The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 9 – 10
This series has covered an awful lot of ground; at times, you may have wondered if you really needed to know about solar panels or cleaning aluminum or olive pruning for me to make my point. But all of these things were very much connected. And not one of them was unnecessary, if you are to truly understand your place in the universe.
Under the law, we are criminals and thieves, and as such, we have been sold into slavery to sin, as a species, for seven thousand years, according to the law – we did, after all, steal the forbidden fruit. Yet on the 7th day, we will go free – the millennium.
Which is why you had to learn about theft and slavery, and how God meant for those who sinned to make amends by being sold into servitude – both for restitution, and for rehabilitation. That the best way to help society and the sinner is to apprentice him to a master.
Like those criminals, we have been apprenticed to a cruel master to teach us the lessons a sinner must learn; to teach us not only to be good servants to the good master, but also good servants to the evil ones. For this is thankworthy, and this will attract God’s notice (1 Peter 2:18-21).
Then you had to learn that we are not of God’s country; we are of the world. And so in order to escape the world, we must approach His embassy as refugees. Spiritually penniless, forlorn, hungry refugees casting themselves upon the mercy of the kingdom of heaven, with nothing to offer in exchange for their citizenship.
Which is why, to obtain that citizenship, we’ll have to sell our bond to Jesus; apprentice ourselves to the country of heaven, serving again seven days to be assimilated into that nation (Daniel 9:27). And He will have us glean for Him, both to pay for our bond and to teach us to assimilate into His great nation – and to teach us to value His laws.
We must learn meekness and humility by being poor; and also hard work, thrift, efficiency, attention to detail; we must learn to glean the truth; a line here, a precept there, from the rubbish heap of deception and nonsense that fills the world.
We must learn to wrest the nature of God from the grudging pages of the Bible by tedious labor. Learn to excitedly seize every piece of truth, to embrace a paradigm shift every chance we have to change our spirit; and learn, in the process, to think like He does, and make ourselves into good ministers of His.
And yet we can’t literally minister to Him, for Jesus is not physically present for us to serve. So instead, God has sent ambassadors into the world; it is to them we must apprentice ourselves, to someone who can provide us with the food and shelter we need, in every sense of the word.
Serving these masters gladly, ministering unto them in whatever capacity we can be useful; disciples receiving the correction of their lord in exchange for our beast’s labors (1 Corinthians 9:11), in the hopes of becoming citizens of their country, citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20).
If we, as such a servant in a strange land, love our masters, we can seek permanent adoption in their house (Exodus 21:5); and become a part of their house (Matthew 28:19-20). Their disciples, named after their name, which is in turn, named after the name of God (Ephesians 3:14-15).
And if we love their God more than the citizens of that land do (1 Peter 1:12), and honor God’s name more than His older sons do (Job 38:7), we would, by that action (Hebrews 11:7), be judging them (1 Corinthians 6:3). Whether they be angels or apostles, we stand out among our elders by how well we manage our fractions.
THE HOUSE OF GOD
When the entire world believes one thing, it is a massive job to completely tear it down and rebuild it properly. Building a house from scratch is easy; but much harder if you have to tear down what’s already there and reuse the scriptures properly.
Church isn’t a thing, and never was; but rebuilding a new paradigm in its place, conveying what a house is, was a massive job – I say “was”, but it’s not yet done. You’ve learned that God was building a house; and that Abraham, David, and others like them inherited a name within that house.
And that, if your own name was lackluster, you could perhaps seek adoption into that house, to be grafted into the olive tree of the Elohim. We do this by becoming disciples of God; apprentices of God through His representatives; and that ministering to them is both our training and our payment.
You learned that the relationship between a disciple and master was, effectively, the relationship between a man and his child’s spirit. And that the relationship between a servant and his lord is, effectively, the relationship between a man and his child’s beast.
You learned that pretty much every title the world sees in the Bible is simply another term for “elder”, and that every elder is simply the person who acts the most mature and leads the house. And that all of these jobs are basically babysitters of God’s children – which is both our training and our payment for our citizenship.
These babysitters were made to be mostly independent so that they could learn how to work and play well with others; and also, so that they could prove that, when that wasn’t possible, they could work and play well alone. Because while God would prefer His children were mature enough to work together… it’s very far down on His list of priorities.
And all of these lessons, when merged and harmonized, were meant to yield one simple answer: this is how to build the house of God. If you had truly understood what that meant, everything I’ve already said would have been understood; and everything I’m about to say as well.
When you buy a criminal’s bond with money, they become a part of your house; when someone immigrates into the nation of Israel, they become part of the house of Israel; when you apprentice someone, they become part of your house; when they minister to you, they minister as part of your house.
And obviously, when you adopt someone, they become a part of your house. And when you become a Christian, you become part of the house of God. All of these things are the same symbol, told in different ways. As always.
THE BLUEPRINT
Read Exodus 20:1-17. Everything God has done has had a single goal: to increase the size of His house; to make His name greater; to bear many children (for the record, that’s not three goals, that’s the same goal paraphrased three times).
Which means there is a huge dimension to the law you’ve missed; yes, these laws are good for us on every level; and yes, they are an expression of God’s nature. But today you’re finally ready to see that they are also the house rules of God.
I know this may sound like a foolish question, but what was the context of the ten commandments? What did God JUST SAY before giving us the law? “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
The ten commandments are, quite simply, a Father’s bullet-pointed instructions to His children on how to build Him houses. They are the blueprints, the permits, the foundation, and the roof of His house. And like every house, they have four sides, and an interior and exterior!
God KNEW that Israel only knew how to build a house in the Egyptian fashion, with the Egyptian laws, and God didn’t like Egyptian houses! So He was giving them rules for their NEW house, HIS house, telling them how to behave in – and create – the kingdom of God!
So I want you to read the ten commandments again; only this time, try to see them as instructions, not restrictions.
Think of them not as laws for a Church to administer, but as a handbook which, if followed, will automatically create a house. Then write down your newly-paraphrased laws as understood in the context of a House of God – a family of God.
Then see if they’re the same ones I came up with.
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1. You shall not have any other head of your house.
“God” is such a misleading word; the word used here is Elohim – the family of God. So really, this our Lord saying “I am the head of your House!”
And since ALL other houses were created by things He created, it’s foolish to attach yourself to the foot of God’s body when you could just as easily attach yourself to the Head of the body/House! (Colossians 2:18-20).
2. You shall not make a copy of that head.
What is an image, really? A copy. A copy of what? Jeremiah 2:27. All idols are substitute fathers and mothers! A copy of the head of our house! False heads! Whether that’s wood or stone… or far more commonly… another man (Acts 14:11-15). Which is why this commandment is about the SINS of THESE FALSE FATHERS and their children!
I’ve said many things over these lessons suggesting that you need to submit yourself to a human lord and master for a time in order to have your heart and spirit broken. But not submitting your soul to them – for the whole point of being a disciple is to teach your soul how to rule yourself!
Your soul is already broken, and you need a Lord and Master to bind it up again (Ezekiel 34:16). But as I’ve said, the people who might do that for you are proxy masters and lords… acting as your interim lord and master, but not your Lord, not your Master. Representatives of the Father, but not your Father.
The Pope, on the other hand, is the father of his children; even the name “pope” comes from the Latin for “father”! But no true proxy of God would ever “change times and laws”, or dole out water from a jug as Hagar did to keep her children dependent, when she could have led them to the fountains of living waters.
Every church ever formed, however noble their sentiments, wound up standing between the people and God; shading them, not just for a few years, but for generations… thus ceasing to be a proxy of their spiritual Father and replacing Him as their spiritual father (John 8:44).
Which is why God says the iniquity of these FALSE FATHERS will be upon their followers for four generations. Because they eclipse the true Father (Genesis 10:9), creating false paradigms which can take generations to unravel.
But He also shows mercy to thousands of generations of those who reject them, who refuse to submit their souls, their reason, their judgment, their common sense, to any man.
He shows mercy to those who keep this commandment, which could also be paraphrased as… “Thou Shalt Not Form A Church”.
[By the way, this would be a good time to go back and look at the commandments for yourself again, now that you have an idea of where I’m going with this, and see what you can figure out about the rest of them; because I won’t always be here, and you need to practice these things while I am. Which is, as the last lesson showed you, is largely the point – these lessons provide you shade for now, but what will you do in the dry tree? (Luke 23:31)]
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3. You shall not make your Father’s name empty.
Obviously, this means “don’t misquote your Father”. Don’t say “God said…” when God said no such thing (Jeremiah 14:14, etc.). But there is much more here than that; remember what a name means: the Name of your Father’s House.
