15 – From Puzzle Pieces to The Picture of Jesus Christ
There can be so much confusion in Christianity and life in general – often unrecognized. How can we come to realize and eliminate this confusion?
Our Confused State
The Puzzle of Scattered Ideas
To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. Isaiah 28:9-10 ESV
Challenges of The Puzzle
- Mere words are useless
- Requires vision: seeing shapes, icons, colors, patterns
- No puzzle box image
- But the image of the world
- Also the lens of the world
- Many pieces are scattered, mixed up, unconnected
- Pieces are mixed with fake pieces (old leaven)
- Many connections are made with fake puzzle pieces with the view of the world
- Multi-dimensional
Land of Confusion
“Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:7-9 ESV
Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words, for I see violence and strife in the city. Psalm 55:9 NIV
A Pure Language
For then will I return to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord. Zephaniah 3:9 KJ21
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Acts 2:1 KJ21
The Language of Pentecost
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:4 ESV
And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. Acts 2:6 ESV
Where there is no vision…
…the people perish
In and of themselves, words are NOT visionary.
Becoming Kings
It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2 ESV
And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:10 KJV
…being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2–3 ESV
The Mystery of God
Mark 4:11, Ephesians 1:9–10, Ephesians 3:3-9, Colossians 1:25–27, Colossians 2:2-3, 1 Timothy 3:16, Romans 11:25, Romans 16:25, 1 Corinthians 15:51, Ephesians 5:32, Ephesians 6:19, Colossians 4:3, 1 Timothy 3:9, Matthew 11:25, Matthew 13:33-35, Matthew 13:44, Luke 10:21, Luke 13:20-21, Luke 18:34, Luke 19:42, Colossians 3:3, John 16:25, 2 Corinthians 3:12-17, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Hebrews 6:19-20, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, 1 Corinthians 2, Jeremiah 6:10, Revelation 10:7
The Key of David
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name”. Revelation 3:7-8 ESV
Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. Luke 11:52 ESV
Fake Puzzle Pieces
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Matthew 13:7 ESV
See also Jeremiah 4:3
“How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 16:11-12 ESV
No Puzzle Box Picture
- Pictures from the world
- Not in words
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:25 ESV
God Deals With The Confusion
- God is not the author of confusion 1 Corinthians 14:33
- But the Author and Finisher of our faith Hebrews 12:2
- Passover
- Feast of Unleavened Bread
- Feast of Weeks/Pentecost & Jubilee
Review- Some Keys to Connecting The Pieces
- The True picture (understanding) comes from God
- The example of Jesus Christ
- God’s Feasts & Holy Days
- Layers & Cycles (Jubilee & Feast of Weeks)
- Sequences of Key Dates in the “ordained” calendar
- The Hebrew “civil” calendar
- Not just words, but icons, symbols, pictures
- Parables & Miracles
- It is all a mystery
- The greater context
- See the contradictions and gaps in our thinking
- Pray for God’s Holy Spirit in humility
- Everything is connected!
