Morning saints! Much grace to you all.

LEVITICUS 4B

Spiritually speaking, the one who offers Christ as typified by turtledoves or pigeons has a limited apprehension, realization, and appreciation of Christ. Such a one is young in the spiritual life and therefore lacks maturity. He does not have much ability to appreciate Christ. In contrast to worldly people, who have no appreciation or realization of Christ, a new believer has begun to have some appreciation of Christ. However, he does not yet have the ability to slaughter, skin, cut, and wash his burnt offering. He can only bring Christ as a very small burnt offering.

A believer’s appreciation of Christ and his offering of Christ may be quite natural. For example, some believers may appreciate Christ as He is presented in the four Gospels, but this appreciation may be natural. Furthermore, their love of the Lord Jesus may be according to their natural understanding. This was my situation after I was saved and began to love the Lord. For the most part, my way of offering Christ to God was also natural. However, through the years my apprehension, realization, appreciation, and offering of Christ have changed.

Those who offer Christ as a bull appreciate Christ in a deep and detailed way. Those who offer Christ as a turtledove do not have such a deep and detailed appreciation of Christ. Moreover, their way of offering Christ as the burnt offering is natural.

The Old Testament priests knew that in order for a turtledove to be accepted as a burnt offering, the turtledove had to pass through a process. It was necessary for the priest to kill the bird, take away its crop with its feathers, and tear its wings. The taking away of the crop and the feathers indicates the removal of what is unclean. The priest did all that was required to process the offering. This signifies that to offer Christ as a turtledove is to offer a Christ who has not been processed by the offerer; it is to offer Christ in a natural way. Therefore, when someone offers Christ as a turtledove, this offering needs to be processed by someone other than the offerer. However, the one who offers Christ as a bull or as a lamb offers Christ in a processed way, not in a natural way.

All the offerings were offered at the tent of meeting. Since the tent of meeting typifies the church, offering the burnt offering at the tent of meeting typifies offering Christ to God in the church meetings.

As we have indicated, the size of a believer’s offering and the way he offers it depend on his spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability. Some saints may offer Christ as the burnt offering in a way that is not natural and with an offering that is not whole but processed. Such saints, who are matured and rich in the ability to apprehend, realize, and appreciate Christ, have had very deep experiences of Christ. They have experienced what is signified by the different parts of the burnt offering: the head, the fat, the inwards, and the legs. To experience Christ’s head is to experience His understanding, wisdom, and prudence. To experience Christ’s inwards is to experience His sensibility, affections, feelings, thoughts, will, intentions, and purposes. The burnt offering presented by these saints is an offering that has been cut into pieces. This indicates that their experience of Christ is detailed and also that their way of offering Christ to God as the burnt offering is not at all natural.

I wonder if you can be more specific on your "spiritual brick wall"? Maybe share a bit more on it?

LEVITICUS PART 4C

Little by little, the matured saints experience Christ in detail according to the pieces of Christ. They have come to realize that the Lord Jesus lived a life of having His inwards purified by the Spirit. This is typified in Leviticus 1 by the water. These saints have also experienced Christ’s walk on earth, a walk in which the Spirit constantly kept Him clean and pure in His outward contacts. In their daily experience, they appreciate Christ as the One who was always being washed inwardly and outwardly, not because He was unclean but for the purpose of preserving Him in His cleanness and purity. This is the Christ they apprehend, realize, and appreciate, and this is the Christ they offer to God.

A believer who offers Christ as turtledoves or pigeons certainly does not have the kind of appreciation of Christ that a mature believer has. Furthermore, his way of offering Christ in the church meetings is natural. As you listen to the prayers and testimonies of the new or young believers, especially in the Lord’s table meeting, you can realize that in a natural way they offer Christ as two young pigeons. A dear saint who has recently been saved may stand up and say, “Praise the Lord! I love the Lord Jesus!” He may offer Christ or give a testimony, but he does so in a natural way. However, when certain other saints pray or testify, you can realize that, according to their spiritual maturity, capacity, and ability, they offer a detailed, processed Christ.