If you become part of the ekklesia, you bear the name of Elohim – whether as a servant or a son, whatever belongs to that house is named Elohim. And obviously, you can make that name stink by your wickedness… but that doesn’t really make the name empty, does it?
So let’s ask the opposite question; how do you make your father’s – any father’s – name great? Genesis 12:2. The name becomes greater when more people carry it! Imagine your own family tree, only the tree is named Elohim. Each branch adds to the greatness of the tree.
But under your own name, written on a tiny twig on the fringes, what do you see below it? At the moment, unless you’ve brought people into the family of God, there is nothing below your name, because you have no spiritual children! Thus you have, so far, left HIS NAME EMPTY!
Thus, this commandment follows automatically from the previous two; “I am the head of the house”; “don’t form Churches with false heads”; and now, “thou shalt build a great house for yourself, to make My name greater!”
In other words… be fruitful and multiply, spiritually. In yet other words… thou shalt make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into my house (Matthew 28:19-20).
4. You shall set aside the seventh day to rest with your house to ensure your house is walking in the right way.
The Sabbath was meant to be kept with your house. To give your whole house a chance to discuss the goals of your mutual Father, and make sure the actions of this house in the past week, and the plan for the next week, are in line with His goals.
A time where they will not be doing the work of the human head of their house, and can have that day set aside for the work of the true Head of the house. How can you do that when you’re working, cleaning, or hanging out with worldly friends on the Sabbath? Which is why God said keep this day holy.
Remember, holy is not a special word, it just means “set aside”. You are supposed to remember the Sabbath, and set it aside to spend with your house – your servants, your children, even the strangers that are staying with you.
Not necessarily to bore them with a sermon-like lecture, but to discuss whatever is on the mind of God’s spirit that week. To discuss the path, in all its permutations, and try to declare the end of the next week from the beginning.
Simple. Easy. And not Church.
5. Obey your Father’s proxies to inherit eternal life.
Read Ephesians 6:1-4. What does that mean? Read it again. Is that really all it means? Did Paul write this to browbeat children into sitting up straight in church and being polite and calling their elders “sir”? Really? Or was this much, much bigger than that? What does the context say? Ephesians 5:32-33.
Now go back and read Ephesians 6:1 one more time. Do you see what you didn’t see the first time? Paul said obey your parents IN THE LORD. Now certainly, you can read that as many people do – “obey your parents (if they don’t contradict the Lord)”.
But was that really what He meant? Or did He mean “obey your spiritual parents”? Your parents in the House of the Lord? Compare to how Paul used the same phrase in 1 Corinthians 7:22, 39, to refer to believers! So the fifth commandment is telling us to obey the ELDERS in our house, in every sense of the word!
And remember what the text of the law said; “that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee”. When the young nobleman came to Jesus seeking eternal life, was he not seeking to have his days be long upon the Earth which the meek shall inherit?
We have ONE DAY now, on this Earth; if we are to have long DAYS on the Earth, it means to live forever. And this verse which he obviously already knew (Matthew 19:20), had he just listened to it, had already given him the answer he sought; that he must find a Father and Mother to honor.
In every possible sense, for the longer he obeys his physical parents, the less soul stress he faces, and the longer he’ll live – as Noah’s children proved. And the longer he obeys his spiritual parents, both the human types of them, and the true Parents, the longer he will live – up to, and including, eternity.
This is how people become kings and priests; this is how people “inherit the Earth”. By having parents who force them to be meek! (Psalms 25:12-13). This is how God deals with the problems laid out in Lesson 8-6. In short, by the process in 2 Timothy 2:2.
This verse I’ve used so many times is describing generations of true Christians, all of these men bearing their own “children of promise”, all of these children honoring their “father and mother in the Lord”, that their days may be long upon the land which the Lord their God will give them. And what is that land? Revelation 5:10.
6. You shall not kill another house.
Obviously, murdering people is wrong; but that’s a very external way of looking at this verse. Seen in the context of the house, it’s obvious this is talking about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:11-12 or what Jesus said in Mark 9:42.
David was guilty of this in 2 Samuel 12:14. If your selfish or sinful actions cause a potential child of God to leave the truth, you are not only killing his chances at the first resurrection… but pruning off his entire potential house, murdering thousands of potential children of God!
