Today we will begin to study through the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.
The introduction alone has so much to consider!
Ephesians 1 :1-4
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
Before Jesus Christ confronted him on that Damascus Road, Paul thought that these people who followed Him were blasphemers, and hunted them down to torture and martyr them. But God the Father sent His Son to bring him into faith. It was God's idea, not Paul's.
to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:
The people who lived in the City of Ephesus were called Ephesians. And those who were saints were the ones who were faithful to Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ through their faith in Him.
grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Father and the Son and the Spirit are one God, and have one will. All three, as God, grant His unearned favor to us, which gives us the peace of having no more rebellion against Him.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us
May God the Father be exalted, as He is the One who has given us such rich kindnesses.
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
God has lavished upon us His Love, along with all the wonderful spiritual gifts we could ever want or need, that will last forever, through Christ Jesus.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the Earth,
Before God even began to create anything, He planned it all out; and He chose to make us His own children.
that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
Knowing that Mankind would rebel against Him, He arranged for us to be able to die when Adam sinned, so that His Son could Redeem us, washing us in His blood so pristine clean that He could live in us; so we could be His kings and queens to assist His Son in ruling all He would create. So we are "holy"--separate from all the sinfulness of the world, and we are "blameless"--without blame, nothing can be blamed on us, as we have been cleansed thoroughly in the blood of the Lamb.
This is the most incredible Truth! God was so clever that He made the human race to be able to both die and to live forever! That doesn't seem possible, but God is God, and has done everything both possible and impossible to make us into suitable beings to bear His family Name.
God is perfect, and He's making us into perfect beings. Right now we're still here on His Earth that He made for us, living in the world we have built on it. While we're here, we're little children in school, learning the lessons and taking the tests to shape us into images of the character of Christ. We are stubborn beings, and sometimes we need to learn the same lessons over again several times until we are able to pass the test, and go on to the next lesson.
Everything He allows to touch us is for the purpose of molding our characters, so that we will be appropriate rulers over God's creations.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth is our Messiah Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Monday, January 6, 2020
Sunday, January 5, 2020
The Picture Of The Tabernacle, Part 3
As we continue to study this most extensive of God's pictures, we will today consider the final piece of furniture in this Tabernacle, and all it means.
This last piece of furniture is the most important, as it is the very Throne of God in the midst of His people. It is in the Most Holy Place, separated from the Holy Place by a curtain, or veil, which is also embroidered with the guarding cherubim.
The high priest was the only one permitted into this Most Holy Place, only once a year, and only with the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. He was to burn the incense before he entered, so its smoke would cover and hide the Ark of the Covenant from his eyes as he went in to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat (Leviticus 16: 12-14).
This Ark of the Covenant is a wooden box, representing the humanity of Jesus; completely covered inside and out with the finest gold, showing His divinity (Exodus 25: 10-15). Inside this box Moses put what God told him to put into it: the Tables of the Testimony, the 10 Commandments (Exodus 25: 16); Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17: 8-11); and the pot of manna (Exodus 16: 31-34. See also Hebrews 9: 3-5).
God had Moses preserve these three items so we could know the One who is the True Bread to nourish us, the great High Priest to intercede, and glorious liberty through the fulfillment of the Law.
The lid on that box was made of solid gold, made in one piece with the cherubim that knelt on it, one at each end, bowing their faces toward the Ark, their wings overshadowing it (Exodus 25: 17-21). This is called the Mercy Seat, for it is here that the Lord God would meet with Moses to grant mercy to the people through the commandments (Exodus 25: 22).
God's Presence came down to rest on the Mercy Seat between and above the cherubim. This Presence affected the Ark, making it dangerous to approach casually.
Even when the Lord was not resting on it, it had danger about it. We see several times when God's rules were not followed, and the consequences:
I Samuel 4:1 -6:16 tells us about when Israel was fighting the Philistines, and brought the Ark to the battlefield, using it as a good luck charm. They were defeated, and the Philistines took the Ark into their territory and put it as equal to their god Dagon with frightening results. And God "ravaged them and smote them with tumors" and they realized it was because of this Ark of God, so they made arrangements to send it back to Israel. God had protected His priests and Levites from these cancerous effects.
And when some men in Beth-Shemesh disrespected it by looking into it, they were "struck down" (I Samuel 6: 16-21).
And when King David wanted to bring the Ark back, he neglected to move it in the proper manner, by its poles, and "placed the Ark of God on a new cart." This resulted in Uzzah putting his hand on the Ark to steady it so it wouldn't tip over, and the power in the Ark struck him dead! Was he electrocuted? We don't know, but that really put a pall on the whole celebration (2 Samuel 6: 1-11).
Then three months later, King David again moved it, this time by having the Levites carry it on their shoulders with the poles, as God had directed, and it was successfully delivered to the City of David to the tent that David had prepared for it (2 Samuel 6: 12-19).