In Leviticus 1, the one who offered turtledoves or pigeons was not rejected. His offering, even though raw and unprocessed, was accepted, but it was accepted through the work of the priest who processed the offering. After the priest worked on the offering, wringing off its head, tearing its wings, and removing its crop and feathers, the offering was no longer natural but processed.

As we apply this matter of the processing of the offering by the priests, we need to ask a question: Who are the serving priests today? In order to answer this question, we need to realize that the burnt offering was presented not in the offerer’s home but at the tent of meeting, where the altar and the priests were. This is a type of our offering Christ as the burnt offering not in our homes but in the church meetings. In the church meetings we have the altar, and we also have the saints as the serving priests.

In a meeting a young believer may in a natural way offer Christ as two birds. His offering of Christ may then be processed by the prayers and testimonies of other saints. As the young believer listens to these prayers and testimonies, he may realize that his way of offering Christ was natural and unprocessed. However, some of the priests processed his offering for him. Therefore, the priests are those saints who, in the church meetings, process a burnt offering that is offered in a natural way.

When you first came into the church life, your way of offering Christ, either by a prayer or by a testimony, may have been quite natural. You did offer something of Christ, but you offered Christ in a natural way. Throughout your years in the church life, your way of offering Christ has become less and less natural. Now what you offer of Christ is mainly something that has been processed. However, your way of offering Christ may still be somewhat natural. For instance, you may praise the Lord for His kindness, but your understanding of the Lord’s kindness may be natural.

We may say that in Leviticus 1 the offering of the turtledoves or pigeons was in two stages—the stage before it was processed and the stage after it has been processed. In the first stage the offering was still whole and in a natural condition. When the offering was still in this stage, it could not be accepted by God. After the offering had been processed, it was in the second stage, and it was ready to be accepted by God.

We all need to see that the difference in the burnt offerings is not only in their size but also in the way they are offered. The young ones in the church life offer a Christ who is very small in size, and they offer Him in a way that is natural, in a way that is without process. The mature, experienced ones not only offer a larger Christ, but they offer Christ absolutely in a processed way. For instance, the inwards and legs of their burnt offering will be washed in water, indicating that they have experienced Christ in His being kept clean by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The mature saints experience Christ in a detailed way. They understand His thoughts, feelings, and decisions. Those who experience Christ in this way will appreciate the details concerning the Lord’s life recorded in the four Gospels. In their experience, Christ has been cut into pieces, and they appreciate Him in a fine, detailed way. They do not merely experience Christ as a whole in an outward way; they enter, through their cutting Christ into pieces, into the depths of His being.

Those who offer Christ in a natural way as birds need the older saints to be the priests to help them to process their offering. However, if the older saints process the offering presented by a young saint, he may be offended. He may be troubled by their wringing off the head of his offering and removing its crop and feathers. In a meeting a young brother may testify of the Lord’s gentleness, saying that He is always gentle. Later, an experienced brother may cite the cases of the Lord’s cleansing the temple and His rebuking the Pharisees and point out that sometimes the Lord Jesus is not gentle. When the young brother hears this, he may feel that the experienced brother has wrung off the head of his offering, an offering which he had presented whole and unprocessed.

I would ask those who have been in the church life for many years to recall their experience of offering Christ in the church meetings. Has not much of what you have offered in prayer and testimony been processed by the priests? Perhaps the greater part of your offerings have been “torn.” At times you might have said, “I will never offer something in that way again.” Eventually, you became not only an offerer but also a priest helping to process the offerings of other saints.

The burnt offerings in Leviticus 1 do not signify Christ’s size in Himself. Not even a bull is an adequate type of the actual size of Christ. No one, including Paul, is able to realize Christ in His full size. Therefore, what we offer of Christ as the burnt offering is only what we have apprehended, realized, and appreciated of Christ.

In our preaching and teaching we may present Christ in a natural way. For instance, someone in a Christian meeting may preach Christ, but this preaching may be almost entirely natural, for the one preaching presents Christ according to his natural understanding. The Christ thus presented is not Christ as He actually is but Christ as understood by the one presenting Him.

