Matthew 16
1
And the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming to [him], asked him, tempting [him], to shew them a sign out of heaven.
2
But he answering said to them, When evening is come, ye say, Fine weather, for the sky is red;
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and in the morning, A storm to-day, for the sky is red [and] lowering; ye know [how] to discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot the signs of the times.
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A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it save the sign of Jonas. And he left them and went away.
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And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
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And Jesus said to them, See and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
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And they reasoned among themselves, saying, Because we have taken no bread.
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And Jesus knowing [it], said, Why reason ye among yourselves, O ye of little faith, because ye have taken no bread?
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Do ye not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many hand-baskets ye took [up]?
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nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took [up]?
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How do ye not understand that [it was] not concerning bread I said to you, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
12
Then they comprehended that he did not speak of being beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13
But when Jesus was come into the parts of Caesarea-Philippi, he demanded of his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I the Son of man am?
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And they said, Some, John the baptist; and others, Elias; and others again, Jeremias or one of the prophets.
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He says to them, But *ye*, who do ye say that I am?
16
And Simon Peter answering said, *Thou* art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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And Jesus answering said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed [it] to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens.
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And *I* also, I say unto thee that *thou* art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades' gates shall not prevail against it.
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And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou mayest loose on the earth shall be loosed in the heavens.
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Then he enjoined on his disciples that they should say to no man that he was the Christ.
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From that time Jesus began to shew to his disciples that he must go away to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised.
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And Peter taking him to [him] began to rebuke him, saying, [God] be favourable to thee, Lord; this shall in no wise be unto thee.
23
But turning round, he said to Peter, Get away behind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me, for thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men.
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Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any one desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.
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For what does a man profit, if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
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For the Son of man is about to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to each according to his doings.
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Verily I say unto you, There are some of those standing here that shall not taste of death at all until they shall have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
True Christianity #157
157. Since our spirit means our mind, therefore "being in the spirit," as the Word sometimes says, refers to the state of our mind when it is separated from our body. In this state the prophets saw the sort of things that exist in the spiritual world; therefore this state is called "a vision of God. " At those times, the prophets' state was like the state of spirits and angels in the spiritual world. In this state our spirit can move from place to place while our body stays where it is (as is also true of our mind's eye).
This is the state I myself have been in now for twenty-six years, with the difference that I am in my spirit and my body at the same time, and only sometimes out of my body.
Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and John (when he wrote the Book of Revelation) were in this state, as is clear from the following passages: Ezekiel said, "The spirit lifted me up and led me into Chaldea to the captivity in the vision of God, in the spirit of God. In this way the vision that I saw came over me" (Ezekiel 11:1, 24). The spirit lifted Ezekiel up and he heard the earth tremble behind him (Ezekiel 3:12, 14). The spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, and led him away to Jerusalem where he saw abominable things (Ezekiel 8:3-4). He saw four creatures that were angel guardians and various details about them (Ezekiel 1 and 10). Then he saw a new earth in the form of a new temple, and an angel measuring the temple (Ezekiel 40-48). At that time he was in a vision and in the spirit (Ezekiel 40:2; 43:5).
[2] The same thing happened to Zechariah when an angel was with him and he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees (); when he saw four horns and a man who had a string in his hand for measuring (Zechariah 1:18; 2:1-2); when he saw Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3:1, 6); and when he saw four chariots with horses headed off between two mountains (Zechariah 6:1-3).
Daniel was in the same state when he saw four beasts rising up out of the sea, and many details about them (Daniel 7:1-8); and when he saw battles between a ram and a goat (Daniel 8:1-14). He was in a vision when he saw those things (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8). In a vision he saw the angel Gabriel and spoke with him [].
[3] The same thing happened to John when he wrote the Book of Revelation. He said he was in the spirit on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10); he was carried off into the wilderness in the spirit (Revelation 17:3); and he was on a high mountain in the spirit (Revelation 21:10). He was seeing things in a vision (Revelation 9:17).
Elsewhere [in the Book of Revelation] he says that he saw the things he described. For example, he saw the Son of Humankind in the middle of seven lampstands. He saw a tabernacle, a temple, an ark, and an altar in heaven; a book sealed with seven seals and horses that came out of it; four creatures around a throne; twelve thousand chosen people, some from every tribe; a lamb on Mount Zion; locusts rising up from an abyss; a dragon and its war with Michael; a woman giving birth to a male child and running away into a desert because of the dragon; two beasts, one rising up out of the sea and another out of the land; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; a dragon thrown into a lake of fire and sulfur; a white horse and a great supper; the holy city Jerusalem coming down, with details of its entrances, its wall, and the wall's foundations; a river of living water; and trees of life producing different types of fruit every month; and so on.
Peter, James, and John were in the same state when they saw Jesus transfigured, as was Paul when he heard ineffable things from heaven.