Even the camping arrangements of the children of Israel in the wilderness reflect this care God took to protect His people (see Numbers 2). The tribes were to camp "around the tent of meeting at a distance." And the Levite families were to camp between the rest of the tribes and the Tabernacle, on the four sides of the compound. And when they traveled from place to place, they were to each take off in their order, with the priests and Levites surrounding the Ark, in turn surrounded by the rest of the tribes. Everything done in order, as set out in Numbers 1: 47-54.
So we must have the proper respect and reverence for God, and do things His way that He has directed. It only makes sense to obey and follow the Manufacturer's Instructions, just as we consult and take care of our automobiles according to its owner's manual.
God made sure that His people would not be in any danger from His Presence with them, and taught them what they needed to do to approach Him safely. And to show us what His Son accomplished in fulfilling this whole, complicated picture of the way of Salvation.
O my Father, thank You that His blood did not just cover, but wash away all our sin, permanently, so that now we only need to wash in the water of the Word regularly to maintain that purity that allows You to live in us by Your Spirit.
This shows us how powerful His blood is, to cleanse us so thoroughly that it is as though we'd never sinned!
And Your care for us has written Your Law in our hearts, to love You and to love one another as You have loved us. And to remove the danger of approaching Your holiness without complicated procedures.
Teach us to understand the process by which You have Redeemed us from our vale of tears, into the joy of Your Salvation.
Father, help us to realize Your greatness and Your holiness and Your separateness from everything You made.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus the Son is our Christ and Messiah, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
This last piece of furniture is the most important, as it is the very Throne of God in the midst of His people. It is in the Most Holy Place, separated from the Holy Place by a curtain, or veil, which is also embroidered with the guarding cherubim.
The high priest was the only one permitted into this Most Holy Place, only once a year, and only with the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. He was to burn the incense before he entered, so its smoke would cover and hide the Ark of the Covenant from his eyes as he went in to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat (Leviticus 16: 12-14).
This Ark of the Covenant is a wooden box, representing the humanity of Jesus; completely covered inside and out with the finest gold, showing His divinity (Exodus 25: 10-15). Inside this box Moses put what God told him to put into it: the Tables of the Testimony, the 10 Commandments (Exodus 25: 16); Aaron's rod that budded (Numbers 17: 8-11); and the pot of manna (Exodus 16: 31-34. See also Hebrews 9: 3-5).
God had Moses preserve these three items so we could know the One who is the True Bread to nourish us, the great High Priest to intercede, and glorious liberty through the fulfillment of the Law.
The lid on that box was made of solid gold, made in one piece with the cherubim that knelt on it, one at each end, bowing their faces toward the Ark, their wings overshadowing it (Exodus 25: 17-21). This is called the Mercy Seat, for it is here that the Lord God would meet with Moses to grant mercy to the people through the commandments (Exodus 25: 22).
God's Presence came down to rest on the Mercy Seat between and above the cherubim. This Presence affected the Ark, making it dangerous to approach casually.
Even when the Lord was not resting on it, it had danger about it. We see several times when God's rules were not followed, and the consequences:
I Samuel 4:1 -6:16 tells us about when Israel was fighting the Philistines, and brought the Ark to the battlefield, using it as a good luck charm. They were defeated, and the Philistines took the Ark into their territory and put it as equal to their god Dagon with frightening results. And God "ravaged them and smote them with tumors" and they realized it was because of this Ark of God, so they made arrangements to send it back to Israel. God had protected His priests and Levites from these cancerous effects.
And when some men in Beth-Shemesh disrespected it by looking into it, they were "struck down" (I Samuel 6: 16-21).
And when King David wanted to bring the Ark back, he neglected to move it in the proper manner, by its poles, and "placed the Ark of God on a new cart." This resulted in Uzzah putting his hand on the Ark to steady it so it wouldn't tip over, and the power in the Ark struck him dead! Was he electrocuted? We don't know, but that really put a pall on the whole celebration (2 Samuel 6: 1-11).
Then three months later, King David again moved it, this time by having the Levites carry it on their shoulders with the poles, as God had directed, and it was successfully delivered to the City of David to the tent that David had prepared for it (2 Samuel 6: 12-19).
Even the camping arrangements of the children of Israel in the wilderness reflect this care God took to protect His people (see Numbers 2). The tribes were to camp "around the tent of meeting at a distance." And the Levite families were to camp between the rest of the tribes and the Tabernacle, on the four sides of the compound. And when they traveled from place to place, they were to each take off in their order, with the priests and Levites surrounding the Ark, in turn surrounded by the rest of the tribes. Everything done in order, as set out in Numbers 1: 47-54.
So we must have the proper respect and reverence for God, and do things His way that He has directed. It only makes sense to obey and follow the Manufacturer's Instructions, just as we consult and take care of our automobiles according to its owner's manual.
