True Life Story of Christ, Pt. 1

Ronald Weinland

April 25, 2020

We’re starting a new series, and it’s one that I’ve gone into in times past. I think I will have this as a part of the system here that goes on YouTube so others in other parts of the world who watch us on a regular basis, whether there in Australia, New Zealand, obviously, over in Europe and different locations, so that everyone is able to hear the same thing of why I’m doing this at this time.

But I’m going to begin going through a new series entitled the True Life Story of Christ. This is going to be Part 1. It was about two years ago, I believe, maybe three now, I didn’t look it up here. But maybe in 2017, I went through some of it, later on went through some more, but we hadn’t got to a point yet where we had the real name of Joshua there on this.

So, in this case here I wanted to clarify, make some of these that are newer, in that respect. Because we’re trying to bring things up on the website, make them a little bit better as far as the Church site is concerned. A lot of the things in there are outdated, in that sense that there are so many things that have come along in many years here that we’ve grown in so much.

We’ve been given so much that I’m trying to get a little bit of that caught up as far as sermons on the site. With some of the new YouTube things that we’re doing, as individuals come to the site, they’ll be able to go into some of the areas here if they want to then, like the sermons, and find things like this more quickly.

A lot of people have heard a lot of things about the life of Christ, obviously, that are so messed up, and if they can come to something like this sooner and see it up there that’s up to date right now at this time it should be a great help to them because there are just so many stores out there of things that just aren’t correct. Obviously, we know that.

But again, just so you can understand why we’re going through this again at this point. And even, obviously, on Holy Days we go through things once a year. This is going to have a lot to do with the Holy Days as well, as you will see, and this is an appropriate time, I think, to do some of this between Passover and the Pentecost season; the Passover season and Unleavened Bread and Pentecost that’s coming up here in May.

Anyway, again, so obviously, we understand that few have really ever heard the true life story of Christ. There is so much in here, and even as we go through some of this there may be segments that we take out. I’m going to try that today to see if it works. But rather than just having to record various segments like we have started doing we can have this within a sermon or sermons, and especially in his story, his life story here, because there are so many things that we can put on the site, smaller versions rather than an entire sermon. Even though some of these might be a little longer, like this one today, they will not be as long as a sermon.

And so, there are different segments at times that would fit in good to this. So, if we can do it we’re going to try to do it that way. So that’s another reason for going through some of this because most of the things that we really want to address and put on YouTube first have to do with those things that we could have in smaller snippets, specific things that are specific areas that can be addressed. Just like one, I’m thinking about working on right now here about the three days and three nights of Christ being in the heart of the earth as he talked about, those things that are so confusing to the world and when people begin to go through some of that don’t even know the importance and reasons why this is important. But that’s why we need to get some of those things out there on YouTube if we can.

It’s kind of a new form of communication that’s growing in greater popularity in the sense of this is where people go for information, in one respect; even before they go to some things on Google, they go to YouTube. That’s good and we’re going to try to utilize both this time around as we continue to go forward with some of the publications, the new book, and so forth.

So, we have just observed, God’s Church has just observed the Passover season and the days of Unleavened Bread, and the story of Christ’s human life comes out in this, obviously, very powerfully so if we begin from the very beginning of his story because it’s all about leading up to Passover. He came the first time to become our Passover, to be our Passover, to fulfill the role of Passover. And again, something, sadly, that’s just not taught in the world, as a whole. People don’t understand the importance of that and what that means.

So again, we’ve just gone through that particular season of the year so this is a good time to really focus on some of those things, and again, has great importance in tying in the time of Unleavened Bread because of the wave sheaf. Because Christ fulfilled the wave sheaf offering when he was resurrected, after he was resurrected, I should say, and when he was received by His Father then on Sunday. Things that people confuse with his resurrection, actually.

So that and then the wave loaves that come up later on then on Pentecost, as we’re coming up to the wave loaves, and Christ making it all possible, that those things exist. But they tie in mightily as far as the meaning of God’s Holy Days are concerned.

So again, this story is going to cover his life and lead up to those things that talk about the fulfillment of why he came the first time, why he is coming a second time. Because most people, most of those around him, even those who came into Jerusalem on the last day of his life that were praising him, crying out to God, giving God thanks when he was coming into Jerusalem there toward the end, because they were crying out, they believed that he was of the lineage of David who had come to be their king, nd yet that’s about his second coming, his return.

So again, incredible how these things are so clear in God’s Church but have been so confused, made confusing, I should say, in the world and what is taught out there.

Today, there are literally tens of thousands of varying beliefs of different organizations within that mix of tens of thousands because with tens of thousands of beliefs come the tens of thousands of organizations and that’s a part of the way traditional Christianity is, of about 2.5 billion people. Incredible confusion in that mix because the reason for different organizations is because people don’t agree with each other because they have different teachings. You think, no wonder there is such massive confusion today amongst different beliefs and ideas about Christ. It’s horrible, it really is. It’s a quagmire for people to try to wade through.

So again, a part of the reason for giving this particular section here and asking some very important questions here as we begin with a life story about Christ, it’s a good place to begin. Because there is a lot of confusion, a lot of things that just don’t agree with each other that are taught about God and Christ because of so many different beliefs.

So again, these vary drastically as far as what is taught, and one of the things that is taught is a difference in his very name, whether it’s Joshua or Jesus. Again, to some that seems like a simple question. Actually, depending on what your belief is it would seem like a simple question. There are those who think, “Well, why would you even ask such a thing? It’s obviously Jesus.” To others who believe it’s Joshua it’s like, “Well, why would you even ask such a thing. It’s Joshua.”

So we’re going to address that at the beginning of this in talking about this particular segment because it’s just one of many of the discrepancies in traditional Christianity about God and about Christ that I’ve addressed in the new book even a little more thoroughly in some of these areas that’s entitled When the Countdown Ends. Which, I could mention here, can be downloaded free at countdownends – no spaces in between –  countdownends.com.

The best place to begin learning what is true and what is false here – because one is true and one is false – and the best place to do that is to begin at the very start of those things that talk about Christ’s conception and his birth.

You know, parents tend to place importance on names they give to their children. It can be an exciting time. Obviously, it’s an exciting thing when a birth is coming, when a child is going to be born, and for many parents there is a lot sometimes that goes into this, choosing a name, picking a name, and sometimes, maybe oftentimes, even the meaning of the name, what it means, is important to the parent.

The question is, why would that be different with God? And if we understand things about God, believe in God, we ought to know that that would be far more meaningful to God. His only Son. His only child who was directly begotten by Him. Incredible! So that name, as far as He was concerned, we should understand, had to be exceedingly important, and it was. That’s so much of the story here as well.

