Randy Green's Blog, page 347
February 14, 2016
When Pork is Beef – Part 2
HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place [1 Kings 14:25-27].
We concluded our last study by noting that there is an important detail in the verses just quoted, but that this detail is usually, if not always, overlooked. Let’s continue on in that vein now.
In the Bible and especially in the Old Testament, the Lord employed visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. This is one of those times. Rehoboam was Solomon’s son. He became king after Solomon.
Well, King Rehoboam sinned against the Lord by practicing idolatry. This was why the Lord permitted Shishak king of Egypt to invade Jerusalem and deprive King Rehoboam of his wealth. Shishak was the Lord’s tool to judge and punish Rehoboam, you see.
We must needs digress for a moment. In the Law of Moses there were two altars in the tabernacle worship structure. One was made of gold and the other of bronze. The gold altar was used to offer incense to the Lord. It was inside the tent of meeting, outside the veil where the Lord dwelt. That location symbolized heaven. It typified man’s interaction with the Lord. Gold was a type of heaven, the antitype.
The bronze altar, contrariwise, was located outside the entrance to the tent of meeting. It was used to present blood offerings to the Lord. Those blood offerings represented the offerer. All men are sinners and the wages of sin is death. The Lord provided the Israelites a temporary reprieve from dying for their sins by allowing them to substitute animals to die on the bronze altar in their stead.
Bronze represented God’s judgment against sin, you see. It was outside the tent of meeting, outside the location where the Lord dwelt in the midst of His people Israel. Sin had to be judged before anyone could enter the presence of the Lord.
So gold represented heaven, holiness, the Lord’s presence, while bronze represented God’s judgment against sin. Let’s keep this context in mind, as we depart our digression and return to 1 Kings.
In 1 Kings 14 Solomon had GOLD shields. The symbolism of gold denoted a good thing, that the Kingdom of Israel was right with the Lord. But when Solomon and then Rehoboam practiced idolatry, Israel was no longer right with the Lord. Consequently the Lord had the gold shields taken to Egypt. When Rehoboam replaced them, he made the replacements of bronze, symbolizing God’s judgment on Israel because of her sin of idolatry. Two types of shields, one beef the other pork. Or was that one bronze the other gold?
When we come to recognize suchlike details in Scripture, it makes the Bible come alive. We learn so much more and the Bible becomes exciting. In all eight volumes of my Heavenly Citizens series, I go into lengthy detail to bring out these nuances. Allow me to encourage you, yea, even exhort you, to get your copies. May the name of the Lord Jesus be exalted!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Kings 14, altar, bronze, gold, heaven, judgment, shields, symbolism, typology
February 13, 2016
When Pork is Beef – Part 1
NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
Now it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he took everything, even taking all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place [1 Kings 14:25-27].
I recently took my son to a local restaurant. On the menu was a concoction of roast beef with mashed potatoes and vegetables. I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I ordered it.
When we were served I looked at the meat and thought to myself, “This doesn’t even resemble beef. It looks exactly like pork roast.” So I took a bite to see what it tasted like. As I was chewing my son looked at the meat incredulously and blurted out, “That’s not beef. It’s pork!”
When I finished chewing and swallowing, I verbally confirmed his observation. So I summoned the waitress and told her that I ordered the roast beef.
She looked at me puzzled and stated, “That is the roast beef, sir.”
I retorted, “No, ma’am. It is not. It looks like pork roast and it tastes like pork roast, so it’s pork.”
She didn’t know what to say, so she stumbled over her tongue when she claimed, “Maybe it’s pork roast beef…”
Hilarious isn’t it? Anyway, she sent for the manager. When I was finally able to present my case to him, he told me, “We don’t have any pork in this restaurant. The meat comes in boxes labeled ‘beef veal’. Maybe that’s why it tastes like pork to you.”
Here’s the thing, dear friends. Every item has its specific qualities. Beef tastes like beef and pork tastes like pork. We mustn’t confuse what something is by giving it the name of something else and trying to identify it with the qualities of something else. Otherwise words mean nothing, in which case we can say anything we want and claim our words mean the exact opposite of what we said.
