to the time God wanted them to take in to Canaan's land, after which God pronounced at the end of the whole time period of grace that they will not enter the promised land but will die in the wilderness itself (Num 14:11, 22-23). Just think about it, Moses was the humblest man in the face of the entire earth as God Himself testified of him (Num 12:3), just one mistake he made and he is out of the destination Canaan (Num 20:12). Actually the first time Moses was told to hit the rock it symbolized Christ getting bruised and smitten by God for our iniquities (Isa 53:4-5; Matt 26:67-68), so that the fountain of living heavenly life giving water can come and quench our thirst to everlasting life (John 4:14; Exo 17:6). But when God told Moses to speak to the rock the second time, it symbolizes the believer asking Jesus the Rock to give them enough water to flow like a river and quench their thirst and all those people who are around through them (Num 20:7-12; Matt 3:11; John 7:38-39).

Right through out the desert journey, the spiritual rock who is Christ accompanied them all the way and as a result of it the people were able to drink from the physical rock (1 Cor 10:4). In other words, because Christ was present there on that desert with Moses, the miracles happened to quench their thirst physically. Now in our times because Christ is present always with us as He has promised (Matt 28:20; Heb 13:5), daily our spiritual thirst will get quenched through the miracles that God will do in our lives (John 4:14). Look to the Lord daily and be satisfied with His abundance....

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Does Falling from Grace Means Losing Our Salvation?

Estranged and Fallen from What? Salvation or Service

By Abraham Israel

Apostle Paul said to the believer's of the Galatian Church, " 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged [i.e. removed from an accustomed place of association] from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." (Gal 5:4). These Galatian believer's were influenced by false teachers who bewitched and made them to accept their theory that after people are saved by believing Jesus, still they must follow the Jewish laws and tradition to keep themselves saved. This false theory promoted the belief that they were saved by faith and should keep it safe by keeping the law. Paul refuted this lie strongly by saying the above thing.

Grace is a multifaceted word that covers various aspects of God with it. It is like a diamond that shines differently and uniquely at each and every possible view from which we see it. For example, we are saved by grace through faith and this supernatural knowledge of salvation that we hold is not because of our efforts but it is a gift that we have received from God (Eph 2:8). I know of many people who have confessed their sins and have opened their Bible as a routine to get an assurance to hold on. These people thought just because they have done these things God has given them salvation. But after they do these things and the flesh start to work strongly in them after some time of walking in the so called zealous walk of their salvation, then they begin to doubt their salvation because they see their behavior as something different to what they believe. In other words, they thought just because they confessed their sins to people and God, and received a word from the Bible to hold on to it as an assurance, they thought that they will never get that old temptation again because God will have removed it all when they were saved. Some honest people again begin to seek after another experience of salvation as they did before or they completely thrown away the whole thing as hoax to live life as they want and still some other people start to walk in the flesh and hypocritically act as through they are holier than others. Why does this happen all the time in the Church? It is because of not understanding the word Grace properly.

Grace Studied

Grace derives from the Greek, 'charis.' In secular Greek, 'charis' was related to 'chairo', 'to rejoice.' As far back as Greek poet Homer it denoted 'sweetness' or 'attractiveness.' It came to signify 'favor,' 'goodwill,' and 'lovingkindness' — especially as granted by a superior to an inferior.

Strongs Concordance says, "The Divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life." Vines Expository Dictionary of Greek words says, "Divine favor that practically affects the spiritual state of those who have experienced its exercise; empowering and equipping them for service."

In the New Testament, “grace” (156 times) takes on a special redemptive sense in which God makes available his favor on behalf of sinners, who actually do not deserve it. In short 'Grace' is "unmerited gift and favor of God" that is given to us in different ways through Jesus Christ.

