Building on the Foundation

  When King Solomon wrote that “two are better than one” (Eccl. 4:9), he went on to add, “and a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Eccl. 4:12). We were just talking about two; where does this threefold cord come from? God created human beings with a need for each other, but above all He created us with a need for Him. No human relationship can be complete without God. It will never reach its true potential unless God is involved. Likewise, Jesus prayed to the Father for His followers, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:21-23). That’s “three in one, one in three,” but it’s not the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s the Father, Son, and God’s people! We can see, then, that the number 3 represents man’s relati...

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.   Who can make us fall short or take that promise away from us? Can Satan destroy us or make us forsake God? Can he defeat us against our will?  John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It would appear not to be so. So who then is our greatest enemy, the one who can separate us from God or make us fall short? It's ourselves. Us. We are the ones who make the choices in our lives. There are a lot of things that get chosen for us, but there is one thing that we will always be able to choose, and tha...

  Have you ever encountered people who refuse to take responsibility for their own actions? Who never admit fault for anything, or, if they actually do admit some wrongdoing, still try to blame you or someone else for their wrongdoing? Have you ever encountered people who erupt in anger if corrected in any way, no matter how delicately one approaches it? Or who lash out in anger if you don’t do exactly what they want when they want it? Have you ever encountered people who are thin-skinned and easily offended? So much so that you never know what might set them off? Any innocent word or action might set them off, and so others walk on eggshells around them. These are characteristics of narcissism. Narcissists are, above all else, extraordinarily selfish and self-centered, as we can see from the above description. They feel entitled to getting their own way on everything; they try to manipulate others; they berate and lash out at others, but are easily offended; they refuse to accept ...

  In our previous study of the number 1 , we saw that it represents God, unity, and strength. God is one, and His name one (Zech. 14:9). Both the Father and the Son are God, but they have unity of purpose under the will of the Father. They are one, but they are not alone. You see, 1 only represents strength if it involves multiple individuals acting together as one. The United States’ motto E Pluribus Unum, “Out of many, one,” illustrates this concept. Any one American state would be weak by itself, but the fifty states together make a strong whole. Being alone is not good, and this brings us to the number 2. 2: Two becoming one; fruitfulness; life; division King Solomon wrote, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be over...

  God’s Word is like an onion. An onion has many layers, and when you peel off one layer, there’s another layer beneath it. Likewise, no matter how many times we study the Bible, we can always discover another layer and learn something new. Biblical numbers are one of these layers. Numbers are very important to God; He designed all of creation mathematically. He also included an abundance of numbers in His Word. The number 7, and “seventh,” is mentioned nearly 600 times in the Bible! The number 2, including such variations as “second” and “twice,” is mentioned about 1,000 times in Scripture. What is God telling us through all the numbers in His Word? What do they mean? Let’s find out! I had originally intended to write this post about the first three numbers — 1, 2, and 3 — but there’s too much material. These will have to be a series of blog posts, rather than just one! So let’s start with the number 1. 1: God, unity, preeminence In the very beginning, on the first day of Creation...