LOL, precisely the problem, we are just men, fallen men trying to follow Christ true teaching

The exegete's own Christian experience can be used as a means of breaking through to the meaning of the text. –Mickey L Mattox

What was the sharing today?

In Exodus we have a revelation of God in various aspects, including the Divine Trinity

In Exodus there is a revelation of the Divine Trinity (33:2-5; 34:5-10):

1. Exodus emphasizes two matters concerning the Divine Trinity: the Angel of God, or
the Angel of Jehovah, and the Spirit of God (3:2, 4, 6-7, 14-15).

2. The Divine Trinity is revealed in the type of the pillar of cloud, which signifies the
Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit (14:19-20).

3. The Divine Trinity is revealed in the type of Jehovah and the Angel of Jehovah
bringing His redeemed into the good land and cutting off their enemies (23:20-23).

4. The Divine Trinity is revealed in the types of the cleft rock, the lampstand, and the
compound ointment (17:6; 25:31; 30:23-25).

5. The tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with glory typifies the embodied
Triune God (40:2, 9, 34, 36-38).

Exodus - overview

As a book of pictures, Exodus reveals that God's building is the goal of His salvation, provision, and revelation (25:8-9; 40:1-2, 34-38):

A. God's complete salvation for His chosen people includes the passover, the exodus from Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea:

1. The passover signifies redemption (12:1-13).
2. The exodus signifies the going out of the world (5:1; 7:4-5; 12:31-32, 35-36, 41, 51).
3. The crossing of the Red Sea signifies baptism (14:13-31; 1 Cor. 10:1-2).

B. In the wilderness the children of Israel experienced God’s provision—the heavenly manna and the living water out of the cleft rock (Exo. 16:14-15; 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:3-4):

1. To partake of manna is to have a heavenly diet and to be reconstituted with a heavenly element.
2. Christ was smitten for us so that living water could flow out of Him to quench our thirst (Exo. 17:6; John 19:34; 7:37-39).
3. As we eat and drink of Him, the Triune God works Himself into our being (Eph. 3:14-19).

C. At the mountain of God (Mount Horeb), the children of Israel received a revelation concerning God and the tabernacle (Exo. 3:1; 24:13; 19:1-7; 20:1-3; 25:8-9):

1. The spiritual significance of the mountain of God is that it is the place of God's speaking with God’s vision.
2. At the mountain of God, God’s people saw a heavenly vision by which they came to know God Himself and to know the kind of living that is in accordance with God.
3. At the mountain of God, God’s people saw the revelation of the desire of God's heart—to have a dwelling place on earth (vv. 8-9; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:9b; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16).

to be continued ...

Morning!

Well, a little bit on the Passover that I enjoyed:

All Christians know that Christ is the Lamb of God who accomplished redemption for us (John 1:29). However, not many have seen a clear picture of Christ as the redeeming Lamb of God. This picture is presented in Exodus 12. The passover is a type of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul says that "Our Passover, Christ, also has been sacrificed."...Christ is not only the Passover lamb but also every aspect of the passover. The lamb,
the bread, and the bitter herbs are all related to Christ. In principle, Christ is not only the lamb of the Passover, but the very Passover itself.

According to Exodus 12, God passed over the children of Israel because the blood of the passover lamb had been sprinkled on the lintel and the doorposts of their houses. The children of Israel had been commanded to eat the flesh of the lamb in their houses. This indicates that the house was to be their covering under which and in which they could eat the flesh of the passover lamb. The house that covered them was to have blood sprinkled on the lintel and the doorposts. When God saw the blood, He passed over the children of Israel. Hence, this passing over was due to the sprinkled blood.

The crucial point in Exodus 12:3 is that the passover lamb was not for every individual, but for every house. The unit of God's salvation is not the individual; it is the house, the family. For example, in Joshua 2 and 6 Rahab was saved with all her father’s household. In Luke 19, the Lord Jesus said to Zaccheus the publican, “Today salvation has come to this house” (v. 9). According to Acts 11:14, the promise was made to Cornelius that he and all his house would be saved. Furthermore, when the jailer asked what he must do to be saved, Paul and Silas told him, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31).

Exodus 12:5 says, “Your lamb shall be without blemish.” To be without blemish is to be perfect. This signifies that Christ is perfect, without fault (John 8:46)....Exodus 12:5 goes on to say that the lamb had to be “a year-old male,” taken either out “from the sheep or from the goats.” What does it mean that the lamb was to be a male of the first year? To be of the first year is to be fresh and not to be used for any other purpose. In the eyes of God, when the Lord Jesus was put on the cross, He was of the first year. He was fresh, never having been used for another purpose.

