​Hi all,
Yesterday Chris and I were talking with a store clerk who was at least in her 50's, but as we paid and Chris rolled (wheelchair) through the line he said to her, "Okay girl, we have to go now, thank you, see you later girl." She chuckled and said good bye, and we headed back to the car and home. There is a pasture just before you get to our house, and as we rounded the corner there were a bunch of cows in the pasture, and upon seeing them Chris said "Hello girls, watcha doing, eating some grass? Yep."
 
He used the same word 'girl' for both a 50 something year old woman at a store and for a herd of cows in the pasture, though the proper use of 'girl' is to describe a human female child. But it was close enough to be applied to that situation, at least in his mind.
 
Similarly there is an understanding about scripture and prophecy called 'the law of double reference'. It means a prophecy or verse means something to the original hearers or readers, and that same word can later be used by the Lord to someone else at another time for something completely different - Yet when He speaks a verse to us it does not negate the first use, but rather agrees with and builds upon it.
 
Paul and Barnabus, and Jesus
In Acts 13:44-48 we are told nearly the whole city of Antioch gathered to hear Paul tell people of salvation through Christ, and the Jews were moved to envy. After they stirred up the crowd Paul observed that since they judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, they would now turn to the Gentiles:
 
"For so has the Lord commanded us, saying 'I have set you to be a light of the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth'. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad..."
 
The scripture the Lord said was meant for Paul, was in fact a direct quote of Isaiah 49:6 in a prophecy about Jesus. It was also stated over the baby Jesus in Luke 2:32, in both cases referring to the Lord, not Paul. Yet the Lord took that verse about Himself and said it was for Paul & Barnabus.
 
Notice that Paul & Barnabus didn't choose that verse to apply to themselves, the Lord did.
 
"Turn to John 14:27"
When I was a teenager struggling with feelings of insecurity, inferiority, and no self-worth, I didn't believe my offer to serve the Lord was going to be accepted by Him - I didn't believe He would want me. Then in the middle of worship, the first time I heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Himself, He said:
 
"I love you John." I was so startled I stuttered in response: "I, I, love you too Lord." To which He said, "Turn to John 14:27." "Now Lord?" "Yes, now." So I did: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
 
With that I knew He had accepted my life on the altar of service to Him. But notice that verse was something Jesus originally spoke to the disciples to give them peace. Then about 1,944 years later He picked it out and said it also applied to me. I didn't pick it. He did.
 
The flow
We have all had a verse 'jump out' at us when we have been reading the Bible. Or we've had a personal prophecy delivered by someone. Or the Lord quickened, revealed, or impressed upon us a certain verse was for us and our situation. Sometimes it isn't something chapter and verse, but a direct promise to us by revelation or directly like "Your mom will be 'born again' before she dies." Sometimes He can even quicken something said to us by someone who wasn't even aware God was using them, but we know a certain portion of what they said was from Him to us.
 
We can also be like Timothy who was told in I Timothy 1:18 to live "...according to the prophecies that went before on you." We don't know if those prophecies for young Timothy included chapter and verse, but they were acknowledged as genuine and accurate by Paul, with instructions to remember and live by them. Notice Timothy didn't create the prophecy; someone had a 'word' for him.
 
Standing on the Word
Look at the pattern in the Bible: The Lord picks out a verse for someone and says 'this is for you'. They didn't pick it out, He did.
 
However, the common practice today goes like this: We are faced with a crisis so we go to a Bible or a list of reference verses. We flip through the pages or look up our 'promise list', find a verse, pray it out to God announcing this is what we are standing on.
 
But that practice isn't in the Bible. Then when we are disappointed we wonder why. We did all the right things, didn't we? We found a verse to stand on, we confessed it, prayed it, waited...check, check, check. What went wrong? Or if we got the answer we think it was the written Word and what we did to stand, when in fact we can't add an inch or centimeter to our height - God does many things just by mercy and grace and we mistakenly think our formula worked.
 
You see, we are to get together with Him and let Him give us a Word, then we stand. Christianity is about knowing Him, not formulas, rituals, and 'models' doing x thing to get y result. We are to know and walk with God.
 