God made sure that His people would not be in any danger from His Presence with them, and taught them what they needed to do to approach Him safely. And to show us what His Son accomplished in fulfilling this whole, complicated picture of the way of Salvation.
O my Father, thank You that His blood did not just cover, but wash away all our sin, permanently, so that now we only need to wash in the water of the Word regularly to maintain that purity that allows You to live in us by Your Spirit.
This shows us how powerful His blood is, to cleanse us so thoroughly that it is as though we'd never sinned!
And Your care for us has written Your Law in our hearts, to love You and to love one another as You have loved us. And to remove the danger of approaching Your holiness without complicated procedures.
Teach us to understand the process by which You have Redeemed us from our vale of tears, into the joy of Your Salvation.
Father, help us to realize Your greatness and Your holiness and Your separateness from everything You made.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus the Son is our Christ and Messiah, the Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, January 4, 2020
The Picture Of The Tabernacle, Part 2
The Tabernacle is the most extensive picture God gave us, because it shows the whole process of our salvation and redemption. It is a shadow of the Heavenly Temple (Hebrews 8: 5), and it is where God chose to dwell with His people.
We saw yesterday that the Bronze Altar was just inside the door to the Courtyard of the Tabernacle (Exodus 27: 1-8), because the first thing a person needed to do was to offer the personal sacrifice. This is because God is too holy and pure to be in the presence of sin without destroying it, so our sins need to be dealt with first. Everything else comes after that. All the other sacrifices that were offered on this Bronze Altar all day every day.
And the fire on this Bronze Altar is God's holy fire (Leviticus 9: 24). Any other fire would be "strange fire," unacceptable to the Lord (Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 3: 4; and Numbers 26: 61).
And we also saw yesterday that the Laver sat between the Bronze Altar and the door to the Holy Place. The priests needed to wash before either offering a sacrifice on the Bronze Altar or entering the Holy Place (Exodus 30: 17-21).
Now we will look at the tent of the Tabernacle, in which was the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Only the priests were allowed to enter this tent, and only for the specific purposes they needed to.
The door of this tent was a curtain that had embroidered on it cherubim. These represented the guardians of this Holy Place.
Inside this first room were three pieces of furniture: the seven-fold golden Oil Lamp, the Table of the Showbread, and the Altar of Incense.
The Lamp is the only light for the Tabernacle. It is pure, fine gold, made all in one piece, and is fueled by a specific oil (Exodus 25: 31-40). It was to be kept lit 24/7/365. Jesus is the Light of the World and we are His lights in the world.
Are you shining your light to those you know in the world? Do you know how?
The next item is the Table of Showbread, made of fine wood, and covered completely with fine gold (Exodus 25: 23-30). All its utensils were also fine gold. It was to continually hold twelve loaves of bread representing the twelve tribes of Israel, called the Bread of the Presence, fresh every day.
Jesus is our Bread of Life, the Word of God, our spiritual nourishment.
We are to partake of His Word every day; just as we nourish our bodies daily, we also are to nourish our spiritual life in Christ. That's why I study and do this blog to share with you every day.
The third piece of furniture in this Holy Place is the Altar of Incense. It is also made of acacia wood and covered with fine gold (Exodus 30: 1-10). It is to be placed right in front of the curtain, the veil to the Most Holy Place, and it is to be used only for a specific formulation of incense, to be kept burning all the time, tended to morning and evening, when the Lamp is tended to. No other incense, and no other kind of offering at all is ever to be offered on it.
The fire on this altar to burn this incense is to be taken only from the bloody coals of the Bronze Altar, by the priests using authorized censers (see Leviticus 9: 24 for the source of this fire).
This incense represents our prayers (Revelation 8: 3-4). So our prayers are heard by God through the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. And Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, to pray for us (Hebrews 7: 25).
We have seen so far that our God is dangerous to us, and the only way we can approach Him safely is through the blood of sacrifice and washing.
The final piece of furniture in the Tabernacle is the most important, that we will learn about tomorrow.
O my father, Your pictures are so accurate, please let us understand them clearly to see who You are, what You have done, and to what measures You have gone to rescue us! Father, Your Love for each of us is beyond our understanding, and Your plans for us are for our good, for our benefit. And You will receive all the credit, all the glory, for having done it all!
You are great, and You are our good, good Father!
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim the supremacy of Christ Jesus, our Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
We saw yesterday that the Bronze Altar was just inside the door to the Courtyard of the Tabernacle (Exodus 27: 1-8), because the first thing a person needed to do was to offer the personal sacrifice. This is because God is too holy and pure to be in the presence of sin without destroying it, so our sins need to be dealt with first. Everything else comes after that. All the other sacrifices that were offered on this Bronze Altar all day every day.
And the fire on this Bronze Altar is God's holy fire (Leviticus 9: 24). Any other fire would be "strange fire," unacceptable to the Lord (Leviticus 10:1; Numbers 3: 4; and Numbers 26: 61).
