Faith and the Eyes of Your Understanding – Hebrews 11:1, 2 –

Faith and the Eyes of Your Understanding
(Hebrews 11:1, 2)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
For by it the elders obtained a good report. (Hebrews 11:2)
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The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24) But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (Romans 8:25)

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Faith Sees the Invisible

  Faith’s eye and the eyes of your understanding being opened are paths to see Him who is invisible. The eyes of faith present the image of God before the eyes of your understanding and the understanding of man in the knowledge of God. It was through faith that the elders obtained a good report for they believed God through faith. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) The elders earnestly sought to please God and to seek Him diligently. Faith is the bridge to both hope and grace. Faith presents the Almighty to the heart, soul and spirit of man. Man believes God (who is invisible) by God’s testimony of Himself in His creation, in His word, in His Son and in His redeemed. Faith comes BY the Father through His Son BY the Son of the Father and BY the Spirit of both Father and Son in the fullness of the GODHEAD bodily. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9) The elders obtained a good report through their obedience and works of righteousness, Abel being the first of the elders. The elders covers a long span of history of mankind beginning with Abel, the first man of a good report. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4)

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Faith Gives Birth to a New Race of Man

    The seed of a new race of man, through faith, began with Abel. Abel was appointed by God. God gave Abel (who was an APPOINTED seed from heaven) to Eve. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, [said she], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Genesis 4:25) Abel was the first generation of faith, a faith that even endures through death. Abel KNEW, as well as Job that the pathway to his own redemption and the hope of resurrection was through sacrifice. Abel’s testimony has endured through death as a witness to us today of his divine faith in his Redeemer.

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: (Matthew 23:34)
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35)
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:36)

   In Matthew 23 the Lord Jesus testified of the generation of faith. He gave us a look at the beginning of faith from Abel to Zacharias. The name of Zacharias means ‘Jehovah will remember.‘ Christ (as the Jehovah of old covenant) proved His omniscience remembering the path of faith and the shed blood of Abel to His present generation and to the present generation of evil men.
   The Lord was surrounded by men of no faith. The Lord Jesus also gave us a view after the cross that evil men shall abound in this evil world to our present day and age. In a godless society deception through lies is the number one tool of the devil. When Satan developed his first seed in Cain, he presented a murderer to the world. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1st John 3:11) Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1st John 3:12) The Spirit of God again reminds us of that which was from the beginning. And that Cain had a father, and that father was the devil. In the Lord’s day the spirit of Cain abounded in the land of Israel and in the nation. Christ addressed them as being children of their father, thus, taking us again back to the beginning. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44) As the Lord taught in the Temple, He dismissed the Pharisees one by one because of the sin within them from the most pious to the least of them, and both the Pharisees and the leaders of the Jews and the people chided Him for His righteous works. He addressed them for being from beneath, and declared of Himself as coming from above. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. (John 8:22) And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. (John 8:23)  Christ revealed Himself to the Jews that He was from above and not of their world. He was building His revelation that would conclude with the Great I AM, the ‘elohiym, the Jehovah and Jah of the Old Testament.

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56) Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? (John 8:57) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58) Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:59)

   This declaration of Christ as the I AM and being BEFORE Abraham became unbearable for the Jews, and they took up stones to stone Him, but He cloaked Himself and passed through the mist of them being UNSEEN as was His presence in the burning bush in the days of Moses. Warning . . . do not allow the doubts of cynicism to take the divine word away from you. Sceptics will always lie to deceive as noted in John 8:44. Satan was a liar from the beginning, so if we are going to have a correct view of faith, we must begin with faith’s first seed in the first man of faith, Abel, and on the dark side, we must see the seed of the wicked one in Cain.
   Through Cain and Abel, we have the two branches from the same tree, the branch of good in Abel, and the branch of evil in Cain . . . the tree having its seed within itself, thus both seeds having their own successive generation. Cain was of the wicked one, the first born of mankind from Adam. And the first APPOINTED SEED, born of faith, was Abel by a Supernatural work in the heart, soul and spirit, a NEW BIRTH by faith. Abel believed God unto righteousness.

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Faith Ensures Life Forever

   God testified of Abel’s gifts and Abel’s faith, consequently,  LIVES today. When the Lord Jesus stated that God was a God of the living and not the God of the dead, He used Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as examples that faith LIVES and there is a life present after we pass out of this world. Abel, he being dead, yet speaks through his testimony of a living faith. Faith NEVER perishes. It continues on into eternity, and lives in the hearts of the redeemed in the presence of God.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29)
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (Matthew 22:30)
But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, (Matthew 22:31)
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:32)
And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. (Matthew 22:33)

   The seed of faith will be the resurrection of the just, and the translation of the just for the seed of faith is the generation of Jesus Christ. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)

   This is the eternal generation that spans from Abel to ‘that there should be time no longer.’ (Revelation 10:6) For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Galatians 3:27) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29) Not only do we belong to the generation of Jesus Christ, but we are a NEW CREATION, A NEW RACE unknown to the world, but KNOWN of and by God. We are a heavenly people, and we have a heavenly city above. We are here as Ambassadors of heaven to reveal our King, Jesus Christ, to the world. The churchaholics cannot understand this miracle of the new birth in Jesus Christ that before John Chapter 3, through the Old Testament, men and women were born again into the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Nicodemus could not understand this miracle, and so today, the religious world also cannot understand the NEW CREATION in the NEW BIRTH, and within themselves they still repeat the words of Nicodemus, ‘How can these things be?‘ In John Chapter 3 Christ was NOT speaking of the Church to come in time, but He was speaking of the seed and of the children of faith.

