Daily Devotional, Year 4: January 5 (One Pearl of Great Price)
By admin On April 20th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 4: January 5
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One Pearl of Great Price
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We are told that certain oysters sometimes receive some grain of sand, or some irritant, which results in the oyster secreting a fluid which soothes the irritant.
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And over time, this ongoing secretion hardens into a pearl.
Pearl oyster with pearl inside at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park in Pearl Harbor Oahu Hawaii – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
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“The heavens declare the glory of God”
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Well, as this website so often repeats…“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shews His handiwork!” Psalm 19:1
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Yes, everything in this world, and in the heavens, from the tiniest atom to the greatest galaxy and beyond, all declare some aspect of the Gospel of Jesus!
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And the humble little oyster, and his pearl-making ability presents a giant biblical concept, found in the parable of “One Pearl of Great Price”.
ABOVE PHOTO: The Pleiades (Above constellation can be seen in colder months in mid sky, traveling east to west through the night. With the eyes alone, it would appear much smaller than this. But with binoculars, it would appear more like this photo). NASA photo by Robert Gendler
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“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.”
Matthew 13:45, 46
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This above parable has a dual interpretation. Not only does it speak of how Jesus gave all that He could give to purchase back the human race from damnation. But also, it speaks of how a true worshiper of God will likewise give all that he or she has in response to that great sacrificial gift of Salvation!
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The Pearl from parable – Wikipedia – Christ’s Object Lessons by Ellen Gould Harmon White, page 119 – Public Domain –
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“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”
Hebrews 9:22
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But there is another aspect to this oyster’s pearl-making ability, which teaches us a further biblical lesson.
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You see, Jesus informs us that, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34
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Yes, Jesus came into the world to shake it up! In other words, this world was wholly content to live in Satan’s antichrist world-system of selfishness.
ABOVE PICTURE: The armor of God – theheavensdeclare.net -use by permission only
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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son”
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But, in response, it is also written…“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
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Yes, God, in this manner, loved the world. He gave Jesus as the replacement for our due punishment…eternal death!
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ABOVE STAR-CHART (constellations found on Wikipedia and Bible constellations drawn in by this website) – Sign of the Son of Man – www.theheavensdeclare.net – Not for commercial uses
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“But though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies….Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD”
Lamentations 3:32, 40
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And yet, in attempt to bring the rebels (us) back to Him, God had to declare war. He knew that for us to become motivated to seek after Him, He must allow us to get our fill of the unhappy and often painful results of our transgressions.
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And so, as scripture reveals…
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It is of the Lord‘s mercies that we are not consumed,
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because His compassions fail not…
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For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
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But though He cause grief,
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yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.
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For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
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To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth…
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Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.
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Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”
Lamentations 3:22, 31-34, 40, 41
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Here is revealed that it is actually out of pure love that God allows us to go through so much trouble in this world of sin.
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He doesn’t wish for mankind to perish! He wants to save us!
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Therefore, He allows, not only natural circumstances, but also allows Lucifer, now titled “Satan”, to bring trouble into our lives, that we might eventually get sick and tired of living in this world of woe and misery, and finally return to God.
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Christian and Apollyon – Pilgrim’s Progress – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
Minneapolis Riots – Wikipedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
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“Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward…That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.”
Job 5:7 & Ecclesiastes 1:15
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Yes, as this above passage from Lamentations, Chapter 3 reveals, we are prisoners of Satan, “the god of this world”! 2nd Corinthians 4:4
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But Jesus brought His Gospel as a type of irritant, to cause this world to produce that giant pearl of Salvation, as the world tries in vain to smooth over all the bad stuff going on here.
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And isn’t that what we see, as we look all around? Just turn on the TV, Internet, etc., and what do we see? We see countless attempts each and every day, to solve the onslaught of myriad troubles which plague us!
Mob Violence In Minneapolis – Wikipedia – Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Humanitarian aid giving water to child- Wikimedia Commons – Public Domain
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“GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY”
Proverbs 25:25
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Well, the really Good News is, that if anyone gets tired of living in Satan’s prison-house of sin, the Door of Salvation is still open.
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And Jesus beckons each and every one of us…
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“Come unto Me,
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all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
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and I will give you rest.
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Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
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for I am meek and lowly in heart:
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and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
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For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
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Yes, Jesus offers to each and every man, woman, and child, a wonderful alternative to this hopelessly evil world! And right here on this sad, blood-stained earth, we can be filled with the “peace which surpasses all understanding”! Philippians 4:7
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Jesus The Good Shepherd – Bernhard Plockhorst – 1825-1907 – Wikipedia – Public Domain
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“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”
Revelation 21:4
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Yes, when we finally get fed up with struggling to find peace and happiness in this fallen world, Jesus promises to free us from this prison-house of sin and selfishness.
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And once free, we can turn our backs on this hopeless and doomed world, and begin our spiritual pilgrimage upward and onward toward the New Heaven and New Earth in which peace, love, and joy reign supreme,
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It is a world in which the bells of true freedom resound through the winding valleys, echoing against the everlasting hills. It is a world of never-ending adventures, in which we will be forever happy and forever young!
The River Of The Water Of Life by H. Melville – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Please let these painful trials I’m experiencing be the inspiration which causes me to seek after Thee with all my heart, and transform my life after Thy image…
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…April 6 (Apocalypse NOW! Part 15: “Perfect Peace In The Fire!”), or you can also read…January 19 (Mark Now Given? Part 11: “The Golden Image of Daniel 2”)
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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Then Job answered and said…but how should man be just with God?…
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Which alone spreads out the heavens…
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Which makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
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Which does great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number…
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Can you bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades?
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Or loose the bands of Orion?”
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Job 9:2-10 & 38:31
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This photo is the Pleiades Cluster. Does it appear to you like an angel? Well, if it does, then you are encouraged to keep reading.
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The above two verses concerning the Pleiades are all the Bible has to say about the Pleiades, directly.
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STRING OF PEARLS
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But also notice in the photo of the Pleiades to the left, that this cluster of stars also appears as if somebody put a handful of pearls on a table. Or perhaps a handful of sparkling diamonds!
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And so, just as the Pleiades is like a cluster of pearls, so too is this article. This is because we will present a cluster of seemingly different, even unrelated ideas. But when all is presented, then will they be strung together to present a most beautiful and precious truth!
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White_pearl_necklace – cropped and colored image – Wikipedia – Share-alike lic.
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READ MORE…
The Pleiades: The Captive Angel & Mystery Harlot Constellation
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TOMORROW…
Daily Devotional, Year 4 – January 6 (Noble Bereans, Part 37: “The New Waldenses”)
Waldensians hunted by the armies of Rome – Courtesy Gutenberg.org – Public Domain
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THE GREAT CONTROVERSY BY ELLEN G. WHITE
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O NOBLE BEREAN (i.e., an open-minded Bible truth-seeker): This 44 chapter audio book is a brief history of the Church, from the Cross of Christ forward to the Return of Christ.
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Chapter 3 – “An Era of Spiritual Darkness”
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Martin Luther – 95 Theses – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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EXCERPTS FROM THE OPEN FORUM 
QUESTION/ANSWER RADIO TALK-SHOW…
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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) are invited to listen to this, a small 30 minute sampling of the late Harold Camping’s nearly 50 year long series of 90 minute nightly talk shows…This is Open Forum Show #54
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ABOVE PICTURE: Holy bible – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons lic.