SELECTED SERMON NOTES*
[*From
writings by Mike Balloun.]
I
THE BOOK OF HEBREWS CHAPTER 2
(The Greater Accountability of New Covenant Believers)*
The second
chapter begins with the first five of five great warnings in the Book of
Hebrews: “Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip [or drift past them]” This holding on to shows that the warning is to continue
in the Gospel message that
they had heard: 1.) the Gift of
eternal life at the moment of faith that they had already received which is to
continue in the HOPE of something already set before them as believers in
the Son. 2.) the hope of millennial glory in the
heavenly calling which is a reward, is the subject to loss through
unfaithfulness or neglect. The possibility of losing the hope
of this glory and to reign with Him as His “… fellows…” (1: 9) is in view. By their
own negligence they could certainly be in danger of losing that for which they
should hope for; the fullness of the Son’s Salvation Atonement. This is shadowed in the Israelites’ loss after their
deliverance from
Verses 2 & 3 “For if the word spoken by angels was
steadfast, and
every transgression and disobedience received just recompense of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…” So this great
salvation is not
saying, “How will you escape eternal perdition?”
But it refers back to joint heirship with the Son in the last verse of chapter
one “… who shall be heirs of salvation.” That is to say the Son’s full salvation compared to Israel’s is far superior that
that of Moses’ salvation, in that He, being a greater Saviour, and His
salvation holds forth the greater reward of the First
Resurrection in partaking in the
glorious heavenly kingdom of the Millennial reign of the Son and fellows (Revelation
20: 4-6) as the ‘New Man’. Reigning in the
power of that which was foreshadowed by the Holy Spirit in signs and wonderous
miracles, and the casting out of Satan and his demons, which is representative
of the future great salvation coming. That Kingdom’s greater salvation promise
to come that could be lost by negligence is that which the entire Book of
Hebrews was constructed around, and
that which Paul put all his energies into to obtain “… I press toward the
mark (goal) for the prize (first resurrection) of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:
14)
The
multiple warnings being: if the Old Covenant being inferior carried the weight
of just retribution for offences, how shall we
escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? This is not a warning word to the ungodly who refuse to accept pardon for
sin inherited from Adam, but to those who are “saved” from the
condemning Curse of Wrath. To those who are set before the Judgment Seat of
Jesus Christ; where He will assume the role of judge of His redeemed people and
reward those worthy in inheritance,
and punish without respect or regard to persons for wrong which they have done (Hebrews 10: 30, Colossians 3: 23-25). It
is this reward of greater salvation or loss of Kingdom inheritance that the
Holy Spirit holds forth throughout the Book of Hebrews.
The
understanding of the Gift and the Prize is the key to curing any theological difficulties
within the Book. The drifting past is not heeding what we have heard, just as sailors
who are asleep at the oars drift past the sanctuary of the heavenly port.
Unlike the gracious Gift of ‘eternal
life’ (see Romans 6: 23), it
requires effort to secure this great
Salvation of reward. Thus the
example Paul presents the regenerate Christian, one being..: “... Let us run the race
that is set before us”
with a crown in view (1 Corinthians 9: 24 - 10: 15). 1 Corinthians 10, gives us the severe reality by the comparing of
redeemed
“Go ye therefore and make disciples. … teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”. “If you love Me, keep My
commandments”. “He that hath My
commandments and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth Me” “If ye keep My
commandments, ye shall abide in
My love.”
Christians
who “drift” are in unbelief (they are believers in Christ as
their Saviour but in apathy, are carelessness, self-absorbed, indolence) and - [unless their REPENTANCE
is forthcoming] - shall not
receive the great salvation of Kingdom glory.
(They have the ‘gift’ of eternal life but NOT the ‘reward’ of millennial glory.)
“Verily I say unto you,
Whosoever shall not receive the
To
Christians, He says: “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.”
The Kingdom of the heavens then must be
something distinct from eternal life, which has no such requirements attached (Romans
6: 23, Ephesians 2: 8). Jesus rarely spoke of eternal life, but just in the Book of Matthew “the kingdom” is said or referred to over 50 times. Heeding and not slipping
past the ‘great salvation’ is keeping
the Commandments of Christ, without which we are subject to be excluded.