   There will always be the pretenders. This is another means that the devil dilutes the Church. Lucifer is the great pretender wanting to overthrow God so intensely that even in the world of Adam, the children of the wicked one raise up pretenders to lead them while Lucifer pulls on the strings of the marionettes. Most false professors are deceivers and know their own deception. Lucifer uses these pretenders in his attempt to weaken those who are of Christ.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6)
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7)
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? (John 3:9)

   Here in a few verses the Lord disclosed the divine seed of faith through the Spirit. He explained that which is born of the flesh is the seed of that wicked one. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1st John 3:12) And that which is born of the Spirit is of the Spirit of faith and lives in Jesus Christ.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Galatians 4:28)
But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Galatians 4:29)
Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. (Galatians 4:30)
So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. (Galatians 4:31) (Isaac was born of the Spirit, born again.)

   The seed of faith comes through Christ who is the Eternal Seed, that Holy Thing. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
   The power of the Highest HIMSELF shall overshadow thee. To have THAT shadow of power, there must be an object, and that object was the manifestation of the invisible God. His shadow (in the light of His glory) overshadowed Mary, and that holy thing was given to her and she (through birth) as well as God the Father would present HIS child to the world, and His name was called Jesus, and He would be the Son of the Highest Himself.

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The Eyes of Faith Sees the Unseen

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. (Psalm 87:5) The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. (Psalm 87:6) As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee. (Psalm 87:7)
   In Psalm 87 we have a prophetic picture of two men born in Zion, both of a Supernatural birth as well as a Supernatural seed. Elisabeth throughout her lifetime was barren, thus, Zacharias and Elisabeth was childless. God sent His angel to stand at the right hand of the altar of incense while Zacharias was completing his course of priestly service to God to reveal that Zacharias would have a son, and the name of that son would be John. It was a name sent from heaven. This is THAT MAN that was born in thee Zion. He was a man sent from God. This and that man was born in her.

   There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (John 1:6) In verse 6 of Psalm 87, it is This man, the Son of man, . . . And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (Luke 1:31) On the night that the Lord Jesus was born, His star overshadowed the world. The angels joyfully proclaimed that a Savior had been born and had been given to the world. Christ came to lead the people to a path of righteousness for His name’s sake. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:3) In Psalm 87:6 we see the book of life as the word written. The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. (Psalm 87:6) He counts those of faith. He divides the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, those who have oil in their lamps, and those who come empty of the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We also see the springs of water. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee. (Psalm 87:7)

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. (John 4:10)

   In this wonderful 87th Psalm we have the redeemed in song, praising and rejoicing in the springs of water from the Lord Jesus Christ springing up within them, for we can say, all my springs are in thee. Let’s return to John Chapter 3.
   The Lord spoke of earthly things that being born again MUST take place HERE on earth. Although it is from above, it is a gift of God to man in this present life, and man MUST believe with the heart in the Son of God. This is the earthly journey of the redeemed through faith. The same witness of Abel that was righteous through the more excellent sacrifice is the SAME witness that we receive IN Jesus Christ, our divine sacrifice, and through Him we receive the righteousness of God. We present ourselves, and our bodies as a living sacrifice unto Him. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1) John Chapter 3 is a divine record of things that are SEEN and things that are UNSEEN. You cannot see the things of the UNSEEN until you read Chapter 3 with the eyes of faith, and your understanding opened. If I have told you earthly things and you believed not, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:12)
   In verse 11 of Chapter 3 of John, the Lord Jesus began to reveal heavenly things. He revealed His deity as the Son of man for while He was on earth He spoke of Himself in the plural, we and our. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. (John 3:11) The Godhead declared, WE speak that WE know, then the UNSEEN became the SEEN, all three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that which WE have seen. The world cannot and did not receive God’s witness of Himself in Jesus Christ. In John 3:13 we ascend higher, for Christ takes us into heaven, we have His omnipresence while He was on earth as the visible image of the invisible God. Read the following reference slowly, Christ was speaking in the present, He presented Himself as the Son of man on earth and in heaven simultaneously to show His full omnipresence. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. He WAS and IS the visible image of God’s Christ IN heaven which came down from heaven.
   In John Chapter 17, as Christ lifted up His eyes to heaven, His presence was with the Father in heaven, verse 1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. The eye of faith placed the Lord Jesus in heaven with His Father. You will see the glory of His omnipresence, for the hour had come to glorify the Son with glory that He had BEFORE the world was. (John 17:4-5) He received a glory IN heaven BEFORE He glorified the Father on earth. In verse 2 of John 17, we see those who are part of His glory, the redeemed. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John (17:2) The redeemed reflect the light of Christ on earth, however, even at this present time, they are part of His glory in heaven because the Spirit of Christ is within His redeemed. Again, we see the Son of man on earth through His Spirit in us while He is in heaven. Now don’t go off mad . . . it is also true that through the Spirit of Christ being in us, we have a presence in heaven with the Father, so that we can cry, Abba Father.