Let’s begin in Matthew 1:18 that talks about the beginning of this process. Matthew begins by saying, Now the birth of… It says, “Jesus” obviously, in Bibles. But again, Joshua the Christ. It’s about the birth of Joshua. The reality is here, what is being said here takes a little bit of time to work through, but it makes it very clear here that this is the beginning of his story, of his life, and it says this is what follows: After his mother Mary was betrothed (engaged) to Joseph… So they were just at that point. They had not been married yet, and obviously, striving to live by God’s way of life.

The world doesn’t seem to place as much importance on those things now days, obviously, but in that society, in that world at that time, Joseph and Mary especially, they were striving to live by things that they believed about what God said about marriage. Now, for them to come together beforehand sexually in any fashion or form was unheard of. It just wasn’t done, in that sense; in their minds and their thinking they just wouldn’t do that.

This is the story here. It talks about being engaged. It says, before they came together. That’s what that means. So, they were engaged, they hadn’t come together. It doesn’t mean just in marriage; it means they didn’t come together either in the sense of that which would lead to having a child.

It says, she was found with a child of the holy spirit. The story is here before they ever came together, before they were actually married, because they were living by that standard in their life, it says she had a child, she was bearing a child and it began to be seen, began to be known. To imagine that society of that time, of how people lived in the community that was there and people thinking this way, it ought to be easy to see what followed here.

It says, Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example—in other words, not wanting to expose her to public shame or disgrace—was mindful to put her away secretly. His desire was was to spare her from that.

They knew they hadn’t come together. The way human beings think, questions can come into the mind, obviously, “How is this possible?” Because that’s unheard of, to be with child from God, so that wasn’t even part of the thinking and discussion at this point. How was this possible?

Verse 20—But while he thought about these things… So you can only imagine what he was thinking about in his mind – doubt, questions, things that would naturally come there and yet knowing her and the desire to be married and the desire to have children and have a family.

It says, behold, an angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife. What an incredible thing, to have a dream that is so real like that, to know, to see something like this and what was said that followed here: for that which is conceived in her is of the holy spirit. Unheard of. What does this mean, “of the holy spirit?” And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call his name—so it’s written in Bibles “Jesus”—but it’s Joshua. For he will save His people from their sins.

Now, first of all here there are all kind of arguments out there. When you start looking at this and looking up these verses or look what’s being said as far as any kind of controversy—most people probably don’t even know there is a controversy—but there is when you look it up on the internet about whether it was “Joshua” or whether it was “Jesus.” Some tend to go to right away here as their argument that it was in Aramaic, written in Aramaic. Well, there are so many arguments and that you can’t prove these things because there is nothing out there you can go to and say, “See! Here’s the Aramaic.” Because it’s believed that the first four gospels are written in Aramaic, which is akin to Hebrew. That was what was spoken in that particular region of the world at that time.

But again, that’s a belief that some hold because of research and so forth that they have done, and of the region of the world. But that doesn’t prove anything to people, and they are just arguments that go back and forth.

So sadly, if there are any of those documents they’re hidden in a location, in a particular library, that no one is allowed to go in except people of a particular religious belief, which is of the Catholic Church. They will not allow the public, others, or scholars to come in and go through their library of books and things that are written that go way, way back in time, especially when it has to do with that which is religious in nature, except for cardinals and so forth and depending on the purpose of what they’re doing.

So again here, this story going on then and what his name really was, whether it was “Jesus” or “Joshua.” It’s going through here and telling this, how he was born, and being put away, and then of the holy spirit, this dream. It says, And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call his name Joshua.

Now, this is from God. An angel was sent to tell Joseph—in essence God telling the angel, giving the angel the job, the responsibility to do this, to deliver this message then to Joseph and saying to him, “This is from God. The child is from God. The child is of the holy spirit and this is what his name is going to be.” Then it puts this phrase in here, for he shall save His people from their sins.

Now, this becomes really important, and some of the most important of things when you begin to understand why this is done throughout scripture, when a specific name is given and then, in essence, a definition of what it means is given, what it’s purpose is. And so there are all kinds of, again, arguments about this as to what is there, but there is something unique that comes out of all this as you go through it and it begins to tear down certain kinds of arguments because people will, as a whole, believe whatever they want to believe and they try to defend what they believe with unsoundness of mind, without reason of certain things, and totally glossing over certain areas of life that they just don’t want to address.

So again here, this is entangled in numerous claims about what is used to justify a particular belief.

There are “scholars” that have known that the same word in Hebrew, that this expression here about what was told to Joseph, is really about Joshua, because they know.

The bottom line is after all the arguments are said and done there is one thing that stands firm, that they all will agree, as a whole. I’ve done a lot of reading, a lot of research into some of this and what it always comes back to though if you go back in time, and they will acknowledge, it comes from the name of the Old Testament Joshua and there is no argument in that.

So why didn’t they use Joshua here if they knew that’s the name? That becomes really important as you go along and see why this expression was used here as well by the angel “for he will save His people from their sins” becomes so important. Again here, incredible some of the kinds of reasoning that people use in all of this.

But people understand it’s the same as the name Joshua, of the one who followed Moses, who replaced Moses, if you will, and led the children of Israel into the promised land. This is important as well because of the name and the meaning of the name of the one who led the children of Israel into the promised land in the first place.

God does things and gives things, especially when it comes to names, and they have tremendous meaning. Anyone who has done any study of the Bible at all should understand that, that names, when it comes to what God gives in scripture, are incredibly important to Him and they define, they have meaning and purpose for what they’re given, for what is given.

You see some names nowadays and they’re just putting together sounds that might sound good but have no real meaning to them whatsoever. Not so scripturally, if you go through those things.

So again here, the discrepancies that concern the name begin with those arguments about the Old Testament. This is where everything starts. If you go back in time, things shifted and changed and you finally end up with a different name, the name “Jesus…” Because the name “Jesus” of itself has no meaning, in that respect. It does not mean, of and by itself, what is defined here as Joshua or in what follows, “for he shall save His people.” It doesn’t refer to that. Yet God gives names that have meaning to it or that show purpose, God’s purpose, of what He’s accomplishing and what He’s doing.

This all goes back to, if you look at some of the arguments out there, to about 300 B.C. and on to a period of time when you come upon a period when the Greek Septuagint was written. Because the Hebrew Bible began to be changed into, began to be translated (the Old Testament), into Greek. That was the first known thing that was ever done on a massive scale like this.