Too many in our generation know the written Word but don't know the True Word (Leaving them with empty and often carnal 'Christian' lives) We cannot 'stand' on the written Word unless we first have that verse given to us by the True Word. We have to know Him. Not just believe in Him. Not just pray to Him. Not just sing songs about Him. But we have to know the Living Word, from which the written Word proceeds.
 
Hebrews 4:12-13 - the Word and the Word
The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing in two the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account."
 
When this is taught most preachers use just verse 12 to tell the congregation they need to 'get into the Word every day'. They rarely read v13 which reveals he is talking about the Person of the Word, the Lord Jesus, and it is He who divides between soul and spirit and judges the thoughts and intents of our hearts. 
 
Think of it this way
Jesus is the Word, and the written Word has flowed from Him to the printed page, therefore He can pick up a verse and apply it to whomever He deems fit to receive it. But if we pick and choose a verse from the printed Word without it having first come from the Living Word to us for that situation, we risk not getting what the Lord has for us because we are in the flesh.
 
The good news is that when the author says the Living Word divides between soul and spirit and judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart, and that all things are open and naked before Him with whom we have to do - he goes on to say: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God...let us come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help in a time of need."
 
He says the Lord Jesus knows and judges our thoughts and intentions, and then invites us to come for mercy and grace to help - wow, what love! What ease in His presence, for He knows all our heart yet loves and yes, even likes us.
 
Just remember, let Him pick out the verse for you and your situation or you may be like Chris applying the same word to 2 situations with neither of those being the correct use of that word. More next week,
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
 

Hi all,
One day when my parents were out for the evening and the babysitter was doing her homework, my brothers and I decided we would build a huge castle in the living room using sheets and blankets and furniture. I'm the oldest of 4 kids - I must have been around 8, then 6, then 4, and our little sister, 2 years old.
 
My brothers and I excitedly talked through the basic design of this fabulous castle-to-be, and each had input into what we could use; The living room sofa would form the main part of it because we could easily tuck sheets between the wall and the back of the sofa stretching across to chairs. We quickly added up the number of chairs we could use, end tables, sheets and blankets from our beds, and got to work.
 
In our minds the castle would cover the whole room and reach nearly to the ceiling if we stacked the chairs upside down on one another and then set our sister on the top as the damsel in distress. Because she was only 2 years old we considered her to be more like a pet and with her toddling around she seemed to be made of rubber, so she wouldn't mind being lofted to such great heights - we were sure of it.
 
Well, it didn't turn out quite as big and majestic as we had imagined. Oh, we had stacked the chairs high enough on what was our corner turret, and our sister trusted us enough to be placed high atop 4 chairs resting upon one another precariously, but at the last second I thought we might end up breaking our sister, so intervened on her behalf.
 
But assigning her to the 'dungeon' in the far corner of the blanket and sheet strewn living room didn't have the same level of fun and danger. Just as quickly a knot slipped on a sheet, someone pulled the flap that was our draw bridge too far, and the whole thing collapsed in a heap of blankets and sheets and fallen chairs.
 
But we had succeeded in making a castle. It wasn't what we thought it would be, but it was in the spirit of it, a core representation of something far greater, and we were satisfied with the night's adventure.
 
Moses and the tabernacle in the wilderness
In Hebrews 8:5 we are told that when Moses was up on the Mount with the Lord he was given instructions on building the tabernacle - that portable tent structure that housed the Ark of the Covenant. It says he was told, "See that you make it according to the pattern (Greek: pattern, copy, example) shown to you on the Mount."
 
Can you imagine the job Moses had before him? He was before the Father in glory seeing the perfect heavenly, and he had the unenviable task of translating heavenly perfection into an earthly representation while living in a wilderness with only wood, metals, tapestries and animal skins for materials!
 
The best he could do in his situation was make a tent while holding in his heart what he had seen in the Spirit.
 
When we receive a word from the Lord about our lives He shows us the heavenly, the mature, the completed version, like Moses saw in heaven, or what we children held in our mind when building a castle of blankets. But very often we look for that exact thing in our lives to come to pass, and are disappointed or wonder what we did wrong when the fullness doesn't happen as we've seen.
 
Though our tent castle and Moses' tabernacle were only rough representations of the core truth of what was seen, both were faithful to what was held in the heart and mind's eye. Often when we hear a word from the Lord for our nation, our region, our family or ourselves and we see in the Spirit the finished vision, but reality may be (only) the core truth and picture of the heavenly.
 