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6) Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. (Romans 8:26)

   This intercession in Romans 8:26 takes place from earth to heaven. WHILE we pray, we have a presence with God the Father. The voice of Christ intercedes for us in our prayers for He is the Intercessor between God and man. In John 17, while on earth and in the presence of the Father, the Lord Jesus intercedes for the present disciples and those who would come after. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. (John 17:18) And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19) Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (John 17:20)
   We should realize and accept our presence before the Father in heaven WHILE we are still on earth. For faith is the substance, the tangible article, the reality of our life here on earth and our presence with the Father. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence to things not seen. Again, through faith, the elders acquired a good report.

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Faith Appointed

  From Abel to Seth, we have another move of the seed of faith in Genesis Chapter 4, verses 25 and 26. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. (Genesis 4:25) And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 4:26)
   God appointed another seed. This is very important for it also informs us that Abel’s seed was appointed by the Lord. With Seth we see the divine seed in the Spirit maintaining faith on the earth, and we see in the descendants of Seth that his son Enosh was the seed of faith continued THROUGH THEM for they called on the name of the Lord. In the line of Seth we see worship and obedience. In the line of Cain we have materialism, a city, adultery, and vain imagination which led to idolatry and to a murderous spirit within Cain’s line.

I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. (Mark 13:20)

  Eve confirmed that God had appointed her another seed. (As the parents of Moses saw that he was a proper child (Hebrews11: 25), so Eve saw that both Abel and Seth were also proper (special and set apart or appointed) children to be heirs of faith. So, Eve speaking said that God had appointed her another seed in Abel’s place. Seth was the new seed of faith, for he was the proper child.) She declared that this seed (Seth) was to replace Abel who had the testimony of faith. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4) We have here a witness that Abel was righteous before God. (Seth also through faith pleased God and his works were also righteous before God.) The Holy Spirit waiting until these last days to reveal through His Son the seed of Christ and His seed of faith in His brethren. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 3:1) For many, I realize, that this is too much to bear that God is the ALMIGHTY God and that Christ is the IMAGE of the invisible God, and that Christ has ALL power in heaven and in earth. Many do not believe that Christ came down from heaven. He was NOT a man of earth in Adam. He was the heavenly MAN to bring a heavenly people in Him to heaven. As we saw in John 3, the Lord Jesus proclaimed, a man must be born again. As Abel was the first seed of faith until the day of reformation when Hebrews 11:40 would be fulfilled that they without us could not be made perfect.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: (Hebrews 11:39) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40)

   This is not speaking of our perfection. It speaks of the fullness of time when the PERFECT ONE came to perfect a people for Himself. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5) And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6) Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

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The Eyes of Faith Sees the Majestic Realm of Eternity

   Christ is the PERFECT ONE through His life of perfection, through His perfect sacrifice on the cross, through the wonder and perfection of His resurrection, and placing His blood, the blood of perfection, inside the veil upon the mercy seat. But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (Hebrews 9:11) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (Hebrews 9:13) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)
   When Christ came into the world, time was completely fulfilled. All that went before was IN Him, and all that was present was IN Him, and all that was to come was IN Him. For Christ is the fullness of ALL in ALL For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; (Colossians 1:19)

And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (Ephesians 1:19) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:20) Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:21) And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, (Ephesians 1:22) Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. (John 1:16)

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. (John 3:31)

   In our present-day man wants to create a new reformed Adam who has the capabilities of getting man to heaven. They cannot accept that God was IN Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Why does the world love Adam and not Christ? It is because they love their sin IN Adam, and if they transfer the sin nature of Adam to Christ then they can justify themselves in their sin. Man has not accepted that Adam MUST go. The old man needs to be kicked out of the house, so that the new man (Jesus Christ) can come in. They cannot bear that Christ was SINLESS. He was that holy thing, that holy child Jesus, and the Holy One.
   In Hebrews 1:8 what do we see? But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. In this Scripture the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace takes us into the UNSEEN of faith. What is revealed? Here is the reality that His throne is forever and ever: in the past, forever and ever; in the present, forever and ever, and in the future forever and ever. We are entering into the throne room of eternity. Here the Lord Jesus sits upon the throne as the Son of God. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever because Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever . . . the express image of the invisible God . . . the things of the UNSEEN . . . He holds the sceptre of righteousness in His right hand over the kingdom of God. Compare Revelation Chapter 4, verses 2 – 6 with Revelation Chapter 5, verses 1 – 13.

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (Revelation 4:2) And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. (Revelation 4:3) And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4) And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5) And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6)

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And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. (Revelation 5:1) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Revelation 5:2) And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. (Revelation 5:3) And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. (Revelation 5:4) And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. (Revelation 5:5) And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6)
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. (Revelation 5:7) And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (Revelation 5:8) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10) And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; (Revelation 5:11) Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12) And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)

  Through the Spirit of God, we hear His voice in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We see a full picture, and a panorama of the throne of God, and the Holy Spirit of God through the word of God gives detail of that throne, the same throne of Hebrews 1:8. This throne is beyond man’s range of thought. It is through the eyes of faith that the Lord allows us to see the true glory and majesty of His throne. The more that we exercise the eyes of faith, the more evidence is revealed of the UNSEEN. So what does Revelation Chapters 4 and 5 reveal? Around the throne we have four and twenty elders all having a good report. (Hebrews 11:2) There is a sea of glass and by faith the many mysteries of God are opened through His word. It is the Spirit of God who enlightens the heart, soul, and spirit of man. We must have permission to enter into the throne room . . . Faith must hear the words, Come up hither. Around this throne is a rainbow as the brightness of an emerald. This is His bow that God set over the new earth. The Lord exercised His judgment over all flesh in the days of Noah. He destroyed that which was evil and under His curse. In Genesis 9 we are presented a new earth.