Just as the passover lamb was examined for four days (12:3, 6), so Christ was examined for the same period of time. After He was arrested, the Lord was subject to six examinations, three at the hands of the priests who examined Him according to the law of God, and three under the Roman rulers, who tested Him according to Roman law. Eventually, Pilate had to declare that he could not find fault in Him. In fact, Pilate declared three times that he found no fault whatever in Him (John 18:38; 19:4, 6). Christ as the Passover lamb was faultless, without blemish.

You worry about the number? I read the article from slate : http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/...y_17_women.html and I kinda like this quote, "The real takeaway here is to be skeptical of the notion that our sexual and social habits are as strongly genetically programmed as evo-psycho proponents believe. As Francie Diep at Pacific Standard writes, “As more thousands of years passed, the numbers of men reproducing, compared to women, rose again.” Far from being robots who are acting out unchanging genetic scripts, we are creatures who experience periods of dramatic change—and those changes, in turn, change our genes." This is kinda like a blow to evolutionary psychology.

But, regarding your question, I kinda like the title and conclusion of the article.

In the line of Cain, Cain left the presence of God and went his own way. The first thing he did was to build a city. He produced a culture without God (4:16-24).

We must realize the source of human culture and the reason for its development. Human culture developed because humanity had lost God. Originally, God, the Creator of man, was everything to man. God was man's protection, maintenance, supply, joy, amusement, and defense. God was everything. In the garden, man had no need to do anything except to till the ground to cooperate with God. God was everything to man in the garden. However, when man lost God, he lost everything. He lost protection, safeguard, maintenance, supply, and amusement. This loss of God forced him to invent human culture. Because man had lost everything, he had to invent something.

a) Building a City for Self-existence

For your existence you need a city to protect you." Because he lost God, Cain was afraid. He had lost God as his supply, joy, and defense. The main purpose for cities in ancient times was for protection. Hence, Cain constructed such a city for his self-protection. In a godless culture people are forced to fend for themselves.

One of Cain's descendants was Lamech. The name Lamech in Hebrew means "strong," "powerful." Lamech, the seventh human generation, was a powerful person. Having two wives, he practiced polygamy (4:19). Thus, polygamy began in the city of Enoch in the land of Nod, which means "wandering." Lamech practiced polygamy in order to fulfill his lusts.

b) Inventing Cattle-raising for Making a Living

Adah, Lamech's first wife, bore Jabal and Jubal. Jabal was the father of cattle-raising (4:20). He invented cattle-raising for the purpose of making a living. He became a nomad, wandering from place to place, because he had no land that would yield to him its strength. Because of the curse, Jabal found that the land would not yield its strength to him. This forced him to be a wanderer and to keep cattle that he might make a living. The matter of making a living for one's self is a main aspect of man's culture. The city was invented for man's existence, and cattle-raising was invented for man's living.

c) Inventing Music for Amusement

Jubal invented music (4:21). He invented harps and pipes. In fact, the very name Jubal means "jubilee" or "a joyful sound" or "music." What is music? Music is a type of amusment which makes people joyful. Why does man need such amusement? Because he has lost God as his joy. God is man's true enjoyment.

Why do people attend the movies and go dancing? Because they are empty. They do not have God as their joy. Jubal invented music because, at that time, man was empty. He was in vanity, and nothing could satisfy him. Since nothing could amuse him, he had to devise some amusement for himself. The principle is the same with every kind of entertainment today. People need entertainment because they do not have God.

Lamech fulfilled his lusts, and Adah adorned and beautified herself with ornaments. Of these two parents Jubal, the inventor of music, was born. Here we see a family composed of lust, adornment, and amusement. What a family it was! Many families today are the same: the fathers fulfill their lusts, the mothers care for their dress and adornment, and the children pursue amusement. Is not this the modern family?

d) Inventing Weapons for Defense

Zillah, Lamech's other wife, brought forth Tubal-cain, who was "an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron" (4:22), meaning that he was the inventor of weaponry. The weapons he produced were for the purpose of killing others. The modern arsenal is the full harvest of the weapons found in Genesis 4. All these weapons are, of course, for man's defense.

IMO, this derived theory, "Researchers recently uncovered a sharp decline in genetic diversity in male lineages across the world during the Stone Age. The study’s authors hypothesized that material gains made through early agricultural success — a proxy for wealth — gave smaller groups of related men the reproductive upper hand for generations".

All the "ingredients" are there, polygamy, rise of architecture [cattle-raising] deduced from the lack of DNA diversity sounds like the description of the divine revelation in the Bible for the line of Cain. But then, this is just my opinion. You can take it from there.


Cheers!

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 5 2015, 12:52 PM

Hohohoho ... let me muddle the water a little ....

James 2:14 says, “What is the profit, my brothers, if anyone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him?”

So, does it mean we will lose our salvation?

"For I am Jehovah who healeth thee" (Exo. 15:26).