My point here is that the way we offer Christ as the burnt offering is according to our realization, apprehension, appreciation, and experience of Christ. As our realization, apprehension, appreciation, and experience of Christ improve, our way of offering Christ will also improve. Eventually, anything natural, especially any natural concepts, in our way of offering Christ will be dealt with. If we are still offering Christ as two birds, we will need the experienced saints to process our offering. But after we become experienced and matured, we will no longer need this kind of help from the serving priests. May we all enter into the depths of Christ’s being and experience Him in a deep, fine, and detailed way!

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 3 2013, 10:25 AM

Look away unto Jesus.

There is an answer revealed in the Bible but the revelation and the price to walk this way is high. Unfortunately, sharing this takes time and will cause stumbling to every Christian poster here, maybe even condemnation (at me) And, yes, it will nullified every denominations and Catholicism.

The unity talked here is, IMHO, very natural. So, is any talk on any ecumenical movement. The divine revelation concerning oneness in the Bible is not easily received or spoken.

Well ... one will eventually come to realize that having a good church life, a good increase, pursuing spirituality, pursuing gifts etc for itself will eventually lead to nothing if they are not for God's purpose (again, not God's purpose for you; in the grand scheme of His heart desire, it is never about you, strictly speaking). God has a heart desire in this universe and it is not about you, your salvation, your spirituality, etc ...

Haha, if you are already lost at what I am speaking .... then, that is ok.


Much grace, sister.

PS. Continue to seek to know His heart desire to dispense Himself into His chosen people, making Himself one with them. That God wants to dwell within His chosen people and that He desires to make Himself fully one with them.

LEVITICUS part 4D

We now come to other aspects of the burnt offering:

THE WATER, THE FIRE, THE BURNING, AND THE ASHES
A. The Water

The water (Lev. 1:9, 13) signifies the Spirit of life (John 7:38-39). While the Lord Jesus was living His human life on earth, this Spirit of life, the Holy Spirit, continually kept away from Him all defiling factors. This is the reason the Lord Jesus was never defiled or contaminated by anything He contacted. The Holy Spirit as the living water within Him kept Him clean.

According to Leviticus 1:9 and 13, the offerer was to wash the inwards and the legs of his offering with water. This certainly does not signify that Christ needs to be washed by those who offer Him as the burnt offering. The slaughtering of the offering by the offerer is a review of the offerer’s experience in his daily life of Christ’s crucifixion. The principle is the same with the washing of the burnt offering. The washing is a review of the offerer’s experience of Christ’s life, a life in which He was continually washed by the indwelling Holy Spirit from any contaminating factor. The Holy Spirit, here signified by the water, preserved Christ from being contaminated by outward matters He contacted while He was on earth. The offerer has experienced this in his daily life, and he therefore reviews and demonstrates this as he offers Christ as his burnt offering.

B. The Fire
1. Signifying the Holy God

A number of verses in Leviticus 1 speak of the fire (vv. 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 17). The fire here signifies the holy God. This is proved by Hebrews 12:29, which says, “Our God is also a consuming fire.”

2. With the Burnt Offering, the Fire Being the Accepting Fire for God’s Satisfaction

With the burnt offering the fire is the accepting fire for God’s satisfaction (vv. 9, 13, 17). The fire in Leviticus 1 may be considered God’s mouth with which He receives and accepts what we offer to Him.

3. With the Sin Offering, the Fire Being the Judging Fire for Man’s Redemption

With the sin offering the fire is the judging fire for man’s redemption. The burning of the sin offering is a sign of God’s judgment. This is mentioned in 4:12.

Apparently the burnt offering fire and the sin offering fire are two different fires. Actually there is just one fire with two different functions—the function of accepting and the function of judging.

4. The Burnt Offering Fire Shall Never Go Out

According to 6:12 and 13, the burnt offering fire was never to go out. This is in contrast to the sin offering fire, which did not burn continually.

...

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 4 2013, 11:52 AM

Enjoyed from a blog:

http://holdingtotruth.com/2013/04/01/are-y...tery/#more-3108

Hmm ...