Illustrated Bible Dictionary written by Easton and Matthew George categorizes the word "grace" in seven different ways and they are as follows, (1.) Of form or person (Prov. 1:9; 3:22; Ps. 45:2). (2.) Favor, kindness, friendship (Gen. 6:8; 18:3; 19:19; 2 Tim. 1:9). (3.) God's forgiving mercy (Rom. 11:6; Eph. 2:5). (4.) The gospel as distinguished from the law (John 1:17; Rom. 6:14; 1 Pet. 5:12). (5.) Gifts freely bestowed by God; as miracles, prophecy, tongues (Rom. 15:15; 1 Cor. 15:10; Eph. 3:8). (6.) Christian virtues (2 Cor. 8:7; 2 Pet. 3:18). (7.) The glory hereafter to be revealed (1 Pet. 1:13). We see in this above description, the same word grace expressed to point to various aspect of our Christian life. All grace have the same source which is Jesus Christ, but they have different attributes which supplies us with different truths of God.

Grace Scrutinized

So grace can be categorized and called as saving grace, healing grace, serving grace, empowering grace, overcoming grace, etc... Saving grace of Jesus has a unique Characteristic to it. It is freely given to the receivers and it stays the same until a believer enters heaven. In other words, Saving grace is a gift of God that is given to us freely and stays that way until we enter in to heaven. This is the reason Paul said, "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:8-10). In other words, once we are saved we stay that way until we enter heaven. God has not saved us by accident or because we chose to receive the gospel on a particular day, he saved us because of His mercies (Titus 3:5-6). We responded to God's call through His gospel and as a result of it we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of our future in heaven (Eph 1:13-14).

Not even in one place we see even the lightest hint that the apostles gave of God breaking the Holy Spirit's guarantee and taking Him out of our heart because of our bad response to his good gospel. If God has done that it would have shown that God has not foreseen our nature to fail Him again and again. Instead the writer to the Hebrew emphatically describes the Holy Spirit as saying, "15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” 17 then He adds,“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." (Heb 10:15-18). In other words, the writer to the Hebrew emphasizes that because Jesus has died in the place of the sinning believer, there can be no more account kept for the sins of the one who has believed in Him. And so the Holy Spirit Himself has given the pledge to write God's law in the hearts of the believer's and train the believers to walk in the ways of the Lord. So the believer did not save himself and seal himself because of stopping himself from sinning, so also he cannot unsave himself or unseal himself of the Holy Spirit because of continuing in sin. God does not give His salvation to any man just because that man has promised to stop sinning. He gave us His salvation because He felt merciful and showed His love to save us from hell to which all humanity is bound (Prov 10:12).

If we have received salvation based on a stipulation of completely stop doing sin, I believe no person on earth can keep his salvation for even a couple of hours or a day because no saved believer is completely free from sin until he dies physically. Also if God were to keep track of our sin after we are saved, man you will have a living hell on earth (Psa 130:3). Praise the Lord that he has already completely forgiven and wiped off all our trespasses that we will do in the future until our physical death (Col 2:13-14), so that we can freely choose to serve Him with gratitude for what He has done for us (Eph 2:10; Rom 6:13). Jesus did not come to make good people better, but he has come to raise dead people to life. Jesus did not save us to take us to heaven, though it is a byproduct of salvation, but He saved us so that we can lovingly with a pure conscience serve God through Him all our life and even for eternity. It is lack of understanding the grace of God that people say that saving grace can be lost. Then they tie one word 'repentance' to it and again out of context decide that saving grace can be lost.

Thomas Watson beautifully describes it saying, "When God calls a man, He does not repent of it. God does not, as many friends do, love one day, and hate another; or as princes, who make their subjects favorites, and afterwards throw them in to prison. This is the blessedness of a saint; his condition admits of no alteration. God's call is founded upon His decree, and His decree is immutable. Acts of grace cannot be reversed. God blots out His people's sins, but not their names." The Scripture agrees with this statement when it says, "29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy ..." (Rom 11:29-30). When this above Scripture speaks about the time it calls as "once you were disobedient", it speaks about the days in which we did not receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior in our lives. But thank God we obeyed God's call and did receive Jesus in to our lives, as a result we received mercies of God's eternal salvation by which He has saved us (Titus 3:5-6; Heb 5:9).