Some real life examples
A lady in our church urged me to visit her dying mother so I could pray with her. This lady was very upset because the Lord had told her years earlier that her mom would be saved and make it to heaven. But all that time she interpreted the Word to mean her mom would leave her church and start going to a strong Bible believing church, and they could be true 'sisters in the Lord' as her mom grew deep in the Word and Spirit. But now mom was on her death bed and clearly that word as she envisioned it happening would not happen.
 
She didn't understand how she had heard so wrong (she thought), but in fact the core truth of that Word did come to pass. Her mother did pray with us as the presence of the Lord filled the room, and after 5 days she died having spent much of that time talking with her daughter about the Lord. And the Lord was gracious, allowing the daughter to teach her mom about righteousness and the new birth - she was even baptized with the Holy Spirit shortly before she died. The core truth of the prophecy was fulfilled, but not the image the daughter had held in her heart of her mom believing exactly like she did.
 
Homeless man
A man wanted to talk to me and he was angry at God. He loved telling people about Jesus and wanted to do that full time, and told me that the Lord had told him years earlier he was called as an evangelist. As a result of that Word he quit a good paying job, tried to arrange churches to speak at but failed, his wife left him when he refused to get a job, and now he was living at a downtown ministry for the homeless.
 
When he heard the Word about being an evangelist he attached his definition of what that meant and vision of his heart - full time ministry, speaking to large crowds and on TV, and all that goes with that. But when I asked him about him winning people to the Lord he told me story after story of people saved, healed, lives changed, and that was what fulfilled him. He was fulfilling the function to what he was called, the core truth, but it was only a shadow of what he thought he would be. After our visit he was fortunately able to understand this and rebuild his life.
 
Many people have been confused when they have seen a genuine vision in the Spirit of what the Lord had for them or a personal prophecy, but then life happened. He shows us the completed, mature thing as it looks in the Spirit, and our job is not to attach our cultural or religious ideas of how that translates into modern life.
 
Moses saw the perfect, but could only build a rough copy, yet it was exactly what the Lord wanted for the time and place. It was the best Moses could do in his situation.
 
Elijah?
In Matthew 11:14 Jesus said of John the Baptist: "If you will receive it, this was Elijah who was to come (before the Lord)." John wasn't the person of Elijah, but his ministry had the main elements of Elijah's ministry in that he called people to repentance to prepare their hearts for the Lord. Elijah was the true, John was a rougher representative but had all the elements of Elijah's ministry.
 
Jesus said, "If you will receive it", indicating accepting a rough representation of the True requires a perceptive heart, a discerning person to look past appearances to the heart and core of the truth.
 
What to look for
Call to remembrance something the Lord told you about you or loved ones. Look at the core truth, and then strip away anything you have added to that truth, anything you have imagined how that would come to pass. Look at what HAS happened, what HAS come to pass, that is the core truth. Like Moses, perhaps you or they have seen the heavenly and hold it in the heart, but you've been through the wilderness and you've done the best you can in your situation. And like Moses, the Lord knows and accepts that.
 
When Israel believed Elijah would come before the Lord they had one picture in their mind what that meant, and John the Baptist did not fit that image. Some adjusted what they had believed according to the Lord's statement that he was Elijah who was to come. They perceived the key common elements of calling people to repentance and how he decreased as Christ increased. 
 
Whatever the Lord has told you, look for the core truth that has come to pass. Maybe you have a life that looks more like the tent-castle of my childhood, but hold in your heart the image of the true, for you are like Moses who did the best he could with what he had, and it was accepted. Hope that makes sense...more next week, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
 

Hi all,
File this under fun and helpful rather than deep and heavy, and I hope you find it interesting. You have no doubt heard that Jesus wasn't really born on December 25, which is when most western Christians celebrate His birth (January 6 or 7 for Eastern Orthodox/Julian calendar).
 
Of course there is no record of first century believers celebrating His birth nor is it in the letters of the NT, so it is our choice and not something worth arguing about. There are many opinions, this is mine.
 
I'll list the order of events according to Matthew 1 & 2 and Luke 1 & 2, and then pin down when Jesus may have been born. I'll provide chapter and verse and historical and cultural information as we go.
 