7. You shall not teach another house’s children against their father’s will.
Think about what adultery is, in its essence; it’s planting your seed in another house. It’s secretly forcing your spirit into his house, to create children in your own image, that he will have to raise not realizing their spirit came from you.
Said differently, you are seducing his body by persuading his children to do things your way instead of the way your brother wants them to do it. Thus, the Jews who were sending up people to Paul’s houses to get them to be circumcised were in fact committing adultery with Paul’s houses; Galatians 1:6-12 for instance.
Which finally makes sense of Galatians 5:12. Why say that, exactly? Unfortunately, most Bible versions gloss over the true and rather vulgar meaning of what Paul was actually saying in Greek, which was “I wish those troublemakers would castrate themselves” (GWV). Why? Because he knew they were spiritual adulterers!
They were trying to make his houses bear children in THEIR likeness, not his own! And spiritual castration would fix that! Which is exactly what God did to the Jews (Matthew 23:38). Now with this in mind, read 1 Peter 4:15.
When you look at this list, it seems rather odd that “busybody” is mentioned in the same breath as murder and theft, doesn’t it? I mean sure, no one likes someone who meddles in business that doesn’t concern them (Proverbs 26:17)… but really, Peter ranks this up there with murder?
The word “busybody” comes from the Greek allotriepiskopos; now if you look closely, you’ll see it contains episkopos, or “overseer”, usually translated as “bishop”. The other half of the word is allotri meaning “belonging to another, foreign, strange, not of one’s own family, alien, an enemy” (Strong’s).
Thus, Peter is condemning acting as the head of another man’s house! Or said differently, committing spiritual adultery with another man’s house! Which, when you think about it, makes sense; for murder is the 6th commandment; theft is the 8th; right in the middle… you find the 7th (Exodus 20:13-15).
In this context, then, making a list of sins against a house (see the context of 1 Peter 4:10-11, 17; 1 Peter 5:1-5), and including in that list between murder and theft the sin of being a “busybody” – or, better put, spiritual adulterer – is perfectly natural! And the punishment of spiritual castration, to prevent them from ever committing adultery again, is perfectly apropos!
8. You shall not steal children from another house.
The Bible uses the curious expression of “stealing a man” to refer to kidnapping (Deuteronomy 24:7). And when you see someone, say, Paul, converting a lot of people, you may think you could do a better job raising one or more of his children than he can.
This is closely related to #7, above, but there’s a distinction; #7 involves going to Paul’s house, teaching your views behind his back, so that his children, in his house, will act more like you. #8, on the other hand, involves taking his children out of his house altogether, and putting them in your own house.
God called this disciple to a certain house; God alone knows why. And in that state the disciple should remain (1 Corinthians 7:20-24). Disciples shouldn’t go “from house to house” (Luke 10:7), they should remain, eating and drinking whatever truth that master has.
He shouldn’t be poached by another master, nor after a particularly humiliating dressing-down should he go shopping for a master he likes better. Not unless his master is actually breaking the commandments (1 Timothy 1:20).
9. You shall not hide the truth you’ve learned from another house.
This does not say “thou shalt not lie”. Yes, you can and should extrapolate that law from this one as one of many sub-laws (Leviticus 19:11). But that’s not the law. The law says “don’t bear false witness against your neighbor”.
Remember, keep this in the context of a house; who is your neighbor? By definition, the house next to you. Now back to the family tree metaphor; who is next to you in the family tree? Your brother. So then, this could say “don’t bear false witness against your brother”.
Next, let’s turn the law inside out; let’s imagine it says “thou shalt bear true witness to thy brother”. What is a witness, exactly? He’s a person who has seen or heard something, and is telling that thing he knows to someone else. When would you want to do that to your brother?
Remember: in the context of the house! And in that context, you would bear true witness to him when you see him building his house wrong! (Leviticus 19:17, KJV margin). So that he can repent, and build it correctly!
So naturally, when you bear a false witness, you are not telling your brother things you know to be true, the things God has shown you… in other words, Jeremiah 23:33-35.
Why wouldn’t you want to tell him the truth God shows you? I’m serious, think about it; your brother is building a literal house, and you see him make an architectural mistake, and you keep silent. Why would you do that?
Because you WANT him to fail! You want his house to fall down! And why would you want that? Because you’re guilty of #10!