Repenting to be saved does not mean to stop sinning, but to look to the Lord and agree that we are sinners and are in need of Jesus as our Savior until the end of our lives. But that does not mean a believer will sin intentionally or I am not encouraging anyone to sin willingly. The greatest repentance a man can ever do is to look to the Lord Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Actually a new nature comes to a believer when He first believed Jesus as his Lord and Savior (2 Cor 5:17). So he cannot sin intentionally without feeling miserable in his soul if he is really born again (1 John 3:9; John 16:8). When a believer sins, he will lose the fellowship with God through His presence, unless and until he looks back to the Lord and confesses that he has sinned against Him (1 John 1:7, 9). This is the fellowship aspect of a believers life. But when a unbeliever becomes born again with "eternal Salvation", there comes a eternal union with the Lord Jesus which is given as a gift and is sealed with the guarantee of the Holy Spirit (John 1:12-13; 14:23; 1 Cor 6:17; 2 Cor 1:21-22; 5:5; Heb 5:9). So saving grace cannot be repealed or withdrawn from God as we have become one body with Christ Jesus (1 Cor 6:19; 12:27). God cannot now look to us and say that we are rejected because of our sinful performance after our salvation, after He has already made it clear that we are accepted in the Beloved Jesus forever as He has become our substitute on behalf of us all who have believed Him (Eph 1:6). God does not say and change His word as we humans always do, and in fact He cannot lie because He is God (Mal 3:6; Num 23:19; Titus 1:2). As the Scripture says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful [to His New Covenant]; He cannot deny Himself." (2 Tim 2:13) and so " 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." (Jude 24-25). Glory to God!

Fallen From Grace Explained

God's grace is not weak enough to keep even the vilest sinner out of the heaven. Richard Baxter awesomely describes this grace of God by saying, "In our first paradise in Eden there was a way to go out but no way to go in again. But as for the heavenly paradise, there is a way to go in, but not way to go out."

When Apostle Paul says "you have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4), actually he is not speaking about salvation grace, but he is in fact speaking about the serving grace that each believer receives after salvation. You may immediately ask me, how do you say that it speaks about serving grace and not about salvation grace? I say because in the same epistle Paul first speaks about how he is living out the saved life by letting Jesus control His body and then he says "I do not set aside the grace of God..." to let the Galatian believers know that living in the righteousness of Jesus will only make their works as valid before God for a eternal reward that succeeds it (Gal 2:19-21). Paul never had doubt whether he will enter heaven or not because he knew that he was saved not by his own works, but hundred percentage completely by the finished work of Jesus on the Cross (Rom 5:10). He was ready to go to heaven any moment he would die and this is the reason he boldly said, "21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell." (Phil 1:21-22). In other words he was saying, 'Any time I die I will go to heaven to be with Christ. At the same time I want to spend my life on earth so that I might collect reward for eternity ahead by meeting the needs of the Church.' Paul the Apostle did not strive to get saved and enter in to heaven, because he knew that already he was perfectly saved by the Lord Jesus Himself. But he disciplined himself to run the race to win the crown that God had for Him and strove to finish the race that was set before him (1 Cor 9:27, 24-25; Rev 3:11). If only the believers in our generation would catch hold of this concept that Apostle Paul understood, they would passionately live their life for God and would turn the world upside-down for Jesus. Most believers get condemned by the enemy because of lack of being grounded in this eternal truth and therefore spend most of their precious time on earth to stay saved and lose all the eternal rewards that God has for them ahead. To try to stay saved when you already are by the grace of our Lord Jesus is like a tribal man living in a secluded forest in the Amazon forest trying to reinvent a wheel almost all the days that he lives on earth. Why try to reinvent a wheel when all you need to do is to connect with the people around you and ask them to show where one could buy the wheel? It is a waste of time and foolishness on the part of the believer to get saved when God has already saved them for eternity ahead.

