Earth is earth and heaven is heaven. Heaven is not on
earth and we have to remind ourselves that God’s plan for us is bigger than our
lives on earth. Things on earth never mimic heaven and we should understand
that heaven does not come to earth. Jesus will reign during His millennial
kingdom but heaven is still in another place. Earth seems to be the place where
flesh and blood exist, whereas in heaven corruptible flesh will one day become
incorruptible. Blood is an interesting subject in the Bible. Blood is a life
force for flesh. It is a sacred thing before God. Humans and animals have blood
and cannot survive without it. Angels and other sons of God do not have blood. This
sets man apart from other beings. Yet it leaves man vulnerable. A loss of too
much blood results in a loss of earthly life. Demons don’t have blood which
also sets them apart from man. When we look at people who seem to love to kill
others, we call them bloodthirsty. The expression is a description of people
who are happy to kill others. In the tribulation we will see the beast killing
Babylon, and there will be a lot of blood. To understand people who are
bloodthirsty, we have to look at the opposite perspective which is God’s love.
We are typically not cognizant of God’s love for us. We are
told to love Him in the Bible, but not until the Gospel of John do we actually
hear God loves the whole world. Not to oversimplify God’s love, but if all
people experienced the love of God, they would not become bloodthirsty. God
knew that man would struggle with man’s limited dimensionality, and His love is
beyond our earthly dimension and consequently above our understanding. Yet we
can know it and experience it. If you have ever observed a group of children,
something one might notice is that those children who know they are loved
behave differently than those who do not know or feel loved. Unloved children
exhibit attachment disorders, lack confidence and trust, while the opposite is
true for the child who knows he/she is loved. A child’s entire worldview, behavior,
and reaction to the surrounding world, is dependent on love. So it is with an
adult who has the love of a Heavenly Father. If you know and feel your God
loves you, you then exhibit confidence, trust, and develop a connection with
others as well as with God. Compassion becomes natural and behaviors follow
accordingly. Is your god mad at you, demanding of you, cold and calculating, ambivalent,
regarding humans as insignificant? If one or all of these are the case, your
behavior will exhibit attachment disorders towards other humans, you will lack
confidence and lack trust, and you will manipulate others instead of serve others
with kind-heartedness.
Cain killed Abel and Abel’s blood cried out from the
ground. Abel’s spilt blood was moving as molecules and atoms naturally do, and
it was not within Abel’s body, but outside Abel’s body, flowed out upon the
ground. After the flood, God tells Noah and his sons not to spill another
person’s blood.
Gen 9:3-6 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for
you; and as I gave you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with the life of it, which is its blood. 5 And
surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will
require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another's lifeblood] I
will require a reckoning. 6 Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood
be shed; for in the image of God He made man. AMP
Very specifically we are not to eat flesh with blood in
it. Man is also not allowed to kill men, everyone will have to account for our own
behavior. Sometimes we hear media clips of people who want to kill others, they
boast about wanting to kill people. There is something that is driving this
type of behavior. We will look at what that may be shortly. But man had a
problem regarding sin, and needed something to atone for sin. In the garden,
animals were killed to clothe Adam and Eve. That was the start of animals being
sacrifices for the atonement of man’s sin. Levitical law says this:
Lev 17:11 For the life (the animal soul) is in the blood,
and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls;
for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it
represents]. [Rom 3:24-26.] AMP
God used innocent animals to become atonement for sinful
man. The life of animals had to be sacrificed until Jesus came. But during the
time of Moses something bad started to happen. The Israelites were sacrificing
animals to demon gods, this is a clue as to “who” enjoys blood being shed.
Lev 17:7 So they shall no more offer their sacrifices to
goatlike gods or demons [8163] or field spirits after which they have played
the harlot. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their
generations. AMP
OT:8163 sa`iyr (saw-eer'); or sa`ir (saw-eer'); from
OT:8175; shaggy; as noun, a he-goat; by analogy, a faun: KJV - devil, goat,
hairy, kid, rough, satyr. (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and
Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006
Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Let’s note that the Levites moved to Jerusalem in the
time of Jeroboam because Jeroboam sacrificed to demons. Why? What is the
benefit to doing that?
