Revelation 21:1-8 – Jesus says this about Himself three times in Revelation (Rev. 1:8, 22:13).
6 Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha [the first letter of the Greek alphabet] and the Omega [the last letter of the Greek alphabet], the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.
NASU
Revelation 22:13
13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last [Rev. 1:17, 2:8, Isa. 44:6], the beginning and the end."
NASU
Hebrews 12:1-2
1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter [“a completer, finisher, a perfecter”; KJV/NKJV- “finisher”] of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
NASU
Philippians 1:6
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect [2005- “to bring to an end, accomplish, perfect, complete”] it until the day of Christ Jesus.
NASU
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
NIV
“So what does this mean?”
(The following is from the Bible study Beginning And Ending With Passover; Entering In The Same Way They Came Out.)
God commanded Israel to partake of Passover when they came out of Egypt (Exodus 12), beginning their journey, and also when they ended their journey in Canaan, the place of their inheritance (Joshua 5). His judgment fell upon Israel’s enemies in order to release them, and it fell upon Israel’s enemies in the Promised Land in order to establish them. Their life and protection were to be found in the blood of the sacrificial lamb. So it is with us who are at the end of this age. God’s judgment is about to be unleashed on His, and our enemies, establishing His government on the face of this earth forever.
Israel ended the way they started. Their journey is a type, or picture of our journey. Jesus, our Passover Lamb, is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We come out, or begin with Him, and we will finish, entering into our eternal inheritance, with Him. It is a total consumption of the Lamb (see Joshua 3; Joshua led them in).
At the end of this age, we are being reminded that He will finish what He has begun (Phil. 1:6). Too much of Christianity in America now depends upon the works and structures of man. We will not enter the place of our spiritual inheritance without a total and complete partaking of Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Way of Truth and Life (John 14:6) is once again being revealed to His disciples as the only way to enter in.
Christ; The Mediator Of a New Covenant Through His Blood (Hebrews 9:11-28)
“…all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22) This is why we must partake of the sacrificial Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ. He is mercifully reminding His people of this in these last days. We, the church, have gotten our eyes off of Him onto many other religious rituals instead. These differences are what define our denominations. We do not serve the same God as some would say. In fact, we serve a god of our own making; the gods of denominational titles and structures. Jesus showed us the way to enter in, receiving the promise of the eternal inheritance. It is like He did, through His blood.
The Holy Spirit is clearly saying to His people as we near the end of our journey on this side of the Jordan; “Unless you leave your dead religious sects behind and repent, and follow Me fully (the total consumption of the Passover Lamb), you will perish! We are approaching the time of our entering in, behind the veil (see Bible study Going Behind The Veil). Unless I see the mark of the blood of the Lamb over your heart, I will have to destroy you. Repent quickly!”
Jesus entered ahead of us, showing the way into the Holy place. It is through His blood, the blood of the Passover Lamb. This is what He is now emphasizing at the end of the age. It is not by denominational titles, or doctrines, but in HIS BLOOD applied to a repentant heart that heard the call to “Get ready!” and acted. Like the priests in 2 Chronicles 29:16, we must remove the “unclean things” from the inner part (our hearts) of the dwelling of the Lord while it is still called “today.”
‘olah [OT:5930] – “whole burnt offering.”
The word ‘olah was listed first in Old Testament administrative prescriptions and descriptions as the most frequent offering. Every day required the presentation of a male lamb morning and evening [i.e. the beginning of the day, and the ending of the day]; the continual “whole burnt offering” (Exodus 29:38-42). Each month was consecrated by a "whole burnt offering," of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs (Numbers 28:11-14). The same sacrifice was mandated, for each day of the Passover-Unleavened Bread feast (Numbers 28:19-24), and the Feast of Weeks (Numbers 28:26-29). Other stated feasts required "burnt offerings" as well. The various purification rites mandated both "burnt" and sin "offerings."
The central significance of ‘olah as the “whole burnt offering” was the total surrender of the heart and life of the offerer to God. Sin offerings could accompany them when the offerer was especially concerned with a covering or expiation for sin (2 Chronicles 29:27). When peace offerings accompanied "burnt offerings," the offerer's concern focused on fellowship with God (2 Chronicles 29:31-35). Before the Mosaic legislation, it appears, the "whole burnt offering" served the full range of meanings expressed in all the various Mosaic sacrifices.
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Acts 2:1-4 – At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples, a “violent rushing wind” came from heaven, sent by God (see the Bible study The Sound Of His Coming). It was “a noise like a violent rushing wind.” This one, though, had a totally different effect on God’s people than that which comes from the devil. Verse six states “when this sound occurred, the crowd came together.” The true gift of God gathers, the false gift of the devil scatters.
Those who remained by faith in the place (i.e. the “house” who did what God said in Matthew 7:21-27) designated by the Lord were filled with the Holy Spirit. He rested upon those who were resting/remaining in Him. The Greek for filled means “to make full, to complete, to perfect.” This is a picture of the final infilling of God’s people that will complete us in Christ. It is the perfecting of the body of Christ. We will end the way we began; “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come…” (Isaiah 46:10/NIV)
Another outpouring, the “best wine” in John 2, will precede the second coming of Christ at the end of this age. Again, it will fill those who have heard the cry of the Holy Spirit to His people to purify themselves in anticipation of this heralded event. Out of them will pour rivers of living water (John 7:37-39, Ezekiel 47:9).
1 When the day of Pentecost had come [4845- “to fill completely, to complete entirely, be fulfilled”], they were all together [3674- “at the same place or time, together”] in one place.
2 And suddenly [869- “unawares, unexpectedly”] there came from heaven a noise like a violent [972- “violent, forcible”]rushing [5342] wind, and it filled [4137- “to make full, to complete, to perfect”] the whole house where they were sitting [2521- “to sit down; i.e. figuratively, to remain, reside”].
3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested [2523- “to sit down; fig., to settle (hover, dwell)”] on each one of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
NASU
NT:5342 phero (fer'-o)
(Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance)
a primary verb (for which other and apparently not cognate ones are used in certain tenses only; namely, oio (oy'-o); and enegko (en-eng'-ko); to "bear" or carry (in a very wide application, literally and figuratively, as follows):
KJV - be, bear, bring (forth), carry, come, let her drive, be driven, endure, go on, lay, lead, move, reach, rushing, uphold.
(Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
to bear,
1. to carry
a. to carry some burden (Luke 23:26)
b. to move by bearing
c. according to a less frequent use to bear up, i. e. uphold (Hebrews 1:3)
2. to bear i. e. endure (Romans 9:22)
3. to bring, bring to, bring forward
a. properly: tina (Acts 5:16)
b. to move to, apply (John 20:27)
c. to bring by announcing (2 John 10)
d. to bear i. e. bring forth, produce
a. properly:
b. to bring forward in speech: profeeteia (2 Peter 1:21)
e. to lead, conduct (John 21:18)
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