We believe that the authority of all earthly government is from God. As far as the principle of authority goes, all rulers are appointed by God. God arranges all the things on this earth, and the authorities which exist are ordained by God. He who resists authority opposes God's ordination. We have to learn to submit to all authority, whether great or small. We cannot oppose any authority. On the one hand, believers should not touch any politics. On the other hand, they should submit to all political powers. In this world God has entrusted authority to man. Anyone who opposes authority is opposing God's ordination. Those who oppose will receive judgment to themselves. Verse 4 says that those who are in authority are servants of God and are there for our good. They do not bear the sword in vain. Authority is established by God. We submit to them because they punish evil. Even when some punish the good and reward the evil in practice, they at least will claim in name that they are punishing the evil and rewarding the good. They can only be false in their conduct; they can never be false in their principle. In principle, all authority established by God punishes evil and rewards good.

Verse 5 says, "Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience." Wrath is from man, while the sense in our conscience is from God. If we do not submit, our conscience immediately bothers us. We also will come under wrath. We have to be obedient in the matter of taxation. Whatever the government orders us to pay materially, we have to obey. God has appointed earthly governments to take charge of earthly affairs. We should pay our taxes to support the government in all its expenditures (v. 6). In verse 7 we are given clear injunctions concerning our attitude in such matters. In summary, "Render to all the things due: tax to whom tax is due, custom to whom custom is due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due." This is the basic commandment that the Lord has given us. We have to do our best to uphold this.

The Extent to Which a Christian Should Submit to Earthly Government

However, there is a limit to our submission. Should we obey all ordinances? We cannot pledge unqualified obedience to every ordinance of a government. We can only obey every party under God with qualifications. Only God is the object of our unqualified submission. If the law of a state clearly contradicts God's commandment, we cannot obey it. In Exodus Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all the male babies born of Hebrew women. Moses' mother and the midwife kept Moses out of their fear of Jehovah. The book of Hebrews praises them as examples of faith (11:23). In every circumstance we have to obey God's commandment. Daniel's three friends would not worship the image. Although they violated the king's order, God was pleased with them. They would not follow the order to worship the image, even when their lives were threatened with death. Darius forbade the people to pray to any of their gods. After Daniel found out about this law, he continued to pray with his face towards Jerusalem three times a day. In the end he was thrown into the lions' den, but God shut up the mouth of the lions. When a Christian is confronted by laws that contradict God's commandment, his only choice is to sacrifice himself; he has no other choice. In Matthew 2:13-14 Herod ordered all the babies under two years old be killed. Joseph could only run to Egypt with the child and His mother.

In Acts 5:29, when the Jewish elders and High Priest forbade the apostles from teaching in the name of the Lord, they replied, "It is necessary to obey God rather than men." Our obedience to men cannot go beyond our obedience to God. This word referred to the Jewish government. Sometimes we can only obey God, not men. Romans 13:1 says, "Let every person be subject to the authorities over him."

We have two things: submission and obedience. One is a matter of attitude while the other is a matter of conduct. Romans speaks of the attitude, while Peter spoke of the conduct. It is wrong to obey men more than to obey God. In our attitude we should be absolute in submission to those in authority, but in conduct, our obedience is relative. Submission is absolute, while obedience is relative. If your father wants you to do something, you can refuse him. This is to disobey. In our attitude, however, we still have to be submissive. Christians should always be submissive in their attitude towards the government. But we cannot fully obey those laws that are in direct contradiction against God's commandments.

LEVITICUS part 5A

Let us consider the experience of three brothers. The first experiences Christ as a bull, the second experiences Christ as a lamb or a goat, and the third experiences Christ as a pair of birds.

The brother who experiences Christ as a bull lives Christ at every time, in everything, and with everyone. In his living of Christ, he first experiences Christ’s crucifixion; he experiences Christ’s being slaughtered on the cross. This is the real experience of Christ’s death, the real experience of being conformed to Christ’s death (Phil. 3:10). This brother experiences Christ’s death in his relationship to his parents, wife, and children. In his daily life there truly is the conformity to the death of Christ.