To the same Galatian believer's Paul in Chapter 3 asks the inevitable question, "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal 3:1-3). Paul was saying, 'You were saved by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ, who has made you to believe that you need to again add works to your already received salvation to stay saved? Did you receive the Holy Spirit as a gift by hearing the word of God that promised this gift or you worked hard with your religious do's and don't to please God and finally receive Him because of it? If you have received the gift of the Spirit through faith in order to be a mighty witness for Jesus and collect eternal reward for it, why are you now trying again to save yourself through your own efforts when you are already saved perfectly through the life of Jesus?'.

Then when Paul the Apostle in the next verse of Gal 3:4 said, "Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?", he drove the final nails to coffin of their religious life to be nothing but dead works which is of no value for eternity. We do not suffer to get saved, but Jesus sufferd for us and got us saved for eternity (Acts 17:3). In fact the Scripture says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." (1 Peter 3:18). But we suffer now to enter in to the kingdom benefits of God which is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit along with all the eternal benefits that will follow us (Rom 14:17; 2 Tim 3:12). We too like Jesus learn obedience to God and His perfect will by suffering (Heb 5:8). If we strive to become like Jesus in whose image God has pre-appointed for us to become (Rom 8:29), then He is our example to live in this earth (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus always knew where he had come from and where He was going, as a result of this divine knowledge he lived His maximum to fulfill the will of God for His life until the very end (John 13:3; 8:42; 16:28; 17:11). We as believers do not have to know where we came from, but we ought to know where we are going because only this divine knowledge can make us live as strangers and pilgrims on earth (1 Peter 2:11-12). Those who are in Christ always know that they are going to heaven (John 14:1-4), if the devil makes you to doubt your future in heaven by digging your past, just remind him of his future and he will leave you and run away (Rev 20:1-3, 7-10).

This proves beyond doubt that the Galatian believers having "fallen from grace" have not lost their salvation grace but the serving grace, having fallen from this serving grace they were caught in the web of dead works which made them lose their reward for eternity ahead which they could have easily held on by living the truth they have been taught. William Secker says it rightly by saying, "Though Christians be not kept altogether from falling, yet they are kept from falling altogether.". Praise the Lord! So take heart dear saints of God and give your maximum to the service of the Lord, so that you may live joyfully an abundant life on earth and a rich after life when you leave this earth. Surely the retirement benefits are out of this world for a true believer in Christ Jesus. Blessings......

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Who are the morning stars and the sons of God?

Who are the morning stars and the sons of God?

Q: Hi, I want to ask some thing from Job 38:7 and the Genesis 6:2, who are the morning stars and who are the sons of God?

A: Job 38:7 talks about morning stars singing when God was laying the foundations of the earth. Man was not created during that time and so it is automatically the angels who were singing. Also in Isaiah 14:12, Lucifer means "Day star" in Hebrew, which also gives us a clue that angels are always called and referred by God as stars of glory (1 Cor 15:40-41). Context is very important. In Job 2:1, sons of God assembled before God and Satan was among them which implies that the sons of God were angels in the Book of Job. But in Gen 6:2, the context comes from two genealogy from two different lines that God gave for us, to make us understand that he was speaking about the Bloodline of Cain and Bloodline of Seth. The bloodline of Cain were unbelievers and bloodline of Seth were believers with the faith in the blood sacrifice of the true God. The faith of Adam made Him to be called the son of God (Luke 3:38; Gal 3:26).

So in Gen 6:2, the sons of God were the sons of Seth who intermarried with the daughters of men who were the beautiful women of Cain's line who had no faith in the True Jehovah God. Cain's line never made it to today's world population but totally were destroyed during the flood of Noah's time. If the context was not that important, God need not take much pains to give the details of Cain's line. He gave it there so that we might clearly understand the context in the 6th Chapter is speaking about the Cain's line when it says about the daughter's of men who were beautiful. The sons of God were healthy and strong because of the Blessing of God in their lives who became violent because of mixing in with the line of Cain who were completely violent men be their own confession (Gen 6:4-5; 4:23-24).

God was sorry not because the sons of God were giants as people project out of context usually these days, but God was sorry for creating man and was grieved in His heart because "every thought of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day." (Gen 6:5). So in this context, the sons of God were men of faith from the Seth line and were not the Giant Hybrid's of angels and human who became violent as some people assume. Blessings....