The story of the origin of the Septuagint now is from 70, some say 72 interpreters were used by Ptolmey II, of Egypt, who ruled over that particular region of the world – the Greek king of Egypt, if you will, Ptolmey II. He brought these together and had them begin translating then, the Old Testament, into Greek, which is known as “ancient Greek.” It had changes take place in it.

Just like English or any other language out here, they change with time. Etymology is a very interesting thing, to see the study of words and see how a word might have been used a few hundred years ago or even a hundred years ago or a few hundred years ago and how they change with usage. In time the definition sometimes changes completely.

But again, this story here is about what was being written in “ancient Greek” or what is called— and there are a couple different pronunciations of it—but it’s Koine Greek. That’s the type of Greek which is recorded here, which is “ancient Greek” or Hellenistic type of Greek (known as that as well).

But in the beginning there, the name for Joshua in the Old Testament, the one who was trained by Moses, if you will, served Moses, and then the one who after Moses died led the children of Israel into the promised land, they translated his name, basically in the letters in English anyway (because there are different letters here) but it’s as I-ē-s-o-û-s. Some don’t have the “s” on the end. That’s something that has changed in time there as well. But even there, if you go back, and most people try to give the pronunciation today as “yay sous,” that that’s how you pronounced it.

So most often in a different language if you want to keep a name you strive to at least give a word that sounds like that same word so it’ll be known by someone else that would hear that name that this sounds close, as close as you can get in your spelling, in your pronunciation of things, like that name.

Well, Iēsoûs [yay sous] doesn’t sound a whole lot like “Joshua,” and yet if you go back, which I’ve done, and look at some of the letters in Koine Greek it sounds a lot more like “Joshua” than Iēsoûs [yah sous]. I have a hard time trying to do it but it’s [ee eh…] Again, a little harder to do because just like the letters “j” or a “g” sound in Hebrew, we understand as a whole in the Church, like “Yahweh,” some use the word “Jehovah.” I don’t like that one at all but Yahweh, speaking of God Almighty, that particular, the “Yah,” for English it does use a “j” generally to try to give the same sort of sound, which to me it baffles the mind.

But that’s what we did; that’s what we’ve done as far as things that are translated in so many languages. A lot of that is because of things that happened right here, Greek and so forth, and different parts of the world, and things were translated there first.

It’s “ee ah so…” It’s “so.” The “s” sound has “soh” sound, “soh. Iēsoûs [ee ah soh uus]. It’s “u-u-s”. To me that sounds a lot closer if you phonetically sound it out than “yay sous.” But again, neither here nor there. It doesn’t prove anything.

But it is kind of interesting that when you go back to Koine Greek it really does sound closer than what people try to say today. A lot of times there are reasons why people try to make it sound a little different and get it closer to…what? Well, that’s the next part of the story. But to get it closer to, as far as the English language is concerned, the sound of “Jesus” because that’s where some of that came from as time went on. But again, that’s the sounding of words and etymology and things that transpired.

But this is just the beginning of the story, what happened with Hellenistic Greek or Koine Greek, if you will. These Greek scriptures used later used the same letters. If you follow through in time now and when you see things begin to be translated now, because the New Testament comes along much later, obviously, the time of Christ, 250 years later, and then we come to the time of Christ and then scriptures that begin to be written. So, you have another hundred, two hundred years past and things begin to be translated then, and some things written in Greek in the particular case, obviously, as the disciples and other ones that wrote there. Because it wasn’t just disciples, but apostles, if you will.

Just like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew and John were the apostles, but Mark and Luke were not; one served Peter, one served Paul, wrote for them and so forth. Anyway, it’s an incredible story some of the things that were written there, that have been written.

But again, as they begin to be written the name for Joshua was still the same as that Old Testament name so people would know. They knew when they read Greek that whenever they came across that word, that’s the word “Joshua.” They just pronounced it differently.

Now when things start to get muddled, the Catholic Church that became firmly established as the religion of the Roman Empire in 325 A.D.. In the 380’s A.D., a little bit later here now, the Catholic Church under the leadership of a pope named Damasus I, he wanted scripture to begin to be translated now from Greek and translate it into what they called and referred to as an “acceptable Latin version.” Now, that’s open to interpretation, what that means, but generally when something like that is stated it becomes a little clearer. Acceptable to who? Well, to that Church and their beliefs and so forth.

Anyway, it was to be an “acceptable Latin version” because this is what is stressed and what was given to this particular individual that was put in charge of this to do. Because it was given to an individual named Jerome, a scholar of that time that was good in various languages, and so forth, and he began writing this around 383 A.D. and it was completed around 405. He was taking from the Greek Septuagint in the Old Testament and translating that and other scriptures then that were in the Greek Septuagint into Latin so it was an “acceptable Latin version.”

In this particular case here in the New Testament when the words were used here they used a particular word for Christ’s name. They didn’t use the same thing as they did in the Old Testament concerning the name, and even that was changed somewhat. But they used the letters here of I-E-S-V-S, looks like a “v” but …S-U-S, (S-V-S) [IESUS] – English word we use as “Jesus.” It’s “Yay-sous.”

Anyway, “IESUS” [yay-sous], and that’s how the pronunciation supposedly was. But the letters were changed a great deal in Latin and the sounds and that became the name then for Joshua, replacing the things that had been written in Greek but saying that it was the closest thing to sound like that as far as the explanation that’s given and the reason it was given. Because, supposedly, this sounded like that. Yet it’s getting farther and farther away where it’s pressing or stressing this last portion of “sous.” “Je-sus,” “sus,” if you will. Anyway, that’s another story that comes in that may or may not be true.

But again, it’s important to go back here and look at a couple things because the bottom line, when it’s all said and done, is that everyone acknowledges, it doesn’t matter what language it is, that this is the name of Joshua in the Old Testament, it comes from that. They will acknowledge that.

Yet there is something different, a little screwy, frankly, in what they do with the New Testament, that they understand, or they at least began to acknowledge it later on. I want to give you an example. Let’s turn over to Acts 7. Let’s notice this.

Acts 7:44 it says, Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness. The story is here, going back to when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, God brought them out of Egypt. They were in the wilderness for forty years and this is that story then that is referring back to here in Acts. It says, Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, speaking of the tent and the tabernacle at that particular time, as He had appointed, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

God gave him the manner in which it was to be constructed, to be built, what was to be in it and so forth, in order for the children of Israel to worship Him, and with a priesthood that was there that God also gave them instruction concerning the priesthood and the offerings, and the sacrifice and offering system that was given to Israel. It’s talking about those things.