And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: (Genesis 9:12) I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. (Genesis 9:13) And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: (Genesis 9:14) And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. (Genesis 9:15) And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9:16) And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9:17)

   God proclaimed in 9:13 that this was His bow, I do set my bow in the cloud. This same bow that is around His throne is forever and ever. In the New Testament (especially in the book of Hebrews) we are reminded of the creatorial power of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews Chapter 1:2, Christ made the worlds. In Hebrews 1:10, Christ laid the foundation of the earth. (Oh, how we miss so much in the holy word of God when we listen to man and do not search the Scriptures for ourselves. Each and every child of God receives the unction within to search the word of God, and to obtain the knowledge of the grace of the Son of God and to KNOW Christ and to KNOW the Man in heaven at the right hand of God. The unction of the Spirit of God is to take the word of God and give us an understanding in God’s purpose for each and every child of God.) Here is the mind of the Spirit concerning the word of God.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: (Isaiah 55:10) So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18)

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. (Isaiah 28:9) For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: (Isaiah 28:10)

Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. (Isaiah 34:16)

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2nd Timothy 3:16) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2nd Timothy 3:17)

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (1st Peter 1:23)

   When God looks down on the people on the earth today, He sees the SAME abominable creatures as He saw in Genesis Chapter 6. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6:6) And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Genesis 6:7) When God looked down upon the earth, what He saw grieved Him in His heart. The wonderful creation that He had created and had declared that it was very good was now FULL of putrid sinful flesh. The corruption was beyond the spirit of man. Even the ground that had absorbed much blood had to be destroyed and every living thing also had to be destroyed except that which was chosen of God and placed in the ark to pass through the destruction of the earth and the great flood. And now the eyes of the Lord sees the same condition of a world feeding on sin and consumed by sin, and intermingled with this corrupt world is a false counterfeit profession of faith and a Church in filthy rags. Once again the world has been overthrown by Satan and the sin of man. This must sadden or grieve the heart of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 26:21 the Lord had enough and came out of His place to punish the people. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

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The Power of Faith Created the Genealogy of Faith

   Faith is as the ring of a bow. The diamond in the ring is the jewel of faith of the Son of God. The gold band is the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. The circle of the band is the Spirit of grace that keeps the children of God through all eternity IN Jesus Christ for by faith the elders obtained a good report.
  In the genealogy of Genesis Chapter 5, we have a deliberate change by the Spirit of God. It is no longer a chapter but a book of the generations of Adam. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; (Genesis 5:1) The Spirit of God begins in man in Adam in the IMAGE OF GOD, or in the likeness of God made he him. Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:2) It is quite evident that this was before the fall of man.  Sin changed the outward and the inward being of mankind in both male and female. It was in their creation that God blessed them. After Adam brought sin into the world, and death by sin, they fell under the Law of Sin and Death. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) The event of Adam bringing sin into the world by his disobedience is not mentioned, and both Cain and Abel are not mentioned.
   And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: (Genesis 5:3) This returns us to Genesis 4:25, And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. The word appointed is very important. The word appointed is just as powerful as the word ‘chosen’ or the word ‘called.’ It is applied to both Seth and it refers back to Abel for they were both appointed seeds. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat [a son] in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth. (Genesis 5:3) Seth was born in the hundred and thirtieth year of Adam, however, Adam was created, but Seth was born in the likeness of the image of Adam after Adam’s image after the fall. So why did the Holy Spirit begin with Seth and not with Cain or Abel? In the case of Cain. in Genesis Chapter 4, he was a murderer driven out from the presence of God. Part of the judgment of Cain, as Adam, Cain’s image was changed. Cain was marked by a change in size.

  Cain had become a man of renown and a giant in the land. So, in the hundred and thirtieth year we begin again with another seed to replace the seed of Abel or the seed of faith. In this genealogy of Chapter 5, and five being the number of grace, we see in the seventh from Adam, God’s grace in the removal or translation of Enoch. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. (Isaiah 57:1) Enoch was a prophet and most likely also a preacher of righteousness. He walked with God and he pleased God. He was a soldier of faith, and an heir of righteousness, and he condemned the world that was then, and spoke of a future judgment when Christ would come with ten thousands of his saints. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 1:14) To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:15) Undoubtedly the days of Enoch were evil. So, this man who walked with God and pleased God and prophesied of God and preached for God was translated out of the earth to be in the presence of God in heaven. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5) In Enoch we not only see his dedication, but we see the power of faith in his life. The testimony that he pleased God is an anchor within the gift of faith as we see in verse 6 of Hebrews 11. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. As Chapter 5 begins with the number of grace, it begins a new account or book of the generations of Adam as it swiftly moves to faith in Seth and this is very important because Seth became the first seed of faith in a continuous genealogy of faith before the flood. Again, this points back to Genesis 4:26, it is here that God wants us to see the children of God worshiping or calling on the name of the Lord. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. In Enosh we have a distinct line of faith, and although Adam had more sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4) the unknown, and unnamed sons and daughters were not of faith, they were of the fallen seed of man in Adam. This also gives us evidence for the appointed seed of both Abel and Seth for it sets a division in the children of Adam. Seth became the heir of faith. Cain was a different seed from Abel, Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. (1st John 3:12) The seed of Cain was of that wicked one under sin and through birth had acquired the sin nature of Adam for Adam brought sin into the world and death by sin. With Abel we have an appointed seed and by faith acquired the new birth being born again by the Spirit of God. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4) In 1st John 3:12 the sin nature of Cain is completely exposed as he is a child of that wicked one. In John 8:44, we have the collective, or the masses, are of their father the devil. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. These children of the devil are also exposed in Jude 15 – 18. To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:15)