Or put it another way, is James talking about justification as defined by Paul in Romans 4?

OTL .... The question was just to incite you, dear sister, to consider or check out of the context in James 2.

The subject of Romans 4 is justification. What is the subject of James? The subject of this chapter covers at least mercy and help to others. Beginning of 1:6, James tells us not to flatter the rich, but rather to care for the lowly and show mercy on the poor. This is what verses 2:1 through 13 say. Moreover, verse 1 is a continuation of chapter one. The last verse of chapter one says, "This is pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (v. 27).

This is James's subject. If a man says that he is a godly Christian, his godliness should be manifested in his care and giving to the orphans and widows. He should not invite someone wearing splendid clothing to sit in a good place and ask the orphans, the widows, and the poor to sit under his footstool. He should care for, show mercy, and give to the despised ones.

After 2:14, he continues to talk about giving: "If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food, and any one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, yet you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the profit?" (vv. 15-16). At the end of chapter one, the subject of James is given, that is, to care for the orphans and widows. At the end of the first section of chapter two, he says that we should show mercy to others, that we should give to the poor, and that we should not despise the poor. In the second section of chapter two, James tells us what one should do when he sees a brother or a sister without clothing and lacking daily food. All these words have to do with giving to others, showing mercy on others, not despising the poor, and helping others. Verses 14 to 26 only speak of justification in passing. Because mercy, giving, and caring for orphans and widows is the subject, justification is mentioned only in passing as a means to arrive at the goal of developing his subject. Hence, we see that James is not teaching the matter of justification in his book.

Verse 14 says, "What is the profit, my brothers, if anyone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" What was James's intention in writing these words? Who was he speaking to? He wrote these words because some were saying that they had faith but not works. If he did not stop these people, the church would have been greatly affected. Faith must be kept before God and not vainly boasted of before man. Faith must be accompanied by works. If anyone says he has faith and does not have works, that kind of faith cannot save him.

This is never about the initial salvation.

Before I go on, there is 3 conclusions you can come up with:

1) You do not accept this conclusion and believe that this is related to initial salvation. This is perhaps or at least where you are. This position is very messy and being a subject of debate. It will be very hard to reconcile this principal or position as many verses in James like 1:12, 2:14 etc. ... including Hebrews + Matthew need to be reconciled. If you like to be here, I can't help you lar

2) That book of James is not inspired i.e. like Luther who called it "the book of straw". IMO, this is a dangerous position to hold as eventually we will come to another so called "contradiction" and opening this gate will lead to further opportunities to say the Bible is not inspired of the Holy Spirit. But what position the book of James occupy in the divine revelation is another topic.

3) To accept the thought above, and to realize that to be justified by faith is for the receiving of the divine life (Rom. 5:18); to be justified by works is through living the divine life. Since the living is the issue of life, to be justified by works is the issue of being justified by faith. Abraham’s offering of Isaac and Rahab’s receiving of the messengers and sending them out are works that issued from their living faith (Gen. 22:9; Josh. 2:1, 21; 6:23). A living tree surely brings forth fruit. Being justified by works is not inconsistent with being justified by faith. The latter is the cause, bringing forth the former; the former is the effect, the outcome and proof, of the latter.

When we live the divine life, this living will produce works. Then in our living, we will be justified out of works, not only out of faith. To be justified out of faith is mainly objective, whereas to be justified out of works is subjective because the works are the issue of our living the divine life [this is the salvation James is talking about].

Of course, I do apologize as I am "leading the witness" to 3) but at least you can understand my thoughts. Enough from me ;D . Only if you want to know more ..... otherwise it will be presumptuous of me.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 11 2015, 02:13 PM

Then I will like to say to you, STOP. Again, I do not know your condition, so I can speak in principle and based on what you posted.

A living tree does not need to try, struggle or strive to bear fruit. When it has enough sunshine, nutrient and water, it bears.

If you find it hard or struggle to care for others, then it is already human work and not by the grace of God.

Enjoy Christ as grace first. Be filled, saturated, permeated with Him. Spend time to contact Him. He is the divine fire, the fuel.

When you enjoy something, it is effortless ... The means or method are not a problem. If you can't go out, call someone, pray, SMS, whatapps, viber, invite to your home.... When you are filled with something, you will find 1000s of ways to do it and you won't feel draggy, obligated, just to fulfill your duty etc.

The point is not the means but what is the source of your work. If it is human, it is just law.

So, stop . Start with The Lord first.

Bleh it is hard to type in a phone.

Lol ... actually it was 7th generation of man that did it .... The Jews never existed then.

on the beer. Random thing ... lately, I also found out Western Christianiannity (scholastic age) basically invented the concept of university

It is a very big subject. At least, the first principal is that it is according to life.