Then it says, verse 45—for which our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the gentiles. Now, this is the King James Version, and candidly, this word “Jesus” wasn’t even in English until the period of time you could say that was around the time of the King James Version that was given. I’ll just give some of that now. It was because of the King James Version that some of this began to become popularized, that that’s the first time that the word “Jesus” really began to be used extensively. Before that there were some who had talked about that particular word for English but it wasn’t popular amongst people in Europe at that point in time until the Bible was written, or changed, if you will, from Latin and written in an English version, the King James Version. There are reasons for that. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

But again here, even the word “Jesus” wasn’t even being used as far as the English language is concerned until that period of time when the King James was written. But here in the King James it’s written as “Jesus” and yet it’s not about “Jesus” and everyone knows that. It was Joshua. So why the confusion? Why stick with a particular word here that scholars and anyone knows what this is talking about and knows what it is in English? Why use a different name? It’s like, “Well, this is the New Testament and we need to be consistent in using the same name.” But it’s not the same name and they know full well that it isn’t.

So anyway, going on here and it says, brought in with (as it should be) Joshua into the possession of the gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and desired to find a tabernacles for the God of Jacob.

So, it’s all a story here about the tabernacle. It’s all a story here about what happened as the children of Israel being led into the promised land by, you know, it’s Joshua and it’s clear.

So, I want to read one more, Hebrews 4:8, just to make the point, drive the point home here of what they have done, what the King James did at that particular time. Because there are reasons why certain things are perpetuated.

You know, most other translations recognize this mistake or this foolishness that was done as far as the King James was translated, that it should have been Joshua. They know that and they’ve made those corrections.

But here in Hebrews 4:8 it says, For if Jesus had given them rest… It’s the same story about coming into the promised land, about a rest that was promised, about something that God gave as His plan about a promise to Israel—frankly, to mankind—about entering into a particular rest at a particular time, referring to the time of the Messiah when the Messiah would come and a kingdom that would be established.

But here it’s referring to some of that. It says, For if (King James says) Jesus had given them rest then would he not have afterward spoken of another day. So, in other words, what Paul is talking about in the book of Hebrews wasn’t fulfilled through Joshua, the one who led the children of Israel into the promised land. That’s the point being made. But again, King James uses “Jesus.”

So if you go to other translations, I just looked at a few to put down here, translations that a lot of people are familiar with, they don’t use the word “Jesus” because they know it’s not about “Jesus,” they know it’s about Joshua.

It says, it speaks properly here in the sense of Joshua in both of these translations, in both the Authorized Standard Version, the New International Version, the New Living Translation, the New King James Version, and the Revised Standard Version. They all use the name Joshua.

If you have a name in English, and this to me is so simple, if you have something in English, a name that means something, Joshua, then why change it in the New Testament when it’s still speaking of Joshua?

The same letters used, that were used by the Greeks, the same words and the same lettering that was translated into Latin became changed in Latin to have a different sound to it. That’s by design and by purpose. They didn’t choose to use everything the same when it came to the New Testament and the Old Testament. They made a distinction in some of those things. Things began to be changed through time.

And so it was when English was translated here, or English from the Latin was translated (because it was translated, as a whole, from Latin), because what was taking place here is the Church of England obviously is no longer affiliated with the Catholic Church. A lot of people know that history of England and what took place. And so, they still had their roots in the Catholic Church and in Latin, so because of that certain things were done. Certain doctrines were still kept, but there became a disagreement in the structure, in the government and the authority and so forth, and that’s really how things began to split up.

So again, everybody knows, scholars agree it’s the name, it’s referring to the same name that’s used for Joshua, so why not use Joshua for Christ? Because they all know that’s what it was. Whether it was written earlier in Aramaic is irrelevant. It’s Joshua. It’s so simple; it really is.

You go through some of this after all the twisting and distorting of the truth. It’s why it’s important to grasp what God the Father was naming His Son because it states it right there why this is important.

Let’s read that again in Matthew 1:20—But while he thought about those things, speaking of the dream that came to him, behold, an angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the holy spirit. This is from God. It’s God’s child. Incredible!

And she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Joshua: for he will save His people from their sins. What is it saying there? It’s making it very clear that this child is going to save God’s people from their sins. That’s what it’s saying. “For he will save His people,” God’s people (it’s God’s Son), “from their sins.”

An expression like this, after a name that’s given, this is done throughout the Old Testament—it’s done in places throughout the New Testament as well—words like this, when a word is given and then a statement like that is given afterwards it’s showing meaning or purpose or both in why that name was given. It shows the importance in a name. You’ll find that over and over again—that’s amazing—throughout the Old Testament. There’s a lot of that in the Old Testament. It’ll tell afterwards that particular name in Hebrew but what it was about, what it meant, what it really represented and why that name then was given. That’s done regularly throughout scripture.

So, anyone who reads much of the Bible is familiar with that kind of a practice, and in this case it’s clear that what God gave here carried meaning and purpose, “for he will save His people from their sins.” That’s why God wanted him to be named Joshua.

Because the word “Joshua” when you look at it in Hebrew is a compound word and the first part being a shortened form of Yahweh. So, “Ya,” “Yahweh.” It’s a shortened form. The two words put together “Ya” and the second, the latter part of this particular word here is “yasha” and it means “to deliver or salvation.” And so, it’s readily recognized then as having the meaning, “The Eternal is salvation,” or “The Eternal’s Salvation.”

When the man Joshua was given to lead the children of Israel into the promised land this was a form of a type of fulfilling of a promise from God and a deliverance that was being given to them but not complete yet. Because that was to be done through a different Joshua, one who had to come to save the people from their sins. Because the promised land wasn’t the total fulfillment. It was a partial fulfillment of God leading them into a land that He was going to give to them, but it was all symbolic of something, pictured something that was far, far greater that was for the future, of what God was going to deliver mankind, give mankind and save mankind through His Son Joshua, “The Eternal’s Salvation.”

Names have great meaning. God used a specific meaning of a word here that carries great significance, but it’s been lost in the world of traditional Christianity.

Continuing here: Matthew 1:22—So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the LORD through the prophet, saying (so this is quoting Old Testament scripture), Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. Now, this has its own meaning, as it shows here, and it uses something different here as it explains this one because it says, which being interpreted is “God with us.”

