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Welcome ...

^^;;

The basic thesis ... which presents the Trinity as a mystery of salvation’ is, ‘The “economic” Trinity is the “immanent” Trinity and the “immanent” Trinity is the “economic” Trinity’. (Karl Rahner)

The economic Trinity refers to God’s action and presence in the economy of salvation (‘oikonomia’,οίκονομία), or God ad nos (‘God-for-us’), whilst the immanent Trinity refers to the mysterious existence together of the three divine persons in their eternal life, or God’s life in se (‘theologia’, θεολογία).

The economy of God reveals the Triune God and depends on the Triune God. whew!

EXODUS

The central thought of Exodus is that Christ is the redemption, salvation, and supply of God’s people, and He is the means for them to worship God and serve God, so that in Christ God’s people may be built up with God together for them to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually. The central thought of Exodus is focused on God’s building, and Christ is everything to God’s people for God’s building.

The purpose of the book of Exodus is to show us that the goal of God’s full salvation is the building up of His dwelling place. The purpose of Exodus is not merely to show us how God rescued His people with a mighty hand and cared for them in a miraculous way throughout their journey in the wilderness; it is to show us that in His full salvation God wants to obtain the building up of His dwelling place, the church.

God’s goal in dealing with His people the way He did in the book of Exodus was so that He may obtain a dwelling place. God’s goal throughout the Bible is His building, and the divine thought in the Bible and in the book of Exodus is that Christ is everything to us and for us so that we may be built up as God’s dwelling place, God’s building.

The direction of all the events and things that take place in Exodus is the building up of the tabernacle (see Exo. 25:8-9; 40:1-2, 34-35). This is the direction of all that God does related to His people, beginning from rescuing them from the world and bringing them to His holy mountain to show them a revelation of Himself.

The building up of the church is the direction of the divine life in all of us. We were redeemed, saved, born again, shepherded by the Lord, enlightened and supplied by Christ, and brought into the desire of God’s heart in the church life so that we may build up the church, the dwelling place of God.

This post has been edited by pehkay: Feb 4 2015, 09:53 AM

Eh? ... Haven't see you around lately

... A book has pictures and words. The Old Testament is like a picture (worth a thousand words) but you still need the reality or the meaning (the New Testament). The Old Testament uses a lot of figurative language to convey a spiritual reality even-though the events actually happens.

The children of Israel typified [a stamp, pattern or mold applied to someone or something] the church. You and me.

What the children of Israel went through should also be our spiritual experiences corporately today.

As you read the book of Exodus, keep in mind that you are not merely reading words, but looking at pictures. The celebration of the Passover and the smiting of the firstborn by the destroying angel are pictures. While all the firstborn in Egypt were being smitten, the children of Israel were enjoying peace, rest, and safety as they ate the Passover lamb in their houses under the covering of the blood.

Both Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, for example, are pictures. Pharaoh portrays Satan, and Egypt depicts the rich, productive aspect of the world. (The sinful aspect of the world is represented by Sodom.)

We see more pictures in the calling of Moses. When God called Moses, He firstly gave him a vision of a burning bush, a bush that was burning without being consumed (3:2-4). Unable to escape God’s calling, Moses expressed his concern that the children of Israel would not believe him nor hearken to his voice (4:1). Therefore, God told Moses to cast his rod on the ground. When Moses did so, the rod became a serpent. But when Moses took up the serpent by the tail, it became a rod again in his hand (4:2-4). Then the Lord commanded Moses to put his hand into his bosom. When Moses took his hand out of his bosom, it was “leprous as snow” (4:6). At the Lord’s command, he put his hand into his bosom again and took it out, and “it was turned again as his other flesh” (4:7). After showing these signs to Moses, signs that were to be proofs to the children of Israel that the Lord had truly appeared to him, the Lord said, “If they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice,...thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land” (4:9). This was to be a further sign.

These signs are very meaningful. The bush denotes our natural man. The fact that the bush was burning without being consumed indicates that when God calls us, He does not intend to use our natural man.

The rod represents anything other than God that we rely on. The rod becoming a serpent reveals that anything apart from God that we rely upon is a serpent, the Devil. Thus, if you rely upon your husband or wife, your husband or wife is a “serpent.” The same is true of your education or your bank account. When we obey the Lord to cast down the rod, it becomes a serpent. But God does not want us to cast away the rod forever. At His command, we need to take it up again by the “tail.” We need to grasp our education or bank account by the “tail.”

