Interpreting Divine Guidance

Grace Bible Church

Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The TREE OF LIFE is a weekly teaching summary.

The Tree of Life for week ending 09/30/01.
Interpreting Divine Guidance.

We have been noting many principles these past two weeks that have applications to the tragic events of September 11.  One of those principles is that we as believers need to pray for our leaders. 
We have also been noting who the real enemy is.  The believer is to realize verses like 2Co 2:11 "Let no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes."
In 1JO 5:19 "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

Paul told us who are enemy really is in EPH 6:12 "Our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

God promised to send the Messiah into the world, in GEN 3:15, when He said "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed [Satan's seed is represented by the Adamic nature, JOH 8:44] and her seed;a reference to the Lord at the point of his incarnation or the virgin birth He (the seed of the woman) shall bruise you on the head literally crush the head of Satan (i.e., operation footstool) And you [Satan] shall bruise him on the heel, a reference to the cross."

Ever since this promise to mankind, Satan has tried to destroy The Lord Jesus Christ and is now trying to destroy one of His royal families.
Jesus Christ has three Royal Titles or three Royal Families.

1.  His title as the "Son of God." The members of this Royal Family are; God the Father and God the Holy Spirit with whom He has eternal and infinite coexistence.  Satan tried to destroy this title and Royal family in EZE 28:15, Isa 14:12-14, of course he failed.

2.  Because of the virgin birth and the introduction of the humanity of Christ, our Lord was born Jewish Royalty.  His second Royal Title is "Son of David," and His Royal Family is the dynasty or the house of David.  As Jewish Royalty, our Lord will fulfill the Davidic covenant, the promises that He made to David at the Second Advent. This Covenant says that the seed of the woman, the humanity of Christ, will descend from the tribe of Judah through the family of David, 2SA 7:8-17; Psa 89:20-37, and that He would rule upon the throne of Jerusalem.

3.  By virtue of His strategic victory on the cross, our Lord received His third Royal Title: "King of kings, Lord of lords, the Bright Morning Star," REV 19:12-16.  Therefore, a third royal family had to be formed so God the Father interrupted the dispensation of Israel and inserted the Church-age for the calling out (formation, election) of a Royal Family.  Satan tried to destroy this Royal Family but he has realized that is a lost cause too.
Satan has only one Royal Title and one Royal Family left to try and destroy, our Lord's second Royal Title of "Son of David," and His Royal Family, the dynasty of David, true Israel.

The first satanic attack on Christ becoming true humanity was when Cain murdered Abel in Gen 4, which was a satanic attack on Adam's seed.  It was an attack on the first promise given to Adam after he sinned, that God the Father would provide the Savior from Adam's seed, who would come through the woman as the child-bearer.  This is the importance of knowing your enemy.
In GEN 4:8, Abel didn't realize that Cain had been motivated by Satan to kill him, as 1JO 3:12 tells us.  However inGEN 4:8 "And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him."
In that first generation, Satan inspired Cain to murder Abel, a believer. However, in GEN 4:25, the line continued on through Seth, Satan realized that murder wouldn't work to cut off the line.
GEN 4:25 "And Adam had relations [sex] with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel; for Cain killed him."

Satan realized that murder could not cut off to cut off the line. However, Satan has millions of angels under his command, REV 5:11; REV 12:4 and certain ones were delegated to frustrate the possibility of The Lord Jesus Christ ever becoming true humanity to fulfill this prophecy. In an attempt to destroy all true humanity, fallen angels invaded earth and copulated with females, producing half-angel half-human beings, documented in GEN 6:1-6.
Satan was hoping that that would wipe out the promise of Jesus Christ coming into the world as true humanity.  However, this too failed because of Noah and his family.  On the ark was Noah's son Shem, and in LUK 3:36, our Lord would descend from the line of Shem.

To understand all of the current evil in the Middle East, one must begin with a descendant of Shem who for 99 years was an Arab and the Arab's claim him as one of them, which he was up until age 99 when God claimed Abraham for Himself and started a brand new race called the Jews.
Abraham was called Abram in the Bible before God changed his name, GEN 11:27.  Abram was born in the city of Ur about 2161 BC and his father Terah was an unbeliever and an idolater.  The city of Ur was a city that was the center of worship of the moon God called Ur and Abraham's father was a worshipper of Ur who was also called Allah.

We have noted that the Koran never explains tenets of the faith because it assumes familiarity with them and that the name Allah is assumed to be well known to the reader.  The name  "Allah" was not something invented by Muhammad or revealed for the first time in the Koran.  The reason that Muhammad never had to explain who Allah was in the Koran is that his readers had already heard about Allah long before Muhammad was ever born.  Allah was one of the names given to the moon-god who was worshipped way back in Gen 11 in the city of Ur.

According to Middle East scholars in pre-Islamic times Allah-worship, as well as the worship of Ba-al both involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars.
The symbol of the worship of the moon god-in Arabian cultures and elsewhere throughout the Middle East was the crescent moon, which can still be seen today on many flags of Islamic nations.