Order of events:
1) Gabriel appears to Zacharias, John the Baptist's dad, to tell him he will have a son and to name him John.
2) In his wife's (Elizabeth) 6th month of pregnancy Gabriel visits Mary, she conceives Jesus shortly after.
3) Family travels to Bethlehem, housed in a stable, Jesus is born there.
4) Shepherds come to stable to worship Jesus.
5) Mary and Joseph move to a house in town.
6) They present 40 day old Jesus in the temple, the time of Mary's purification; return home to Bethlehem.
7) Wise men come to Herod to ask about new King and are told to find Him and return to Herod with news.
8) Wise men see star over Bethlehem and find the family living in a house.
9) Wise men warned by God not to tell Herod they found the King, they go home another way.
10) Joseph is warned to go to Egypt because Herod will try to kill Jesus.
11) Herod upon not hearing from wise men, kills all similar aged children in Bethlehem.
12) Herod dies in September, 4 BC
13) Family returns after Herod's death and settles in Nazareth
 
1) Start point - John the Baptist's dad
Fortunately for us, Luke gives us a starting point though it is often overlooked. Luke 1:5 tells us John the Baptist's father was a priest in the group of Abijah, and it was while serving as a priest that Gabriel* appeared to him and told him he was going to have a son, and to name him John. *Luke 1:8-23
 
In I Chronicles 24:1-19 we have the listing of the order of service for priests, and the order of Abijah is the 8th grouping (v10). David made it so that group 1 served in week 1 of the sacred calendar which started in spring, group 2 served week 2, and so on through all 24 groups and weeks, then they started all over again 1-24 with the 8th group serving in late November. We also know all 24 groups served at the 3 required festivals*, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles to complete the year. *Deuteronomy 16:16
 
For this discussion I'm talking about his second week of service, meaning Zacharias would have been serving in late November. I'll explain why I chose the fall service rather than spring at the end.
 
2) Elizabeth's pregnancy
When Zacharias got home from his week of service it would have been late November or early December before Elizabeth could have conceived. Luke 1:26-33 says of Elizabeth, John's mother: "In the 6th month of her pregnancy the angel Gabriel was sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a young virgin name Mary, engaged to a man named Joseph..."
 
So if Elizabeth conceived in late November or early December, and 6 months into her pregnancy Gabriel was sent to Mary, it would be about mid-June when Gabriel told her she would give birth to Jesus. If  she conceived shortly and going forward 9 months, it would make Jesus born in mid to late March at the earliest, as pregnancy is generally figured to about the end of the 9th month (40 weeks +/-).
 
3-4) Jesus is born, family housed in a stable, shepherds come to the new King
We are told in Luke 2:7-8 that shepherds were in the fields watching their flocks. They were only in the fields around Bethlehem in spring and fall; in spring to eat the spring plants before moving into the higher elevations for summer, or after harvest to glean the last of the plants before winter. So this fits the time line. Luke 2:16 tells us the shepherds found the baby lying in a manger - an animal food trough.
 
5-6) They move into a house in Bethlehem, they present Jesus in the temple
Luke 2:22 says, "When the days of her purification according to the law of Moses* were accomplished they came into the temple..." This presentation happened when male babies were 40 days old (about 6 weeks), coinciding with the law of purification. This would have been in late April or early May. *Leviticus 12:1-4
 
It is clear the Wise men had not yet arrived in Jerusalem before His presentation and that neither Herod nor the priests yet know of Jesus' birth. Matthew 2:3 tells us when they came to Herod and told him there was a new King, he became very upset 'and all Jerusalem with him'. The family is clearly not in fear for their lives when they come to the temple. Also note Simeon and then Anna freely prophesy over Him without fear of Herod. So the wise men came after the presentation in the temple at 40 days old.
 
I see great grace from the Father in that He provided time for Mary to get healed and the baby to be a bit older before they would have to flee for their lives.
 
7-9) Wise men arrive sometime after the presentation in the temple and ask Herod where is the new King, Herod tells them to find Him and return to tell him
 
Matthew 2:1-2, 3-11 says the wise men came after Jesus had been born. Herod and Jerusalem are troubled there is a new King.. He sends them on their way, asking when they find Him to return and tell him.
 
Verse 11: "And when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him." Verse 12 tells us they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home another way.
 