And we also saw yesterday that the Laver sat between the Bronze Altar and the door to the Holy Place. The priests needed to wash before either offering a sacrifice on the Bronze Altar or entering the Holy Place (Exodus 30: 17-21).
Now we will look at the tent of the Tabernacle, in which was the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Only the priests were allowed to enter this tent, and only for the specific purposes they needed to.
The door of this tent was a curtain that had embroidered on it cherubim. These represented the guardians of this Holy Place.
Inside this first room were three pieces of furniture: the seven-fold golden Oil Lamp, the Table of the Showbread, and the Altar of Incense.
The Lamp is the only light for the Tabernacle. It is pure, fine gold, made all in one piece, and is fueled by a specific oil (Exodus 25: 31-40). It was to be kept lit 24/7/365. Jesus is the Light of the World and we are His lights in the world.
Are you shining your light to those you know in the world? Do you know how?
The next item is the Table of Showbread, made of fine wood, and covered completely with fine gold (Exodus 25: 23-30). All its utensils were also fine gold. It was to continually hold twelve loaves of bread representing the twelve tribes of Israel, called the Bread of the Presence, fresh every day.
Jesus is our Bread of Life, the Word of God, our spiritual nourishment.
We are to partake of His Word every day; just as we nourish our bodies daily, we also are to nourish our spiritual life in Christ. That's why I study and do this blog to share with you every day.
The third piece of furniture in this Holy Place is the Altar of Incense. It is also made of acacia wood and covered with fine gold (Exodus 30: 1-10). It is to be placed right in front of the curtain, the veil to the Most Holy Place, and it is to be used only for a specific formulation of incense, to be kept burning all the time, tended to morning and evening, when the Lamp is tended to. No other incense, and no other kind of offering at all is ever to be offered on it.
The fire on this altar to burn this incense is to be taken only from the bloody coals of the Bronze Altar, by the priests using authorized censers (see Leviticus 9: 24 for the source of this fire).
This incense represents our prayers (Revelation 8: 3-4). So our prayers are heard by God through the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. And Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, to pray for us (Hebrews 7: 25).
We have seen so far that our God is dangerous to us, and the only way we can approach Him safely is through the blood of sacrifice and washing.
The final piece of furniture in the Tabernacle is the most important, that we will learn about tomorrow.
O my father, Your pictures are so accurate, please let us understand them clearly to see who You are, what You have done, and to what measures You have gone to rescue us! Father, Your Love for each of us is beyond our understanding, and Your plans for us are for our good, for our benefit. And You will receive all the credit, all the glory, for having done it all!
You are great, and You are our good, good Father!
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim the supremacy of Christ Jesus, our Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Friday, January 3, 2020
The Picture Of The Tabernacle, Part I
The most extensive picture God gave us is the Tabernacle He had Moses build in the wilderness. Exodus 25-27, 30 are the instructions God provided for the construction of the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
This Tabernacle shows us both the Temple in Heaven and our Lord Jesus, and the way of Salvation. I will only touch on the high points, in the consideration of space here.
When God told Moses to build it, He said to be sure to follow the "pattern" He had showed him, the Heavenly Temple (Exodus 25: 9). It was to be a shadow of the actual worship center in God's dwelling place.
God started from His perspective: the Ark of the Covenant. This box illustrates that Jesus would have a human body (the wooden chest), but continue to be the Lord God (totally gold, inside and out). Guarded by two cherubim, their wings overshadowing it, their faces toward it. (Ezekiel saw cherubim surrounding the Lord God in chapters 1 and 10.)
The Lord God Himself would "sit" there on that Mercy Seat, between or above the cherubim, and speak to Moses. But our God is dangerous--we in our sin cannot approach Him without burning up. God specially equipped Moses, and Aaron and the rest of the Levites, to be able to withstand the very Presence of the Lord God. Everyone had to be protected.
Let's start with our viewpoint, from the outside in.
God had the Tribes of Israel camp around the Tabernacle in a specific order. They were all to be at a distance from the Tabernacle, and the families of the Levites were to camp between them and the Tabernacle, also in a specific order. Sort of as a barrier to protect the rest of the people.
Then there is the court, bounded by the hangings. These curtains were a fence or wall around the whole outside of the Tabernacle comprising an area of 100 cubits by 50 cubits (150 feet by 75 feet). They were 7 1/2 feet tall, too tall to look over, and it had only one gate or door, 30 feet wide. So there was only one way in. Only one way to God.
The people could enter this door, only with their animal for sacrifice, and the Bronze Altar was right there. The first sacrifice each person was to bring was the personal sacrifice (Leviticus 1), because the blood of the sacrifice needed to cover their sins first thing.
This shows us that Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God is our personal Sacrifice that does not just cover, but washes away our sins so that we can approach God.
Then the person left. Only the priests could go further. (Today the children of God are His priests, and we have the authority to approach God closer.) They were required to wash their hands and feet in the Laver that was placed between the Bronze Altar and the door to the Holy Place.