These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. (Jude 1:16) But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Jude 1:17) How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (Jude 1:18)

   In John Chapter 8, when Christ condemned the people that they were children of the devil, He was preaching in the treasury of the Temple. When Christ made His declaration that He was BEFORE Abraham that He was the great I AM, the hearts of the children of the devil twisted in their hatred toward Him that they took up stones to stone God. For Christ in verse 58 had proclaimed His preexistence as BEFORE ABRAHAM.

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58) Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:59)

   Christ had proclaimed that He was the great I AM of the burning bush in Exodus 3:12-16.

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. (Exodus 3:12)
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? (Exodus 3:13)
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. (Exodus 3:15)
Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: (Exodus 3:16)

  The Jews at the time of Christ’s declaration KNEW exactly what He was referring to. Standing before them was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was the God of life, for IN Him was LIFE, the Author and Possessor of eternal life. Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (Hebrews 7:16)

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29) For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. (Matthew 22:30) But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, (Matthew 22:31) I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and rGod of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. (Matthew 22:32)

  The Pharisees and the Levites and the Jews KNEW the Lord Jesus said that He was GOD, yet the power of their father the devil was too great in them because of their sin. Although God IN Christ was standing before them, they refused to turn to Him. In verse 7 of John Chapter 8, the Lord had exposed their sin. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. They could not stone the woman for the claw of sin was tearing at their hearts and keeping them from the acknowledging the knowledge of God. Again the Lord Jesus stooped down and with His finger began to write. This was the same finger that had written His Laws on the tablets of stone.

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18)

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. (Exodus 32:15) And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. (Exodus 32:16)

And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (Exodus 32:19)

   In Exodus Chapters 31 and 32 there was a crucial point in Israel’s history when the finger of God wrote His Laws for His people. In John Chapter 8, we are again at another crucial point in Israel’s history as the Lord Jesus exposed their sin with the same finger that He had written on the tablets of stone given to Moses. In John Chapter 8, the Author and Giver of the Law stood before the Jews. This was the day of their visitation, and they knew it not; thus, they refused to believe on the Son of God as the Son of God.

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Faith Opens the Portal to the Supernatural God

   Back to the genealogy of Genesis Chapter 5. . . This is not the beginning of faith, in fact, IN Abel it was not the beginning of faith. The substance of faith IS IN the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of faith, and He POSSESSES ALL FAITH. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:21) From Seth to Noah there was nothing of material value mentioned. In fact, there was nothing of earthly domain mentioned. The Lord reveals nothing negative in the line of the ten names in Chapter 5. This leaves us with a godly line of faith seeking that which is above and not the things of the earth which is a stark contrast from the line of Cain. In the ultimate in the seventh from Adam, we have Enoch a man who so pleased God that God translated him, and he was not found. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 1:14) To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:15)

   In the preaching and prophecies of Enoch he had a testimony that he pleased God. In the church of Philadelphia, we have this testimony of those who loved the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8) Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. (Revelation 3:9) Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10) Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. (Revelation 3:11)