That is to say that exclusion from the Kingdom salvation is to miss the First
Resurrection out from among the dead at Christ’s 2nd
Coming and remain among the dead until the 2nd resurrection. Many Christians receive Christ as Saviour but
tragically know Him not as their Lord. His commandments are not taken seriously
as a result of false religious reasonings, such as those stated above along
with others like one that says, ‘If
He were to judge none could stand,’
It is true that no one will be brought into judgment before Christ for trial
for justification unto
eternal life, for if he has accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour it is his by gift.
But the Lord and His Apostles declare all saved to be servants,
and shall give an account to Him for their service since they believed, to be rewarded or punished, according to their works or deeds.
Thus
the New Testament warnings of the Book
of Hebrews concern the exclusion from the greater salvation in the kingdom to Christians for transgressing the
Commandments of Jesus Christ found throughout the New Testament. (Such as His
direct statements in Matthew chapters 5-7, and
the Epistles: 1 Corinthians 5: 9-10, Galations 5: 19-21, Ephesians 5: 5-7.) The same doctrine of faithful obedience to Him is
the subject of some of the Lord’s Parables, such as the Unmerciful Servant, the
Steward, the Talents, and the Pounds. Here in Hebrews, Jesus Christ is portrayed as the Son gloriously
raised to the right hand of the Father as High Priest. And He is represented in
the parable types as the returning King.
“For the kingdom of heavens is as a man travelling into a far
country, who called His own
servants, and delivered unto
them His goods. After a long time
the Lord of those servants cometh, and
reckoneth with them.” (see Matthew 25: 14-30, Luke 19: 12-27.)
It
is Jesus, the Lord, To Whom we shall directly answer and be rewarded or
punished at His Judgment Seat (Romans 14, 2 Corinthians 5). Hebrews 2 declares that if the offences of the Old Covenant
participants brought punishment and loss of good things to the offenders, so
neglecting to obey the commandments of Jesus Christ, the greater Messenger with
the greater message of the New Covenant, Who will surely judge its
participants, so shall also bring His displeasure in judgment upon His
unfaithful servants. This being the very real warnings of positive infliction
of punishment until every farthing of service ignored during this life is
extracted unto a declared wholeness or holiness (Matthew 18: 34-35; 5: 21-37).
So
it is that the Book of Hebrews,
here in the second chapter and throughout, testifies against the Modern Day
preachers of “Grace” only. It is not: ‘God’s threatenings are bound
to the Old Covenant, as we stand in His Grace’. But on the contrary: If
God’s judgments were exercised against Old Covenant offenders, much more shall
His judgment chastisements strike those who critically judge His Grace extended
to His Son’s Atonement.
* * *
II
INTRODUCTION TO
THE BOOK OF COLOSSIANS
The main subject of the Epistle is admonishment /
warning to maturing redeemed Christians. In that after receiving the ‘truth’
of the Gospel of Redemption by the Blood of His Son, they are now receiving
confirming instruction in being
accountable for attaining unto the Gospel of “the hope of Glory”
(that greater part of the Gospel calling on the Father’s two-part Salvation
Plan; consisting of the “Gospel
of grace” and the “Gospel of glory”). Paul declares unto them for the need for wisdom
and understanding in the knowledge of God and exhorts them to walk in this life
worthy of the Lord in the hope
of the soul’s future glory. That
mysterious inheritance according to loving faithful works in worthiness they
were hearing and of wondering about, which is reserved in the heavens for overcomers. Having Paul’s confirming word, they are exhorted to continue in
faithfulness and fruitfulness, that they might be
presented holy and without blemish and unreprovable before Him in the First
Resurrection. That is, in the
glorious saving of their souls,
having been judged qualified as worthy co-heirs with Christ in God’s future Millennial
Theocratic Government over the
Earth, and having a glory that carries into the endless ages of inheritance in
the New Heaven and Earth. This Epistle’s Word of admonishment / warning falls
on deaf ears in Christendom today. For there
has been little to no Truth of the Gospel hope of glory taught. For there are
few ministers who have not been leavened, most being without the ‘spirit’
of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God’s Word / will which is set
forth in Scripture
This
Epistle is one of Paul’s last few while being imprisoned in Rome for the first
time, and was Written early in that imprisonment between 60 AD and 62 AD at