THE LEADING OF THE DIVINE LIFE

For example, Paul went to a number of places where he experienced opposition (Acts 13:45, 50; 14:5, 19; 16:19-24; 18:12; 19:29; 21:30). This means that outwardly speaking, the circumstances were opposite to the inner leading. To say that the outward circumstances are always confirmations to the Lord’s leading is not so safe. We have to find the reason that the matter of the leading is clearly revealed in verse Rom 8:14. It says that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Sons of God is an expression which shows us the reason why this matter of being led is brought in. Why do we need to be led by the Spirit of God, and why are we led by the Spirit of God? It is because we are sons of God.

Let me illustrate: a monkey behaves itself in a certain kind of way because it is under a kind of leading. It behaves like a monkey because it is born of a monkey. Both dogs and cats also have a certain kind of leading in their behavior. The leading of these animals is based upon the life that they have. Whatever life they have is expressed in the leading. Dogs are led this way or that way simply because they are born of dogs.

If you move somewhere simply because you are a son of God, this is right. If you move for some other reason such as the weather, this is wrong. The matter of leading is brought up in this verse because Paul’s intention is to show us the proper sonship. He shows us what it is to be a genuine son of God. If you consider the previous verses, you can realize that walking according to the spirit is very close to the matter of leading. Walking needs some leading. You cannot just walk without any direction or destination or way. You do not walk blindly without any sense. When I intend to come into the meeting hall I walk under a lead. Walking surely needs the leading. The leading is a kind of guide to our walking. So in verse 4 there is a hint in the matter of walking concerning the matter of leading. To walk according to spirit needs a lead.

Verse 13 reads: “For if you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” By reading this verse carefully you can see that leading is implied. It could also be expressed in this way: you put to death according to the leading of the Spirit. By the Spirit actually means according to the Spirit, according to the leading of the Spirit. Of course, it also includes the power and the strength of the Spirit.

In verses 9 and 11 God resides within us as the Triune God, not only to give us life but also to lead us. He leads us in how to follow His residing and how to follow His life giving. This means if you get into the depths of the first thirteen verses you could see something of the leading of the Spirit is there. If you get into the depths of God’s residing in us and of God giving life to us and our putting to death, you could see that the leading of the Spirit is there. The leading of the Spirit is just the totality of these three things: God’s residing, God’s life giving, plus our putting to death. The divine residing and the life giving by God and your putting to death the practices of the mortal body become the lead. Actually the practices of the mortal body are just the flesh. It is another way to mention the flesh. This one expression, the practices of the mortal body, is the actual flesh. It is the flesh in your actual activity of your daily life. This is the practice of the flesh.

The lead for you to make any kind of decision should not be based upon circumstances or some kind of reasoning. The lead must consist of these three things: the residing of the Spirit, the life giving of God, and the putting to death of your practical and actual flesh. When you are under this threefold lead, you are led by the Spirit. You will know where you have to go and what you have to do. You will know whom you have to marry and at which school you have to study.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 15 2015, 06:38 PM

At least you know for the third one: by led to put to death the practices of the mortal body .... if someone says, it "led" you to kill .... it very highly probable that it is not of the Spirit. XD

The short answer: scripturally, yes. John the Baptist was baptizing in Aenon "because there was much water there" (John 3:23). The "much water" undoubtedly indicates that the people were baptized by immersion, not by sprinkling, because baptism by sprinkling does not require much water. Then I read in Acts 8:37-39 that Philip baptized the Ethiopian eunuch, and they both went down into the water and came up out of the water.

But, it is not an item of faith and we should not contend for it.

Although, we may know which practice is better and which practice is inferior, but what I mean is that there is not much difference in reality, in spirituality, between this and that. There is no need to insist that everyone do the same thing.

However, whatever is divisive, factious, we must keep our hands off.
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Re: Martin Luther ... perhaps a general stereotypical perception for everything non-Catholic? I won't know.

But I am thankful to the Lord for him in recovering the truth of justification by faith. Other than that .... I don't think we do hero-worship him. Most don't know ... Luther held the Christian tradition in high esteem.

Comparing the Catholic church against the radicals reformers (at that time), he wrote, "One needs a more cautious, discreet spirit, which attacks the accretion which threatens the temple without destroying the temple of God itself". He complains that the reformers after him, threw the baby out with the bath water.

<shurgs>

How about to be filled with God to express Him. We are created in His image. (Gen 1:26). Like a glove which is in image of a hand to contain the hand.

We are created to contain God for His expression.



This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 17 2015, 07:47 PM

It does doesn't it. We will never know God wants a physical manifestation or expression of His invisible being. The bible called it "God manifested in the flesh". Your expression of the God you enjoyed differs from mine.

What the joy in being a robot than a mind to reason and to choose God when given a choice.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Apr 17 2015, 08:18 PM