It’s showing here what this was to fulfill and how it was to be interpreted, what it meant, and it’s going back to showing the importance of the name Joshua. The importance of the name of Joshua is even in the name, “The Eternal’s Salvation.” It’s God’s salvation to mankind, and in that manner, and especially because he was the Son of God, “God with us.” And so, this is a beginning of a process that has far greater meaning and great fulfillment in time, in God’s time, in His plan of salvation for mankind.

Then it goes on to say here, Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the LORD commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Joshua. That’s his name. It’s all about that name that God gave to His own Son. “That which is born of Mary is of the holy spirit. It’s God’s child and this is what you’re to call him. This is the name you’re to give to him.”

It’s all about then what God gave in prophecy then about the means whereby God is with us. He’s with us to save us through His Son who came the first time to be our Passover, to live his life, to die so that he could fulfill the purpose of enabling us to be forgiven of sin. Because otherwise, we can’t be saved. We have to be saved from sin, otherwise there’s one thing that remains for mankind. God makes it very clear it’s death.

So clearly, again, the name of Joshua is about Immanuel, “God being with us,” giving Christ power to save His own people. That’s what it’s about, God’s people, to help save us from our sins. That’s everything that the Passover is all about and the days of Unleavened Bread, being able to come out of sin then. Because that’s what the annual Holy Days of the Days of Unleavened Bread picture – made possible through our Passover that we can now begin to come out of sin.

Just like with Egypt – symbolic of sin – that the children of Israel were taken out of Egypt and led to a promised land. God has a plan and purpose through Joshua the Christ to lead His people out of sin and into that which fulfills His promises, His purpose for why He created us in the first place.

So, Christ was the very Word of God. He’s the very Word of God made flesh, something that is very difficult for the human mind to grasp and comprehend. When you read John 1 it’s about the revelatory thought, this Word, the Word of God made flesh, born as a child and growing to adulthood, living the life and knowing the things that he knew. He had a mind within him that was different and unique in the respect that it was the Word of God made flesh. It was the revelatory, that word means “logos,” it literally means the very revelatory thought, the thinking, the mind of God.

There are things he knew when he read Old Testament scriptures, when he knew what was there because it was from God, it was the mind of God, the being of God. So again, hard for us to comprehend those things on that level because it’s on a spiritual plane.

We can grasp physical things. Just like in going through some of the story here there are things that are given to mankind that people can get into (even in this story here), about arguments. Was it Aramaic? Was it written in this? Why did they change certain things? Did they change? Where can you go to prove it? People get tangled up in all these arguments because all we can deal with is that which is physical in front of us. Something that’s spiritual on a spiritual plane the human mind can’t deal with in the same manner because it’s spiritual.

Unique story in what Christ told Nicodemus. He just flat out told him, “There are things you can’t,” things that he was saying to him, “You can’t understand because they’re spirit. They’re spiritual and you can’t receive them.” At least not then.

So, you know, God gave His Son a name that was to carry great meaning, which is Joshua, “The Eternal’s Salvation.” Indeed, the purpose to save His people, God’s people, from their sins. There are so many scriptures a person can go through and read about this. I thought it would be good just to give a few here. We know they’re there, but it’s good just to look at them because this is what it’s all about.

1 Corinthians 5:6. So Paul is talking to the Corinthians and he says, Your boasting is not good. And it’s about pride. It’s about the fact that they weren’t dealing with sin in the congregation like they should have been. They were lifting themselves up above what God had told them they should do, in essence, is what Paul is saying here. He says, in essence, “You’re lifting yourself up. You’re puffed up because you’re allowing something, that it’s not good.”

It’s kind of like human beings do sometimes when it’s like we have these ideas that are better than what God has said. Well, there are so many different examples you could give.

I think of corporal punishment. When someone has murdered someone else, taken several people’s lives and yet man, rather than putting someone to death, because people don’t understand the process of death and what takes place, would prefer in many cases to let someone be in a prison for the rest of their life, that somehow that’s more merciful and better than putting them to death. Whereas in the Old Testament they were just put to death because God has a plan. He has a plan of a resurrection, of dealing with people in a different time. But things like this have to be dealt with.

And within the congregation, within the Church, God made it clear that there is a certain environment that is to exist within the Church. To think that you can do something, allow certain things because “that’s more merciful than what God says,” is foolishness. This is what Paul is saying.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? In other words, within the Church, if you’re allowing the sin of this individual to take place, of what you’re doing here, that you allow this to continue in a congregation, if you allow this to continue on then you’re going to let down in other areas. A little sin like this begins to spread around.

He uses the example of leaven and how leaven puffs up. It’s a matter of pride. A little leaven leavens the entire lump of a loaf. This is why sin or leaven, leavening is symbolic of sin, because it puffs up. That’s the analogy being given here, having to do with the Days of Unleavened Bread, the ability to come out of sin, about us becoming unleavened.

You know, Christ, Joshua the Christ is referred to as the unleavened bread of life. The reason for that? He had no sin in his life. We all, human beings, have sin because we have a selfish nature and we learn that. We come to understand that. But we’re to come out of that. Just like the Israelites were to come out of Egypt, we’re to come out of sin. This is a part of the story here.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven that you may be a new lump. That’s God’s desire for us, that we get rid of sin. Purge out, get rid of the old leaven, the old sins in your life. Strive to live by the way God says to live, without sin, and become a new lump, something new.

…even as you are unleavened, even as during the days of Unleavened Bread people learn in the Church that you’re to get rid of all your leavening in your home for the period of time. God instructs that, commands that, to learn the lesson from it, to be symbolic of something that we’re to remember. Get rid of the leavening in your homes, don’t have it in your home, don’t have leavened bread, don’t eat it during that period of time. People learn lessons from that.

So here is Paul. Here is another story. What an incredible thing that right here in Corinthians, written a long time later, a few decades later after (at least a couple, little more), but here after the time of Christ, after Christ had died and had been resurrected. A lot of churches teach that because of that and what took place in the thinking here and what’s stated is basically is that the law was done away with.

You think, “What do you mean the law is done away with? What laws were done away with?” Anyway, that’s another story. But literally, the laws of God were not done away with. That’s why they try to show, traditional Christianity tries to show that things like Easter and Christmas and other holidays are fine to keep in honor of God, in worshipping God, and yet things like Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread and so forth, the Holy Days that God mentions have been done away with “because that was God’s purpose when Christ came, to do away with the Old Testament law.”

But that’s not true and things like this should scream out loud that look, Paul was still teaching that they were to keep these days. Here it is: Purge out, therefore, the old leaven that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.

It’s referring to Christ as our Passover. Chapter 11 of Corinthians goes on to talk about the Passover itself and keeping it and how you’re to keep it, and he explains those things, Paul does, to the Corinthians. But here he’s making it very clear about our Passover, what his purpose was, his sacrifice for us.

Therefore, let us keep the Feast. Now, how does the world of traditional Christianity explain that one? “Therefore, let us keep the Feast.” You mean it wasn’t done away with? It’s still to be observed? Absolutely! It was just a common knowledge. They didn’t have to talk about it.

They try to say that because there is a lack of talking about the seventh-day Sabbath in the New Testament and there’s a lot of talk about Sunday because of what Christ did on the Sunday after he was resurrected, that therefore, everything was changed and now that’s the day of worship, and yet the early Church really had no need to even address things about the Sabbath because they understood it. It was just a way of life. It was common knowledge just as this is here about the Days of Unleavened Bread.

There is never a discrepancy about something being done away with or that that Holy Days or that the weekly Sabbath is done away with, the Old Testament law is done away with. On the contrary, it’s here. It’s just a way they live their lives.

Therefore, let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness. In other words, there’s not to be sin in your life. …but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The only way that truth can exist is to get rid of the sin, is to get rid of that which is not true. “And with that which is sincere and genuine” – that’s the only way something can be truthful. The truth has to be genuine. Paul is talking about that, making it clear.

Another area of scripture, Acts 5. It makes it clear here that Christ was our Passover. It’s a matter of being saved from sin – salvation, “Yahweh’s Salvation.”

Acts 5:28 saying, Didn’t we strictly command you that you should not teach in this name? So, an incident had happened, there was that which had just taken place (not going to go into the rest of the story here), but they were brought before (the disciples here), the rulers of that time and they were saying here, “Didn’t we tell you not to use Joshua’s name, Joshua the Christ, and to spread this throughout Jerusalem and the region?”

It says, Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. The things they were teaching about his resurrection, about being Passover and the things he had fulfilled, the Jewish leaders, they hated it, they loathed it. It went against everything that they believed.

It says, Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and do you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us? It’s like, “The things you’re saying about his being put to death, it’s our fault?” type of thing and So Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. “You told us not to do this, but we’re obeying God and not you.” That’s basically what they told them.

The God of our Fathers raised up Joshua, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. They’re putting the blame right back where it was because they were the ones that wanted Pilate to put him to death. They’re the ones who were crying out, you know, “Put him to death! Put him to death! Kill him!”

It says here in Verse 31—Him has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior. It’s saying, look at what God is doing. He’s made him a Prince and a Savior, Savior to mankind. His name reflects that, Joshua. Some other name wouldn’t do that. They understood what was being said to them. They understood totally what they were saying, and they didn’t like what they were hearing.

So again, Him has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance, in other words, in order to give repentance to Israel. So, the ability to be forgiven of sin. That’s what it says, “and forgiveness of sins.” “The Eternal’s Salvation.” What an incredible thing his name means that. So why would they use a different sounding name? Incredible.

And we are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the holy spirit which God has given to those who obey Him, making it very clear here we are to obey God, we are to obey what God says, and we are doing that. That’s what they were telling them. It says, And when they heard that they were furious and took council to kill them.

So, incredible stories here in the very beginning about the mindset of the leaders there that had killed Christ in the first place, and now that hatred is still there and they’re trying to cover things up. They don’t want the truth out there in any manner or form, or at least what they were teaching to be out there in any manner because people were being drawn to it, things that they had seen and so forth.

Another scripture here in 1 Peter 1. Over and over and over again, powerful teachings throughout scripture about the name of Joshua, “The Eternal’s Salvation,” and how we’re able to receive that into our life, the purpose that God has in saving mankind from their sins because sins require death unless they’re repented of. The only way to then be forgiven of them is through our Passover. That’s why he came and died. That’s the whole purpose.

1 Peter 1:1—Peter, an apostle of Joshua the Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, a word meaning “chosen, selected.” So again, those who were called early there they were selected. Christ made it very clear, “No man can come to me, go to God, be received of God, except through him and that God is the one, in essence,” paraphrasing some of the scriptures there, “who does the calling.” God is the very one that gives them to Christ. It’s a matter of being chosen or selected by God to begin a process. That’s how the Church began.

It says those chosen or selected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit. So, again here, meaningful words, what it means here, to be sanctified, to be sanctified through the spirit, God’s spirit. That word “sanctification” means “set apart for holy use and purpose.” There is a way that God does that in our life and sin has to be taken care of in order to do this. In order to be able to receive of God’s spirit there has to be forgiveness of sin.

It says through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience. So that’s the goal, that’s the desire. Because obedience is a matter of doing things God’s way, learning that God’s way is the right way to live, that anything else, anything else that goes any different direction, some other different way, doing our own way is sin. It doesn’t agree with God. It isn’t in a unity and agreement with God. Anything that’s sin must be gotten rid of, the old leaven.

…unto obedience. So over and over again it talks about obedience. So how was the law done away with? That’s an incredible thing. The only thing that was done away with, that Hebrews makes clear, was the sacrificial system. There was no purpose anymore of having the sacrificial system and offering up animals on an altar and having blood spill to the earth, because Christ fulfilled it all. That’s the purpose. That’s what was fulfilled. The Levitical system was done away with, the sacrificial system was done away with, and the book of Hebrews makes that very clear, but not God’s law, not how you live your life in obedience to God.

It says here, again, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Joshua the Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Joshua the Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again. There is this process where we learn that we’re able to be begotten of God’s holy spirit. We learn that there is a spirit essence in the mind that gives us the ability to think and reason. The animal kingdom doesn’t have that, but we have that ability, to think and to reason, and there is this essence that God has put in our mind.

And yet the animal kingdom has an essence in their mind’s as well but it’s like a program. It’s like a computer program. We can understand that today where in times past it was difficult for people to understand some of these concepts that are in scripture here. Because to have a computer program, it’ll do what you program it to do.

It’s like geese, you know, that fly south during the wintertime and then fly back north. It’s like different animals that do the things they do. They do it because they’re programmed to do so. There is a small capacity, an ability to learn certain things within that, but not like human beings, of knowledge that we can think about and so forth. This is more of a programmed approach totally as far as animal life is concerned.

With human beings the human mind, the spirit that’s in us can be coupled with God’s holy spirit to begin changing the way we think. That’s an incredible thing to understand, how God works with us to save us.

This is what it’s talking about here when it talks about being begotten again into a lively hope. We understand the process of being begotten. We understand the process of baptism and what it pictures, burying the old self under water. Because baptism means “immersion.” It doesn’t mean “sprinkling on of the head.” It’s a decision and a choice that someone cannot make until they’re an adult. Again, more things that are confusing to the world.

