CIRCULAR LETTER December 2009

Heartfelt greetings to all of you in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the following Scripture from Isa. 46:10:

“Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure …”

In this verse God lets us know that even before the beginning, He knew all the things that would come to pass in the course of time until the end. And not only that: He also purposed a plan which He fulfils down to the smallest detail: “… I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isa. 46:11). 

From chapter 40 onward, the plan of Salvation is announced: “… get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.” (Isa. 40:6-10). Indeed, He personally came and brought us salvation.

At the beginning of time, God, Whom no man hath seen (Jn. 1:18; 1. Tim. 1:17), Who only hath immortality (1. Tim. 6:16), came forth from His eternal fullness of spirit, light, and life and walked in visible form in the Garden of Eden.

In 1. Ki. 22:13-24 and in 2. Chr. 18:12-22, the Prophet Micaiah testified, “I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.” (2. Chr. 18:18). He then gave a report of the conversation which took place there.

From the very beginning, God was surrounded by angels to whom He said already in Gen. 1:26-28, “Let us make man …” The angels of God shouted for joy when the Lord created the earth (Job 38:1-7). When the people became arrogant and built a tower that was to reach up to heaven, the Lord spoke to the angels, “Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (Gen. 11:7).

In Gen. 18 the Lord was accompanied by two angels when He visited His servant Abraham. All three of them, the Lord and the two angels, were described as men (v. 2).  Abraham washed the feet of the heavenly visitors, gave orders for a calf to be slaughtered and a cake to be baked, and served them during the meal. The two angels then went on to Sodom (chap. 19), but the Lord remained with Abraham (18:22). Angels, such as Gabriel, are described as men in the Holy Scripture (Dan. 8:15; 9:21). In Lk. 1 the angel Gabriel stood on the right side of the altar of incense and spoke to Zacharias. He came to Mary as well and announced the birth of our Saviour (vv. 26-38). 

In Isa. 6 we read about the mighty experience of the prophet, who testified, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims …” (vv. 1-3). “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8). It is self-evident from the previous description whom the Lord meant when He said “us.” The Lord was always surrounded by His angels and the heavenly hosts, even at the introduction of the law, which is shown forth clearly in the following Scriptures: Acts 7:38+53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2. Therefore, the Lord God could say in the very beginning, “Let us make man in our image …”  From the beginning, God spoke to angels and through angels, to man and through man. 

At the birth of the Redeemer, the angels were singing: “Glory to God in the highest …” (Lk. 2:14). According to Mat. 4:11, the angels attended to the Lord at the temptation. Two angels testified of His resurrection (Lk. 24:4). Two angels predicted the Return of the risen Lord (Acts 1:9-11).

The Prophet Ezekiel was permitted to see the Lord God on the throne in the form of a man and described Him in great detail: “And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. … As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.” (Eze. 1:26+28).