2 Chron 11:14-15 For the Levites left their suburbs and
their possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons
had cast them out from executing the priest's office to the Lord. 15 And he
appointed his own priests for the high places and for the [idols of demon]
he-goats [8163], and calves he had made. [1 Kings 12:28.] AMP
Again, Moses writes:
Deut 32:16-17 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange
gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to
demons [7700], not to God — to gods whom they knew not, to new gods lately come
up, whom your fathers never knew or feared. AMP
OT:7700 shed (shade); from OT:7736; a doemon (as
malignant): KJV - devil. (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and
Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006
Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Why sacrifice to malicious demons? Let’s keep asking this
question. Another usage of this word tells us a bit more.
Ps 106:34-40 They did not destroy the nations, concerning
whom the Lord commanded them:35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned
their works.36 And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.37
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils [7700],38 And
shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom
they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with
blood.39 Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with
their own inventions.40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his
people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. KJV
Because the Israelites did not completely drive out the Canaanites,
they took up the Canaanite’s practices of killing babies as sacrifices to idols
and demon gods. They shed the innocent blood of their own children. It is one
thing to be forced into war, but quite another to willingly kill innocent
children. Who inspires this behavior? Not the people, but the demons that the
sacrifices are made to, that is who/what inspires the people to do this evil.
Why? What is so special about blood? Blood is the life force of living beings,
demons do not have bodies or blood. We know from Jesus’ descriptions that
demons are looking for a body to inhabit.
Matt 12:43-44 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a
man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.44 Then he
saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come,
he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. KJV
Demons despise humans because humans have a moist
“house”’ and the demons do not. If they can move into a “house” they then
invite others. How simple it is for a “resident demon” to inspire his host to
sacrifice innocent blood. What if several demons inspire a whole group of
people to war for the sake of bloodshed? We see that today, where one group believes
they will benefit in their own death if they kill others unlike them. Does that
sound like the love God has for humanity?
John 3:16-17 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized
the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that
whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish
(come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. 17 For God
did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn,
to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be
made safe and sound through Him. AMP
That is our contrast. Bloodthirsty or filled with love.
God doesn’t love one group or another exclusively, he loves the whole world,
yet the enemy, the god of this world, satan, hates humans. In order to
understand what is going on today we have to remember what satan did before he
stole rulership from Adam. We have studied that satan had merchandised people,
he had sanctuaries, and he made a wasteland of his habitation. In other words,
whatever group of beings he was in charge of before the time of Adam, he
destroyed them in the same way he is destroying our world now. Satan inspires people
to not value life.
Prov 28:17 If a man willfully sheds the blood of a person
[and keeps the guilt of murder upon his conscience], he is fleeing to the pit
(the grave) and hastening to his own destruction; let no man stop him! AMP
David communicates the idea of people who hunger for
blood.
Ps 5:6 You will destroy those who speak lies; the Lord
abhors [and rejects] the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. AMP
The term bloodthirsty
appears in our modern translations starting with the Psalms. The Lord rejects
the bloodthirsty.
Ps 26:9-12 Gather me not with sinners and sweep me not
away [with them], nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 In whose hands is
wickedness, and their right hands are full of bribes. 11 But as for me, I will
walk in my integrity; redeem me and be merciful and gracious to me. 12 My foot
stands on an even place; in the congregations will I bless the Lord. AMP
The idea of someone who is always out for blood is not a
modern human condition. What is it about the follower of God that others hate
so much? Let’s look at a few more verses.
Prov 29:10 The bloodthirsty hate the blameless man, but
the upright care for and seek [to save] his life. [Gen 4:5,8; 1 John 3:12.] AMP
Ps 55:23 But you, God, bring them down to the Pit of
corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their
days. But I put my full confidence in you. ISV
Ps 59:2-3 Deliver me from and lift me above those who
work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. 3 For, behold, they lie in wait
for my life; fierce and mighty men are banding together against me, not for my
transgression nor for any sin of mine, O Lord.
AMP
Ps 139:19-24 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:
depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.20 For they speak against thee
wickedly, and thine enemies take (thy name) in vain.21 Do not I hate them, O
Jehovah, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against
thee?22 I hate them with perfect hatred: they are become mine enemies.23 Search
me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; 24 And see if there
be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ASV
One thing we see is that there are people who are almost
hungry to kill others, while there are other people who cry out to God. It
would be a shame if all there was to this life is being hunted, and then death.
Most science fiction movies that portray the future, portray a dark and
loveless world filled with violence and hate. Some people believe that that is
what life is like now. However, the righteous and redeemed know, beyond all
words or doubts, that God loves them. We will look at that more closely
shortly.
