(226) – PARADOXES – III

226 – PARADOXES 3

 

The kingdom of peace and of war, of light and of darkness.

Jehovah gave Abraham the land of Canaan for his perpetual possession, and in that land he would be the god of the descendants of Abraham (Gen. 17:7-8). The very Jehovah took Abraham to the Promised Land (Gen. 12:1-6). Abraham went to live in Canaan from when he was 75 until his death, at 175 years of age (Gen. 25:7). They were 100 years living in Canaan. Isaac, his son, was born when Abraham was 100 years old (Gen. 21:5). Isaac, his son, was married when Abraham was 140 years old and had already lived 54 years in the land that Jehovah had promised (Gen 25:20). In order to marry his son Isaac, Abraham sent for a woman in Haran, telling his servant, “Please place your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven and the god of earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen. 24:1-4). This declaration of Abraham shows that he did not consider Canaan his land, which Jehovah had given him as a perpetual covenant (Gen. 15:18). In the letter to the Hebrews, we become aware of the reason why Abraham did not accept the gift of JehovahLet us read the text: “By faith 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. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8-10). The truth is that Jehovah has never promised Abraham a heavenly city built by God himself. And Abraham and his sons did not accept the land of Canaan. In the same chapter of the letter to the Hebrews he continues saying, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Heb. 11:13-16). This text from the letter to the Hebrews is proof that Abraham did not believe in the earthly promise of Jehovah, and is thus called the father of faith, in Gal. 3:7-9. There is also proof that the promise of Jehovah is not the same as the promise of Jesus and it is not a picture of it, either. Christians have mixed them both, therefore causing a theological confusion. In order to open the eyes of those who have eyes to see, we are going to register a few paradoxical contradictions between the earthly kingdom of Jehovah and the celestial kingdom of Jesus:

  1. Paul tells us, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). If the kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace and joy, why was the kingdom of Jehovah established in the Old Testament as a kingdom of war? Jehovah declared by the mouth of Jeremiah concerning Israel, “you are My warclub, My weapon of war; and with you I shatter nations, and with you I destroy kingdoms, and with you I shatter the horse and his rider, and with you I shatter man and woman, and with you I shatter old man and youth, and with you I shatter young man and virgin” (Jer. 51:20-23).
  2. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is the God of peace, and as God of peace, Jesus evangelized peace from God (Eph. 2:17-18). His kingdom is the kingdom of peace (Rom 14:17). In order that the sinner fails to sanctify himself, the God of peace sanctifies them (1 Thess. 5:23). This is the reason why the peace of God keeps our hearts and minds (Phil. 4:7). For this reason the Christian greeting was, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2). If the God and Father of Jesus is a God of nothing but peace, why is Jehovah the god of war? (Ex. 15:3). And his name is Jehovah of hosts (1 Sam. 17:45). The name of Jehovah is the Lord of hosts (Is. 47:4; 51:25; 54:5).
  3. If the empire of Satan is the empire of death, that is, Satan reigns over the dead and not living(Heb. 2:14), why was Jehovah king over the men in the Old Testament, since all were dead and constituted the empire of Satan? (Rom. 5:17; Matt. 8:21-22; John 5:24-25).
  4. If the empire of death is from Satan, as we have seen above, and Jesus Christ established the kingdom of the living, and for this reason drives men away from death — (John 5:24-25), “For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:17), the kingdom of death began by the first Adam, and the kingdom of life began by the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) — Jehovah, if he were the Father, would take men away from death to form the kingdom of Jesus and of the Father. But, on the contrary, Jehovah killed, only, and therefore strengthened the empire of Satan. Why?
  5.        If the empire of death belongs to Satan, according to Heb. 2:14, the killer of men should be Satan himself. But the killer of men is always Jehovah. This is paradoxical. He condemned Adam and Eve to death, and also all their descendants. Paul says so: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom 5:12). Condemning Adam and his descendants, Jehovah founded the empire of Satan. Why?
  6.       If in the kingdom of God the Father sinners are not allowed, according to 1 Cor. 6:10 and Gal. 5:19-21, why is the kingdom of Jehovah constituted of sinners? “All the sinners of My people will die by the sword” (Amos 9:10). This text of Amos leaves us with the impression that there were those who did not sin, but this is not so. Jehovah himself affirms that there is not any one who does not sin. “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl. 7:20).
  7.       If God is light (1 John 1:5), if Christ is light (John 8:12; 12:46), and if the kingdom of God, the Father, is a kingdom of light, and for this reason the saved one leaves darkness and goes to the light, according 1 Pet. 2:9, why did the people of Jehovah, which formed his kingdom, lived in darkness? The people of Israel cried out, saying, “Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, but behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men, we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at midday as in the twilight, among those who are vigorous we are like dead men” (Is. 59:9-10).
  8.        If the kingdom of darkness is the kingdom of the devil — for Paul received the following task from Jesus, “To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins” (Acts 26:18) — why did the kingdom of God walk in darkness? Did Jehovah favor the devil? Jehovah blinded his people, and made them walk in darkness. Job declares that Jehovah put darkness in his way (Job 19:8). Jeremiah confessed that Jehovah made him walk in darkness and not in the light (Lam. 3:21; Is. 6:10). Why?
  9.        If flesh and blood do not inherit the kingdom of God, neither corruption inherit corruption, according to 1 Cor. 15:50, why did Jehovah declare that, in the new heaven and in the new earth that he will create, all flesh will adore before his face? (Is. 66:22-24).
  10.    If in the book of Revelations 11:50 we read that the kingdoms of this earth will belong to the Father and to Jesus only after the last trumpet call, because this world belonged to Jehovah, which is wrong, the Old Testament or the New Testament? “For the kingdom is Jehovah’s, and He rules over the nations“ (Ps. 22:28). “ Jehovah reigns over the nations. God sits on His holy throne” (Ps. 47:8). “Say among the nations, ‘Jehovah reigns’” (Ps. 96:10). Satan said to Jesus that he is the one who rules over this world, and over the kingdoms (Luke 4:5-8). Whoever has eyes let him see.

By PASTOR OLAVO SILVEIRA PEREIRA

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