In the verses quoted at the start of this study, we have a detail which is overlooked much of the time, perhaps even all of the time. The reason why it is overlooked is because of the symbolism. We have to be Biblically literate in order to recognize the symbolism in the detail. Otherwise we read the words and just keep right on going like the Eveready Bunny. The teaching simply goes right over our heads.
Yikes! We’re out of time again! We’ll continue this topic in our next study. In the interim why not spend some time alone with the Lord Jesus. He is always a pleasure to be with, and He truly desires to spend time alone with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Kings 14, altar, bronze, gold, heaven, judgment, shields, symbolism, typology
February 12, 2016
Strange Bedfellows – Part 2
NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
A command came to me by the word of the Lord, “You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.” [1 Kings 13:17]
In Israel Jeroboam became king. He feared that his subjects in the north would go to Jerusalem in the south to worship the Lord, and soon they would favor King Rehoboam of Judah. Then they would kill Jeroboam and reunite the kingdom under Rehoboam.
To thwart such a possibility, Jeroboam of Israel had two golden calves constructed. He placed one in Dan to the far north and the other at Bethel in the south of Israel. He commanded his subjects to worship the calves in those locations. The calves were Israel’s gods!
Needless to say, but the Lord wasn’t exactly thrilled at this. He sent a prophet from Judah to prophesy Jeroboam’s demise. The Bible verse at the start of this lesson was part of the Lord’s instructions to His prophet from Judah. Now let’s note the two parts of the Bible verse.
do not eat or drink while in Bethel of Israel
do not return to Judah by the same route you took to Bethel
Are you nonplussed by those instructions? Why would the Lord tell the prophet not to eat or drink while there? And why specify that he take a different route back to Judah? “Hmm. I don’t get it?” some of you are saying to yourself.
Allow me to explain. In the Bible the Lord often employs visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. The two points listed are the visible physical realities, and now we need to mine the ore and recover the invisible spiritual truths contained therein.
The first point forbade the prophet of Judah from sitting down and sharing a meal with the folks of idolatrous Israel. This is in keeping with the doctrine of separation which begins in Genesis 1 and continues to the end of Revelation 22. God’s kids are not to fraternize with the devil’s kids. Israel worshiped two golden calves. Judah worshiped the Lord. Don’t fraternize while in Israel, O prophet!
The second point has to do with how I began this study today. I am a creature of habit, but in spiritual life habit and routine can easily spell deadness. If we keep doing the same things we’ve always done, we will keep being what we’ve always been. That is the death knell of true spiritual vitality, dear friends.
Our life is often expressed as the road we travel or the way we take. The Lord told the prophet to go to Bethel one way but to return a different way. In doing so the Lord taught that we cannot serve Him by doing the same old same old day after day. We cannot learn something from Him and then run around doing the same thing all the time and call that “serving the Lord”.
If we would truly serve Jesus, we need to go to Him daily and receive our marching orders from Him. If we habitually spend time alone with Him, we will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He will be leading us and we will be following His will. Otherwise, not so much.
So which will it be? Will we return by the same route we went? Or will we take an alternate route and remain dependent on the Lord for guidance?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1Kings 13, discipleship, religiosity, ritualism, spiritual life, tradition
February 11, 2016
Strange Bedfellows – Part 1
HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 9 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
A command came to me by the word of the Lord, “You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.” [1 Kings 13:17]
I am a creature of habit. I take the same route to work each day, shop for food at the same market, and visit the same department store for clothing and bedding and window dressing. I generally am in bed at the same time and up again at the same time each day. Yep, I am a creature of habit.
Now there is nothing immoral in being a creature of habit. In many ways it can be a good thing, a very good thing. Structure is needed in life, if we are to be all that the Lord wants us to be. Discipline is structure, and all of us need to discipline ourselves so the Lord doesn’t have to do it for us.
Still, we need to have some moderation in our habits, or else they become bad habits. We need to have some flexibility when our routine is interrupted. And when it comes to living for the Lord, routine and habit can be a dangerous thing, a very dangerous thing. Too much routine in spiritual life is no more than ritualism, religiosity, tradition. It is known as “playing church”.
We need structure because without it we don’t accomplish much. Without structure we hang out, enjoy ourselves, put off our responsibilities, and generally fail the Lord. If we don’t set aside a daily time to be with Jesus, we won’t often be with Jesus, you see. On the other hand, if we want church service to follow the same format each week, we can’t help ourselves: we wind up in a rut, putting on a religious show and relegating Jesus to the outside looking in.