Ps 94:20-23 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship
with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?21 They gather themselves together
against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.22 But the
Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.23 And he shall bring
upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness;
yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. KJV
What? They make laws that cause or enhance mischief in
society? Who are these people who become hungry for the blood of the innocent?
What do they gain?
Prov 6:12-19 A worthless person, a wicked man, is he who
goes about with a perverse (contrary, wayward) mouth. 13 He winks with his
eyes, he speaks by shuffling or tapping with his feet, he makes signs [to
mislead and deceive] and teaches with his fingers. 14 Willful and contrary in
his heart, he devises trouble, vexation, and evil continually; he lets loose
discord and sows it. 15 Therefore upon him shall the crushing weight of
calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken, and that without remedy.
16 These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17
A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate
others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, [Ps 120:2,3.] 18 A
heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in
running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath],
and he who sows discord among his brethren.
AMP
Getting ahead in this world seems to be the goal of
people who opt for this way of life. We call them Sons of Belial, those who
sell themselves to the devil for present world gains. This spirit of evil
overtook the Israelites.
Isa 59:1-9 Look! Listen! God's arm is not amputated — he
can still save. God's ears are not stopped up — he can still hear. 2 There's
nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the
split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn't hear. 3
Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips
smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities. 4 No one
speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell
lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies. 5 They hatch snake
eggs and weave spider webs. Eat an egg and die; break an egg and get a snake! 6
The spider webs are no good for shirts or shawls. No one can wear these
weavings! They weave wickedness, they hatch violence. 7 They compete in the
race to do evil and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil,
think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them. 8 They
know nothing about peace and less than nothing about justice. They make
tortuously twisted roads. No peace for the wretch who walks down those roads! 9
Which means that we're a far cry from fair dealing, and we're not even close to
right living. We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but
stumble through the night. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary
Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
This should not have been happening in Israel; hands
drenched in blood. Quite a colorful description of intentional evil creating a
wedge between God and man. Sin wrapped up in a pretty box with a bow that holds
the temporary promise of fulfilled lusts is what separates God and man. Look
what Ezekiel says.
Ezek 22:6-12 "'Your leaders, the princes of Israel
among you, compete in crime. 7 You're a community that's insolent to parents,
abusive to outsiders, oppressive against orphans and widows. 8 You treat my
holy things with contempt and desecrate my Sabbaths. 9 You have people
spreading lies and spilling blood, flocking to the hills to the sex shrines and
fornicating unrestrained. 10 Incest is common. Men force themselves on women
regardless of whether they're ready or willing. 11 Sex is now anarchy. Anyone
is fair game: neighbor, daughter-in-law, sister. 12 Murder is for hire, usury
is rampant, extortion is commonplace. "'And you've forgotten me. Decree of
God, the Master. (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002
by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
The leaders were competing in crimes. The glory of God
just left the temple, after three hundred years residing alongside idol worship
and male prostitution in the temple. They had forgotten God. Innocent blood
being shed was common. Hearts became hard to the value of life. This is why
Jesus came and shed his own blood for us.
Rom 3:23-25 Since all have sinned and are falling short
of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives. 24 [All] are justified
and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His
grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is
[provided] in Christ Jesus, 25 Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as
a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving
sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This
was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had
passed over and ignored former sins without punishment. AMP
Remember that all have sinned. Jesus came for everyone.
There is no temple, the blood of animals can’t be used for atonement any longer.
Jesus is the only way to redemption. Jesus is the only way to everlasting life.
Life is more than our earthly existence. There will be life after we leave
earth.
Heb 9:14 How much more surely shall the blood of Christ,
Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality]
has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences
from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God? AMP
Imagine, Jesus’ innocent blood was shed for you and for me.
No one took his life, although the devil thought he orchestrated the events, he
found out that it was Jesus’ plan all along. Jesus came to rescue the righteous
from Hades and to make paradise open to those who believe on his Lordship. The
reality of Jesus’ innocence was known by the religious leaders as well as Judas.
The manipulative leaders who had been practicing criminal behaviors were
hardened to the shedding of innocent blood. Jesus’ blood frees us.
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ the faithful and
trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead [first to be brought back to
life] and the Prince (Ruler) of the kings of the earth. To Him Who ever loves
us and has once [for all] loosed and freed us from our sins by His own blood,
[Ps 89:27.] AMP
And we have redemption through His blood on the day of
redemption.