   What Enoch saw in his day with the ungodly, so, the LAST CHURCH OF FAITH, Philadelphia, also sees in the ungodly and a world given over to sin. As Enoch warned, so, today the warning is the same that the Lord is going to come with ten thousands of His saints to reprove and judge the ungodly of this world. It is only through FAITH that both Enoch and the Church in Philadelphia pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Man without faith is faced with the impossible, for he cannot please God. He cannot obtain faith by his flesh. Faith cannot be invented. Faith cannot be purchased by money or by works. It is a gift of God. In Hebrews 11:4 it was Abel who received the first gift of faith, and through faith Abel was the FIRST MAN who was born again. Here we have the seed of faith and the purpose and operation of the Spirit of God. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12) Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:13) Faith is NOT of blood, nor is it by the will of man, nor by the will of the flesh. The spirit of Adam has NO control over the article of faith. It must be the Spirit of God who quickens from above. (John 3:7 and 8) Herein is the faith of Abel. It is the substance, the tangible Christ, the things hoped for through salvation, and the evidence of things NOT seen, the things of heaven and not of the earth. Faith is the portal to the Supernatural and opens the eyes of our understanding to see the ONE GOD, the INVISIBLE GOD, to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2nd Corinthians 4:6) As Abel’s daily trial of his faith dealt with the bickering and heckling from Cain, so those of faith today live in the world of Cains and we also have the trial of our faith. Peter wrote what the trial of our faith is worth and that the end of the trial of our faith will be full of glory. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (1st Peter 1:7) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (1st Peter 1:8) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. (1st Peter 1:9) Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (1st Peter 1:10)
   As the word of God is settled in heaven forever, it is the word of God that gives us the revelation of God. God is revealed in the word of God by His Spirit from the beginning. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:2) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3) In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)
   All that is understood by the children of God today is through the kindness of God to reveal Himself through the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel had the same God, the same Savior, the same faith and the same glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Abel as well as Cain, saw and listened to the word of God in God’s presence. It was the presence of the express image of God in Jesus Christ who spoke to these two brothers. Abel, by faith, offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain offered.
  The elders through the same revelation of God, through faith, obtained a good report. In Genesis 4:24-26 the word appointed is very important. A specific seed was appointed in the seed of Seth, which also translates back to Abel that Abel’s seed was also appointed. In all the children that Adam and Eve had, there are only two who are mentioned as ‘appointed seeds.’ So, who appointed them? It was not Adam, nor of the will of the flesh. The testimony is from Eve. God said that SHE said that God has appointed me another seed. Now to Seth was born a son, Enosh. It was in Enosh that the promise and gift of faith continued. Faith becomes the seed of the invisible God. In Enosh men began to call on the name of the Lord. They worshiped God. They were known of the Lord as in Job 1:8. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? I am using Job as an example because Job also qualified as an heir of God’s righteousness through faith. Abel’s death by the hand of Cain brought the first human death into the world. It also brought the first mourning into the world caused by the Law of Sin and Death. As Abel was the first seed of faith, so he was the first to die (although righteous) under the Law of Sin and Death. It surely is proven by Hebrews 11:4 that Abel pleased God and diligently SOUGHT to please God for God testified of His many gifts and Abel was NOT forgotten of God.
   In 1st Samuel we have the great stone or altar of Abel mentioned Chapter 6, verse 18 And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite. This great stone of Abel was used for sacrifice, and it bore the name of Abel. He being dead yet speaks. We also have the Lord’s testimony to Abel in Matthew 23:34 and 35.

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: (Matthew 23:34) That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35)

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Faith Opens the Eyes of Understanding to See God in the Face of Jesus Christ

   The Lord Jesus Himself testified of the righteousness of Abel. The word of God testifies that Abel received His righteousness BY his excellent sacrifice AS a witness of Abel’s faith in God. So what are we learning about this substance of faith? Faith opens our eyes of understanding to the invisible God, the UNSEEN, and the glory of the invisible God in the face of the manifest image of God who is Jesus Christ, the eternal seed of God. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:16) Seth was the appointed seed of the Lord to replace the appointed seed of Abel. Seth’s name means ‘appointed,‘ or ‘to continue.’ This reveals that the genealogy of Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis is the Supernatural genealogy of faith and its seed. In Enosh we see an expanding faith because men began to call on the name of the Lord, thus, showing that Enosh was a witness of that faith to others, he being recognized as a child of God and not of man. The name of Enosh means ‘mortal‘ showing that the flesh must pass away for the flesh was under the Law of Sin and Death, although, those of faith had been freed from the Law of Sin and Death through their faith in Christ. (Romans 8:2) Although through these ten men of Genesis 5, faith traveled Supernaturally . . . the flesh must die EXCEPT for the seventh from Adam, Enoch. However, Enoch was still a member of the genealogy of Chapter 5 of Genesis. It was because of his faith and that he pleased God that he was translated out of this world.
   As we examine Genesis 5, it begins with the creation of Adam in the likeness of God. The genealogy of faith ends with Noah and the approaching judgment of God upon all the ungodly. Genesis Chapter 5 spans approximately one thousand six hundred and fifty-six (1656) years until Noah’s reached the age of five hundred. This was at the birth of Shem, Ham and Japheth. There is no evidence that these three individuals were men of faith. Although they were given a new world under the covenant of God’s bow, their new world degraded into the land of Shinar and the rule of Nimrod, who was the first great imposter gathering the people under his iron fist of idolatry. Faith can be viewed as an unseen parenthesis placed in the timeline of man’s existence. God looked down on man and the entire world was of one language separated from God. God scattered man in judgment and confused their language into many languages. Out of this confusion, God chose a man named Abram, who was living in the land of idolatry in Ur of Chaldees, the land of Shinar, which was the land of confusion.

   There was no gift of faith in Shem, Ham and Japheth; consequently, without the gift of God in their genealogies there was and is NO faith. Therefore, God gave Abram the gift of faith when He appeared to Abram in Mesopotamia. And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, (Acts 7:2)
   God was specific that when Abram was called, he received the gift of faith. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews 11:8) The seed of faith continued through Isaac, for God gave Sarah strength to conceive seed and Isaac was born of the Spirit. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. (Galatians 4:28) But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. (Galatians 4:29)

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11) Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. (Hebrews 11:12)
Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: (Hebrews 11:18)