In the Bible verse we quoted at the start of this study, the Lord taught this truth to His people back in the day. Let me present the context to you. The twelve tribes of Israel ceased being governed by “judges” at the time of the prophet Samuel. The Israelites insisted on having a “king”, so the Lord gave them Saul, a man after the people’s own heart. Saul was what the people were looking for, but not what God wanted in a king.
After the people got a taste of what they wanted and learned what not to look for in a king, the Lord then gave them King David, a man after the Lord’s own heart. Under King David Israel became a united kingdom, rather than a collection of twelve tribes.
When David’s son Solomon became king, he began well but finished abysmally. Solomon became too big for his britches and fell into idolatry. Consequently, upon Solomon’s death the Lord divided the kingdom between southern Judah and northern Israel.
Now that we’ve reached the divided kingdom, we can take a break and chew the cud on what we’ve learned today. But don’t forget to return same time same station tomorrow. We still have to find out what the two points of the Lord’s instructions are all about! See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1Kings 13, discipleship, religiosity, ritualism, spiritual life, tradition
February 10, 2016
Parlor Tricks – Part 2
NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: covenant, covenantalism, dispensationalism, grace, Israel, Law, Matthew 22, the Church
February 9, 2016
Parlor Tricks – Part 1
NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fullness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fullness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age
February 5, 2016
Whistling Dixie – Part 2
HOT OFF THE PRESS!!! Romans: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
But the Lord said to him (i.e., to Ananias), “Go, for he (i.e., Saul/Paul) is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” [Acts 9:15-16]
Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him (i.e., to Jesus), “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.” [Luke 13:31-33]
In our last study we paused after hearing the claims against Paul’s ministry to the Jews. Now let’s begin with our investigation of those claims.
All I can say is, “Wow! Let’s all go home and throw in the towel. No need to pursue this discussion any further, with such formidable and indisputable evidence quelling any other understanding.” But no, I don’t want to go home and throw in the towel. I don’t concede any such evidence exists to show that Paul was doing his own thing, when he took the Gospel to the Jews in Jerusalem.
Two different portions of Scripture are recorded to start this study. The first one records Paul’s call to ministry from the Lord Jesus. Read it again at this time, please. I’ll wait a second for you to do so… Okay. What did the Lord declare Paul was to do? Let’s use a bulleted list to itemize Paul’s ministry. He was to bear Jesus’ name,
before the Gentiles
before kings
before the sons of Israel
When Paul performed his ministry before those three categories of persons, there would be consequences to pay. Listen to the Lord express them: for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake. Let us be aware that, as Paul proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah and Savior of the world to each category of persons, he would suffer from each category for bringing Jesus to them.
Category #1, “The Gentiles”: this refers to every human being who is not a Hebrew by birth or by proselytism. When Paul went to the Gentiles with the Gospel, he was routinely persecuted by both the Jews and the Gentiles.
Category #2, “Kings”: As he went throughout the Roman world preaching the Gospel, Paul appeared before kings as well as other public officials. Sometimes he was received agreeably, at other times with indifference, while on still other occasions he endured extreme persecution.
Category #3, “the sons of Israel”: this refers to those whose forefather was Jacob/Israel, as well as to those Gentiles who converted to Judaism and were thereby incorporated into the Lord’s covenant with Israel. Paul preached to his fellow Israelites both in Israel and in the diaspora (i.e., the Jews who were dispersed in locations outside of Israel).
In every town he entered to share Jesus, Paul went to the synagogues first before going to the Gentiles. He wanted to allow his fellow Jews to have their chance to receive their Messiah before the Gentiles did. Paul said unabashedly that the Gospel is to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile (Romans 1:16). Whether he preached the Gospel to the Jews in Israel or to the Jews in the diaspora, Paul faced extreme persecution for doing so—just as he did when he proclaimed Jesus to the Gentiles and to kings.
You see, the Gospel provokes hostility and violence from sinners. It doesn’t matter one whit whether they be Jews or Gentiles, dear friends. God called Paul to take the Gospel to three categories of people, and God warned Paul of what he would encounter when he did so. Paul wasn’t doing wrong when he went to all three categories. He was obeying the Word of God. Had he not done so, he would have been sinning. He said, “Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!”