Rome, which is at the same time at the end of the Book of Acts. Paul had laid out Scripture for Jewish Leaders in
Rome (as was the custom everywhere he went, that Jesus was the promised Messiah
of the Nation of Israel, Whom all leaders of Israel rejected (having rejected
Him for the last 60 plus years; this rejection being 30 years before and 32
years after His Crucifixion). The generation of Jews who had been redeemed /
saved by the blood of the Passover lamb, before God’s Lamb was offered and the
Mosaic sacrifice offerings were made ineffective, was quickly passing away. And
God finally and reluctantly closed the door to the Nation of Israel in regards
to restoration at that time and forever on the mysterious heavenly inheritance
part of the
That
which could have been secured by the Nation of Israel through their Messiah decades
ago in
So
it is that today that there is an independent Nation, - that Nation of the One New Man, that takes up the call of the heavenly portion of
the inheritance in the coming
Most
Christians are taught to believe that the overall theme of the Epistles (both
general Epistles and those of Paul) is the culminating and climatic message of
the “Gospel of God’s saving grace (undeserved, unmerited favour)”
to the World. They believe the theme of the Epistles is to ‘save’ believers through Christ’s substitutionary
Sacrifice from eternal Hell and to take them to heaven to enjoy eternal bliss
when they die. There are variations of the same theme throughout Christendom
but they all centre around their presumptions of what the “free gift”
entitles them to. The leavened Church is blind to the understanding of the
knowledge of God. First, the Epistles are not written to the World, but to the
already ‘saved’ / ‘redeemed’ One New
The
free gift / Gospel of grace is not at all the thrust of the Epistles, in that
the Epistles’ themes are inseparably integrated in all that is set forth from
early in Genesis,
throughout the Old Testament, Psalms, and Prophets, continuing through the 4 Gospels and Acts with
Christ’s return in view, detailed by John later in the Book of Revelation. In a nutshell, all the Epistles are expounding
explanatory information for wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God,
for admonishing and exhortation essential to the already ‘saved’
(regenerated) so as TO HOLD FAST TO THE HEAD (Christ being the head of the Body) THAT THEY
MAY ATTAIN UNTO THE REWARD to be ‘saved glorified’. The Epistles are full of warnings not to be misled
by doctrines of men or demons, thereby being disinherited and / or suffering
punishment for unfaithful service. To this end was the Book of Revelation given, that all the later generations of
Christians would have the critical understanding of the goal for overcoming set
before them, by having the sobering and glorious view of the End-Time
consummation of all things.
So
there is a inseparable necessity doctrinal straight line
from Genesis to Revelation integrated in
the Epistles, and without some
understanding of the true connectivity,
most Christians are easily filled with a false religious ‘hope’. This gives them a false sense
of security and expectation, and deceives them into thinking that because
they heard and believed in the gift of Jesus’ substitutionary Sacrifice of
death, even while refusing any further knowledge of God, in that they insist
they have already obtained the fullness of God’s complete Salvation Plan, all by merely being
‘born again.’
Most
Christians (if thy study the Word of God) study from their leavened Church’s
historical religious viewpoints that were developed without a clear understanding
of the necessary foundational theme of
God’s Kingdom principles’ ... based upon His never-changing Creative
purposes relating to man. These kingdom principles naturally are set forth from
the beginning of the Bible, chiefly being; man being faithful to his Creator,
was to take dominion and rule in this Realm. These Kingdom principles for man
ruling are set forth by God at Adam’s creation, instruction, and experiences.
Later, continuing with the like theme, once again these Kingdom principles in
taking dominion and ruling in this Realm are set forth in the Nation of
redeemed
So
it is in this Dispensation of ‘mercy
and grace’, we ‘saved’
also are now living under the high calling of the Head (Christ) unto glory, as
has generation after generation that have heard the Gospel of redemption. But
how many of the redeemed have heard and responded to the Father’s heart of the
entire matter? We need the Truth spoken to us and to allow the Holy Spirit to
make it resonate in our hearts. What is the ‘Gospel of Glory’? It
includes a Resurrection from among the dead
(or being caught up if alive)
into the 1st. heavens associated with the Earth to wed Christ as His
Bride. It’s a call alongside Him in
glory.