Eph 1:7In Him we have redemption (deliverance and
salvation) through His blood, the remission (forgiveness) of our offenses
(shortcomings and trespasses), in accordance with the riches and the generosity
of His gracious favor, AMP
The logos of
God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12. The
heart has thoughts and intents. The heart can think and feel. Within every
person who communes with God, is a heart that fills with His love. One can only
know this by that connection with Him. God lives within our hearts.
Eph 3:16-19 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of
His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man
by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His
permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded
securely on love, 18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and
grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love]
what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; 19 [That you may
really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love
of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you
may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have
the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and
flooded with God Himself]! AMP
The opposite of this is that the person who does not
invite the Creator to live in his heart has a space that can be filed by
something else. The heart can be ruled by self, or by demons. The logos
discerns the thoughts and intents in the heart. Are the hearts thoughts from the
Heavenly Father, or from the god of this world who is god over the children of
disobedience? There is a spirit of disobedience that may reside in someone’s
heart.
Eph 2:2-3 In which at one time you walked [habitually].
You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of
the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the
air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that
still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the
rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God]. 3 Among
these we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of
our flesh [our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature], obeying
the impulses of the flesh and the thoughts of the mind [our cravings dictated
by our senses and our dark imaginings]. We were then by nature children of
[God's] wrath and heirs of [His] indignation, like the rest of mankind. AMP
The one thing that the heart does is act as a pump. Blood
runs through the heart. First, blood goes from the heart to the lungs to become
oxygenated. Second, the oxygenated blood runs back to the heart to be pumped
again. Third, the blood is pumped through the rest of the body, and fourth, the
blood goes back to the heart to begin the process again. The number four in
scripture denotes creative works. God used a four part system to give us life,
our blood must run through our hearts, mix with oxygen, go back to the heart,
and then circulate throughout the rest of our bodies. Overly simplified, blood
goes through a four part process in and out of the heart, the very place where
we feel and know God’s love for us. Our hearts have thoughts, our hearts have
intentions, our hearts cycle blood which means that our blood becomes energized
with whatever is in our hearts. If Jesus the Anointed Messiah lives within our
heart, our blood is energized with Jesus. If another spirit lives within our
heart our blood is energized with that energy. Every part of our being is
saturated with Christ, every part of our body is touched by God, and every
aspect of our lives resonates with the pulse of the Creator. From a spiritual
view we may look like a flashing neon sign announcing “Jesus the Anointed
Messiah, Son of God the Creator”. That would make every demon, every evil
spirit, every bloodthirsty person hate us. Truly, you radiate like an aura
something from your heart, is it Godly or demonic?
We cannot solve world bloodshed with politics, or social initiatives,
or war. We can only solve the problem of bloodshed by fixing hearts. This is
why Jesus told us to obey his new command, which was to love one another.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. KJV
John 15:17-19 These things I command you, that ye love
one another.18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated
you.19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hateth you. KJV
Bloodthirsty people will continue to multiply, and in the
tribulation there will be a viciousness we are only barely seeing today. Demons don’t have blood, they don’t have a
life force within them, so they use the bodies of men to fulfill satan’s plans.
People are invigorated by what is in their heart. Jesus is active within us. After
the called out are gathered before the tribulation, there will not be people on
the earth with Jesus abiding in their hearts. During the second half of the
tribulation, the dark dismal sci-fi movies will probably have more of a
resemblance of earth. People will confess Jesus as Lord and they will be
martyred for their belief. The blood of the martyrs will be avenged on the Day
of the Lord, the day Jesus comes back with his armies. But until that time our
only mission is to bring the love of God to the world as best as we can because
as He IS so are we in this world.
1 John 4:11-17 Beloved, if God loved us so [very much],
we also ought to love one another. 12 No man has at any time [yet] seen God.
But if we love one another, God abides (lives and remains) in us and His love
(that love which is essentially His) is brought to completion (to its full
maturity, runs its full course, is perfected) in us! 13 By this we come to know
(perceive, recognize, and understand) that we abide (live and remain) in Him
and He in us: because He has given (imparted) to us of His [Holy] Spirit. 14
And [besides] we ourselves have seen (have deliberately and steadfastly
contemplated) and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son [as the] Savior
of the world. 15 Anyone who confesses (acknowledges, owns) that Jesus is the
Son of God, God abides (lives, makes His home) in him and he [abides, lives,
makes his home] in God. 16 And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious
of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in
and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and
continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in
him. 17 In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion
and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of
judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we
in this world. AMP
