The Kingdom of Heaven is Like...

NIV Matthew 13:24 

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field."

NIV Matthew 13:33 

Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”

NIV Matthew 13:44  

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field." 

NIV Matthew 13:45  

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls". 

NIV Matthew 13:52  

"Then he added, “Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old. 

 Why is this ponderable?

 The seven parables of Mat 13., called by our Lord, "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 13:11), taken together, describe the result of the presence of the Gospel in the world during the present age, that is, the time of seed sowing which began with our Lord's personal ministry, and ends with the "harvest" Mt 13:40-43. Briefly, the result is mingled tares and wheat, good fish and bad, in the sphere of Christian experience. It is Christendom.

Possessed by Demons

NLT  Matthew 8:28

When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They came out of the tombs and were so violent that no one could go through that area.

 

Why is this Ponderable?

The term “demon”  derives from the Greek term daimōn, which refers to all sorts of beings, not just ones that are evil. The biblical notion of “demon,” however, refers to malignant supernatural entities who seek to harm humans. This is ponderable because evil demons under the control of Satan, seem more threatening to Christians than to the Israelites. 

Satan confronts Jesus during his 40-day fast in the desert. Demon-possessed men confront Jesus as he enters the region of the Gadarenes. Jesus cures a demoniac by sending a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of swine. When Jesus tells his disciples that he would  be killed, then raised from the dead,  Peter openly rejects this scenario. Jesus retorts, "Get thou behind me Satan." 

The notion of demons, as it existed in the time of Jesus, resembled that of the non-Isrealite Jews of surrounding territories. Demons live in deserts or ruins (Lev. 16:10; Isa. 13:21; 34:14). They inflict sickness on men (Ps. 91:5–6). They trouble men's minds (Saul; I Sam. 16:15, 23) and deceive them (I Kings 22:22–23) – but nevertheless these evil spirits are sent by the Lord.

The mysterious being who attacks Jacob in Genesis 32:25ff. exhibits a trait common to the secular notion associated with demons. They are spirits of the night and must perish at dawn. Even in Israelite popular religion, however, there seems to have been relatively little fear of the spirits of the dead. The Bible often mentions the shades of the dead, but "the congregation of the shades" (Prov. 21:16) carries on a shadowy existence below, and does not seem to trouble the living.

Some features of the Israelite cult bear a formal resemblance to apotropaic measures employed in other religions. Thus, the bells on the robe of the high priest (Ex. 28:33–35) recall the use of bells in other cultures in the belief that their tinkling keeps off demons. So, also, horns (Ex. 19:16; Lev. 25:9; et al.), incense (Lev. 16:12–13), smearing of doorposts (Ex. 12:7), the color blue (Num. 15:38), written scripture-texts (phylacteries; Deut. 6:8; 11:18) – all have parallels elsewhere as devices to ward off evil spirits. In a given case, however, it is often extremely difficult to say to what extent any of these devices were consciously used for protection against demons at a particular period.

Demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls

By the last centuries BC, A great change had taken place in angelology and demonology within Judaism, . In this period, Judiasm safeguarded its monotheistic character, but took on many traits of a dualistic system.  God and the forces of good and truth were opposed in heaven and on earth by powerful forces of evil and deceit.  Ancient mythological themes, and figures from the Bible only potentially demonic, like Satan, were selected to explain the role of evil spirits in the cosmos. These evil spirits are led by a prince, often called Belial, or Satan.

These spirits of good and evil struggle within the human soul, for in this period the role of demons is often conceived of as that of tempting men to evil rather than of inflicting physical harm. As a result, in many passages it is difficult to say whether "spirit" refers to a demon external to man or to a trait within the human soul. Belial is the most common name for the leader of the demons in the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It appears in other intertestamental literature and in II Corinthians 6:15.

¹⁵ What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil^[a]? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. 

In the intertestamental literature, Belial is "the spirit of perversion, the angel of darkness, the angel of destruction" and other spirits are subject to him. Mastemah, which as a common noun means approximately "enmity, opposition" in Hosea 9:7, 8 and in some passages in the Five Scrolls, is also a demon.  "Prince Mastemah" in Jubilees (11:5, 11; 17:16; et al.), and in the Damascus Document (16:5).  Watchers (Aram. ʿirin) are mentioned in Daniel 4:10, 14, 20.  According to Genesis 6:2, they cohabited with women before the flood and fathered the race of giants. Asmodeus (Tobit 3:8, 17) is a demon who had slain the first seven husbands of Sarah, who becomes the wife of Tobias son of Tobit.

Demons in the New Testament

New Testament demonology reflects the dualism attested in the sectarian literature from Qumran. Demons are called "unclean spirits" or "evil spirits," as in rabbinic literature. They are believed to inhabit wastelands. Possession by demons causes various sicknesses, especially those in which there is a perversion of the human personality. The demon, not the man himself, directs his acts and speech (Mark 1:23, 26; 9:17–29).