Moses’ hand becoming leprous is an indication that in our flesh there is nothing good; our flesh is the embodiment of leprosy. If we touch[relied on] ourselves, we become leprous.

Finally, the changing of the water of the Nile into blood signifies that the enjoyment of the world is death.

Enjoy your reading!

This post has been edited by pehkay: Feb 5 2015, 08:39 AM

Job? 40 chapters of human opinions (cream) on why God allows suffering (or judgement)

The only verse that is really golden is 42:5.

God caring for those who commit manslaughter.

;

Yeah, it is just the lack of seeing that the ordinances in this example spiritually typified Christ and also fallen man. And it was a marvellous picture.

The law with its ordinances was not given to people who were innocent and pure. On the contrary, the law was given to people living in a fallen condition. Because of man’s fall and because of man’s living in the fall, there was the need for God to come in to decree the law with its ordinances.

Those verses indicates that one who kills another by mistake has the right to flee for refuge into a place appointed by God.

This means that, in the eyes of God, fallen man is a sinner by mistake and may flee into Christ. When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34). This prayer opened the way for God the Father to come in and forgive mistaken sinners. All those who are sinners by mistake are qualified to flee into Christ as the city of refuge. How wonderful that God may look upon us as mistaken sinners and provide us with Christ as our city of refuge!

Are you a sinner by mistake, or are you a willful sinner?

Spiritually, your repentance toward God indicates that you are a sinner by mistake. If you are a willful sinner, why did you repent? To repent means that you confess you are wrong and are sorry for it. Any sinner who repents is a mistaken sinner, one who can be graciously forgiven by God.

According to 21:14, a person who killed another willfully had to perish. This verse says, "But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die."

This indicates that willful sinners must perish. Those who perish do so because they refuse to repent. The fact that a certain person does not repent indicates that he is not a mistaken sinner, but is a willful sinner. If a person repents, God will regard him as a sinner by mistake and will forgive him. Such a one may flee into Christ. But if anyone refuses the gospel and does not repent, God will regard him as a willful sinner, one destined to perish. Whether you are a mistaken sinner or a willful sinner is determined by whether or not you repent.

Cheers bro!

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL REALITY?

What then is spiritual reality? The Lord said that "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness" (John 4:24). The word "truthfulness" can be translated as "reality." The Lord also said, "But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality" (16:13). First John 5:6 says, "The Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality." This shows us that God is Spirit, and everything related to God has to be in spirit. The Spirit of truth is the Spirit of reality. Hence, spiritual reality must be in the Holy Spirit. Spiritual reality is something that transcends people and things. Only that which is in the Holy Spirit is spiritual reality.

All spiritual things are sustained in the Holy Spirit. Once a spiritual thing moves away from the Holy Spirit, it becomes letter and form, and it is dead. All spiritual things must be in the Holy Spirit before they can be real, living, and organic. The Holy Spirit leads us into all reality. Hence, any experience that we can acquire without the guidance of the Holy Spirit is surely not spiritual reality. Anything that we acquire through our ears, our mind, or our emotion alone is not spiritual reality. Only the things that the Holy Spirit guides us into are spiritual reality. We have to remember that the Holy Spirit is the Executor of all spiritual things. Whatever God is doing today is executed by the Holy Spirit. Only that which the Holy Spirit does is real, and only that is reality.

Everything that is in the Holy Spirit is reality. When man touches reality, he touches life. Life and reality are joined together. If a man wants to take care of the spiritual life, he has to take care of spiritual reality. If a man touches spiritual reality in the Holy Spirit, he will immediately respond when others touch spiritual reality; he will immediately say amen. When others who have touched spiritual reality touch him, they will also have an inward response and an amen. This is the meaning of Psalms 42:7, which says, "Deep calls unto deep." We can say that reality invokes others to touch reality.

SPIRITUAL REALITY - example 1

The Lord told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Paul wrote to the saints in Rome, “Or are you ignorant that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? We have been buried therefore with Him through baptism into His death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:3-5). Both the Lord Jesus and Paul spoke of the reality of baptism.

However, some only view this matter from the physical point of view. Their eyes see only water. They say that once a man is washed in the water, he is regenerated. They have not touched the spiritual reality. Some tackle the subject with their mind. They realize that water alone cannot regenerate a person. Therefore, they assert that the baptisms of some are real and inward, and that these ones can enter God’s kingdom. However, the baptisms of others are false and outward, and these ones cannot enter God’s kingdom. They have not touched the spiritual reality either.