10-11) Herod, not hearing from the wise men is angry; decides to kill the children, family flees
Matthew 2:16 says, "And Herod, seeing he was mocked (Gk: tricked, deceived) by the wise men, was exceedingly angry...and had all the children killed in Bethlehem who were 2 years old and under."
 
Today in the west we say after the child has lived a full year they are 1. But the Oriental counting from China to Israel counted birth as 1. So when Matthew tells us babies under 2 were murdered, by western figuring it was babies under age 1. He wasn't looking for toddlers - he killed babies.  
 
12-13) Herod dies in September 4 BC, the family returns and settles in Nazareth
Matthew 2:19-23 tells us they had fled to Egypt sometime after the wise men left but before Herod ordered the murder of the babies, and were there until Herod's death, then they returned and settled in Nazareth.
 
The trip from Bethlehem to the Egyptian border was about 200 miles (322 km), and they most likely would have joined a caravan for the dangerous trip. This wasn't a weekend getaway, that is 200 miles walking and riding with a baby for maybe 2 weeks, probably living off money received after selling the gifts the wise men brought them. (That is speculation on my part).
 
Josephus, the Jewish historian who wrote a history of the Jewish people for the Romans, tells us Herod became sick when a lunar eclipse occurred in the spring after he sinned against the priests, and was sick for several months before he died. The eclipse was on March 13, 4 BC, and Herod's death was in September.
 
The family returned to Israel shortly after Herod's death, possibly in the autumn of 4 BC. Matthew 2:19-23
 
Here is the 'if'. If Zacharias saw Gabriel in his spring week of service, it would have been mid-May, meaning John the Baptist wouldn't have been conceived until June. That would mean Gabriel would have been sent to Mary in December, 6 month's into Elizabeth's pregnancy. That would make Jesus conceived in December or January, meaning He would have been born in August or September. With Herod dying that September, they could not have presented Jesus in the temple at 40 days old until October, a month after Herod's death. That's why I suggest He may have been born in the spring.  
 
As I said, the early church didn't celebrate the birth of Jesus so this is not an issue to argue about, and I suppose one day we can ask Joseph, Mary, the shepherd and wise men, or the Lord about it ourselves!
 
New subject next week, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com
 

Hi all,
This autumn we took a trip with others to visit friends in house churches in the US area called 'New England', which is the far northeast section of our country. On our last day we stopped by a favorite spot, the Lobster Shack on Two Lights Road, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. I don't eat lobster or their kind, which I call 'insects of the sea', but Barb likes their lobster roll and the setting is right on the edge of the rocky coast.
 
I picked up my hamburger and iced tea, and stopped at the little corner table where they had condiments, all in little packets in small compartments on the table; ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and lemon juice. I put 2 packets of lemon juice from that compartment for my tea on the tray, and walked to our table.
 
I tore open a packet of lemon juice and squirted it into my tea, and then picked up a second packet, tore it open, and squirted the contents into the tea - but to my surprise the packet I thought was lemon juice, was actually mustard! After some laughter I realized the heavier mustard would hopefully settle to the bottom without mixing with the tea, so I proceeded to drink my tea throughout the meal and forgot about the mustard lying in wait to ambush me at the bottom of the cup.
 
Sure enough, that last gulp of tea was pure mustard, and I laughed again though I nearly choked on it, and it sure cleared my sinuses!
 
Appearances can be deceiving
It looked like normal tea, but appearances can be deceiving if you didn't know what was added. Similarly, we have a situation in Matthew 8:5-12 that has caused believers a lot of anxiety because it looks like one thing at first glance, but when you check all the 'ingredients' within the story, the real flavor comes through.
 
Jesus is approached by a Roman Centurion saying this: "Lord, my servant lies at home in bed paralyzed, and is in terrible pain."  To which Jesus replies: "I will come and heal him." But the Centurion said "Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. Just give the order, and my servant will be healed."
 
This is where many fail to notice the context and understand the culture of the day. This Centurion was not Jewish, yet a believer in Jesus, and understood His authority. When he asks Jesus to just issue a command for healing the Lord makes note that a Gentile can have faith too:
 
"Truly, truly I say to you, I have not seen such great faith in all Israel. And I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west (from Gentile nations), and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But many of the children of the kingdom (Israelites) will be cast out into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." (v5-12)
 
Jesus' reference to 'many will come from the east and from the west' refers to Gentile people coming into the kingdom, as this Roman stood before Him, while children of the kingdom (Jews) will be cast out. We might say it this way;  '...children to whom the kingdom belonged but they rejected' will be cast into darkness...
 