They have babies that are brought, they pour water, maybe sprinkle a little bit of water on the head, and they have these ceremonies that confuse things about that which has great meaning to it. That that has no purpose in it to do that to a baby. They can’t make choices and decisions in life.

God makes it very clear we have to be of an adult age to be able to make our own choices. Accountability, a time of accountability where once we begin to be drawn by God’s spirit, we can make a choice of whether that’s what we want and desire or not, and if we desire to be baptized then we can be immersed under water, baptized. So even the word itself – again, names have meaning – baptized means “to be immersed” not sprinkled on the forehead.

Again, all these things that are confusing in traditional Christianity that have no meaning and no connection with things that are taught in scripture.

Again, what an incredible thing when you come to see these things and understand these things and you’re freed from all the confusion that’s out there. You see them so clearly, so much so that if you’re not careful at times you can become a little tired, maybe, of the story. Hopefully, that never happens in your life, but that you’re always excited for what God has revealed to you, what you have that is precious, that is so valuable in life. You know, the expression, “the pearl of great price.” When we come to grasp all that God has given us in knowledge and truth there is nothing greater that we can have, because it’s the mind that goes into another life. It’s the mind. It’s not the body, it’s the mind and what we receive in here. It’s who we become. It’s who we are in life that counts. It’s so incredible what God then gives to us.

This is the story here of what it’s talking about. …abundant mercy has begotten us again into a lively (living) hope, as the word is here. So we’ve been given something that has to do with that which is true, that which is genuine that comes from God – the ability to perceive and see things on a spiritual plane that we couldn’t before until God begins to give us of His spirit. That kind of knowledge, that kind of understanding can’t be understood physically. That’s why there’s so much confusion out there. People read something and then they read certain things into it and believe that’s about God and about Christ and it’s not.

…who according to His abundant mercy. That’s just the way God is, merciful. I think of things that we’re going through right now as far as the world is concerned and some of the thinking that’s beginning to be changed, although it’s working together to bring the world to a head in the sense of what must take place before Joshua can come again. Because the next time, he’s not coming as our Passover. He’s already fulfilled that, and he’s not coming as the Lamb of God, as the Passover who’s going to spill his blood to the earth as the lambs did when their throats were cut and the blood spilled out to the earth, and Christ when a spear was rammed in his side and a soldier killed him while he was hanging there, and his blood spilled out to the earth, these things that had to take place in order to fulfill the symbolism of the Passover. Christ did that so he came as the Lamb of God.

God makes it very clear the next time he comes it’s as the Lion of God, that Lion who is going to establish government and rule on the earth. He didn’t come the first time to fulfill the Messiah. Everyone that knew him at that time, the ones he taught, the ones who were around him, the disciples and others that he taught, they thought he was going to bring God’s Kingdom then, taken them away from the Roman rule. But that wasn’t his purpose then.

We’re right at a time now, so close to that point in time. The world is being prepared for it. What a horrible thing that the world has to go through a third world war to get to a point where it will begin to listen to God.

I think of what’s taking place right now as far as a pandemic that’s concerned and the fear that exists and some of the things that are taking place out here. It’s like a catch 22. You do one thing and it destroys something else. What’s happening to the economy is irreparable. People believe that we can just replace all this now and get back on our feet and everything is going to be hunky dory, but the damage has already been done.

There’s a purpose for that. There’s a reason why these things are happening now. They’re leading up in a progressive manner more and more for the purpose of why everything is taking place anyway.

Every week you read things and it’s just so much in the news, things that are taking place. Oil, what happened with oil this past week – gone into negative territory. And the question is, well, how can you have that which is negative? Well, the problem is, is that people buy or invest in something that’s going to happen in the future and when it doesn’t happen that way you have this oil. What do you do with it? It’s yours, so how do you get rid of it? It’s almost just like getting to a point where you have to pay someone else to take it off your hands. Oversimplifying some of this but kind of like that.

There is no place to put it. Where can you put everything? Nobody wants it. There is too much out there. Tankers are full that are in the ocean, places, caverns that are in the earth are filled up with oil, all the tanks, the tank farms, they’re full. You see something that’s so crazy, that a few years ago you wouldn’t have thought, “There is no way on earth something like that could ever happen.” Yet we’re living at a time where it’s happening.

It’s happening so fast that people really don’t grasp it yet and they’re living in this delusion that somehow we’re going to get everything back that we had before, the way it was before. The reality is it’s not going to happen.

There are reasons why nations are doing the things they’re doing now. China is being backed into a corner and that’s not a good thing. Other nations and the things that are taking place there, they know; they see the handwriting on the wall. They know what it’s going to take to get out of some of this. They’re not stupid. Even though we’re acting stupid, some are not stupid because they realize that everything has changed.

People over there know that so much of what they have built in the sense of trading with the rest of the world, especially with the United States and much of the western world, but especially the United States, that a lot of that’s going to go away, and how is that going to hit them? Well, it’s a big hit economically. That affects the entirety of the world because we live in a global economy. So how do you recover from something so devastating? Well, things are speeding up and it’s pushing people closer and closer to a third world war.

We understand the time in which we live and to know the things we know and what’s coming and why, there is a peace of mind that goes with that. But what a horrible thing that it takes mankind to go through so many things before they’ll finally begin to admit, to acknowledge error, fault, weakness, we don’t have the answers, we can’t govern ourselves.

I think of what God is showing the world, “You can’t govern yourself.” That’s why we’ve come to a time when God’s Kingdom must come to rule the earth. Christ is coming as the Lion, and not too far, not too distant.

Chapter 9 is written in a little different way toward the end and I think some of that’s going to be a little revealing as well. Chapter 8 is already up out there. Chapter 9 is not going to be too long now because it’s in the process of being edited and not going to be rewritten again.

This one here was a total rewriting, in many respects, but it’s produced something, brought something forward that is far more effective, and God just continues to give us more and more understanding of what’s taking place.

But what’s happening right now is incredible in the world and we’re getting closer and closer to the time where the Lion of God, indeed, must come, because he comes with power to destroy those who are destroying the earth, to stop a war, to stop a world war. Those who don’t want that reign, who are going to fight against it—because they are—horrifying things are going to take place. We’re almost there at that point in time. Incredible times in which we live.

Here at this time we’re talking about the time of God’s mercy. I guess that’s why I started talking about this, thinking about some of the merciful things. Even in the midst of all this and nations being prepared, because that’s what it’s going to drive them to. Some are being driven more speedily toward that war.