As this brother experiences Christ’s death in such a way, he will also experience Christ’s being stripped of His outward beauty. In the four Gospels we see that while our Lord was living on earth, He had the experience of being stripped of His outward beauty. This means that He was stripped of the outward expression of His human virtues, a matter that is closely related to His death. Therefore, as the brother experiences being conformed to Christ’s death, he spontaneously experiences Christ’s being stripped of His outward beauty. This experience is actually equal to being the object of an evil report (2 Cor. 6:8). The Lord Jesus had many evil reports spread about Him, and these evil reports stripped Him of the outward appearance of His human virtues.

Moreover, as the brother is conformed to the death of Christ, he will also be cut into pieces. This means that he will have the experiences of Christ’s being cut into pieces. Such an experience may be contrary to our expectations. We may think that the more we love the Lord and fear God, the more blessings we will have. Consider the situation with John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus. Instead of receiving blessings, John was imprisoned and beheaded. Consider further the situation with the Lord Jesus Himself. How much blessing did He receive? Was He not cut into pieces? The Gospels reveal that, as far as His humanity was concerned, the Lord Jesus was cut into pieces in every way. Not one aspect of His human life was left whole; on the contrary, every part of His human life was cut into pieces. Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the unique example of one who was cut into pieces in every way.

Being cut into pieces will also be the experience of those who follow the Lord Jesus today. This is why Paul says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10). Living a life of being conformed to the death of Christ requires the power of His resurrection, because as we experience being conformed to His death, we shall be cut into pieces. Our whole being and our entire life will be cut into pieces. The brother who experiences Christ as a bull experiences this cutting.

(To be continued ...)

LEVITICUS PART 5B


While the brother is living a life of being conformed to the death of Christ and of being cut into pieces, he will realize that he surely needs wisdom. A foolish person cannot live a life which is the experience of the life of Christ. Living such a life requires the highest wisdom. Human wisdom is not adequate; it does not avail. This kind of living requires the very wisdom with which Christ lived when He was on earth. The four Gospels reveal that the Lord Jesus is the wisest person who ever lived. Everything He did was right and was done at exactly the right time. He never spoke a wasted word, and He never did anything in a vain, unwise, or meaningless way. He was One who lived a life altogether in wisdom.

This wisdom is typified by the head of the bull used for the burnt offering. The brother whose living is an experience of Christ’s life will experience Christ’s head; that is, he will experience Christ’s wisdom. Under God’s sovereignty, this brother’s family, including his parents, wife, and children, may be difficult to deal with. Since he lives in such an environment, he realizes that he needs Christ’s wisdom. In his relationship with the members of his family, he spontaneously experiences the head, the wisdom, of Christ. The wisdom by which Christ lived in relation to His family thus becomes this brother’s experience in his daily life.

The brother who offers Christ as a bull will also experience the washing of the legs and the inward parts of the burnt offering. This means that the continual washing of the Holy Spirit as the water will keep him from defilement both outwardly and inwardly. As he is living a life of being conformed to the death of Christ, he will experience the Holy Spirit’s keeping, preserving, and protecting him from defilement. The washing of the Holy Spirit will keep him from defilement outwardly, and this washing will also annul the defiling factor of anything that may get into him from the outside.

When this brother comes to the church meeting to offer Christ, he will offer Christ not merely as the trespass offering but also as the burnt offering. As the brother presents his burnt offering, he will slaughter it, skin it, cut it into pieces, and wash its legs and its inwards. His slaughtering of the burnt offering will be a review of his experience of Christ’s death. His skinning of the offering and cutting it into pieces will be a demonstration, a display, of his experience in his own daily life of Christ’s sufferings. His washing of the offering will likewise be a review of his experience of the washing of the Holy Spirit outwardly and inwardly, that is, his experience of the washing that Christ experienced when He was on earth. Therefore, the way the brother presents the burnt offering will be a display of his experience; it will be a review of his daily experience. Without the daily experience there could not be such a review, for there would be nothing to display or demonstrate. Everything that this brother does in offering the burnt offering is a review, a display, and a demonstration of his daily experiences of Christ. However, he does not offer his experiences to God; he offers the Christ whom he has experienced.

