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Mature mustard tree
Divine home-energy is like a mustard seed which when planted grows into a large plant with branches for the birds.
Divine home-energy is like a mustard seed which when planted grows into a large plant with branches for the birds.
(July 9, 2022) Mark 4:30-32, Q (Matthew 13:31-32, Luke 13:18-19), Thomas 20: Validity = 1.02
Jesus taught that the Divine home energy was already here but unseen by the spiritually blind because so few people really followed the path of God. The statue prophecy in Daniel chapter 2 had already been fulfilled. The Divine-home-energy indicating God’s presence was still small like a mustard seed but it would grow if more people would align themselves with the will of God and not be seduced by haters, blind rule followers, and power seekers.
In the statue prophecy, the Daniel interprets the dream of the Persian king. This dream describes a statue made of four metals representing four earthly empires and how after the fall of the Hellenistic fourth empire an eternal kingdom of God will be established. These four kingdoms were the Mesopotamian (Babylon/Assyria - Gold), the Medes (silver), the Persians (Bronze), and the Hellenistic (Iron and clay) which was divided against itself because after the death of Alexander it was divided between his top generals.
If this prophecy was true then the apocalyptic Kingdom of God should be here but it was nowhere to be seen. So where was it? Hence the general expectation that the apocalypse was due any day …. but Jesus had a different idea.
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open - Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand?
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open - Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand?
(July 9, 2022) Mark 4:21-23, Q (Matthew 5:14-16, Luke 8:16-17), Luke 11:33-36, Thomas 5, Thomas 6, Thomas 33; Validity = 1.02
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed - what you have whispered in the ear will be proclaimed.
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed - what you have whispered in the ear will be proclaimed.
(July 9, 2022) Mark 4:21-23, Q (Matthew 10:26-27, Luke 12:2-3, Thomas (first part in 5 and second part in 33); Validity = 1.02
People could not see any evidence that God’s energy had arrived. Thus, Jesus had to teach a skeptical audience that divine home-energy would become apparent as more people became aligned with God. Lamp and light have a double meaning in Jewish tradition as evidenced by these sentences in Proverbs and Psalms in which the light of instruction from God’s lamp is the way to life:
(Proverbs 6:23, NIV) For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,(Proverbs 20:27, NIV) The human spirit is (or a person’s words are) the lamp of the Lord that sheds light on one’s inmost being.(Psalm 18:27-28, NIV) You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.
Growing divine home-energy requires a culture change and so it must grow slowly in order to avoid violent resistance from the cultural defender types. The great irony here is that despite his best efforts Jesus encountered violent resistance in Jerusalem which ended with his death.
Divine home-energy will come like a thief in the night. One cannot enter a strongman’s house without first tying up the strong man because he would resist.
Divine home-energy will come like a thief in the night. One cannot enter a strongman’s house without first tying up the strong man because he would resist.
(July 9, 2022) 1 Thessalonians 5:1-5, Mark 3:25-27, Q (Matthew 24:42-44, Luke 12:39-40), John 10:1-5, Thomas 35: Validity = 1.84. [Copied from Mark so not counted: Matthew 12:29, Luke 11:21-22]
God’s energy could not be like another Roman empire based upon coercion and fear. Therefore, it had to grow slowly otherwise humans trapped by their own culture would instinctively react against it in a blind antagonistic fear. God’s way in not the human way. Divine home energy had to come silently yet deliberately like a thief in the night.
The apocalyptic idea entered Jewish culture from the Zoroastrian Persian Achaemenid Empire after the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire and ended the Jewish exile in 539 BCE. An early manifestation of this new ideology was the book of Daniel with its statue prophecy of verses 2:31-45. This prophecy implied that the apocalyptic Kingdom of God would arrive after the fall of all the Hellenistic empires. The last Hellenistic kingdom to fall was the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty of Queen Cleopatra when she and Roman General Marc Antony were defeated by the future Roman emperor Octavian Caesar in 30 BCE.
Like many other anti-apocalyptic teachings from Jesus, the original meaning of this was lost on the apocalyptic Christians so they spun it in many different ways trying to make sense of it. For example, Paul thinks this teaching means no one really knows the exact day when the Day of Judgment will occur. Mark interprets this teaching as indicating that Satan is internally divided and thus his power will not last much longer allowing him to be tied up and robbed. The Q source takes a view similar to Paul in that no one knows when the apocalyptic Son of Man will arrive. Only Thomas seems to preserve some sense of the original meaning. Consequently, this teaching was orphaned because it made no sense when everyone thought that Jesus would arrive again in a sudden violent apocalypse bringing in the empire of God.
If anyone says “Look Here” or “Look There,” don't believe It.
If anyone says “Look Here” or “Look There,” don't believe It.
(July 9, 2022) Mark 13:19-21, Q (Matthew 24:26-27, Luke 17:22-24), Luke 17:20-21, Thomas 3, Thomas 113. Validity = 1.55. [Copied from Mark so not used: Matthew 24:22-25]
No Sign Will be Given.
No Sign Will be Given.
(July 9, 2022) Mark 8:11-13, Q (Matthew 12:38-41, Luke 11:29-30), Luke 11:14-16, Validity = 1.09. [Copied from Mark so not used: Matthew 16:1-4]
Many Jews during the time of Jesus expected the arrival of an apocalyptic kingdom any day and many saw signs of the imminent arrival everywhere (Look, Look, Look!). Jesus was telling them no such signs exist. This fascination with the end times has continued to this day among both Christians (who supposedly read their Bible) and non-Christians.
The earliest gospel of Mark properly wraps this teaching within a slow growing dive home-energy context which was the story about "feeding the multitude." Here people Jesus shared their food with strangers in a miraculous act of love.
In contrast, the Q (Matthew, Luke) source places this teaching within an apocalyptic context by stating that the only sign will be the sign of Jonah in a reference to the apocalyptic resurrection of Jesus who like Jonah came back to life after three days (Jonah after three days in the belly of a whale). The author of Matthew liked this explanation so much that he even added it to the end of his Mark copied passage. That this passage was copied from Mark is also indicated by how both passages end with Jesus leaving the crowd.
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