The
“Gospel” / good news of the Christ / Messiah / king was
preached to
*
* *
III
REVELATION CHAPTERS 12, 13, 14
Clarifying the Events and Meanings of the Interposing
Chapters
Genesis is the book of unveiling the beginnings ... Revelation is the book of unveiling the endings. The common thread throughout the
Bible is Jesus the Messiah King saving mankind and setting up His Kingdom.
After the fall of man, Genesis 3: 15
reveals Him to be the redeeming seed of Woman that defeats and destroys the
works of Satan (In the current chapter
12 we are engaged in, in verses 13-17, we see the prophetic filling up with meaning of that curse on the “Serpent”
(Satan) in Genesis 3: 14.
“... Because thou hast done this ... upon
thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat...” As realized ... soon will come the crushing of
his head [Revelation 19: 20 & 20: 10.] Hebrews 2: 8 says
that God “... has put all things in subjection under his
feet. For in that he put all things in subjection
under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But
now we see not yet all things put under him.”
The
Book of Revelation first confirms “in
the things which are” (Revelation
1: 19) Christ’s current victory over Satan as “the faithful witness, and
the First begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth...” (Revelation 1: 5) and
in His current ministry as High Priest Mediator in the establishing of a
peculiar people out of the world for His Name as Overcomers, and to be kings
and priests of God [Revelation 1, 2, 3 with Hebrews
7: 17-25.] Then
secondly, the Book of Revelation unveils “the things which shall be hereafter” ... the meaning and means by which God employs in
accomplishing all things put under Him.
Chapter 12 introduces the Woman, Man-child and the casting down
of Satan out of the 2nd and 1st heavens down to the
earth. Note: The text refers to both
THE WOMAN AND THE SERPENT being in heavens
and on the earth at the same time, representative of their having
representation in both realms. This not being The Heaven of heavens, but the heaven associated with this World /
earth. This is clearly seen in that the serpent was present in
this heaven. And since long ago,
he has been relegated to the heavens associated with the World, having already
fallen from [his
initial
position in] the Heaven. [Isaiah 14: 12]
Thus
also the vision is instructive as to where the Man-child was caught up to, not
to the Heaven, but into the heavens associated with the
World and Earth. That being into the Presence of God on the Administrative
Throne, and Jesus Christ where He receives His investiture. There is rejoicing
in the heavens as Christ now begins to take His Kingdom in the realm above.
Revelation 12: 7 THE UNSEEN WAR IN THE heavens
associated with the World / earth.
This war referred to is not “was” but “arose”
and is therefore future and has no reference to an earlier period. The war
arose as a direct response from Satan’s particular enmity against this child.
It is his resistance to the birth and catching up of the
worthies who were watching, praying and thereby were faithful and fruitful
living Christians. (Luke 21: 26) who will rule from this sphere from
where he is now ejected.
The
Woman is in travail ... as Satan is aware and is in a posture of destroying. Meaning that the times leading up to the First Fruits offering are
increasingly tough.
It is not the immature prematurely taken as the First the Lord will pick away
from the heat of the Tribulation. As there is no purpose nor need for further
ripening. They will be rescued as a reward for overcoming the flesh, the World,
and Satan by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death.
Only those not yet ripe will be left to endure the Great
Tribulation.
There
is no hint of a Resurrection - [from
amongst all the dead] - with
the catching away, as this is not the event of 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-17 or 1 Corinthians 15: 51, 52. For the
Manchild / Firstfruits event is lacking: in the voice of the arch-angel, the
sounding of the 7th Trump, the raising of the faithful out from
among the dead, the remaining now ripe
that endure through the Tribulation. The First Resurrection being at the “Harvest”; those faithful of all time, including the Apostles
who had previously died and who had secured their rights to the Millennial
reign with Christ far before Matthew 19: 28.
There is no hint of superiority of the First Fruits as it relates to future
thrones or ruling. [Revelation 20: 4-6]
The
12th chapter is critical for not only understanding correctly the
Book of Revelation, but the entire Bible as it relates to the salvation plan
and the
VERSE 10 & 11. The Kingdom is now begun. The time of patience is
over. Satan is cast out of heaven
associated with the World. The First
Fruits are raised up into that place. These are they whose right of
territory were contested by the accuser during the time of the Throne of grace.
Now it is contested by battle and might.