The story of how Jesus cured a demoniac by sending a legion of unclean spirits into a herd of swine (Matt. 8:28–34; Mark 5:1–20; Luke 8:26–39) illustrates the persistence of very ancient popular belief, as does the parable of Matthew 12:43–45, in which the unclean spirit, after wandering through the wilderness, takes seven devils with him. On the other hand, in the New Testament lesser demons have little independent personality or power, but are subject to Satan.

The demonic is often presented, not as something occasional and relatively harmless, but as a cosmic reality of great importance; the enemy of God and man (Eph. 6:12). Beelzebul (Beelzebub) is a name applied to the chief demon by both Jesus and his opponents (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15–19). The spelling Beelzebub reflects identification of Beelzebul with Baal-Zebub, god of Ekron (II Kings 1:2). Possibly there were two different original forms, Beelzebul meaning "Baal is prince" or "Lord of the shrine," and Beelzebub "Lord of flies" (cf. Ugaritic il dbb [in Gordon, Textbook, ʿnt 3:43]).

In the Talmud

Among the accomplishments of both Hillel (Sof. 16:9) and his disciple R. Johanan b. Zakkai was their knowledge of "the speech of the shedim" ("devils," Suk. 28a). The latter also gave the analogy of a ru'ah tezazit ("the demon of madness") entering a man and being exorcised, in order to explain to  heathen the anomaly of the laws of the red heifer. However, he agreed with his wondering disciples that it was but "putting him off with a straw" and that he himself did not accept it (PR 40a; Num. R. 19:4).

Although these statements refer to Erez Israel, the Jerusalem Talmud is markedly free from demonology, and in fact mentions only three general names for them – mazzikim, shedim, and ruhot. A passage in the Babylonian Talmud specifically states that various beliefs connected with demons which were current in Babylon were ignored in Erez Israel. Whereas in Erez Israel they translated shiddah and shiddot (Eccles. 2:8) as "carriages," in Babylon they rendered them "male and female demons" (Git. 68a). The Palestinian R. Johanan stated that the mazzikim which used to hold sway in the world disappeared with the erection of the sanctuary in the wilderness (Num. R. 12:30).

Demonology, however, is more prominent in the Palestinian Midrashim than in the Jerusalem Talmud. Yet the Babylonian Talmud is replete with demonology, reflecting the belief in demons which was widespread in Babylonia. The Babylonian Jews lived in a world which was filled with demons and spirits, malevolent and sometimes benevolent, who inhabited the air, the trees, water, roofs of houses, and privies. They are invisible; "If the eye could see them no one could endure them. They surround one on all sides. They are more numerous than humans, each person has a thousand on his left and ten thousand on his right" and they are responsible for many daily inconveniences.

Soloman's Understanding Mind

ESV  1 Kings 3:9 

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” 

 

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4000680 

 

Why is this ponderable?

 The Seal of Solomon (or Ring of Solomon; Arabic: خاتم سليمان‎ Khātam Sulaymān) is the signet ring attributed to King Solomon in medieval Jewish tradition and in Islamic and Western occultism. It was often depicted in either a pentagram or hexagram shape; the latter also known as the Star of David in Jewish tradition. Although not mentioned explicitly in the Bible, it was widely believed that just as God conferred blessings on Israel through physical objects such as the stone tablets, the Arc of the Covenant, and the staff of Moses, Soloman's understanding mind was conferred by a signet ring.

"Solomon is represented as having authority over spirits, animals, wind, and water, all of which obeyed his orders by virtue of a magic ring set with the four jewels given him by the angels that had power over these four realms. [...] It was Solomon's custom to take off the ring when he was about to wash, and to give it to one of his wives, Amina, to hold. On one occasion, when the ring was in Amina's keeping, the rebellious spirit Sakhr took on Solomon's form and obtained the ring. He then seated himself on the throne and ruled for forty days, during which time the real king wandered about the country, poor and forlorn. On the fortieth day, Sakhr dropped the ring into the sea; there it was swallowed by a fish, which was caught by a poor fisherman and given to Solomon for his supper. Solomon cut open the fish, found the ring, and returned to power. His forty days' exile had been sent in punishment for the idolatry practiced in his house for forty days, although unknown to him, by one of his wives" Baiḍawi, ii. 187; Ṭabri, "Annales," ed. De Goeje, i. 592 et seq.)." 

Why Animal Sacrifices?

In slaughter offerings, the portion allocated to God was mainly the fat, the part which can most easily be burnt (fat is quite combustible); scholars believe it was felt that the deity, being ethereal, would appreciate ethereal food more than solid food.