We will conclude this analysis in our next study. In the interim weigh the evidence for yourself. Be in prayer and meditate on the matter. And may the Holy Spirit lead you into all truth.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: Acts 21, Acts 9, call of God, discipleship, Luke 13, ministry, walk by faith, walk by sight
February 4, 2016
Whistling Dixie – Part 1
NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
But the Lord said to him (i.e., to Ananias), “Go, for he (i.e., Saul/Paul) is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” [Acts 9:15-16]
Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him (i.e., to Jesus), “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.” [Luke 13:31-33]
I remember the time I accepted the Lord’s call to ministry. It was a process because I needed time to weigh the consequences and determine whether or not I was prepared to make the sacrifices necessary. After bowing to the Lord’s will—and that with the greatest relish—I announced it to the church.
Some folks were congratulatory, but others expressed words of discouragement to me. The discouragers were looking out for my best interests, at least in their own eyes. Trouble was, they viewed the matter according to the flesh. They based their conclusion on my background and things of that nature. They didn’t see the Lord’s hand in the call because they walked by sight in making their judgment.
The Lord’s call to ministry is based on His own purpose and grace, dear friends. It is NOT based on man’s worthiness or background. The Lord chooses the weak things, the beggarly elements of mankind, in order to show His own power and worth. If He depended on the worldly strong or wise or wealthy or high class folks to accomplish His goals, then it would appear they achieved success by their own abilities.
I’m discussing this issue because today’s study is about the Apostle Paul’s call to ministry. Paul was originally known as Saul. I’ve read in books and heard in sermons that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Therefore he should not have gone to Jerusalem to the Jews. It is claimed that the Holy Spirit even told him as much on his way there. But Paul was too determined to reach the Jews, when all along his ministry was to the Gentiles. Consequently Paul was imprisoned and his ministry hampered.
To support such a position Scripture is quoted. Let’s read a sample together, shall we?
As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” [Acts 21:10-11]
And then with glee it is alleged, “See! The Holy Spirit told Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but Paul wouldn’t listen. He was too stubborn to obey the Holy Spirit because of his blindness for the Jews.”
In our next study we will investigate these claims. For now let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve discussed today.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: Acts 21, Acts 9, call of God, discipleship, Luke 13, ministry, walk by faith, walk by sight
February 1, 2016
Uncovering Secrets in the Bible – Part 2
NEWS FLASH!!! Acts: Volume 8 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him [1 Corinthians 8:6].
Yesterday we began our study of this verse by noting that it contains two parallel concepts. We expressed it as a numbered list.
from whom are all things and we exist for Him (i.e., the Father)
by whom are all things, and we exist through Him (i.e., the Son)
So that no one should miss out on the fine details, we again employed a numbered list to point them out.
from whom are all things parallels by whom are all things
we exist for Him parallels we exist through Him
We concluded yesterday’s lesson by deciphering Line #1. This line reveals how creation came about. God did the creating, and He did so in the Persons of God the Father and God the Son. All things came into being “from” the Father. All things came into being “by” the Son. Line #1 in itself teaches the truth of the Trinity, or at least of two Persons in one God. Creation was accomplished by the Father and the Son working together as one God.
Now let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work deciphering Line #2. When a person builds something, it is his. He can get a patent on it and sell it exclusively because it is his property. It was built “for” him, and he is free to use it for any purpose he so desires.
If he built a boat he could fish with it, sail around the world in it, live on it, or just plain dry dock it and use it for scenery. It is his boat. He built it and it exists “for” him. The boat represents creation, you see, and God the Father is the Person from whom the boat came into existence.
But what if the boat builder actually employed someone else to do the work, a subcontractor if you will? The subcontractor was the means by which the boat came into existence. The boat exists “through” him, while the designer and initiator of the process was the contractor.
The contractor is of course God the Father, and the subcontractor is God the Son. The boat (i.e., creation) exists “for” the Father, while it came into existence “through” the Son. Do you see how intimately connected the Father and the Son are? The same is true of the Holy Spirit, though He isn’t in the equation of 1 Corinthians 8:6. This example is quite deficient, though, because a human contractor and a human subcontractor are not “one”. But God is One.