Satan is conquered FOR them in one
sense, and BY them in another. They
loved not their souls unto death. They crucified their souls. They despised the
things of this World and had their eyes set on the prize of the heavenlies’
inheritance in Christ. Their sins against God were specified by Satan
/ the accuser day and night. But against them / him was the Blood
of the Lamb, and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The
Blood of the Lamb is also a reference to the Passover of Israel.
TYPES
Enoch
and Noah. As the Woman is partly Enoch and partly Noah.
Sarah
and Hagar. As the Woman is partly Sarah and partly Hagar.
*
* *
IV
THE UNPOPULAR TRUTH OF THE TRUE BRIDE
“What the Church of God now needs
imperatively is men able to show fearlessly what the Word of God teaches as to
the future that will guide life through difficulties and dangers, perplexities
and perils; also how to gain strength to be faithful and holy, and what will be
the heavenly recompense; and able to show also what will be the sorrowful
penalties the Christian must face if unfaithful to Christ and the word of His
patience.” G. H. LANG.
Scripture declared the immediate future to be that THE THRONE OF GRACE WILL SOON FADE AND
ANOTHER THRONE OF AN OPPOSITE CHARACTER WILL BE SET IN ITS STEAD, THIS BEING THE THRONE OF JUDGMENT /
JUSTICE [Revelation 4; Psalms 103: 19; Daniel 7: 9-14] God is about to judge the inhabitable earth and
fallen angels [Hebrews 12: 26; Isaiah 24:
21.]
God will send forth His Son from heaven in an unrealised character as King of
kings and Lord of lords [Revelation 19: 11-16.]
Midnight will then have arrived and the call of the “Behold, the bridegroom cometh” will have been heard. And who is the Bride? Many would answer that it’s the Church,
those who are born again. But nowhere in
Scripture does it say so. The Church
regenerated is the Body of
Christ ... but it is not the Bride of the Lamb. [Read
Revelation 19: 7, 8]
Meeting
the Bridegroom involves
preparation for the wedding, which is set forth in type
in Naomi’s advice to Ruth. In the 3rd chapter of Ruth, verse 3, Naomi
tells Ruth: “Wash thyself
therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee...” Additionally, we have the type of Abraham sending his servant
to receive a bride for his son, and
of Rebecca - journeying with Eliezer to the home of Isaac - on seeing Isaac
approaching, alighted from her camel and put her vail over herself.
Matthew 22: 11-14 tells of what happens
to the saved who are unprepared for the wedding. Christ comes for a
spotless Bride. The Bride of
the Lamb are those who have made themselves ready. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
all men. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
present world; Looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people (a beautiful jewel unto
Himself), zealous of good works.” Here we see clearly that the same
grace that saved us teaches is the full meaning of
Salvation. That grace that now teaches
us both positively and negatively of an imperative of putting off of the flesh
and a putting on of Christ [Colossians 3.]
There
are those who teach an assumed righteousness
in Christ, who claim and declare the assurance of (the fullness of) salvation
without works in the complacent false
security message of and all inclusive “not of works lest
any man should boast.” There are those who have preached the
prosperity message, that gain is Godliness, who have chosen against the Holy
Spirit’s doctrine of servitude, and have
sought riches, and to rule as kings in this World out of time. [2
Corinthians 4; Revelation 3: 17.] Those teachers have mistaken quantity for quality.
There are those Bible teachers who, no doubt with vexed souls, have set their sermons on prohibitions,
democracy, socialism, state and government legislation; and like Lot, they think to reform
None
of these shall enter into and share in the joy of the Lord. THEY CANNOT. They will miss the ‘well
done.’ They cannot
enter into the joy of the Lord. They will have no part IN THE KINGDOM OF THE
THOUSAND YEARS ON EARTH. These
unfaithful stewards who build out of wood, hay and stubble, and those who follow
their pernicious teachings shall suffer
the great loss of all that is anticipated in “the
Bridegroom cometh” [1
Corinthians 3.]