Leviticus 1:4 says that the offering from the herd would be accepted for the offerer “to make propitiation for him.” Verse 5 goes on to say that after the offerer had slaughtered the offering, the priests were to “bring the blood and dash the blood all around on the altar which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” This sprinkling of the blood was for propitiation, which is needed by every offerer. Because we are still lacking in the sight of God, we all need propitiation. Hence, the first thing the burnt offering does for the offerer is to make propitiation for him so that God may be pleased and happy with the offerer.

Morning!

How's things?

I think, nyamuk , one thing to consider is to stop trying ... and see some principles revealed in the Bible. Forget about how other "churches" are using or abusing this ... or not having any "blessing"

Money Being Satan's Means to Unify All Things

All things are created by God. God is the unique source of all things; He is above all things. When men see all things, they should be moved to worship God. "All things'' are diverse and complicated. Satan wants to unify all things. There is no way to add up all things. For example, a chair and a table cannot be added together to make one unit. What is an adult plus a child plus a piece of luggage plus a bar of gold plus a piece of land? They do not add up to one unit. However, if all these things are converted into money, we can add them up. If all things cannot be unified, how can the businessmen do their accounting? With so many different units, how can one reckon their respective value? Money is the only means by which we can reckon all things.

Revelation 18 tells us that even the human soul can be reckoned with money. When a man sells his time to work for others, he is selling his soul. For example, when I hire a laborer, I agree ahead of time how much I will pay him for working eight hours. This is to buy the human soul with money. Money can buy us the human soul, and money can buy us all things. God created the earth, yet man divided it up into pieces and reckoned the value of every piece with money. If man could occupy the land on the moon, he would sell it for money also. Even for airplanes that fly over the earth, man charges people for access to the air space. Perhaps some people think that this is nothing unusual. But to us and to the Bible, this is very strange. In six days God created all things. Can we find out how much money "all things'' are worth? There are all sorts of things in all fashions and colors. Yet Satan has simplified these things and unified them under money. This is why money is called "the common goods'' in Chinese.

Satan Usurping Man's Worship through Money

At the same time, money takes hold of all things. On the one end, God produced all things through creation. On the other end, Satan converted all things into money, thus unifying all things. If a man has money, he can buy anything. He can buy gold. There is not one thing that money cannot buy. Mammon is opposed to God. This is the reason the Bible tells us not only that the love of money is a root of all evils (1 Tim. 6:10), but that covetousness and idolatry go together (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5). Covetousness is the only idol. When one worships money, he is not worshipping money itself, but the created things behind the money. Because man wants goods, he spends the "common goods,'' that is, the money, to buy the particular goods. This means that man wants God's things and does not want God Himself. This is the reason that man either serves God or mammon. Those who have a heart for mammon can never love God.

The point:

Today, some people are bound by the world, but the bondage of money is more serious than the bondage of the world. Why do we have to give? To give is not merely for the sake of the giving. It is for the purpose of delivering ourselves from the power of mammon. When we do this, we promptly take care of the problem of money in our hands.

Where our money goes, it shows or that is where our heart is.

(There are other points ... )

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 12 2013, 09:30 AM

Praise the Lord!! He has risen XD

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 14 2013, 11:29 AM

Wah, so early in the morning got so lively discussion already?

I feel that the truth (which is the Lord Himself ) is very all-inclusive and that we just need to be open to consider the perspective from the entire Book of Matthew, even the whole Bible.

Yes, the portion discussed is on the eternal life. Yet, it is not about the eternal salvation. On the other hand, we should not say it is NOT the eternal life either.

We should be careful of the phrase, that it is not about the narrow gate but the "A Narrow Gate and a Constricted Way". In other words, the width of the gate and the width of the way are the same. The only difference is that with the gate there is no length, but with the way there is length. Both our gate and our way are narrow. According to our human concept, we may think that the gate at the beginning is narrow, but the way will broaden as we proceed. But in the kingdom the whole way is narrow. Will you take this way? Because the way is narrow, it is also constricted. While we are on this way, we have no possibility of changing lanes because there is only one lane. We cannot move from left to right or from right to left as we might on a freeway.