   We are free from the Law of Sin and Death. (Romans 8:2) We have the Spirit of Christ who has set us free, and the PROOF of our faith IS the Spirit of Christ within us. (Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:4-7) In our new birth we begin to walk in the path of faith. In the path of faith, we begin to see God’s omnipotence. He is without limits, and those who attempt to limit God are in error for they know not the Scriptures nor the power of God. When man attempts to limit God, he only limits his own faith for the omnipotence of God is boundless, so faith in the omnipotence God is also boundless. Man does not want to believe that before the first speck of dust was formed out of the vacuum of nothingness that it was Christ who brought forth that dust and made it into the worlds through the power of His word. When we speak of the seed of faith, we limit it to man’s understanding. In Genesis 1:11 and 12, God gives us information about the seed of the grass and herbs, and the seed of the trees. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Genesis 1:11) And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:12)
  This is the first mention of seed and comes under the Law of First Mention. What God discloses is a power that we still are unable to understand for God created that seed WITHIN, and every different tree, every different category of grass, every different category of herbs has a seed within itself. God placed that seed there so that the trees, grass, and the fruits of the ground would bring forth or produce after their kind. Christ not only made the worlds (Hebrews 1:2) but He also laid the foundation of the earth (Hebrews 1:10) He made the stars also (Genesis 1:16) the heavens are the works of His hands (Hebrews 1:10) And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. In Genesis 1:10 and 11 God discloses a double witness of a seed within itself. This is to inform man that God not only created the physical and the tangible, but there is a mystery, a Supernatural mystery of the seed within itself within what God has created. This also includes man, not only in the natural realm, but in the Supernatural realm.
   Again, allow me to reiterate. The seed of faith is NOT natural. It is NOT of Adam. It is NOT of the will of man, but of the will and purpose of an omnipotent God whose power is beyond the imagination of mankind. In God’s omnipotence within His seed of faith, we have His omnipresence. Within His seed of faith, we have His omniscience, and in every category of His omnipotence we KNOW NOT the power of God.

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The Good Report of the Faith of the Elders who Pleased God

   In 1st John Chapter 3, the Spirit of God tells us (the children of God) that we will see Christ AS HE IS, and we, the redeemed, will be like Him. This all began with Abel and was completed in the fullness of time when God sent His Son to be the omnipotent sacrifice for the gift of faith for all of His children. Through faith the elders obtained a good report. They did not try to limit God, but BELIEVED God through His word, and by their faith they received the righteousness of God. The God of our faith is diligent as He watches us as He sits above the circle of the earth, and as His eyes go to and fro throughout the whole earth. He is writing His report. As the elders obtained a good report, their story of life was written, and today God is writing our story of life. And our report as children of God will be given through faith in a more excellent sacrifice. As Enoch walked with God, the heading of his report is that he pleased God. He was dedicated to the preaching and prophecy of the word of God. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. (Jude 1:14) Enoch met the standard of God’s faith. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) Enoch is a good example of the power of God, for Enoch diligently sought God, he WALKED WITH God, he SERVED the God of his salvation, and he LIVED by faith, and he EXPERIENCED the ultimate power of God when he was translated into heaven and was not found on earth.

   The children of God today, as they read Chapter 5 of Genesis, see the continuation of faith through Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech to the end of the testimony in the life of Noah, who also WALKED WITH GOD, who also was a preacher of God’s righteousness, who also was a prophet warning the world that was then of God’s wrath and judgment to come. Noah was a partaker of faith and through faith received the grace of God. In Noah’s day he walked the path of faith and although what he saw before him seemed as a mountain that he could not climb. Through faith he warned the world, through his preaching and the building of the ark, and Noah became the heir of righteousness which is by faith. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:7) This heirship began with Abel and through God’s omnipotent power this heirship came forward to us IN our Lord Jesus Christ. The redeemed of God are joint heirs of God’s righteousness IN the Lord Jesus Christ. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17) Noah was a preacher of God’s righteousness. And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. (2nd Peter 2:5)

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1st Peter 3:18) By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (1st Peter 3:19) Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (1st Peter 3:20) The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: (1st Peter 3:21) Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1st Peter 3:22)

   As Noah was a preacher and a prophet, the ark that he was building was also a warning to the world that then was of the coming judgment of God. We know from the testimony of Scripture that only eight (8) souls survived the flood. The tragedy of sin is this: that the world that then was paid NO attention to the preaching and the prophecy of Noah, nor did they consider that the image of the ark that Noah was building represented salvation for them. They had deaf ears to the preaching of God’s righteousness. And today, this world has deaf ears. In the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, He told the world that at the end it would be as the days of Noah. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26)

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:37) For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, (Matthew 24:38) And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:39)

   Do we live in a time of man’s vain imaginations of his evil heart? Yes, we do. Man not only hates God, but man also inwardly hates himself. Explain why man purposely disfigures himself through cuttings, tattoos, by piercings, and a multitude of other forms of disfigurements to supposedly improve what God created. Man has NO respect for his own person.            Mothers of children offer them on the abortion table as a sacrifice to Baal (the devil) and for their convenience. This world is facing a cataclysmic judgment. We are on the verge of the earth itself casting up judgment against man by the power of God. The people of this world unilaterally deserve a judgment that the world has never before seen. Man, no matter what station of life, will hide in dens and caves hiding from the face of God and from the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus Christ).

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (Revelation 6:12) And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. (Revelation 6:13) And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14) And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; (Revelation 6:15) And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: (Revelation 6:16) For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17)

   The pending judgment of the earth fades in contrast to the eternal judgment of the souls of men at the great white throne judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ when He will judge ALL His enemies. ALL the names that are NOT found in The Book of Life will experience the second death and will be cast into the lake of fire where the eternal torment of their souls will bring forth wailing and gnashing of teeth.