We also need to "wash." Jesus' Sacrifice has washed us completely, but we still live in the world, so confession is our Laver. Jesus told Peter that,
Tomorrow we'll look at the Tabernacle itself, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, where only the priests were allowed to go and why.
O my Father, thank You for giving us this perfect picture of how You have determined we can approach You and be made fit to be in Your Presence and enjoy sweet fellowship with You and one another.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
This Tabernacle shows us both the Temple in Heaven and our Lord Jesus, and the way of Salvation. I will only touch on the high points, in the consideration of space here.
When God told Moses to build it, He said to be sure to follow the "pattern" He had showed him, the Heavenly Temple (Exodus 25: 9). It was to be a shadow of the actual worship center in God's dwelling place.
God started from His perspective: the Ark of the Covenant. This box illustrates that Jesus would have a human body (the wooden chest), but continue to be the Lord God (totally gold, inside and out). Guarded by two cherubim, their wings overshadowing it, their faces toward it. (Ezekiel saw cherubim surrounding the Lord God in chapters 1 and 10.)
The Lord God Himself would "sit" there on that Mercy Seat, between or above the cherubim, and speak to Moses. But our God is dangerous--we in our sin cannot approach Him without burning up. God specially equipped Moses, and Aaron and the rest of the Levites, to be able to withstand the very Presence of the Lord God. Everyone had to be protected.
Let's start with our viewpoint, from the outside in.
God had the Tribes of Israel camp around the Tabernacle in a specific order. They were all to be at a distance from the Tabernacle, and the families of the Levites were to camp between them and the Tabernacle, also in a specific order. Sort of as a barrier to protect the rest of the people.
Then there is the court, bounded by the hangings. These curtains were a fence or wall around the whole outside of the Tabernacle comprising an area of 100 cubits by 50 cubits (150 feet by 75 feet). They were 7 1/2 feet tall, too tall to look over, and it had only one gate or door, 30 feet wide. So there was only one way in. Only one way to God.
The people could enter this door, only with their animal for sacrifice, and the Bronze Altar was right there. The first sacrifice each person was to bring was the personal sacrifice (Leviticus 1), because the blood of the sacrifice needed to cover their sins first thing.
This shows us that Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb of God is our personal Sacrifice that does not just cover, but washes away our sins so that we can approach God.
Then the person left. Only the priests could go further. (Today the children of God are His priests, and we have the authority to approach God closer.) They were required to wash their hands and feet in the Laver that was placed between the Bronze Altar and the door to the Holy Place.
We also need to "wash." Jesus' Sacrifice has washed us completely, but we still live in the world, so confession is our Laver. Jesus told Peter that,
He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean (John 13: 10),when He washed his feet at the Last Supper. And we who have been cleansed by His blood need only confess the present sin, and we shall continue to be altogether clean (I John 1: 9).
Tomorrow we'll look at the Tabernacle itself, the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, where only the priests were allowed to go and why.
O my Father, thank You for giving us this perfect picture of how You have determined we can approach You and be made fit to be in Your Presence and enjoy sweet fellowship with You and one another.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, January 2, 2020
The Most Important Picture
The first and most important picture God gave us is one that our enemy has attacked furiously. This enemy hates us, and only wants to steal, to kill, and to destroy (John 10: 10).
This enemy steals what belongs to God, and he twists and manipulates it until it is barely recognizable and even dangerous to us. Then he dresses it up in fun and pleasurable garments to present it to the human race to kill and destroy us.
And the world takes what he gives and runs with it, claiming that those who know God's ways only want to take away their freedom to do what they want, and to prevent what is fun and pleasurable.
We've seen so often that God's ways are good, and healthy, and provides true liberty to be able to do what is right.
This picture we will look at today is marriage.
God made Adam and Eve, and pronounced that they would be "one flesh" (Genesis 2: 24). When a man is "joined to his wife" physically, this is marriage; the husband and the wife join their bodies together in the marital act to become one, and God blesses this union with children.
Paul tells the Corinthian believers,
A twisted view of this is two people of the same gender; they cannot physically achieve this "one flesh."
God intended that marriage would be exclusive, the man having one wife for life, and the wife having one husband. This is the ideal.
God allowed some variance, as when a man or a king would have more than one wife, and even concubines. But do you think these marriages were happy? Look at Jacob's marriage with Leah and Rachel, for example. (See Genesis 29: 1- 30: 24 for the story.) He had intended to marry only Rachel, but was tricked into marrying Leah, too. This created rivalry and competition and misery.
Do you think that your wife, or you as a wife, would accept other women into your husband's bed? The Chinese character for "misery" is two women under one roof.
God also hates divorce (Malachi 2: 16). He considers it "dealing treacherously" with one who should be cherished.
All these deviations from the ideal tend to distort the picture of marriage as the relationship God wants to have with us.