Allah was one of the names used as the personal name of the moon god, in fact the Quraysh tribe into which Muhammad was born was particularly devoted to Allah.  The literal Arabic name of Muhammad's father was Abd-Allah which reveals the personal devotion that Muhammad's family had to the worship of Allah, the moon god.
While living in Haran, at the age of 75 Abraham received a call from God to go to a strange, unknown land that God would show him.

The Lord promised Abraham that He would make him and his descendants a great nation, according to GEN 12:1-3"Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you;
And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

The phrase translated "go for yourself from your land and from your relatives and from your father's house" or literally "Get out," Get away from them.
When he finally does leave and cross the river which God will lead him to he will be called a haa-`ibriy meaning a crosser of the river, where we got the word Hebrew from.

Abraham made a mistake when he went to Haran which means the dried up place, and he stayed there until God intervened and once again called him up.  As long as he was in Haran his spiritual life was dried up.  God called Abraham out from his country and relatives and from his father's house and his father's religion.

Abraham was getting doctrine from the Lord in Ur of the Chaldeans but because of his family and relatives, Abraham never reached spiritual maturity until he was totally separated from all his relatives, including his father and his nephew Lot.
It was necessary for Abraham to have a change of residence because his spiritual growth was the most important thing.
He was leaving a place where he was well known and apparently a place where he was even appreciated.
Back in Ur of the Chaldea doctrine had been available from the Lord up to a point and when it ceased, God had to uproot Abraham and get him out of there.

If you are going to be a winner in the spiritual life and receive God's highest and best, which is greater than anything you can imagine, then you are going to have to overcome distractions and opposition.
You also will be opposed by friends, family, co-workers and even enemies, MAT 10:34-36 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household."

Abraham lived in the Ur of the Chaldees which was the most prosperous empire of his day, the great period of the third dynasty of Ur.  Abraham's father was actually a priest of the moon god Ur (Allah), and one was also one of the wealthiest men in this prosperous city.  For Abram to obey the Lord in GEN 12:1 and leave, it meant to give up the so-called prosperity of the world.

Ur of the Chaldees was a great powerful empire but it was destroyed after Abraham left.  Abraham left Ur, went north and then south down to Canaan and on his way passed the Amorites who were on their way to destroy Ur.  When God tells you to get out of some place, it's time to get out.

Every believer, as he grows, should have a good sense of timing, to know when it's time to go and when it's time to stay, everything in life is timing.
The Lord Jesus Christ controls history and He knew what was going to happen to Ur and He got Abraham out.  This is why we should always be sensitive to the leading of the Lord.  The only way to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord is to know Bible doctrine or the mind or thinking of the Lord.

Abraham was enjoying blessings as he was following God while his old friends in Ur were being tortured, enslaved, and being disposed of everything they owned.  Being in the right place at the right time for us is a matter of divine guidance.
Being in the right place at the right time is a matter of divine guidance and the principle that Jesus Christ controls history.

When Abraham left Ur, it was entering into the peek of its prosperity and he appeared to be leaving a sure thing, a good thing, but it wasn't.
Abraham is going to make a major transition.  As believers there is a great lesson in this, "don't make a major change like this without doctrine."  When we are faced with some major decision, from one place to another, one situation or job or relationship to another we must do it through doctrine, which gives the confidence of Divine guidance.  HEB 11:8 "By means of doctrine resident in the soul, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going."

There are different ways that we can receive guidance and direction from the plan of God.
1.  There is guidance through prayer.  It's important that before you make a major decision, take any doctrinal stand, make a major move in your life, that first of all you go to God in prayer and seek Him for guidance first, because prayer softens the heart and will do away with any form of emotionalism, bitterness, anger, subjectivity.  Therefore, you will be more open to objective reality rather than subjective misconception.  

2.  There is guidance through objective thinking of Bible doctrine. Concentration is important when you need direction.  Thinking doctrine will lead us to discovering God's will. The more doctrine we know, the more we can be guided correctly. The more precise the map, the more detailed, the easier it is to reach your destiny.

3.  There is guidance through perception and recall of doctrine. It is important that before you make a major decision, take any doctrinal stand, make a major move in your life, make sure you are being guided by your past perception and your recall of Bible doctrine.

4.  There is also guidance through providential circumstances, the people we meet.  Many times God guides the believer with providential circumstances that we call a coincidence.  The final authority is what does the Word say.

5.  There is guidance through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the humility to obey.  And sometimes the humility to obey is needed because you have to have the absolute confidence that you're making the right decisions because guaranteed it will go against the grain and against the majority.

6.  There is guidance through fellowship and comparison of spiritual facts.

If you have been a part of a doctrinal ministry and have been submitting to the authority of your pastor-teacher and have been listening to what the Spirit has been saying to your Church, you have already been prepared By God the Holy Spirit to make a major decision, take a doctrinal stand, or make a major move in your life.
Before the moment needed, the word is given, 2PE 3:17.