Fear not believers - Jesus was not talking about believers having an uncertain future - He was talking about Gentiles who like the Centurion, would have faith in Christ, and come and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom, while many to whom the kingdom belonged, are cast out due to unbelief in Him.
 
Stand up, or sit down?
In Acts 7:55-60 Steven is on trial before the elders of Israel, which comes to an abrupt end when Steven is rushed upon and taken outside the city and stoned to death. The whole of chapter 7 is devoted to his trial which seems to be moving along at a crisp pace, only to end so suddenly. It makes the reader wonder what happened to cause such an abrupt and tragic conclusion?
 
"But he, being filled with the Holy Spirit, looked steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And said, 'Behold! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'" Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord...and they stoned Stephen...And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' And when he had said this, he died."
 
Clearly the turning point was when he told the elders he saw The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But why?
 
It is because the Jewish culture of the day taught that God will stand up when He judges mankind, based on Isaiah 3:13-15: "The Lord stands up to contend, and stands to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgement with the elders of His people and their leaders....why do you beat down my people, and grind the faces of the poor says the Lord of the armies..."
 
Stephen was merely telling them what he saw - Jesus had stood up to judge the elders because they were bringing Steven to trial for his faith. THAT is why they were incensed. The idea THEY, the elders of Israel, were being judged...
 
The point I want to bring out is this; When Stephen asked the Lord to dismiss charges against them by asking 'Lay not this sin to their charge', the Lord would have sat back down, and on that last day the sin of murdering Stephen will not be brought against them. We have amazing authority before the Lord when it comes to forgiving and releasing a person from their sins against us.
 
White stone
In The Revelation 2:12-17 Jesus has a message for the disciples in Pergamos. He commends them for not compromising their faith though they live in the main city for emperor worship, but also says there are those in their midst who like Balaam did to Israel, have put a stumbling block before the believers in that they hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans, which He says, He hates.
 
Early church fathers say a leader in the church named Nicolas was the source of the heresy, and the word Nicolaitan means 'power over the people' and when combined with the Lord's example of Balaam who devised a seducing of Israel, we see the teaching of leaders having power over people is a seduction the Lord hates - it leads to 1 voice speaking to the people to tell them what God is saying, rather than staying with New Testament truth of Christ in each believer and therefore equality among the disciples.
 
Jesus tells the believers in the Nicolaitan teaching to repent, and for those who "...overcomes, I will give him the hidden manna to eat, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it."
 
The hidden manna is a reference to heaven, for you may recall part of the manna Israel found in the wilderness was put into the Ark of the Covenant to be preserved forever by His presence. The Lord is telling the over-comers they will be with Him in heaven itself, the true Holy of Holies.
 
What is the white stone?
Jesus links the giving of a white stone with the eating of hidden manna. In Roman times white stones were used like business cards, and sometimes as a ticket to get into a Roman event. But the most common use was that when someone took in a stranger for the night, that person upon leaving, would give their host a white stone with that person's name and address on it, so that if they ever come to their city, they would have a home away from home, a place to stay, eat, spend the night.
 
Jesus said He would give them such a stone. Jesus is saying essentially, "I've made my home in your heart, and now I'm giving you a personalized ticket to gain entrance to my home, for you are in my heart." The fact He personalizes it so that only He and they will know what is on the card, shows us how intimately He knows us, to put a sort of 'code' on that stone only He and we will know. Amazing grace!
 
The theme for this last in the series is as you can probably tell, assurance of salvation, assurance of our home in heaven. From the Centurion who is no doubt one of the many Gentiles coming from the east and west to sit down with Abraham, to Jesus sitting down as we ask Him not to hold the sins of those who sin against us to their charge, to promises of eating heavenly food and gaining entrance with a ticket so personal only He and you will know what is written thereon - we have an exciting future!
 
As Ephesians 2:7 says of the Father's good intentions towards us: "That in the ages to come He will clearly show the immeasurable and unsurpassable riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.."
 
New subject next week, until then, blessings!
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com