Paul writes,
Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride (Matthew 9: 15; Mark 2: 19-20; Luke 5: 34-35; John 3: 29), as we are joined spiritually with Him by His Holy Spirit in our spirit. He is one Husband to us, and all together we are one bride, even though He knows each of us individually, and loves each one of us, saving us one by one. And He will never leave or forsake us, or divorce us.
God also made marriage the foundational basis of all human societies and cultures and civilization itself.
No wonder our mortal enemy, in wanting to destroy us, has attacked this idea so vehemently. He wants to destroy this beautiful picture that, when followed, builds our families and neighborhoods and cities and nations. And it provides the best home environment for cherishing and appreciating one another, showing our children and the world God's lovely ideal.
But most of all, this enemy wants to destroy our idea of Christ, our Lord God, Loving us as passionately as a newlywed husband is so enamoured with his new bride!
O my Father, please help all of Your children know You well enough to realize how much You Love us, and have married us to Your Son. You gave us this picture so we could realize how faithful You are, and how much You cherish us, and want us to experience Your joy and the legitimate pleasures of Your ways for us.
Father, I don't know what kinds of spiritual enjoyments You have in store for us, but I'm sure that they far surpass any and all of the physical pleasures You have provided for us here.
We can take pleasure, not only in the marital relationship, but also in the joys of accomplishment, and of giving, and of one another's company and family and friendship relationships.
O Father, Your ways really are the best! They keep us safe and secure and healthy and growing. They teach us how to enjoy fun that satisfies, not like the world at all. Your pleasures forevermore will fill us with purpose and enjoyment and satisfaction in governing with You over all the future universes You will create.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Redeemer and Husband, Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
This enemy steals what belongs to God, and he twists and manipulates it until it is barely recognizable and even dangerous to us. Then he dresses it up in fun and pleasurable garments to present it to the human race to kill and destroy us.
And the world takes what he gives and runs with it, claiming that those who know God's ways only want to take away their freedom to do what they want, and to prevent what is fun and pleasurable.
We've seen so often that God's ways are good, and healthy, and provides true liberty to be able to do what is right.
This picture we will look at today is marriage.
God made Adam and Eve, and pronounced that they would be "one flesh" (Genesis 2: 24). When a man is "joined to his wife" physically, this is marriage; the husband and the wife join their bodies together in the marital act to become one, and God blesses this union with children.
Paul tells the Corinthian believers,
Do you not know that one who joins himself with a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "The two shall become one flesh" (I Corinthians 6: 16).He's asking them if they want to be married to this wanton woman!
A twisted view of this is two people of the same gender; they cannot physically achieve this "one flesh."
God intended that marriage would be exclusive, the man having one wife for life, and the wife having one husband. This is the ideal.
God allowed some variance, as when a man or a king would have more than one wife, and even concubines. But do you think these marriages were happy? Look at Jacob's marriage with Leah and Rachel, for example. (See Genesis 29: 1- 30: 24 for the story.) He had intended to marry only Rachel, but was tricked into marrying Leah, too. This created rivalry and competition and misery.
Do you think that your wife, or you as a wife, would accept other women into your husband's bed? The Chinese character for "misery" is two women under one roof.
God also hates divorce (Malachi 2: 16). He considers it "dealing treacherously" with one who should be cherished.
All these deviations from the ideal tend to distort the picture of marriage as the relationship God wants to have with us.
Paul writes,
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him (I Corinthians 6: 17).The Lord God called Israel His wife (see Jeremiah 3: 1-10), and she committed spiritual adultery against her Husband when she took stones and trees and carved idols to worship instead of the Lord.
Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is the bride (Matthew 9: 15; Mark 2: 19-20; Luke 5: 34-35; John 3: 29), as we are joined spiritually with Him by His Holy Spirit in our spirit. He is one Husband to us, and all together we are one bride, even though He knows each of us individually, and loves each one of us, saving us one by one. And He will never leave or forsake us, or divorce us.
God also made marriage the foundational basis of all human societies and cultures and civilization itself.
No wonder our mortal enemy, in wanting to destroy us, has attacked this idea so vehemently. He wants to destroy this beautiful picture that, when followed, builds our families and neighborhoods and cities and nations. And it provides the best home environment for cherishing and appreciating one another, showing our children and the world God's lovely ideal.
But most of all, this enemy wants to destroy our idea of Christ, our Lord God, Loving us as passionately as a newlywed husband is so enamoured with his new bride!
O my Father, please help all of Your children know You well enough to realize how much You Love us, and have married us to Your Son. You gave us this picture so we could realize how faithful You are, and how much You cherish us, and want us to experience Your joy and the legitimate pleasures of Your ways for us.
Father, I don't know what kinds of spiritual enjoyments You have in store for us, but I'm sure that they far surpass any and all of the physical pleasures You have provided for us here.
We can take pleasure, not only in the marital relationship, but also in the joys of accomplishment, and of giving, and of one another's company and family and friendship relationships.