The baptism that the Lord mentioned to Nicodemus was a reality. The baptism that Paul saw was a burial with the Lord, with the result of one walking in newness of life. To the Colossian believers, he spoke of being “buried together with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised together with Him” (Col. 2:12). Paul saw that baptism and burial are one and the same thing, and he also saw that baptism and resurrection are one and the same thing. Paul knew what it meant to be buried with the Lord and to be raised up together with the Lord. He did not only see the baptismal water. Nor was he merely concerned with whether a baptism was true or false. He was speaking of the reality of baptism.

If you see that baptism is a reality, you will spontaneously know what baptism is. In your mind, there will not be a distinction between real and false baptism, and there will be no question of an outward or inward baptism. You will see that baptism is being buried with the Lord and being raised up together with Him. Once you see this reality, you will exclaim, “Baptism is a great matter. It is too real and too all-inclusive.” Once a man sees this reality, false things can no longer remain in him. If a man says, “I have been baptized, but I wish that I could be buried and raised up together with the Lord,” he has not touched spiritual reality. Baptism is one thing to him, and burial and resurrection are another. Yet those who know spiritual reality know what burial is and what resurrection is. They know that baptism is burial and resurrection. Baptism is these very things to him.

It been quiet during CNY

SPIRITUAL REALITY - example 2

The same is true with the breaking of bread. On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed, "Jesus took bread and blessed it, and He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took a cup and gave thanks, and He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say to you, I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine..." (Matt. 26:26-29a). Some look at this from a physical point of view and say that once the bread and the cup are blessed, the bread changes its nature, becoming the Lord's flesh, and the vine product changes its substance, becoming the Lord's blood. Some look at this from an intellectual point of view and argue that the bread and the wine have not changed in substance; rather, they are merely representations. The bread represents the Lord's body, and the vine product represents the Lord's blood. But the emphasis in the Word of God is not on a change in substance or on the matter of representation, it is on a spiritual reality. When we "take, eat," there is a spiritual reality behind it. When we "drink of it, all of you," there is a spiritual reality to it. He said, "This is My body." He did not say, "This represents My body." He said, "This is My blood of the covenant." Following this, He said, "I shall by no means drink of this product of the vine." This means that the product of the vine did not turn into blood, and neither was it a representation of the blood. In speaking of the bread and the cup, the Lord's emphasis was on the spiritual reality. In the eyes of the Lord, there are no representations, and there is no change of substance.

Paul said the same thing. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the fellowship of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). It was bread, yet Paul recognized it as the Body of Christ. It was a cup, yet he recognized it as the blood of Christ. This shows that in Paul's mind, there was no such thing as a representation or a change in substance. These things were a spiritual reality to him. Following this, Paul said, "Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body" (v. 17, ASV). He could not have said this if he had not touched the spiritual reality. When a man says a fact, it is stated as a fact. If it is a parable, it is stated as a parable. If it is a plain narration, it is presented as a plain narration, and if it is a figure of speech, it is explained as a figure of speech. But here Paul was different. The phrase "we, who are many" is a direct narration, while "are one bread" is a figure of speech. In one sentence, he put a direct narration together with a figure of speech. This is because with Paul, "we, who are many" is a fact, and "are one bread, one body" is also a fact. To him, the spiritual reality is so real that after he said, "we, who are many," he followed with the words "are one bread, one body." He was not thinking about the grammatical structure or the syntax. Here was a person who truly knew the Lord. When he took the bread, he was truly partaking of the Body of Christ. He forgot about the bread, and was touching the spiritual reality. When he took the cup, he was truly partaking of the blood of Christ. He forgot the vine product, and was touching the spiritual reality. Language was no longer a problem to him, and doctrine was no longer a problem to him because he touched the reality.

It was the woman’s faith that saved her

In principle, the Bible reveals who God is in pictures and types in the Old Testament and the definition in the New Testament, just like a book with pictures and words. Both are needed ... if we only look at pictures without the explanation or definition, it is lacking and abstract. Vice versa, a picture is worth a thousand words than a paragraph of words.

In the early fifth century, Augustine memorably put it this way: “The New Testament lies concealed in the Old, the Old lies revealed in the New.”

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Now, the law in the Old Testament is called the testimony (Exo. 31:18). This testimony is a portrait, a picture, a photograph, of God. The law with its ordinances shows us what kind of God our God is. By reading the Ten Commandments and all the ordinances of the law, we can realize what God is like. Legislators or lawmakers are always revealed in the kind of laws they enact. In fact, the law made by a person is always a revelation of that person.

