The election of Matthias - Acts 1:15-26 - N. T. -
One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers - there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation; 'Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus - after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of ours. As you know he bought a field with the money he was paid for his crime. He fell headlong and burst open, and all his entrails poured out. Everybody in Jerusalem heard about it and the field came to be called the Bloody Arce, in their language Hakeldama. Now in the Book of Psalms it says:
Let his camp be reduced to ruin, Let there be no one to live in it. And again:
Let someone else take his office.
'We must therefore choose someone who has been with us the whole time that the Lord Jesus was travelling round with us, someone who was with us right from the time when John was baptising until the day when he was taken up from us - and he can act with us as a witness to his resurrection.'
Having nominated two candidates, Joseph known as Barsabbas, whose surname was Justus, and Matthias, they prayed, 'Lord, you can read everyone's heart; show us therefore which of these two you have chosen to take over this ministry and the apostolate, which Judas abandoned to go to his proper place'. They then drew lots for them, and as the lot fell to Matthias, he was listed as one of the twelve apostles.
Cf. - Acts 1:20 -
Cf. - Psalms 41:9 - O. T. - Even my closest and most trusted friend, who shared my table, rebels against me.
Cf. - John 13:18 - N. T. - I am not speaking about all of you: I know the ones I have chosen; but what scripture says must be fulfilled: Someone who shares my table rebels against me.
Cf. - Luke 22:47-48 - N. T. - Jesus was still speaking when a number of men appeared, and at the head of them the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, who went to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'
Cf. - Matthew 27:3-10 - N. T. - When he found that Jesus had been condemned, Judas his betrayer was filled with remorse and took the thirty silver pieces back to the chief priests and elders. 'I have sinned;' Judas said 'I have betrayed innocent blood.' 'What is that to us?' they replied 'That is your concern.' And flinging down the silver pieces in the sanctuary he made off, and went and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the silver pieces and said, 'It is against the Law to put this into the treasury; it is blood-money'. So they discussed the matter and bought the plotter's field with it as a graveyard for foreigners, and this is why the field is called the Field of Blood today. The words of the prophet Jeremiah were then fulfilled: And they took the thirty silver pieces, the sum of which the precious One was priced by the children of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, just as the Lord directed me.
Cf. - Wisdom 4:19 - O. T. - Soon they will be corpses without honour, objects of scorn among the dead for ever. The Lord will dash them down headlong, dumb. He will tear them from their foundations, they will be utterly laid waste, anguish will be theirs, and their memory shall perish.
Cf. - Psalms 69:25; Psalms 109:8 - O. T. - May their camp be reduced to ruin, and their tents left unoccupied: for hounding a man after you had struck him, for adding more wounds to those which you inflicted. Let his life be cut short, let someone else take his office.
Cf. - John 17:12 N. T. - While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except the one who chose to be lost, and this was to fulfill the scriptures.
Cf. - Acts 1:8+; 10:35; 13:9+; 15:8 -
Cf. - Jeremiah 11:20-23 - O. T. - But you, Yahweh Sabaoth, who pronounce a just sentence, who probe the loins and heart, let me see the vengeance you will take on them, for I have committed my cause to you. This is how Yahweh has spoken against the men of Anathoth who are determined to kill me and have wanted me, 'Do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh or you will die at our hands!' 'This is how I will punish them. Their young men shall die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine. No one will be left when I bring disaster on the men of Anathoth, when the year comes for their punishment.'
Cf. - Luke 16:14-15 - N. T. - The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and laughed at him. He said to them, 'You are the very ones who pass yourselves off as virtuous in people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For what is thought highly of by men is loathsome in the sight of God.
Cf. - Revelation 2:23 - N. T. - Unless they repent of their practices; and I will see that her children die, so that all the churches realise that it is I who search heart and loins and give each one of you what your behaviour deserves.
Cf. - Exodus 33:7-9 - O. T. - Moses used to take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who had to consult Yahweh would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise. Every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he reached the Tent; the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, and Yahweh would speak with Moses.
Cf. - 1 Samuel 14:41-42 - O. T. - Then Saul said, 'Yahweh, God of Israel, why did you not answer your servant today? If the faults lies on me or on my son Jonathan, O Yahweh, God of Israel, give Urim: if the fault lies on your people Israel, give Thummim.' Jonathan and Saul were indicated and the people went free. Saul said, 'Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan'; and Jonathan was indicated. - PAGE 88 -
Pentecost
When Pentecost day came... - PAGE 89 -
IF WE LIVE BY THE TRUTH AND IN LOVE, WE SHALL GROW IN ALL WAYS INTO CHRIST JESUS, WHO IS THE HEAD BY WHOM THE WHOLE BODY IS FITTED AND JOINED TOGETHER, EVERY JOINT ADDING ITS OWN STRENGTH, FOR EACH SEPARATE PART TO WORK ACCORDING TO IT FUNCTION. SO THE BODY GROWS UNTIL IT HAS BUILT ITSELF UP, IN LOVE." - EPHESIANS 4:15-16 -
WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY. - Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!
"Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He is like a man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built.
But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man who built his house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 -
HE / SHE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE / SHE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE / SHE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE." - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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