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Is it Secret Coming or Second Coming Resurrection?

5 Reasons Why First Corinthians Fifteenth Chapter Speaks About Second Coming

By Abraham Israel

We must understand that Apostle Paul spoke about the resurrection of martyred saints in 1 Cor 15:50-58 who will live during the Great Tribulation of whom many will be those who are left-behind and will be resurrected in the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth, while another resurrection of believers Paul speaks in 1 Thess 4:13-18 is about the secret coming of the Lord in which all the Church beleivers will be resurrected to eternal life and raptured to heaven before the Great Tribulation starts.

"50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [i.e. all shall not die because God will keep some of His sheeps alive physically for the Millenium kingdom (Matt 24:21-22)], but we shall all be changed [Note: "all be changed" shows that no believer of the Church Age or the Tribulation saints will be left in their graves after the Second Coming of Jesus to the earth]— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed [Note: Only if we have gone through Tribulation and have been martyred, then we will be raised and changed in to a glorious body]. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “ O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor 15:50-58).

The overall theme speaks about the final victory of all believers over death.

1) Firstly, when the theme starts saying, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" it is pointing to a time in which God will start to raise people to enter in to the kingdom of God on earth. The kingdom of God will be established on earth only when Jesus comes back to defeat all nations and establish His kingdom over all the earth from the city of Jerusalem (Rev 19:11-16). Who are the believers who will inherit the kingdom of God at the time of His Second Coming? The living believers in their natural bodies who have gone through the Great Tribulation and survived it will be seperated as sheeps and will inherit the kingdom of God (Matt 25:31-34). Then all those who have died during the Great Tribulation will rise up exactly when Jesus comes back to rule the earth and will inherit the kingdom of God in their glorious bodies, to live and reign with Christ as a priests of God and of Christ (Rev 20:4, 6). How do we know for sure that only those Great Tribulation Martyrs will be raised during the Second Coming? In Rev 20:4 Apostle John said, "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." Hence this Scripture can only be a Second Coming Scripture that points to people inheriting the Kingdom of God on earth.

2) Secondly, the mystery at the Second Coming will be "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed". This means that the living people at that time shall not die, but all those who have died till that time shall all be changed. Those who are alive shall inherit the kingdom of God in their physical bodies but the dead shall all inherit the kingdom of God in their spiritual bodies.

3) Thirdly, when Apostle Paul says, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. ", he is telling that no believers who have died in faith till that time shall remain unchanged at the Second Coming of Jesus. Note Apostle Paul is speaking here about only one category of people who were dead, and then says they will be raised to incorruptability and then again gurantees that we shall all be changed at that time emphasizing that some were already raised from the dead before this. Then when Paul says, "we shall be changed" he is saying that there will be no more resurrection after this for atleast a thousand years (Rev 20:4-6). All those who were raptured already during His secret coming will come with Jesus to wage war and defeat the Anti-Christ in the battle of Armageddon. And those who were left behind on earth to go through Tribulation and martyred for their faith will rise from the dead in their glorious bodies exactly before the feet of Jesus will touch the mount of Olives at His Second Coming (Rev 19:7-8, 14; Zech 14:3-4). The "armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean" were the raptured believers who received their glorious bodies during the secret rapture of the Church (Luke 21:36; Rev 3:10). Paul is referring to the last trumpet as the last to sound in succession, in a series of sounding that will end. In Revelation 11:15, John describes this sounding of the "last trumpet" as the "seventh trumpet," which is the last of the trumpets of judgment. How can we say for sure that this trumpet is the last trumpet? Because in the context of this verses in Rev 11:14-18, it is seen, at this time, that the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of God and Christ. It points only to the Second Coming and none other can fit the exact description. He shall reign only after the battle of Armageddon on earth (Rev 19:15; 20:6). The third woe is the ultimate wrath upon Antichrist and the False Prophet which will trigger the battle of Armageddon in which they will be captured and will be cast in to the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev 19:20). On the sounding of the seventh angel the mystery that Paul spoke about will be finished because already the kingdom of God would be established before this sounding ends (Rev 10:7; 1 Cor 15:51). The elders who fell on their faces and worshipped God for the seventh and the last tumpet revealed that 1) God has taken His power which was given to AntiChrist for three and half years. God has taken His sovereign power back for Himself to reign (Rev 11:17). 2) The nations were angry because the time of God's ultimate wrath of third and final woe has come towards them to consume them in the battle of Armageddon (Psa 2:1-6, 10-12; Ezek 38:15-17, 22-23; 39:2; Rev 19:19). 3) The time of the dead has come for the unbelievers to be judged and killed by the vengeance of God on the battle of Armageddon and its suceeding judgment of nations (Matt 25:31-32, 33, 41, 45-46; Rev 19:21; 2 Thess 1:8-10). 4) The reward for the saints, prophets, those who have feared God including small and great people of God shall be rewarded by being invited to be partakers of God's kingdom on earth for a thousand years (Matt 25:34). 5) These saintly rulers along with Christ will then destroy all those sinners for a thousand years who will try to destroy the earth (Rev 11:18).