But in the midst of all this, because of a virus, people are thinking more in the terms now of having something in stock, in reserve in ways that they really hadn’t in the past. To have that thought that maybe another strain or maybe the same strain that’s there will continue on and come back again stronger, whatever it might be in the minds of people, will cause some to begin thinking about the fact that it’s not such a foolish thing to have storage of some necessities, things that are necessary in life, foods and so forth.

When I think of that I think of the mercy of God to do that with the entire world in such a way to bring something alone that would help preserve life in the midst of something that’s coming. Because if there wasn’t some of that preparation taking place or people being able to change some of their thinking in that area things that are coming would be far more destructive in the sense of the loss of life.

Because it’s not going to be long lived, what’s coming. Man couldn’t long endure a war like that, a nuclear war. What happens must happen quickly, speedily, powerfully. But how much leads up to that, we don’t know yet. God hasn’t revealed that. We wait, we watch, we stay alert in our own lives and keep watching, keep observant, stay close to God.

That’s why I sometimes speak in a manner that gets a little frustrated because of seeing individuals that let up or letting down spiritually. This is the worst time to do something like that. This is the time to press forward stronger than ever before.

It talks, again, then about this mercy that God gives us. That’s the way God is. God is filled with mercy. It talks about …who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again into a living hope (a lively hope). That’s what we have. That hope is for what’s coming. To know what’s going to take place, as horrifying as it is, we know what’s on the other side of it and we look forward to that time that God’s Kingdom is finally established.

I think of those who came into Jerusalem who were crying out when Christ came in, and then crying out about him being the son of David, the descendent of David, the Messiah, in essence. That’s what they were saying. That’s what they were acknowledging. A few thousand that were there as he came in.

Anyway, to think that we actually live in that time when that is the purpose that’s to be fulfilled, that we are going to be able to observe those things is incredible. This is the time he’s coming as the Lion. The first time was a Lamb.

…unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Joshua Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible. That’s what’s promised. When you talk about something that’s promised physically, the promised land, that wasn’t all that was contained in the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There was that which is beyond that for all of mankind. Not just for a physical nation of people, of Israel, but of all who, as God uses that word “Israel,” for the entire world that become the Israel of God, God’s people.

…to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away. Amazing. We do as human beings. We fade away. We get old and we die. Our bodies begin to run down. They don’t get stronger as you go through life. There is a period of time there where your body can get stronger and then sometime in the mid-30’s, 40’s, in through there, changes begin to take place and it begins going the other direction. It’s just a cycle of life that God has given us so we can learn from that we are temporary on this earth. But God is giving that which will not fade away. So that’s our hope, in that which is ahead.

…reserved in heaven for you. In other words, that’s where God is, that’s where Christ is. That’s where Christ has been working for nearly 2,000 years now. That’s why I love that example on the Day of Atonement and it talks about the high priest and he went into the Holiest of Holies and he was there and didn’t come out until there was a period of time where everything had been taken care of concerning the family, his family, referring to Israel and so forth, those. It’s about those who are to become a part of. That’s what Christ has been doing. Then he didn’t come back out of the temple until all the offerings had been taken place there and the things that pictured that period of time of deliverance over the past 2,000 years, of those whom God has called.

Verse 5—who are kept through (by or through) the power of God through faith. What an awesome thing when we come to understand that there is a power that we’re able to have in our life that people don’t even understand, the reason for Christ’s death. They talk about forgiveness of sin, but it’s so shallow and it doesn’t have great meaning to it because it’s not alive, it’s not real as it is within the Church with what God has blessed us to see.

Here we come to understand that God sent His Son to save His people and to be a salvation as our Passover. And then why? Why did he die? Just to be forgiven of sin? No. The reason for being forgiven of sin is so that God can dwell in us, so that Christ can dwell in us through the power of the holy spirit, so that we can have the holy spirit in our lives, because God will not dwell in sin and so there has to be that which passes over sin. That’s Christ, the blood of Christ.

…through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last, or in the end-time. That’s what it’s about, the last time, the end-time.

Here we are at the end-time and blessed to see and know the things that we know that have come together after 6,000 years of God’s plan, all the things that God has revealed about where we are in time and the purpose of it all and His Kingdom that’s about to come. We get to see it, we get to live it. But it’s about salvation. These things are about a process of God delivering mankind: The Holy Days, the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, coming out of sin, on and on it goes.

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through various trials. God’s people come to learn and understand that in this life you’re going to have trials.

Mankind is not full, fulfilled, and happy. Not in the way that God wants us to be. It all has to do with whether we’re able to see and live by His way of life because that’s what produces real purpose and real happiness of life, real fullness of life, and yet in this physical life we still go through trials, especially in this life once you’re called because everything in the world is geared to go in an opposite direction from God.

That’s why there is so much confusion. Everything that’s taught out here is incorrect. It’s false. The religions, the government, the economy, economics – all these things are not of God. Because of that, that’s why there is such massive confusion and unhappiness in the world. Man isn’t fulfilled. Not really. Not as we could be and should be, yet that only comes through God.

That’s why it talks about here we have to go through trials and hardships so that we can learn about our selfish nature because that’s what causes all the unhappiness. I call it drama, drama, drama. Because that’s what drama is, it’s the opposite of peace, drama in people’s lives. Anything you see on TV anymore, it’s just drama, drama, drama. News; drama, drama, drama. You know, nobody can get along. Everybody finds fault with everybody else. Everybody has their own opinion. It’s not news, it’s opinions and it’s the op-ed. It’s opinion page.

Verse 7—that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried in the fire… So again, beautiful examples here of gold being refined and the dross that comes to the surface. Once gold is put in a container and heated up then it gets this crust on it when it’s taken out that can be knocked off that is no good. It’s of no value. It’s not gold. It’s just a simple process. Silver is even more enlightening in the sense of the process there of removing dross and so forth from it.

So again, heat – trials in our lives bring things to the surface so that we can address them, so that we can see them, so that we can repent of them and get rid of the drama in our life in order to be more at peace with God, a unity and oneness with God.

…though it be tried in the fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Joshua the Christ. Always forward looking, always understanding the purpose of Christ being our Passover and the purpose of coming out of sin, the purpose of being purified in our lives so that we can move forward to these times that are pictured here, that we might be found unto praise, the change that God wants to make in our life, that we not have to live in physical bodies anymore but spirit ones for all ages.

It tells about when this begins to take place – at the time of the appearing of Joshua the Christ when he returns as the Lion of God.