O Father, Your ways really are the best! They keep us safe and secure and healthy and growing. They teach us how to enjoy fun that satisfies, not like the world at all. Your pleasures forevermore will fill us with purpose and enjoyment and satisfaction in governing with You over all the future universes You will create.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Redeemer and Husband, Lord God Almighty, King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The Consequences Of Ignoring
Happy New Year! May we start this new year with greater understanding of God and His ways for us, so we can prosper in all the abundance He placed here for us, both materially and spiritually.
God is very serious about the pictures He gives us to illustrate spiritual realities in a way we can understand. So when we disrespect His picture, there are consequences to bear.
We've seen that when the Corinthian church disrespected the bread and wine that was to remind them of Jesus' body that was broken in death and His blood that splattered the sides of His Cross, the result was that many of the members were weak and sick, and some had even died.
Today we will look at another picture, one God gave Moses.
Moses had led the people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea on dry ground, and now they were in a desert wilderness with no water in sight.
Then the Lord God said:
So the Lord Jesus was struck once, in death, fulfilling this picture.
But later when the people again had no water, God told Moses:
The water was provided anyway, just like before, because God is faithful to take care of His people. But what about Moses and Aaron?
We are told that, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ (I Corinthians 10: 4).
This rock in the wilderness that has provided for the peoples' needs was a picture of our Redeemer, Christ Jesus, who is the Lord God of the Old Testament. We are told that the Lord was standing on the rock when He told Moses to strike it, and He was only struck once.
When Moses didn't trust God enough to restrain his anger at the people, and struck out instead, he spoiled the picture of Christ the Rock.
It is very important for us to realize how serious God is about His pictures. As far as we can tell, no harm was done, the people still got their water. But Moses and Aaron had to suffer the consequences.
We're told:
But God did have something for Moses:
This is how important it is for us to understand God's pictures. When we don't care enough to learn who God is, how He Loves us so much, and how to follow His ways, then we must also suffer the consequences.
God has told us, and warned us, and promised to reward us! The least we can do, for our own sakes, is to find out how to love Him back, and cooperate with how He designed this Earth to operate, in the world we have built on it.
This world is so wrong about so many things! Even completely opposite from what God intended for our good. When we go against His ways, even if we don't realize it because we don't know His ways, then the consequences will still pile on us!
We owe it to ourselves to get to know this Creator who wants to take good care of us. He's done everything possible, and even impossible, to meet our every need, to rescue us when we've gone astray, and to draw us to Himself to save us and re-mold us into the very image of His Son.
But He won't violate the free will He gave to us. He wants us to want Him. Do you?
Every eye will see His coming, and every knee will bow in obeisance to Him, regardless, and every tongue in every place will give Jesus the honor and credit, as our Messiah and Redeemer, as the Lord God Almighty, the sovereign King of all Creation; to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
God is very serious about the pictures He gives us to illustrate spiritual realities in a way we can understand. So when we disrespect His picture, there are consequences to bear.
We've seen that when the Corinthian church disrespected the bread and wine that was to remind them of Jesus' body that was broken in death and His blood that splattered the sides of His Cross, the result was that many of the members were weak and sick, and some had even died.
Today we will look at another picture, one God gave Moses.
Moses had led the people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea on dry ground, and now they were in a desert wilderness with no water in sight.
Then the Lord God said:
"Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel (Exodus 17: 6).So Moses struck the rock that the Lord was standing on, and the people were given the water they needed.
So the Lord Jesus was struck once, in death, fulfilling this picture.
But later when the people again had no water, God told Moses:
"Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink" (Numbers 20: 8).So did Moses believe that just talking to the rock would bring the same result? Let's see what he did:
So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank (Numbers 20: 9-11).Oh my, Moses didn't speak to it like he was told, he got mad at the people and lost his temper, and ended up striking the rock instead, twice even. He must have really been upset!
The water was provided anyway, just like before, because God is faithful to take care of His people. But what about Moses and Aaron?
We are told that, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ (I Corinthians 10: 4).
This rock in the wilderness that has provided for the peoples' needs was a picture of our Redeemer, Christ Jesus, who is the Lord God of the Old Testament. We are told that the Lord was standing on the rock when He told Moses to strike it, and He was only struck once.
When Moses didn't trust God enough to restrain his anger at the people, and struck out instead, he spoiled the picture of Christ the Rock.
It is very important for us to realize how serious God is about His pictures. As far as we can tell, no harm was done, the people still got their water. But Moses and Aaron had to suffer the consequences.
We're told:
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them." Those were the waters of Meribah [Contention], because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them (Numbers 20: 12-13).And, when the people were ready to finally enter into that Promised Land, and Moses gave them all the warnings to be faithful to the Lord, putting it all into the Song of Moses, that they will be able to remember, then:
The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel (Deuteronomy 32: 48-51).Moses and Aaron both died before the Israelites entered the Promised Land. Neither of these brothers will set foot in the land they anticipated for so long.