One way to think about ancient sacrifices is as “gifts” given to God. When they performed sacrifices, ancient Israelites gave to God some of what they believed God had given them, expressing their close relationship with God and seeking to deepen that bond.--Sacrifice in Ancient Israel by William K. Gilders

 

 

In the Hebrew Bible, sacrifice always involves transformation. One of the most common ways to transform something is to destroy it. Destruction removes the animal from the ordinary realm and transfers it to a transcendent one. Biblical texts tell us that God received the smoke of the burning sacrifice as a “pleasing odor” (see, for example, Lev 1:13). In so doing, God enjoyed a fellowship meal with human beings in God’s dwelling on earth—the temple.

The temple was a domestic setting, the place of God’s presence with the nation. One of the most common terms for the temple was ”house,” and it had furnishings, such as a lamp and a table. The altar was a cooking surface, a barbecue, so to speak, where the sacrificial animal was “cooked.” Burning up or “over-cooking” the sacrifices in the altar fire was a way for man to share a meal with God.  Burning fatty parts of animals transformed the fat into smoke. The smoke ascended into the air and dissipated. This signified that God had accepted the offering. This may explain why God did not accept the produce that Cain offered but did accept the animals offered by Abel. Produce may be eaten raw or cooked, but is never burned. The fat of a slaughtered calf burns well and ascends up to God while the meat stays on the table to be shared among those offering the sacrifice.   

 

The Third Heaven

NIV 2 Corinthians 12:3

  "I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows."

Why is this ponderable?

According to this vision, all people can be resurrected and, at the Final Judgment, can be admitted to the third heaven, or Christ's Kingdom in their spiritual body. 

Photo by Arto Marttinen on Unsplash

A third heaven, also called shamayi h'shamayim (שׁמי השׁמים or "Heaven of Heavens"), is mentioned in such passages as Genesis 28:12, Deuteronomy 10:14 and 1 Kings 8:27 as a distinctly spiritual realm containing, or being occupied by angels and God.

• Genesis 28:12, NLT: "As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. 
• Deuteronomy 10:14, NLT  “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God. ¹⁵ Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today. 
• 1 Kings 8:27 NLT. “But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! 

To describe what happened in his vision or revelation of the Lord (2 Cor 12:1), Paul says that he was “snatched up” and went to the “third heaven.” Both the language of snatching (arpagenta) and “up to the third heaven” (eos tritou ouranou) describe an upward ascent in the same manner that Jesus ascended into heaven. 

Since Paul admits to being unable to explain his experience (2 Cor 12:3), we should not think of it as "space travel" but as transformation of consciousness and shedding of the earth-bound body.

In 1 Corinthians 15:35–49, Paul describes a three-tiered hierarchy of bodies:

• earthly bodies (15:40) by using the words “kernel,” “seed,” and “flesh” (sarx). Humans, animals, birds, and fish have different sorts of fleshly bodies (15:39). 
  

•  heavenly bodies which have differing glories  including the sun, the moon, and the stars (15:40–41).  

•  spiritual bodies that are sown naturally but will become  spiritual bodies (15:44). The spiritual body approximates the heavenly bodies with their differing glories. 

The specific cause for our reception of a spiritual body is Christ’s resurrection. He first gained a spiritual body via the resurrection. So we will also gain our spiritual body via our resurrection.. 

However, it must first be transformed into a spiritual body because  “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 15:50).

Our body of flesh and blood must die just as a seed must die to germinate new life., so our earthly body will germinate a spiritual body.

We can discern a pattern in Paul of a three-tiered body: the earthly, the heavenly, and the spiritual. They all relate. We should not think of distinct tiers in a hierarchy per se. Instead, these are three parts of the cosmic body—the makeup of the universe.  

If we grant that Paul had some conception of a tiered-universe, then we can understand why he proclaims: "I was snatched up to the third heaven." By third, he may mean something like: the spiritual realm that exists in the heavenly places. 

It is not unusual for Scripture to identify the spiritual resurrection body with the heavens. Daniel says that resurrected people will shine “like the brightness of the sky above” and “like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3). And Job 38:7 describes the angels as being stars: “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” So Paul may have entered into the heavenly realm in which spiritual bodies lived—where the resurrected Jesus dwells in the abode he has prepared for his followers.

 

God Was Not a Vegan

NLT Genesis 4:2-5

When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. ³ When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. ⁴ Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵ but he did not accept Cain and his gift.

 Why is this passage ponderable?

Depending on how you interpret Old Testament scripture,  you may come away from this passage wondering if Cain was the very first Vegan. Why else would he think that God would appreciate his gift of vegetables? The disappointment he showed when  God looked with favor on Abel's gift of lamb chops and ignored his gift set off what might have been the very first temper tantrum.
 

Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products, and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans also do not even eat foods that are processed using animal products like lard and butter.

