Matthew 5:27-30
Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.
The verses of this post talks about plucking out your right eye and cutting off your right hand if they cause you to sin. What is sin? Jesus says plainly that the Holy Spirit came to convict of sin. Jesus says that sin is when you do not believe in Him, “And when [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin… of sin, because they do not believe in Me;” John 16:8-9 We also know that believing in Jesus Christ puts us on the narrow and difficult way that leads to eternal life, but the broad way of mainstream society, those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, leads to destruction and eternal hell.
In today’s world, if we thought of sin in any other way except not believing in Jesus Christ, we would be deceived in thinking the majority on the broad way of mainstream society are followers of Jesus Christ. For example, the majority of the population in the world do not smoke. In the city where I live, and in every city across the nation, smoking is not permitted on government premises, nor in apartment complexes, not in restaurants, nor in shopping centers…no place. Does that mean the majority of people are followers of Jesus Christ? No! Actually, the majority of people are living in sin by not believing in Jesus Christ. The majority of people do not abuse alcohol and drugs, but does that mean they believe in Jesus Christ? No!” Most of them do not believe. Most people do not live as thieves, but does that mean they believe in Jesus Christ? No!
We live in a culture today, which is global, that has “…a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” 2 Timothy 3:5 Those of the global culture have chosen to live by the power of darkness through the beast that gives them what to say, do, think, and feel. By what they are given to say and do they make the sin of their unbelief in Jesus Christ known.
If we believe in Jesus Christ, is it OK be destructive to the body by addiction to smoking, abusing alcohol and drugs, seeking promiscuous sexual pleasures, etc.? Of course not! “What then? Will we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” Romans 6:15 In the city where I live, and across the nation, sexually transmitted diseases are at a crisis level, drug abuse is destroying the city and the nation, and cancers from smoking continue. So then, what separates us from those who have a form Godliness by living a “clean” life? We believe in Jesus Christ and the power of His Gospel and the Holy Spirit lives in us by faith in Him. Those who reject Jesus Christ have a form of Godliness and have the beast living in them that gives them what to say, do, think and feel. We who believe in Jesus Christ are on the difficult and narrow way that leads to eternal life, but those of mainstream society are on the broad way that leads to eternal hell.
Jesus made a statement that His followers are to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Many took Him literally and ran as far away from Him as possible. Everyone except His twelve Apostles and other faithful followers. With that statement, Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” John 6:63-64 That is written in John 6:22-70. Below is an excerpt,
“The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.’…From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more… Jesus said, ‘It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe…’Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’ But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
Today, we know that His flesh represents His body that was sacrificed on the Cross to atone for sin. Our food comes by faith in what He has done for us to atone for our sin. We know that His blood represents the New Covenant that was poured out to bring life to us. This is the New Covenant, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Hom will not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You will not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.“ Matthew 5:27-29
Why the right eye? Because the right eye was very important in battle. The soldiers would hold their shield in the left hand and with their right eye would peer at the enemy around them. We are in a spiritual battle, and we need to keep our “right eye” on the enemy that seeks to devour our faith in Jesus Christ. We have to keep our right eye from being focused on sexual pursuits which distracts us from the spiritual enemy.
The Jewish people prided themselves in keeping the Ten Commandments externally, but within their heart they were not that faithful. This is one of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14 The Jewish people heard of that written commandment, but Jesus went to the heart and soul of the matter, “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus was not destroying the law but fulfilling it by revealing how adultery begins from the lust within the heart. A heart filled with lust puts the desire for sexual pleasure over the desire to live by the word of God. Even if a person doesn’t engage in a sexual encounter, the lust for women crowds out faith in God. The Jewish people might have kept the commandment not to commit adultery, but their heart and mind was far away from the Spirit of God and focused on carnal desires.
In today’s culture, women roam around in very revealing clothing and often have barely anything on at all. We might say within ourselves, “What did I just see?” Then we look again with a bit of a temptation of wanting to know her a bit better. Right-there is where we need to pluck that eye out of the nest of lust that lurks within. We need to cast it out away from us and to refocus on being the light that Jesus Christ has made us to be. It is better for one part of the body to perish than for the whole body to be cast into Hell. The part that is best to perish is the carnal desire for sexual pursuits that leads to the destruction of the whole body. When the lust for carnal desires replaces our faith in Jesus Christ, we are headed for eternal Hell.
The beast that has power over physiology is able to enflame sexual feelings and to fill us with sexual thoughts. The plan of the beast is to lure us away from the Spirit and to root us in the flesh. The beast is not able to function in the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who is given to us by our faith in Jesus Christ. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another,” Galatians 5:17 When people focus on the flesh, they begin to welcome the beast that gives what to feel, think, say, and do. They begin to sin by not believing in Jesus Christ and by speaking against His Gospel. Those who live for the beast are destined for the judgment beyond the grave and eternal Hell. They welcome the image of the beast that is given breath/life to speak by speaking and living through them. By what they are given to say and do they are groomed to the number, name, mark of the beast.
The feelings that the beast enflames within us can be very powerful. However, no matter what we are made to feel, think, and do, we must never sin by giving up our belief in Jesus Christ. We must always believe in God the Creator and embrace the presence of the Holy Spirit. We know we have the Holy Spirit because we do not speak against Jesus Christ and we say that He is Lord, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthains 12:3
“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” Matthew 5:30
Why the right hand? Because the right hand was used in combination with the right eye. The soldiers would hold the shield in the left hand and the sword in their right hand. The sword is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. We must always keep the Holy Bible in the right hand of our heart and soul and not be distracted by worldly wants.
The Ten Commandments included this, “You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15. The Jewish people felt righteous when they refrained from stealing, but their heart wanted worldly possessions and prosperity of all types. They were covetous, which is another commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:15 The desire for worldly things crowded out faith in the word of God. Jesus said to them that it would be better to cut off that “right hand” within themselves than to place worldly things above Him.
Within the heart of sin and unbelief is the desire to have whatever the “right hand” can have. The Holy Bible is thrown away in order to grab whatever prosperity that this world offers. People sin by not believing in Jesus Christ and making worldly riches more valuable than the riches found at the Cross. If the “right hand” of our heart and mind makes having the desires of a carnal heart more important than faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then we have to cut it off. We have to cut it off from within the nest of covetousness and to pick up the Bible, start reading, and restore our faith in Jesus Christ. It is more profitable to lose the part of us that wants to prosper than to lose our entire body in eternal Hell.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36-37
“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.
I am coming soon.
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.’”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1
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