But God did have something for Moses:
"For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32: 52).God was gracious to Moses, in allowing him to at least see the land. But neither he nor his brother Aaron could set foot in the land that they worked so long with the people for.
This is how important it is for us to understand God's pictures. When we don't care enough to learn who God is, how He Loves us so much, and how to follow His ways, then we must also suffer the consequences.
God has told us, and warned us, and promised to reward us! The least we can do, for our own sakes, is to find out how to love Him back, and cooperate with how He designed this Earth to operate, in the world we have built on it.
This world is so wrong about so many things! Even completely opposite from what God intended for our good. When we go against His ways, even if we don't realize it because we don't know His ways, then the consequences will still pile on us!
We owe it to ourselves to get to know this Creator who wants to take good care of us. He's done everything possible, and even impossible, to meet our every need, to rescue us when we've gone astray, and to draw us to Himself to save us and re-mold us into the very image of His Son.
But He won't violate the free will He gave to us. He wants us to want Him. Do you?
Every eye will see His coming, and every knee will bow in obeisance to Him, regardless, and every tongue in every place will give Jesus the honor and credit, as our Messiah and Redeemer, as the Lord God Almighty, the sovereign King of all Creation; to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
The Picture Of The Sacrifice
Because God wants us to know spiritual truths, He gives us physical, material pictures to illustrate these things.
The first picture He gave was covering Adam and Eve's nakedness with animal skins. These physical skins showed the covering that the animal blood provided for their sin. God showed them right away that,
Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).Adam and Eve's first children, Cain and Abel, knew this, and they both brought their sacrifices to the Lord (Genesis 4: 3-5). We see here the difference between Cain's offering of his agricultural products, and Abel's of one of his lambs.
There is no blood in fruits and vegetables, as there is in an animal that must die by shedding its blood. In offering an animal, Abel admitted that he deserved to die, letting the animal be his substitute. So Cain wanted God to accept his own work, instead of admitting that he deserved death.
Later God gave the Law to Moses, codifying the sacrifices. The first sacrifice he wanted His teachers, the Levites, to teach the people was the personal sacrifice, in the very first chapter of Leviticus.
This had the individual person bringing his own animal to the priest. He placed his hand on the head of the lamb or calf, identifying with it, then the priest sacrificed it on the altar, dying in the place of the person. Then its blood was splattered on the sides of the altar, covering the person's sins so he could be forgiven. But animal blood can only cover, never take away the sin.
This is all a physical picture that they acted out, so we could understand the spiritual truth of our deserving death.
God made it possible that if Mankind sinned, then he would need to die in order for a substitute to die for him so he could still live. Adam wasn't subject to death until he disobeyed God's only rule for him. If he had obeyed God, and eaten from the Tree of Life instead, then he would live forever. As created, Adam had both possibilities, and when his DNA was settled toward death, then God had to keep him from also eating of the Tree of Life, which would forfeit the benefit of Salvation.
God told Eve that the Savior would come from her "seed" because Adam would be the one to transmit that damaged DNA that would be called the "sin-nature." He had disobeyed willfully, but Eve had been deceived and bore personal sin.
That's how a virgin could bear God's Child, giving Him a genuine human nature without the sin-part.
Jesus came to fulfill that personal sacrifice for each of us. We are all born to live; He was born to die. He is the sacrificial Lamb of God, who is our perfect Sacrifice. He had to be God to be the eternal Person who could pay our eternal debt in time; and He is a genuine human being, qualified to die the human death we all deserve, in our place.
The sacrifice in Leviticus was a picture of what Jesus would accomplish for us, given so we would recognize His work. And His physical body and blood are another picture of the spiritual work He finished there; not just covering the sin, but washing us in His precious Blood completely clean, as though we'd never sinned.
Now we can be perfectly pure, fit for God to place His Presence in us, putting His Spirit into our spirit, making it alive with eternal life. He had to wash us perfectly clean of every shadow of a trace of sin, so that His very Presence in us would not destroy us. We cannot even look into the Sun without destroying our eyes, and it holds only a small portion of His glory. This is a miracle, as all God's spiritual works seem to be miraculous, not being possible by us in our flesh.
God has planned it all out ahead of time. He planned for Adam to be able to die if he sinned, but also able to live forever. And He gave us all the pictures of the material stuff of this Earth so we would be able to "see" His spiritual Truths.
O my Father, You are so good to us, to have planned out beforehand just how You would send Your own Son for us, and how we would be able to recognize Him when He came. And how to realize how He finished all the work He came to do, to fulfill everything that was written about Him.
We as Your children are in our school of life, learning who You are, who we are, and how to cooperate with Your ways. This is the only way we can enjoy all the benefits You placed in the Earth for us to use. And Your written Word is our nourishment to grow up in Your family as royalty to one Day help You rule Your future creation.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, King of all Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)