(sigh) It is just doesn't do justice in this short post. But, there are two aspects of the kingdom: the seed and the harvest.

Matt 13:24 Another parable He set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field.
Matt 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn.

Both of these are Christ as our life. Christ is the seed of the kingdom as our life, and Christ will be the harvest of the kingdom as our life. Concerning the seed, we need the life to come into us, but concerning the harvest, we need to enter into the life. In the Bible there are these two sides: the zoe life comes into us, and we enter into the zoe life. The zoe life has entered into everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus, but not all genuine believers will enter into the zoe life in the future. To have the zoe life enter into us means that we are saved; to enter into the zoe life in the future means that we will enter into the manifestation of the kingdom, into the marriage feast. To have eternal life enter into us means that we have Christ as the seed, but to enter into the eternal life in the future means that we have Christ matured in us. In Matthew 7:14 it is not a question of zoe life coming into us, but of entering into the zoe life. What gate and what way lead us into the zoe life, into the harvest of the kingdom? Certainly it is the narrow gate and the constricted way.

The same thought is found in Matthew 7:24-27 which mentions the house built upon the sand. When the rain descends from above, when the river rises, and when the winds blow, that house will be destroyed. You as a person will be preserved, but your work will be destroyed. This means that you yourself will be saved, but that your work—all that you have accomplished after being saved—will be destroyed. The concept in these two verses does not relate to being saved or lost. To enter into life does not mean to be saved, because no unsaved person can enter through the narrow gate. No unsaved person can ever walk the constricted way. Everyone who passes through the narrow gate and walks the constricted way is a saved person. Rather, it means that after we are saved, we should consider our walk and our work. These matters will affect our future. If our work is destroyed, we will suffer a loss (1 Cor. 3:15). If our work is preserved, we will receive the reward of entering into the kingdom. To be saved is one thing, and to enter into the full enjoyment of the kingdom is another. This full enjoyment of the kingdom is signified by the marriage feast.

If you have ever experienced Christ in this way, you will realize how narrow it is. Although we need to be flexible, we should not be broad. Neither our gate nor our way is broad. The gate is narrow like the eye of a needle. In Matthew 19:24 the Lord Jesus used the example of a camel going through the eye of a needle to illustrate the narrowness of the gate leading into the harvest of the kingdom. Do you know how big you are by birth? You are at least as big as a camel. By birth you became a camel and then you acquired a heavy load. This is the proper meaning of the Lord's word in Matthew 19:24.

We are camels by our natural birth, and the eye of the needle is the narrow gate for us to enter into the maturity of the kingdom. As camels we have been fully loaded with worldly things, making it impossible for us to pass through the eye of a needle. But the Lord can do it! He can reduce us. We all have experienced the Lord's reducing. He has a way to do it. When you say, "Lord Jesus, I love You," He replies, "I will reduce you. The more you love Me, the more you should be prepared for Me to reduce you. Then it will be easy for you to pass through the eye of a needle." Regardless of how narrow the gate may be, we can pass through easily after we are reduced.

As the reduced ones, we can enter into the narrow gate and proceed along the constricted way. This is the way that leads into the maturity of the kingdom, into the zoe life. The zoe life has already come into us, but now we are walking the constricted way to enter into the zoe life, into the harvest, into the maturity of the kingdom. This maturity of the kingdom is the full manifestation of the zoe life.

Hope that helps :{

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 14 2013, 12:05 PM

Oh? Then, please address the verses that I provided Or give another explanation for it

There might be scribal errors, copyist errors, astigmatism... but what is marvelous thing is the entire divine revelation conveyed and revealed is still intact

The bible survived in purer form that any other books .... 99.5%

When or where?

Oh well, around 606 B.C when Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) takes over Israel

<evil cackling laugh> Now if the Israel is a type of the church ... what does it mean spiritually for the church to be in captivity ?



This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 16 2013, 03:41 PM