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Faith Pleases God

   What a marvelous window to the soul is this faith by and through and IN the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith not only reveals the express image of God IN Jesus Christ, but faith shows us what we are and what we need because of Adam. Adam cannot give us faith. Adam had and has NO power to be born again. Adam had no faith, and Adam still does not have faith. Faith MUST be a Supernatural movement of the Spirit of God within. To be born of the Spirit unites us in the faith of the Son of God. We have no control where this faith comes from, or where this faith will lead us for it is ALL in the omnipotent power of God. The Lord Jesus described our new birth in John 3:6-8.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7) The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

   There is nothing natural in the new birth. God takes us OUT of the dead womb of sin and gives us a heavenly life that has no end. The entire process of the new birth is from above and out of the will of man. God takes us from the earth and changes us to His children and we become the heavenly as we depart from the earth. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 3:1) We have a heavenly calling to show us that the substance of our faith is heavenly and not of this earth. Our faith is in the Man in heaven today for us, who is the Author and Finisher, and Possessor of ALL faith, and BY faith,
   He will conform us to HIS IMAGE by and by. We have left Adam behind and his father the devil. As Adam sinned at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam became sin and could not end sin, nor leave sin. Sin had him by the soul. He was ruined in a moment of time as sin came into his heart, he would be known forever and ever as the man that brought sin into the world, and death by sin. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)
   I have heard proclaimed from many pulpits that Adam was saved. They completely negate Hebrews Chapter 11. Yet, without faith it is impossible to please God. This is the reason that the Spirit of God leaves Adam out of the 11th Chapter of the book of Hebrews because there was NO FAITH FOUND IN ADAM.
   Faith began with Abel, and his more excellent sacrifice. Abel is recorded as the first man outside of the garden to offer a sacrifice to the Almighty God through faith. According to his gifts, God counted his offerings as righteous.
   Now through the eye of faith, and the opening of the eyes of our understanding, our eyes are opened as the servant of Elisha’s eyes saw the Supernatural power of God. And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. (2nd Kings 6:16) And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. (2nd Kings 6:17) We see the invisible, we see in Abel the fortress of faith, and the evidence of the UNSEEN, for he believed God and was obedient in his sacrifice to God, and through that witness he received the righteousness of God. Both Cain and Abel stood before the presence of God and heard the word of God from the mouth of God. We have the testimony of the presence of God in Genesis 4:16, And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. We should understand that both Cain and Abel were given the ordinance of sacrifice, and the sacrifice was to be of a lamb, the first born, without blemish inwardly or outwardly, and it would be set apart from the flock. It would have a separate life and would be raised for the sole purpose of an excellent sacrifice to God Almighty. Both Cain and Abel had heard the words of God from the voice and breathe of God, for man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out from the mouth of God. If Seth was the appointed seed to replace Abel, then Abel also had to be an appointed seed from the Lord

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By Faith and the Stone of the Substance of Faith

   By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. These two words ‘By faith,’ discloses Abel’s spiritual state and standing in the eyes of God. By the way, these two words by faith are mentioned fifteen (15) times in Hebrews Chapter 11. This is 3 x 5, the number of grace (5) multiplied by three (3) the Godhead, the very fullness of the GODHEAD bodily in Jesus Christ, the express image of the invisible God, the evidence of the things UNSEEN, and the substance of all faith.
   One of the wonders of the day that we live in is that God HAS MANIFESTED Himself in the substance and in the tangible. He has revealed Himself IN the Lord Jesus Christ. If this is not enough for the eye of faith and for the eyes of our understanding to see the fullness of the grace of God THROUGH faith, then the grace of God also reveals His Son Jesus Christ through the word of God.

   Right now, in our day and age, the word of God is still kept by the Holy Spirit of God. The true word of God is invincible, and the one and only path of faith is also invincible in the Lord Jesus Christ. Abel was the first man of faith. He was also the first man to offer a more excellent sacrifice. He was the first to obey through faith, and by his gifts he pointed to the true gift of God in John 4:10. The question that the Lord asked the woman at the well of Jacob on the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph, If thou knewest the gift of God,‘ if you have come this far into this article and do not know that greatest gift to mankind was and is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, then simply you have no faith.
    Abel’s gift or gifts to God were through faith with an unrestrained heart through the Spirit. Abel’s gifts to God were only returning what God had given to man. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so Abel was only offering to God a gift that God already possessed. In the gift of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the gift of God to us, that holy thing (Luke 1:35), that holy child (Acts 4:27, 30), the Holy One (Acts 2:27; 3:14, 35).
   Now faith is the substance, and it is the tangible of the UNSEEN. It is the inner flowing of the life of the Spirit of Christ. Through the Spirit of God, Abel became the first man of faith. He became the first to be given the righteousness of God IN Jesus Christ. Abel was the first to suffer the reproaches of this world, the reproaches of Christ, which are greater riches than this ungodly world could give. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. (Hebrews 11:26) By faith the elders obtained a good report, their faith produced works of faith, from faith to faith (Romans 1:17).

   As we look further into Hebrews Chapter 11, we will build on the first stone that God gives to us, the stone of faith. We will see the character of men and women who walked by faith in the shadow of Him who is invisible, the Almighty God. So, what is next? We are going to discover the worlds and creation, and in the next article, may I warn you, you are going to have to let go and step out into the invisible through faith and let the eyes of faith reveal to you that which is invisible. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen.

Amen and Selah,
So shall it be.

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26)

© Copyright – Michael Haigh
Published on May 22, 2024, at 4:52 P.M. (EST)
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the King James Bible. (KJB)