So what vegetables did Cain place in his gift basket for God? Here are some possible choices

Peas 

The oldest known vegetable, the Pea, was found in Stone Age settlements dating to 8,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Carrots
History of carrots spans the last five thousand years and tells the incredible tale of its domestication in the fields of ancient Iran and Afghanistan, expansion to the Egypt and China, popularity in medieval Europe and finally, birth of the common orange carrot in the scientific circles of 17th century Netherlands.

Cucumbers
Cucumber is a popular cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae that managed to captivate our attention from the moment it appeared in ancient India. Since that pivotal moment over 4000 years ago, cucumber was spread beyond Indian borders, moved through Ancient Greece, Rome, Europe, New World, China, and eventually becoming fourth most widely cultivate vegetable in the world

Garlic
Garlic is one of the oldest known food flavouring and seasoning plant that managed to infuse itself into culinary tradition of many civilisations across the world. It started its journey in central Asia, domesticated during Neolithic times, spread to the Middle East and northern Africa in 3000 BC, which quickly enabled it to reach Europe

Onions
Onions are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in our history, originating in central Asia from where it spread across entire world. Modern archaeologists, botanists and historians are unable to determine exact time and place of their first cultivation (because this vegetable is perishable and its cultivation leaves little to no trace), however some written records enables us to paint a very interesting picture about its origins.

Beans
Bean is one of the earliest cultivated plants. The oldest findings and proofs that we used beans for food are 9,000 years old and were found in Thailand. Wild variants of broad beans (fava beans) were gathered in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills. Beans were also found in the tombs of the kings of the ancient Egypt where they were left as the food for the departed and their souls in the afterlife. The first cultivated beans appeared 4,000 years ago in the Aegean, Iberia, and transalpine Europe and they were large-seeded broad beans. From the about the same time date beans found in Guitarrero Cave, an archaeological site in Peru which proves that beans appeared practically everywhere and where one of the staple foods of the early peoples. When the first colonists arrived at the New World, Native Americans taught them to grow beans with corn so the bean plants can climb the cornstalks.

Spinach 
Spinach was a highly regarded vegetable since the earliest days by all that grew and consumed it. Today we have cultivated variants that give more leaves, are tastier and are a good source of vitamins and minerals.

Beetroot 
Oldest archeological proofs that we used beetroot in ancient times were found on the Neolithic site of Aartswoud in the Netherlands and in Saqqara pyramid at Thebes, Egypt, which dates from the time of the Third Dynasty (third millennium BC).

Artichokes
Varieties of artichokes have records of use as a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans. Artichoke can be, at the first glance, a strange choice of food because it is a flower but we have been eating them for thousands of years. It can be prepared in many interesting variants.

 

 

 

Some Have Entertained Angels

RSV Hebrews 13:2

  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Why is this ponderable?

Various Christian sects have a variety of opinions about the possibility of God's angels walking the earth in human form. Those who are unschooled in the Bible would likely consider this a heretical belief, a fairy tale for children, or wishful thinking.

Yet here it is in Paul's own words. You can't get any more scriptural than that.

So what are we to make of it? We know a couple of things about angels that come directly from the Word of God:

Christians believe that angels are created beings, based on (Psalms 148:2–5; Colossians 1:16): "praise ye Him, all His angels: praise ye Him, all His hosts ... for He spoke and they were made. He commanded and they were created ...".

Angels have been and will forever be involved and interested in what is happening in the lives of human beings. 

•  "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10, NKJV)

 In heaven, men and women will be like the angels, who do not marry or reproduce.

• At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. (Matthew 22:30, NIV)

 Angels shout for joy, feel longing, and show many emotions in the Bible

•  while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy (Job 38:7, NIV) 

 We also know other details from folklore, myths, and legends.

•  According to Irish folklore, Saint Patrick had a personal guardian angel named Victor.  This angel convinced Patrick that God was calling him to serve the people of Ireland. 

Some angels are "fallen angels"

The fallen angel stories come from a wide variety of sources. The legends include information about the angels called “Beelzebub”, the "Watchers" and a whole list of other fallen archangel

• Many interpreters of ancient texts believe that Greek mythology involving powerful superhuman beings such as Zeus and Apollo are actually references to the same fallen angels mentioned throughout the Old Testament and the Book of Enoch.

•  In Genesis, the fallen are referred to as the Nephilim or "sons of God" who came to earth and reproduced with humans.

• In the Jewish Book of Enoch, these angels are mentioned as children of heaven who went among the "children of men" to have children of their own. These events, according to the legend, were the cause of God casting those angels from heaven.

So when a total stranger shows up and helps us, we need to show hospitality. We may never see that person again because he or she was an angel of God. On the other hand, we need to be cautious that we are not entertaining fallen angels. They too may appear as strangers. We can discern their intentions by asking ourselves if what they suggest leads us closer to God or further away.