The law was not given for God's people to keep or observe. It was given that the people might become God’s testimony. However, the children of Israel thought that the law was given for them to keep. Likewise, Many of today’s Christians think that the New Testament was given for them to keep and observe. No, the New Testament was not written so that Christians would observe its requirements; it was given to make Christians a reflection of God. There is a tremendous difference between trying to keep the law of God and being made a reflection of Him.

God's mind is altogether different from the mind of fallen man. According to our concept, when God gave the law it was a sign that He wanted us to keep it. But this was not God’s intention. His intention is to make us a testimony of Himself. To be a testimony of God involves not only our deeds; it involves our very being. God did not want the children of Israel merely to keep the commandments and observe the ordinances. He wanted to make them pillars bearing a testimony of Himself. As the law is a testimony of God, so God intended that the people of Israel would become a living testimony of Him. The law is a portrait, a photograph, showing what God is. As living persons, the children of Israel were to be a living testimony of God.

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God's dealing with His people always depends upon a principle. For example, God's dealings with Abraham were based upon God's promise. God did not give Abraham the commandments of the law; He gave him only the promise. Thus, God dealt with him according to His promise. The promise given by God to Abraham became the principle according to which God dealt with him. Later, God gave the law to the children of Israel through Moses. The law given on Mount Sinai thus became the principle according to which God dealt with the children of Israel. In this way the law became the principle for God's dealings with His people in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament God deals with the believers according to faith, no longer according to the law. This is fully developed in the books of Romans and Galatians. If you read these books, you will see that God deals with the believers in Christ not according to the law, but according to faith. In Old Testament times God accepted people according to the law. If anyone wanted to be accepted by God, he had to meet the standard of the law. But today God accepts us, not according to the law, but according to whether or not we believe in Christ.

YETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

The fact that God no longer deals with us, the believers, according to the principle of the law does not mean that the commandments of the old law have been abolished. For instance, the first two commandments of the old law were concerned with not having other gods and with not making images. To say that the principle of the law has been abolished does not mean that these commandments have been abolished. Rather, according to the New Testament, these commandments are emphasized, strengthened, and uplifted. In the Old Testament we were told not to make a physical image, but in the New Testament we are told that even our covetousness is a form of idolatry (Col. 3:5). Greediness is an idol. By this we see the uplifting of the commandment regarding idolatry. Yes, the principle of the law has been abolished, but not the commandments of the law. The commandment about honoring our parents has never been abolished. In the New Testament this commandment is also repeated, strengthened, and uplifted. We must honor our parents much more today than the children of Israel did in the past. [But by grace and in the resurrection of life - but that's another topic]

The Lord Jesus also uplifted the commandments regarding murder and adultery. Because the Old Testament commandments regarding murder and adultery were not adequate, the Lord complemented them. The old commandment concerning murder did not cover the matters of hatred or anger. Thus, the Lord complemented the old law concerning murder by saying that anyone who was angry with his brother would be liable to judgment. He also complemented the commandment concerning adultery by saying that anyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her in his heart. By these examples we see that the moral laws have never been abolished; rather, they have been uplifted. All of the ten commandments have been repeated and uplifted in the New Testament except the fourth commandment, the commandment to keep the Sabbath. This commandment is over because it is not related to morality. Instead, it is a ritual commandment.

A HIGHER STANDARD OF MORALITY

Yes, in the New Testament salvation is based upon the principle of faith; it has nothing to do with the law. We all have been saved through faith, not through the keeping of the law. But after we are saved, we must live a life that has a standard of morality higher than that of the old law. Never think that we are free to be loose, sloppy, or even immoral just because we are not saved through the keeping of the law. Do not think that, just because God does not deal with us according to the principle of the law, but according to the principle of faith, we should not care for the commandments of the law. After we have been saved, we need to live a life with a standard far higher than that of the old law. Our standard must be higher than that of the requirements of the law. The law requires that we should not murder anyone. But we should not even be angry with others. Even if we say to our brother, “Raca,” an expression of contempt, or, “Moreh,” a word of condemnation indicating a rebel, we shall be in danger of the judgment. Although we may not kill our brother, if we even call him a fool or a rebel, we shall find ourselves in serious trouble.

[How that is possible by grace is another topic].

Hope that helps!

Strangest thing .... I always thought bananajoe was muslim ....

Praise the Lord!