We cannot know God because He is the One Who created us. We are finite creatures, while He is infinite. Now we see through a glass darkly, but in eternity we will see clearly, face to face, and we will know Him even as we are known by Him. The Bible contains many mysteries, many secrets for our discovery, and the Trinity is one of them. We should approach the Bible as explorers looking for the lost continent of Atlantis, or as treasure hunters digging for buried treasure. How excited and enthusiastic would we be then? We would brook no delays nor go off on any tangents.
Under our present limitations we cannot possibly get a handle on how there can be one God but three equal Persons who comprise the one God. Notwithstanding this, the Bible distinctly shows this to be true. Faith is taking the Bible at face value and obeying it, placing our trust in it as the inerrant and infallible Word of God Himself. Without faith it is impossible to please God (cf., Hebrews 11:6).
I know I can believe what the Bible teaches me about God being one while simultaneously existing as three Persons. He has proven Himself to me time after time, grace upon grace. I cannot help but trust Him. I cannot deny Him. This is why I subscribe to Rule #2 for Bible study, the Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
So what about you? Do you know God? Do you trust Him in all things without reservation? What value do you place on His Word? You can never feed on His Word too much. Just be sure to confess your sins to Him first and be cleansed and filled with the Spirit. That is how we put our money where our mouth is.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Corinthians 8, God the Father, God the Son, Hebrew poetry, Son of God, Trinity
January 31, 2016
Uncovering Secrets in the Bible – Part 1
NEWS FLASH!!! Matthew: Volume 7 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes is now available from CreateSpace (paperbacks) and Kindle (eBooks). Click on the link to the right of this page to go to Amazon and place your order.
Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him [1 Corinthians 8:6].
1 Corinthians is in the New Testament, which means it was originally written in koine Greek. The word koine is Greek for “common”, meaning that it wasn’t the flowery Greek of cultured society, or the educated Greek of the Greek philosophers. It was the Greek spoken by the common man on the street of that time.
Even though we’re dealing with the Greek language in the New Testament, nonetheless we are also dealing with the Hebrew people. This means that, though they were speaking another language, they still spoke as Jews and not as Gentiles. With this in mind we shouldn’t be taken aback when we realize they often expressed themselves in terms of parallelism.
Parallelism is the style used in Biblical Hebrew poetry. We today rhyme words at the end of lines and call it poetry. The Hebrews rhymed ideas within the lines and called that poetry. The ideas might roughly coincide with each other, or they might be opposites of each other. Poetry which expresses coinciding ideas is known as synonymous parallelism. Poetry which expresses opposite ideas is known as antonymous parallelism.
Even when they presented narrative instead of poetry, it was not unusual by any means to find parallelism in the writing. When we today use alliteration in our narrative writing, we are employing a concept from poetry. And this is what we have in our Bible verse which kicked off our study today. Let’s consider it in that light now.
The parallelism is between the Father and the Son, and it is synonymous. The Father is identified as “God”, while the Son (i.e., “Jesus Christ”) is identified as “Lord”. But what follows from this is where the parallelism really comes into play. Permit me to express it as a numbered list.
from whom are all things and we exist for Him (i.e., the Father)
by whom are all things, and we exist through Him (i.e., the Son)
It should be ostensible to you, the way the two phrases run “parallel” with each other. But lest perchance anyone miss out on the fine details, I will spell them out to you. Again, a numbered list suits our purposes and shortens the explanation needed.
from whom are all things parallels by whom are all things
we exist for Him parallels we exist through Him
Now mull over the difference between the words “from” and “by”. They express the only difference in Line #1 of the preceding list. Both words are prepositions. So, then, what difference is portrayed by them in these two prepositional phrases? Answer: the phrase from whom are all things emphasizes the Father as the originator of all things. The phrase by whom are all things tells us that the Father created all things by means of His Son.
Do you see why I identified this as synonymous parallelism and not antonymous? The two ideas parallel each other in an agreeable fashion. They pull together rather than push apart. We learn that God is the Creator. He created as both the Father and the Son, and the two Persons worked together in perfect harmony, as One God.
We will decipher Line #2 in our next study. Be sure to be there. It gets even tastier.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B00507WC86
Filed under: Church Age Tagged: 1 Corinthians 8, God the Father, God the Son, Hebrew poetry, Son of God, Trinity