4) The phraseology of Paul which says, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" describes a unltimate and final resurrection before the Millenium rule of Jesus Christ begins. We can be sure that Paul the Apostle is speaking about this final resurrection at the Second Coming of Jesus which is also called the "first resurrection" for the martyrs by John the revelator (Rev 20:5-6), because in it we see the ultimate victory over death forever which he describes as "Death is swallowed up in victory.” In other words, death cannot rule over the earth and intimidate men with its fear tatics and keep men away from the pure faith in God because Jesus by that time would have taken control over death. Already as Jesus himself said He has the "keys of Hades and of Death." (Rev 1:18). It means already the devil cannot kill or destroy a believer's life without Jesus allowing it to happens in His sovereign will. But during the Millenium Satan will be bound till the end and only when Jesus allows a curse upon any man whom he finds as a sinner, that person will die, no other person will die for a thousand years (Rev 20:1-3; Isa 65:20; Zech 14:17-19). Many godly people who will enter the Millenium will live for the whole thousand years by the grace of God. This is what it means for death to be swallowed up in victory. We cannot say the same thing about the Rapture of the Church because after the Rapture many Tribulation saints will still die for their faith (Rev 13:7-8, 10).

5) When Apostle Paul says, "sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law", he is speaking of the goverment of the world that is under the law apart from the heavenly goverment of Jesus that God is sovereignly running (Phil 2:9-11). Jesus is running a heavenly goverment over all universe, but on earth over only those who are in his Church (Matt 16:18). Even though the believers live in this world and agree to the local govermental laws, they will reject any law that makes them to disobey the higher law of the kingdom of God (Acts 4:18-20; Rom 12:21). This human govermental law was instituted from the beginning of time by God, only to be superseded by the goverment of heaven nearly two thousand years ago though Jesus the perfect man (Gen 9:3-6; Rom 13:1-6; 1 Tim 2:5). Sin have always kept people in subject to its bondage through the fear of death (Heb 2:15). This evil plan of sin, fear and death has been instigated and promoted more and more by the god of this world Satan and his evil demonic minions (2 Cor 4:4). But all believers experience victory over all these evil of sin, fear and death because God "gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". So we must keep working for the Lord and not care about the obstacles that the Devil brings in our path. The victory is sure, whether the believers are resurrected in their glorious bodies before Tribulation, which is during the Rapture of the Church, or were martyred during the Tribulation and raised at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the victory already belongs to us because Jesus had already demonstrated His power over death by getting resurrected in a glorious heavenly body after three days of death (Rom 6:9; 8:11; 1 Cor 15:12). The only law that will be there in the Millenium will be the law of Jesus over all the earth (Psa 9:8). So we will be free from death and sin completely in our glorious bodies. Praise the Lord!

All these things that we have seen proves that 1 Cor 15:50-58 speaks about the resurrection of the Tribulation saints at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus and does not speak about the Rapture of the Church which will happen before the Tribulation starts.

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