10. You shall not covet the success of another house.
Every house in the world serves the Father, not each other. My success does not diminish your success (2 Corinthians 10:12-18). We are judged by God in comparison to one standard, Jesus (Ephesians 4:13), not in comparison to one another. But you might be intimidated by my success, by my house, by what I know. Why? 1 Corinthians 4:7.
We are not judged compared to each other; we are judged based on what we’ve accomplished relative to what we started with (Luke 12:48). And our reward is going to be based on our own agreement with God, not relative to the curve David, Paul, or Abraham may have set (Matthew 20:1-15).
Yet jealousy of another house is common in the ekklesia, as in all families. The youngest is jealous of the firstborn’s freedom and inheritance; the firstborn is jealous of the love and attention and grace the youngest receives. The middle child is jealous of both because he feels ignored.
Isn’t this just how it happened? The eldest (Peter), got lots of attention – and got yelled at a lot, too. The youngest (Paul) got tons of grace, and “got away” with things (like murdering people) that Peter would never have done (1 Corinthians 15:5-10).
And what of the middle children such as Matthias, or Bartholomew? Did they not have reason to be jealous of the attention of the elder three (Mark 10:41). This is just what it’s like to have siblings, and everyone who’s had any knows this. Which is why most of us have had siblings, to better understand our spiritual siblings!
It was this sort of jealousy that motivated the Jews to keep trying to commit adultery with Paul’s houses, to keep trying to kidnap his children. Which is why the law doesn’t say “thou shalt not lust”, like most people think. What it says is, quite explicitly, “Don’t covet your neighbor’s HOUSE nor anything or anyone in that house!”
Because really, you don’t need to build a house like mine; you need to build the best house you can build. That’s the real point of the oft-quoted Luke 14:25-33. Lay plans to build the most ambitious house you can confidently expect to FINISH.
If I choose to build the Taj Majal, and die or run out of money before the foundation is finished, people will mock my name. If, on the other hand, I build a modest Italian villa and find I’ve got some time left over, I can always “expand my tents” and add more rooms later (Isaiah 54:2).
But that’s MY dream; you needn’t build an Italian villa; an igloo or pole barn is just fine if that’s the best you can accomplish. Just ask yourself which is better – a malibu beach house paid for by a man born rich, or a log cabin or mud hut built by a poor man’s bare hands? (Mark 12:41-44).
And if Jesus was able to build a palace 12,000 cubits in each direction… so what? That’s His palace. I’m still proud of the villa I built (2 Timothy 2:15). Well, I will be once the roof doesn’t leak and I can get the toilet to flush.
DIVIDING THE INHERITANCE
Read John 14:2; why would this be relevant? Why would He “surely have told them” if this were not true? Remember: use the metaphor of the house, visualize it, work it to death, you won’t break it!
In every house, the more children a man has, the more he has to subdivide his inheritance. And there were twelve apostles, which is large as families go. And big families rarely have the resources to divide up into twelve pieces and still make great houses for each of their children!
The disciples had apprenticed to Jesus with the promise of becoming “fishers of men”, among other things. So when the disciples were bickering amongst themselves in Mark 10:35-45, Luke 9:46-48, and so on, they were jockeying for the best inheritances from their master. The greatest blessings.
So Jesus was reassuring them that there were plenty of great houses to go around in God’s kingdom! There was no reason for them to strive with one another for the best gifts, because all of them would receive more than they could possibly imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9, Romans 8:18).
If that were not true, if there wasn’t enough to go around and each needed to struggle to have enough, Jesus would “surely have told them” so that they could be striving to have the best positions! But their struggle needed to be against themselves, not each other (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Win that race with yourself, and you can name your prize.
Because there is in fact plenty of money, galaxies full of land, plenty of jobs to do and more than enough disciples to adopt into their houses; indeed, the problem wasn’t finding servants and children for the house, the problem was finding fit men to lead the houses (Matthew 9:36-38).
But let’s dwell on that verse, because it’s always bugged me. Why would Jesus – the Lord of the harvest – tell us to ask Him to give us things He Himself already knows are needed?? If He wants more ministers to preach the gospel, why would Jesus ASK US to ASK HIM for them?
And as I hope you’ve learned by now, if something doesn’t make sense, it’s because our paradigm is wrong. Again, visualize the scene. Imagine a field, laborers, owners, servants. We are supposed to use these physical things to understand the spiritual things! (John 3:12).
Jesus owned the “field of the world” (Matthew 13:38); but when retelling this parable in John 4:35-36, He specifically used the word fields, plural. Because in every house, the land is divided among the heirs. Which is why Jesus also compared these “fields” to “sheep having no shepherd”. And we know Jesus divided His flock among these same undershepherds (1 Peter 5:1-4).
So these fields of wheat/flocks of sheep were divided among these apostles. They were to be their disciples, their metaphorical sons! But harvesting them takes a lot of work; no man does it alone. So they needed to hire servants to help them do it!
They didn’t need more apostles and prophets, they needed more ministers to help those who were already harvesting the field! And it was for these servants of the apostles that the apostles were to pray… if, as, and when they needed them!
It’s absurd for them to pray to Him for more apostles to help spread the word; if He thought the world needed more apostles, He’d send them! Instead, they were to pray for more apprentices when they needed them… disciples to help the THEM do THEIR job! LABORERS of the harvest, not apostles of the harvest!
So contrary to what literally everyone in the world believes, Jesus wasn’t telling us to pray for more people to spread the gospel! He was merely saying there is an infinite amount of wealth to be gained. As much as we can possibly handle, more raw materials to build a house out of than you could possibly use! If your house isn’t like the palace of Versailles, it won’t be due to lack of materials, but due to your own lack of wisdom (Proverbs 24:3).
So there is no reason to be jealous of other houses; no reason to steal their disciples, subvert their families, hide the truth you have from them, much less kill them; because raw materials for your house are literally everywhere, if you just “lift up your eyes”!
And anytime you need more servants to help you harvest the fields that, even now, are on the verge of rotting away unharvested… just ask Him and He’ll give them to you! Because they are everywhere, just waiting to be called!
But first, prepare your work, and your field, and then build your house; get a job, get married, then have children; learn the truth, make a successful life for yourself, and then think about having disciples (Proverbs 24:27). Because we must prepare a place for them, just as He preparing a place for us (John 14:3).
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
All of these things were summed up in a single verse in 1 Kings 6:12; if you want to build a house, and you want it last, you need to make sure it’s up to code by following these laws which were MEANT to make the house we built stand forever!
But building a truly great house, as Abraham did, takes a truly great man (Romans 4:3). Apparently without argument or hesitation, and with no established house to pressure or persuade him to do so, Abraham just liked what God said and trusted that God would make it happen.
But God’s command came with a cost (Genesis 12:1-3). As all disciples must, he abandoned his life as he knew it, left civilization behind, and journeyed to a wild land he didn’t know, full of scary Abraham-getters. And he did it solely because he believed God and wanted to be part of His house.
Which is why he followed God’s instructions on how to build a great house to the letter; (Genesis 26:3-5). And not only that, but grasped the spirit within them, and built a house of spirit at the same time as he was building a house of flesh.
That’s a great man. One who shouldn’t be held back by the idolatry of Terah. Those of us who required more arm twisting to obey God, more convincing to believe God and follow His house’s blueprints, should be overjoyed to be able to fit ourselves into some small corner of the house of such a great man.
Be honest with yourself; if some homeless redneck had walked up to you, while you were minding your own business just doing your job, and said “quit your job, follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men”, would you have believed him?
Would you have left your father’s house, your trade (Mark 2:14), apparently, at least temporarily, even your wife and family (Matthew 8:14) and followed him? With no references, no real idea of what he believed or who he was? I wouldn’t have.
Which is why I’m not going to inherit the things Abraham did; because I’m not worthy of them. Nor am I going to inherit the things Peter did, or have a house like that of David; embarrassing as it might be, even Thomas was a better man than I.
Still, I did believe Him; not always readily, but I did. Not so quickly as Elisha or Samuel, but not so slowly as others. And as I said long ago, your reward will be inversely commensurate with the amount of force God must use to convince you that He is right (John 20:24-29).
And so I may merit a portion of Abraham’s inheritance. Not as head of Israel, as David will be; nor head of a tribe under him, as the twelve apostles; nor, probably, for quite a few generations below them. But somewhere in some corner of the family of God, I may be granted a house (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Or perhaps I shall only merit a shack. Or a tent. Or as a servant in someone better’s house forever; I don’t care, I’ll take it (Psalms 27:4). Because it’s better than anything I could have built on my own (Psalms 84:10).
And when you realize that, when you thoroughly believe it, only then are you ready to become a NC Christian (Job 42:5-6).