Hello fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,

I was reading the study from Ecclesiastes about fearing God and keeping commandments when God opened my eyes to a truth I had been blinded to. Let me explain…..

According to my late mother, I began picking at my skin when I was two years old. During those years my brother David and I were physically and emotionally abused and neglected. At the age of 11, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. While I was growing up, I didn’t feel loved or wanted. I was told that I was special and I wondered how that could be true. What was it about me that made me special? No one could tell me.

In August 2000 I went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania …There I heard about forgiveness. I told God that I forgave everyone who had hurt me. God reached down and took away that painful past that had been haunting me and gave me His peace. Shortly thereafter I came upon your site and that of L. Ray Smith. I started reading both sites as I was learning the truth of God’s Word. Then I stopped for a while, but didn’t forget what I had read. God brought me back to iswasandwillbe and started to show me the truths I was reading. I started to think about what I was learning, and eventually God brought me to the place where I would finally learn something profound. I know why I’m special. God made me that way!!

Today God has shown me in John 8 that there is no truth to the Trinity doctrine and that He will save all. He also brought to mind John 12:32, 42-43. My question has to do with verse 42 where it says “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” What does it mean to “confess Christ”?

Your sister in Christ,

R____

 

Hi R____,

Thank you for sharing your story with me.

I am especially encouraged by what you say here:

“In August 2000 I went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania…There I heard about forgiveness. I told God that I forgave everyone who had hurt me. God reached down and took away that painful past that had been haunting me and gave me His peace.”

When we forgive others, our heavenly Father forgives us. If we do not forgive others, our heavenly Father will not forgive us:

Mat 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Mat 18:28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
Mat 18:29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
Mat 18:31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
Mat 18:34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
Mat 18:35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

“Till he should pay all that was due him” is not endless torment, but it is God’s judgment which teaches men to be righteous:

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

That is exactly what the “lake of fire” does. It teaches “the inhabitants of the world… righteousness”, because those who comprise and dwell comfortably in that fire are God’s overcomers in this age, who will come up in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” to be used of God to show His mercy to all the rest of mankind who have ever drawn a breath.

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

“Upright” speaking is speaking the fiery words of Christ, which will come out of the mouths of those who are comfortable in that “devouring fire”. They are comfortable there because that fire has already burned out of them everything that will burn, and they are now purified of all the false doctrines of Babylon which had kept them from being able to “confess Christ”.

Your question is:

“My question has to do with verse 42 where it says “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” What does it mean to “confess Christ”?”

And that is the answer to your question. “Confess[ing] Christ” is much more than saying a ten-second sinner’s prayer and then becoming part of the tens of thousands of differing denominations of men. The reason given for why the leaders did not confess Christ is that they feared being put out of the synagogue, because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God:

Joh 12:42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
Joh 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The parents of the man who was healed of being born blind, a spiritual type of all men, were also more concerned with being put out of the synagogue than they were concerned with obeying Christ and His commandments:

Joh 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.

“Believing that Jesus is the Christ” entails believing His doctrines and doing them. Christ Himself made that perfectly clear with these words:

Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

So there it is, Christ had confessed that he and His disciples had done that which was not lawful according to the law, they had “profaned the sabbath” and Christ justified doing so by claiming that He was greater that the temple, and was Lord of the sabbath.

Mat 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.
Mat 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.
Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;
Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.
Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

On top of all of this He also claimed to be the son of God, and those are the two reasons we are given for why the Pharisees wanted to kill our Lord:

Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

The church of Christ’s day typifies the churches of this age who claim the name of Chist but want to eat their own spiritual food and wear their own spiritual clothes, rejecting Christ’s food and His clothing, His doctrine and His works.

Isa 4:1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

The spiritual significance of the number seven is ‘completeness’, and the spiritual significance of ‘women’ in scripture is the church. What we are being told is that the whole church is to this day wanting the true Christ dead, and all who confess Him and do what He says will be cast of the the churches of today.

Denying the trinity is just the beginning of coming out of Babylon. It is my prayer the Lord will continue to open your eyes to see and your ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God which is within you.

I hope this helps you to understand what these verses of which you inquire mean:

Joh 12:42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
Joh 12:43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

To this very day we all tend to love the praise of men more than the praise of God. Especially when we see these men as great men of God, even as they tell us to go fight for God and country contrary to the commandments of our Lord:

Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

The doctrines of Christ are beyond the ability of our flesh, but they are not beyond the abilities of Christ in us:

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I will close by encouraging you to scroll down on the home page and listen in on the weekly studies that fit your schedule.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike