Symbolic word usage king James version

Tyler wrote:Please do not be arguing about religion on here. It goes against site rules, whichever way you lean.

So, how come perfectly reasonable threads are closed for no apparent reason, other than being temporarily off topic, and yet a thread dedicated to talking about religion is left alone?

This place seems pathologically opposed to people talking to each other. Strange really, considering its nature.

Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Oh, this concerns covetousness, a violation of the tenth commandment and eh... adultery is the sin it may eventually lead to. He must be talking about somebody else's woman.
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According to the dictionary the word soul has different meanings. It can be seen as a spirit. It can be seen as the non-material part of man that is believed to give life to the body. Or as an individual. And more.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
In this context, by soul your spirit is meant. Your personality.
This seems contradictory to what he taught in the parable of the talents about the soul as life force or its length. Another example of this can be found in Matthew 18, 30 and 34, where it is clearly about doing time.
If you have to go to hell, your personality is destroyed and your life force taken (Matthew 25, 28), because, like money, it remains the property of the state and can still be reused.
In our Dutch language soul is applied more often as a life force and less often as a personality. Spirit is applied more often as a personality and less often as a life force. The soul is the non-physical part of man, but can be split up into the conscious and the unconscious. The unconscious is what the Stoics present as the unwritten sheet of paper. The conscious as the writing on it. Both are connected to each other. One is from god and the other from yourself or is yourself. Every man has a piece of god's property in him. With money, he knew to express this to us in a quantity.

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Animal species.

The different animals more often seem to stand for different angels or god.
Animals may be demons or even people possessed thereof, but also holy people.
Both animals and angels are distinguished between flying and non-flying species. With humans this is not so, so in the case of birds it is certain they stand for god or an angel (provided it concerns a metaphor of course what depends on the context), but non-flying animals may stand symbol for god, an angel or a human.
For example a dragon can fly, so it is certain it doesn't refer to a human, but to an angel. The devil.
A serpent cannot fly and that one too mostly refers to the devil, for in fact a dragon is a serpent with wings, legs and the ability to spit fire. In a single case a serpent is compared with christ. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. The serpent is seen as wise and so is the devil.

There are websites that say the eagles are angels making sure you are taken like Enoch and Melchisedec.
Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. - Where the community is, the angels will gather.
I think that's right.
For a herd of land animals an eagle's attack can go so fast that they don't even see their companion being taken. The eagle dives, grabs its prey and uses the speed of its dive to shoot up again. If the others of the ground did not look at that moment, it seems to them just as if their friend was there first and then suddenly disappeared.
In the 3 verses before (34, 35 and 36) he was talking about that taking away, whereupon the apostles asked where. They thought those future brothers have to go somewhere with their entire church communities. He answered them that it is not necessary. They will be picked up wherever they are located at that moment. Just like Enoch and Melchisedec these brothers won't have to taste death.
Then again, according to the gospel of Matthew it is also about carcasses. That's because he predicted a time of great tribulation for that future time. He said, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. The battle will be heavily going on. Angels come to the rescue. For some, on time. And for some, to late.

Swines and dogs might be a denotation for heathen, ungodly or just devilish people. Anyhow, they are without the congregation.
They are where you as a congregation send the saltless one to. The saltless one will no longer preserve anyone anyway. He says, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Matthew 7 can be associated with it, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Tread/trample = repress, crush.
As a church you must not give up good brothers to the dogs, because eventually they will grab your church too. You have to be a good church and only throw out the offense. Or the saltless one. Not which is holy. With real pearls you do not do that either.

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Hereby I imagine the pearls as souls again, since pearls are a means of payment.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Souls belonging to the kingdom.
The merchant man refers back to the previous verse on the man buying the field with the treasure in it and is therefore not an ordinary man anymore, but now a merchant man.
Like you see with the creation story how Eve has been made out of Adam, so the congregation originated spiritually from god. I imagine him as a man and the congregation as a woman. The man is seen as the leader of the family.
In like manner the merchant man is the founder and thereby the leader of his congregation. She originated from him. He sold all that he had (mention in the past tense), that is to say the pearls he already had. Or had won.
The 12 gates of heavenly Jerusalem of Revelation 21 each made of a pearl, may stand for such a soul. 12 Is, all the tribes of Israel. All Israel. This is a future vision of the kingdom that then will be fulfilled. Anyhow, the merchant man bought you with them and are thereby your door to heaven. The merchant man teaches all his members to sacrifice themselves to win the next soul. That doesn't mean they are immediately sacrificed, but (as with verse 44) it is more in the acceptance of your mortality. A spiritual death. You won't really die until later.
However, verse 44 teaches you first hide the kingdom, which implies you recognize there will be a kingdom, but do not see who belong to that until the return of the lord. To be on the safe side, you just buy the whole world. He selleth all that he hath (mention in the present tense), is the life that you still have to go. This too is spiritual. You forgive the whole world, but not everybody belongs to the kingdom. Because you cannot see who does and does not believe in that forgiveness, the kingdom is still hidden from you. If you buy the whole world, at least you know for sure that you have the kingdom... hidden in your mercy for the whole world. In fact, you do not yet know who you are buying. And since you're not yet really dead in the meantime, always be quick with forgiveness, for sinning goes on and on. Even though someone does not obey god and you are not sure whether you save him. Forgive anyway! Disobedience may be temporary. However, to find that out is not up to you at that moment.
Then at verses 45 and 46 the pearls are discussed. These the merchant man can see. You know they are yours. You've won them yourself. Nonetheless, you continue to look for that one pearl of great price, the next soul in which it becomes visible he is won, since he accepts your forgiveness and is willing to help pay. It shows that you do start looking for whom you have hidden in the world. It could be anyone. Out of the dogs. Out of the swines. We do this in the spirit of one for all and all for one. You die for the whole kingdom (verse 44) and the whole kingdom for you (verse 46). Again and again this principle goes on like that with every new soul that is won until the end of time. It doesn't stop where that one pearl is found. The search for the next one goes on. That he's called one pearl, implies he is but a single one after searching for a long time, very hard to find or like he continues with, of great price.
Treasure is abstract and general. Pearl is concrete and personal. The difference between the treasure and the pearl is that the treasure consists of many souls, while one pearl is one soul. The treasure are all the pearls of the whole kingdom. The man who finds the treasure, realizes he has something big, but his find is so great that it is impossible for him to survey it. Then he decides to buy the treasure, making him become part of the treasure himself. The merchant man, who thereafter finds the one pearl, is already such a pearl himself and the one pearl being found by him, will become such a merchant man too, because that's the one he will represent. The kingdom.

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Spiritually we have already died. Christianity teaches that one is born again in the spirit. First you are born physically, but without faith. As a dog. When you repent, you are born spiritually. Your old personality is dying. Romans 6 teaches that we are dead to sin (and that for those of your brothers). This means god will not spare our earthly life. Even his own son, who committed no sin at all, he did not spare. That we will die, is an established fact. This we also portray with baptism. Being immersed in the water symbolizes christ's death and how we die along with him. Being lifted out of the water again symbolizes his resurrection and how we will be with him in that too, but until then we have only been reborn spiritually.
We symbolize more with baptism. We portray how Moses passed through the sea after he delivered his people from Egypt from slavery and the sea water did not kill them. When the Egyptians tried the same, they were devoured by the water and drowned.
The baptismal water also stands for the blood of christ, in which we are washed clean from our sins. It shows we are partakers of his blood. The baptism ritual we only do once.

Israel has already portrayed christ in all kinds of manners before his existence. Not just with the passover.
Isaac too is a prefiguration of him. Marked for death because his father Abraham was going to sacrifice him on the mountain. Yet he came down the mountain alive after Abraham made the sacrifice. So also christ was killed and then lived on. Isaac died figuratively and on a literal mountain. Christ literally and on both a mountain and a world empire, because he's above that. In the meantime that mountain has fallen.
The serpent that was put on a pole by Moses in the wilderness as the crucified lord.
Jonah with his three-day journey through the belly of a fish as the time that christ was in his grave.
And many more.

When it comes to seed, after further contemplation I conclude the following:
Seed = descendant, offspring, child, follower, faith, word of god.
Seed can be divided into human and vegetable seed. With human seed it always refers to a (synonym of) descendant or a plural thereof and never to faith or word of god, while vegetable seed is more often a reference to faith or word of god, but may also be a reference to progeny. You have to take into account that the seed is the fruit of a plant and may sometimes be regarded as such, as is the case, for example, with the parable of the tares from Matthew 13,24-30.
24 A man which sowed good seed in his field. - God who sent out his children in the world.
In verse 25 it becomes clear that this concerns the seed of wheat.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit. - But when the case sprung up and brought forth results.
You see? The fruit of the blade is that more faith comes. More children of god, believers. Also, the fruit may indicate that your personal faith, your insight, increases (you can always go in different directions with the explanation).
Then the servants ask the householder whether they should remove the tares immediately, but he answers, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Someone may be unbelieving and counted among the tares today, but become a believer tomorrow by which he belongs to one of the fruits of the wheat. That the lord waits until the harvest time declares that he first wants to see that everybody comes to faith who is predestined for this and that bearing fruit is an important given within christianity.

That seed is also word of god, is evident from Luke 8,11 which can be associated with John 12,24,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. - If the christ does not descend to the earth and die, he alone remains, but if he dies, he brings forth many results.
In this case, the one grain of wheat represents the christ, who is also called The Word of God. That he would remain alone would, of course, apply to the time after the judgement when no one could stand without his perfect sacrifice.

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And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
The Seventh-day Adventists teach that wine is doctrine and I don't rule that out. I myself take it that wine is ritual and that becomes especially clear when you take the story of this parable in its entirety, for with this parable from Luke 5,37 he answers the question why his disciples do not fast, but John's disciples do. Well now, fasting is a ritual, so hence.
The old and new bottles are the old and new labels that state the production date and thus which rituals they contain. The bottles are the old and new testament. Or in the parable of the new garment you could speak of a new appearance. You don't sew a part of it onto an old garment, otherwise the new will tear the old apart because they don't match.
In other words, the old testament is big and complex enough already. If you make it even bigger and more complex, it becomes too much. The Jews have to do so many rituals that we often wonder whether that is humane, so if even more are added...
That old wine is better, is apparent when you compare it with the new. Say it yourself! Which do you prefer? Get together, break bread and eat this? Or come together, sacrifice a lamb and eat that? Let it be the case that real old wine also tastes better than new.

Because the new testament went to the gentiles, I see the gentiles as the new people. Christ saw this beforehand when he said that the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Matthew 19,30 to 20,16, Mark 10,31 and Luke 13,30). It was his plan to put the gospel in the hands of paganism to establish christianity there, although our headquarters should be in Jerusalem. The difference between first and last means the same as the difference between old and new. Or Jew and gentile. Or justified and unjustified.
He bases this on the old meaning. Which predates the coming of the gospel when gentiles could not yet be justified by faith in christ, although the statement "last shall be first and the first last" is one written in the new testament whose meaning would not be known until later (compare this with 2 Peter 2,20, Matthew 12,45, Hebrews 4,6 and also 10,9). He has united these 2 worlds in himself. In his death. In his words. For Jew handed him over. And gentile killed him. Both had a function in his story. In his rescue plan.

The 24 elders of Revelation 4, who in heaven will each have a position around the throne of god, could be a reference to 24 Jewish persons because they're called 'old'. First, the 12 sons of Jacob, after whom the tribes of Israel are also named. And second, the 12 apostles of Jesus whose betrayer was lost, but later replaced by Matthias.

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In Proverbs 6,20 and 21 lord Solomon instructs to keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. Proverbs 3,3 says the same about mercy and truth. Wearing something around your neck is making something recognizable to warn yourself and others with it. The millstone from Matthew 18,6 is again such a symbolic way to warn the other of the tempter who has ground (oppressed) the grain (seed) during his life, just like the 5 foolish virgins from the parable of the 10 virgins will be remembered how they always sold their own oil and had nothing in the resurrection. Also the trampling the dogs and the swine do may be associated with it because it is about oppression. So it's not so much that the foolish virgins persecuted sinners (which is already bad), but rather that they sold their oppressions as if it were oil. Which of course it isn't.
And I presume that these meanings parallel that of the parable of the leaven which a woman took and hid in 3 measures of meal because meal too is ground seed. Matthew seems to plainly write in chapter 16 verse 12 that leaven is doctrine. Hide means that something is included. Because seed is faith, it follows that meal is an oppressed faith. To wit, leaven is made by mixing meal and water. And because it's hidden therein, I also take meal to have the same meaning as leaven. Doctrine seems to be a synonym of faith. That is Judaism here, which is characterized, among other things, by the feast of unleavened bread. A stand-alone doctrine of adherents who see themselves as separate from christianity, since most of them do not accept Jesus as the messiah. The 3 measures means that it's 3x larger. To leaven is to teach or to put it bluntly, to indoctrinate . And I think what is meant is that this must be taught to the whole of receptive people that is to come.
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. - The kingdom of heaven is like unto a doctrine (new testament) a congregation took and included with an oppressed doctrine 3 times its size (old testament), until it had been taught to everyone (Matthew 13,33).

In the parable of the mustard seed, which is immediately before the parable of the leaven, the seed is faith. And he wants to say with it that it doesn't take much, since the seed of mustard is very small, for he also said, my burden is light. Only by a little faith can you be saved. Merely to believe that Jesus died for your sins is enough. In this regard, christianity is a deviate faith compared to other faiths because it is the only one that teaches that you are justified by faith, while other faiths teach that you have to do something to be justified, imposing a heavier burden on you.
It is also assumed that Jesus represents the mustard seed, god who's made himself small, humble and vulnerable by leaving heaven and coming to earth. With this view it's more understandable if you say that seed means child or follower.

There are words that have more than 1 meaning.
Also, more words may have the same meaning. Examples of these are:
Woman/body/candlestick = congregation, church community, etc.
Lamp/candle/seed = faith (in god).
Seed/sword = word of god.
Light/day = right, justification, justice.
Darkness/night = injustice, unjustified, iniquity.
Vessel/temple/house = body, embodiment, casing, (church) member.
Leaven/meal = doctrine.
Wine/cup = ritual.

With a word that has more meanings, you have to tack with some verses because only 1 of the meanings fits, while in other verses all meanings may be possible.
If it says: He is a chosen vessel unto me, then it sounds inappropriate if you turn it into: He is a chosen body or; embodiment or; casing unto me. It must be: He is a chosen member unto me (Acts 9,15).
But if it says in Matthew 13,48: They sat down, and gathered the good (fish) into vessels, but cast the bad away, then it is not proper if you turn it into: They gathered the good into church members. It must be: They gathered the good into bodies or; casings.
In Matthew 25,4 it says: The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and here all meanings appear possible. The wise congregations took service in their bodies/embodiments/casings/members with their faith. Although with this parable it seems to give an extra insight when you choose 'member'. The fact that lamp is in the plural tells me that more denominations are possible.
Does it say: The life was the light of men, then it sounds a bit uncomfortable when you change light into 'justification'. But it is right when you say: The life was the right of men (John 1,4).
Care should also be taken whether a word is used positively or negatively as it may make a small difference as we saw in the examples I gave about the wine in my message of May 11, 2017 to under ice on page 2. It appears that the same kind of difference may occur with leaven.

With bread I said it means income or simply food. Matthew 24,45 says: Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? This is where the word food appears. I can imagine that it is correct to follow this instruction literally and help your brothers fill their bellies when they are in need, but it could also be that food here has a deeper meaning again as you see in 1 Corinthians 3,2 and Hebrews 5,12 and that you give spiritual food to your brothers. Education. Lesson. Study. I see the same in lump (of dough).
Bread/lump = (spiritual) food, education.
Give us day by day our daily bread. - Give us day by day our daily education (Luke 11,3).
I am the bread of life. - I am the education of life (John 6,35).
For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. - For if the Jews are holy, their education is also holy: and if the source is holy, so are the branches (into paganism). Romans 11,16.
Revelation 22,16 shows that Jesus is the root.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? - Don't you know that a little bit of false doctrine adulterates the whole education? (1 Corinthians 5,6 and Galatians 5,9)
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. - Therefore lock out the old false doctrines, that you may be a new lesson, as you are unadulterated
(1 Corinthians 5,7).

21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. (Matthew 15)
From this you can deduce that the education, of which healings are a part, should not be first cast to gentiles (compare with Mark 7,27) and that the gospel, just like the old testament, was originally intended for the Jews. The gospel is written in a Jewish light, according to their cultural norms and in such a way that it is understandable for them. As an outsider, you will need background information about the source of the scripture in order to understand it. For example, the mustard seed is by no means the smallest of all seeds worldwide, but the smallest of all native plants in Israel.
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Since the salvation of the world is from the Jews, they are considered so important which at the same time explains why most of the bread, the education, is directed to them. However, there are also small pieces addressed to the gentiles. Throughout the whole gospel, fragments of this kind can be found that may be eaten by the dogs.
Here's a list with examples of what I call crumbs:
Matthew 2,1 and 2 and 7-15.
Matthew 4,24 and 25.
Matthew 5,13 and 14.
Matthew 9,6.
Matthew 10,15 and 18.
Matthew 11,21-25.
Matthew 12,18 and 21 and 41 and 42.
Matthew 13,47 and 48.
Matthew 16,19.
Matthew 20,6-16.
Matthew 21,43.
Matthew 22,9 and 10.
Matthew 25,26 and 27 and 32-40.
Matthew 26,13.
Matthew 28,19 and 20.

Mark 3,8.
Mark 5,1-20.
Mark 7,24-30.
Mark 11,17.
Mark 13,10 and 27.

Luke 1,48 and 50.
Luke 2,14 and 31 and 32.
Luke 3,6 and 14.
Luke 7,2-10.
Luke 13,29.

John 1,9 and 29.
John 3,16 and 17.
John 5,30.
John 6,33.
John 8,12 and 26.
John 9,39.
John 10,16.
John 11,52.
John 12,31 and 47.
John 13,20.
John 14,31.
John 17,2 and 18 and 20 and 21 and 23.
John 18,20 and 37.
John 20,23 and 29 and 31.

warslave wrote:And every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. - And every sacrifice shall be made tasty with preservation.
Possibly preservation here means that you keep his instruction by acting on it. It refers back to the offending eye you cast away from you. Basically just this brother is then sacrificed.

The previous imagery about the offending eye is one related to the disease called, gangrene in which amputation of limbs is sometimes necessary for survival. A better explanation, than the one in red above, is that the largest (non-died off) part of the body should be happy to be preserved because they sacrificed the died off membership. For if they had not made that sacrifice, they would not have made it.
Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. - Every sacrifice shall be made tasty with preservation (of the remaining congregation) Mark 9,49.

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The body taken as a whole has a head, hands and feet from top to bottom. It's a hierarchy.

The head is the leader, christ. Or it could also be other leaders as you see in Micah 3,1 and 9.
The head contains members. 2 Eyes, 2 ears, a nose and a mouth. The eyes the prophets or supervisors, the ears the apostles or disciples, the mouth the teacher or speaking in tongues and the nose the one who discerns and explains what is spoken in tongues.
The hands are at a lower position in the body and thus are under the control of the (members out of the) head, but at the same time have control over the feet that are the lowest in rank. Therefore hand means both help and control, for a right-hand man or a henchman serves and is served.
Foot/footstep = purpose, movement, move, step, work, servant.

The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. - The heaven is my position and the earth is my workplace (Isaiah 66,1 and Matthew 5,34 and 35).
The earth is the spot where he has made the movement or made the move that led to our salvation.

The personification of foot is the one that moves, takes action or does all the heavy lifting. The employee, such as a messenger or visitor. Either way it is some sort of subordinate just as the hand is. The difference between the hand and the foot is that the hand still has people under it; the feet.

Hand = help, control, side.
So it can also mean side, as shown, among other things, in Genesis 13,9 or Ezekiel 16,46.
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left (Ecclesiastes 10,2).
Because the right hand is your good hand and the left is your bad hand, the preacher uses this symbolism to indicate everyone's direction.
In Jonah 4,11 it is used in the same sense.

The verse below from Psalm 110,1 is repeated several times in the new testament.
The Lord said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies a footstool (for your feet). - You stand by me, until I make your enemies a destination place for your servants.
(I added for your feet, because the king James version must have left it out for some reason, but I think it should just be in there)
And now compare it with 1 Corinthians 6,4. See? A foot is the one that does the dirty work.

If it says: 'At the feet of', according to my method you could translate this to: 'To the purpose of'.
Mary sits at Jesus' feet. - Mary is at the disposition of Jesus (Luke 10,39).
Joses brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet. - Joses brought the money and put it at the apostles' disposal (Acts 4,37).

Gird the loins = prepare.
This is evident from the foot washing from the gospel of John and Luke 12,35-40.
Think also of: "To brace!" from the expression: Buckle up!
In Acts 21,11 a prophet ties Paul's girdle around his hands and feet and says: Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews bind the man that owneth this girdle. At that moment, Paul is about to serve by being captured in Jerusalem.

Wash feet = cleanse evil works.
Forgive trespasses, justify missteps.
The verb clear has, among other things, the following meanings: 1) excuse 2) pardon 3) spare 4) save 5) redeem 6) deliver 7) condone 8 ) exculpate.
Jesus washing the apostles' feet is another foreshadowing of their justification that came from Jesus' perfect sacrifice. That is why it says that he girded his loins with a towel, for at that time he had not yet sacrificed himself, but was already preparing to do so. Which explains why he says to Simon Peter: What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. (John 13,7)

In my opinion, the meaning of wheel can again be equated with that of foot.
The same goes for heel.

Flesh and blood = earthly people, wordly people.
A finding that is especially confirmed by Galatians 1 where Paul uses this term in verse 16. For context, it is important that you start reading from verse 1.

If you read the entire psalm, Psalm 124,4 shows that water or sea is paganism, realm of the dead or (as I called it in my opening post) the majority. Psalm 144,7 is also one such. You can also take it literally and think that lord David praises the lord for saving him from the dangers of the sea or floods. However, Jeremiah 46,7 makes it very clear that waters cannot be taken literally. Ezekiel 26,3 confirms this way of thinking.
Earth stands for Israel, the people of god. In Matthew 7,13 and 14 it is prophesied that most people will go to hell. Habakkuk writes in chapter 1: The wicked doth compass about the righteous. Only a small percentage goes to heaven because it is a difficult goal to achieve. On the world map you see the same ratio between sea, of which there is a lot, and little earth.

The angel of Revelation 10, who will put one foot upon the sea and the other on the earth, can be seen as the lord. Compare him with the one who had the likeness as the appearance of a man from Ezekiel 1,26-28. He will send 2 armies of angels. One with the destination earth and the other with the sea as destination.
God has always continued to repeat that he remembers Israel, even into the new testament. God also continues to repeat what he has promised to the gentiles. Just as he never forgot Israel, neither does he forget us now. Although Jesus' followers from the gentiles are also called Israel (Romans 2,29 or 1 Corinthians 12,2 or Galatians 3,29 or Ephesians 2,12-19 or even 1 Peter 2,9-12). In fact, he now places equal emphasis on both groups being one, for before Jesus' glorification god primarily remembered Abraham's seed.
However, Romans 4 explains how a non-Jewish follower of Jesus is equated to Abraham who was justified by his faith, because like him you believe in the resurrection. Just as Abraham believed that god would raise Isaac from the dead, christians believe that Jesus was raised by god. That is why the chapter ends with: He is raised again for our justification. To believe that too is of crucial importance.

Anyone who is familiar with the bible will undoubtedly have noticed that things are ever said twice.
It often happens that common words are used, as you can see in the example below:

Psalm 51,3. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

But it only happens a few times that uncommon words are used and by that I mean that a common word is repeated with a metaphorical word or vice versa, so you can see the meaning of that metaphorical word.
Some examples of uncommon words that are said twice are:

Psalm 144,7 and Micah 3,1.

Jeremiah 46,10.
Drunk = satiated.

Matthew 22,24.
Seed = child, follower, progeny.

Matthew 15,14-16 is an example where something with the true meaning is repeated in a later verse.
Blind = ignorant, unscrupulous.

Psalm 42,8.
Song = prayer.

Isaiah 49,1.
Isles = peoples.

Drop = prophesy.
Ezekiel 20,46 and Amos 7,16.

Thunderings/waters = multitude.
Revelation 19,6.

Weigh/measure/number = search out, search.
Jeremiah 31,37 and 46,23 seem to give that away.
Psalm 147,5 says his understanding is infinite. If something cannot be counted, you cannot fathom it.

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In Proverbs 20,23 it says divers weights are an abomination unto the Lord and in the first instance you think here that the lord abhors it when you engage in dishonest trade. But the weight can also be seen as a fathom instrument, as something you use when judging people. God hates it when you don't fathom everyone in the same way.
The same thing is said for the second time in a direct fashion in Matthew 5,44. Love your enemies. Not just your friends.
A third time the same thing is discussed in Revelation 3,15 and 16. Either be cold or hot, for if you are lukewarm god spits you out. Here it comes as a metaphor again. Cold is to say that you are a chilly, judgemental personality. Warm is loving and merciful. Mercy comes forth from love. So god allows you to persecute sinners as a believer, but if you choose to do so, you have to judge everyone, for everyone sins. That includes yourself, your sweetheart, your family, your best friends, the people in your neighborhood... everyone. Then there is no room to forgive anyone, for lukewarm is that you are cold and warm at the same time, that you judge one person, but forgive the other. Just like the divers weights. As you can see it is unthinkable to be cold. Therefore being warm is the best choice.

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Parable of the growing seed.
26 And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;
27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. (Mark 4)
A parable in which the sower represents god who sent faith to earth by giving us something to believe in. His word. The springing seed are creatures coming to faith. To explain that he doesn't know how, I'm turning to the comedy movie Bruce Almighty from 2003 starring Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman. It's about a frustrated field reporter, Bruce Nolan who, after he rants at god, is given all of god's power for a week to see if he can do a better job at running things, so Bruce can do anything: Perform miracles, hear prayers, teleport and you name it! However, because there are two rules, one thing is impossible: By snapping his fingers he cannot make anyone love him. Because love is a phenomenon that comes forth from free will and one of the rules is that he can't mess with that. Love is a choice. You cannot impose it on the other person. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (1 Corinthians 13,13). Verse 7 says: Charity believeth all things. Because love is the greatest, faith automatically results from it. But the lord says he doesn't know how (his creatures come to love him). Do you know what to do to make someone love you? For if you did, you would do it.
It is said there's no searching of god's understanding. He has infinite wisdom. He is omniscient. A knower of our hearts. Even before things happen, he knows. With god, the very hairs of your head are all numbered, but what one CAN not know, god does not know either.
Just ask yourself why you love someone or how come you do. You will see that there is no answer to that question. It doesn't exist. Love is something that happens to us. Something we just do... or don't. There's nothing to understand about it. So I don't know why I love someone. I only know I do.
If someone doesn't forgive you, he doesn't love you.
And if someone doesn't believe in you, he doesn't love you either.

Matthew 19,26. With God all things are possible.
That is, you may also pay for someone else by undergoing his punishment. With men it seems impossible to take other people's punishment upon yourself. But Jesus did this, he died for our mistakes. In fact, we realize this principle by believing it is true that this is possible and by dying for others as Jesus did. If you do that, you are forgiven by god. Without shedding of blood is no remission, Hebrews 9,22.

Sell that ye have, and give alms - Sell (the soul) that you have, and give (thereby) soul (Luke 12,33).
In other words, give grace to others and sacrifice yourself for that. Also: pay for their sins, and buy them.