The
book of Galatians lays
before us the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is faith energised by
love, as opposed to the works of Mosaic
Law. In it we find that it is by the [Holy] Spirit we begun
our race for life. And it is by the [Holy] Spirit that we shall finish the race, not by works (both ritual and dependence in observation) of the law. For by loving faith only we
are assured we shall not fall from empowering interval grace. Some will say: We have faith in Jesus Christ, we love Him, we believe in
His Sacrificial death for our salvation AND
we believe we are obligated to the Law of Moses, to keep its precepts, to
observe its rituals, its Sabbaths’ etc. Paul
does not say you are no longer the children of God, but declares you cannot
finish the race by the Law which you started in the Spirit’ [Galations 3.]
What Paul goes on to reveal is that Hagar’s son, although the seed of Abraham, may not inherit the
Mixing
the Gospel with any false message loses its grace / power, and leaves Esau -
the old man in the camp. And unless we cast
out Esau - the flesh, we cannot
inherit the mysterious kingdom of heavens. For the Work of the [Holy] Spirit is not augmented by the keeping of the law of
Moses, as it is out of accord with the laws of the Spirit - spirit of life in
Christ Jesus. (Romans 8.]
Paul’s
letter to the Galations dramatically
declares that the Atonement power may not be appropriated if we confuse / mix
the Covenants. [Galations 5: 4.] The
casting out of Esau is to effect the development of a New Creature in Christ’s
Image by receiving the Holy Spirit of Christ as our Teacher / Guide / Counsellor
/ Advocate in our body and spirit and mind to empower us in loving faith in
overcoming the flesh, the World and Satan. “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” [Romans 6: 14.] What is implied is if you walk in the Law of Moses
affords no grace / power to help against the flesh / old man. That was the very
essence of the failure of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8: 8) and the reason for Jesus Christ’s Death
bringing in the New Covenant.
What
most Christians are unaware of is the double cure of Christ’s Atonement. In
that they rightly have seen that they have been delivered from the Wrath of Sin
in Jesus Christ, but have not seen the
Atonement reaches to the power of sin over the believer’s heart. They don’t
see that God’s intent was not only to redeem us but
to purify us through the power of the Spirit unto a peculiar people (peculiar means; shut up to Me as My special
jewel).
Christ
is known as the GREAT Physician
because He not only heals the body but cures the soul’s disease and saves it.
The Old Covenant blood could only cleanse the body. The New Covenant blood
reaches the cleansing / purging of the soul, through the conscience. [Hebrews
9.] Those who preach but a partial Gospel
and confuse the Covenants confuse the
Blood, and at best remain spiritual babies. It is those who rightly
distinguish this difference, and walk in
the liberating Truth of it, who may prevail in maturing from babes to a mature
new
creature; that is, in the image of Jesus Christ. This is the only means
by which qualifying righteousness unto
[the millennial] kingdom
inheritance may be obtained. “For we through the
Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but
faith which worketh by love” [Galations 5: 5-6.]
The
Holy Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our heart. It is following
Jesus Christ in the Holy
Sprit that will change us into the
image of Jesus Christ [2 Corinthians 3: 10] and
qualify us to be the Bride.
Addressing
the very important theology of where we go when we die....
What
death does Scripture holds forth as representative of sin? Is it not the very
nature of this earth under the curse? And as the Lord said, “...in the day that you eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt surely die...” Yes, they did eat but not physically for hundreds
of years. But they did die in that day in the sense of relationship and
fellowship in that the state to which they fell. The nature which they then
took on that day was the condition of death /separation from God.
TO UNDERSTAND HIS SALVATION AND THE
FIRST RESURRECTION, WE MUST PERCEIVE WHAT THE SCRIPTURES TEACH. ... DEATH. Death is not a state we shed when we die physically.
We still experience the death of separation after we die, because we are not
yet free from the curse of death. We are yet in our nakedness clothed in death IN THAT WE HAVE NOT YET BEEN CLOTHED WITH IMMORALITY.
To that end, God created the intermediate place of the Dead. ... And it is
there that all humans go upon the
body dying: [or
immediately after (Luke 23: 46b,
R.V.)]. Now it is this death that Scripture refers to when it
holds forth the exhortations to righteousness on the earth. That is to say, if
we are to be delivered from that death, that
death in the intermediate place of the dead, to be raised up out of, that
place and state unto life, that is the promise of the Spirit - spirit walk.
That is the promise of the First resurrection; that is the promise - [of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture] - of the Bride.
LIFE IN THE PLACE OF THE INTERMEDIATE
DEAD... The life of the old man is
the World. And in one sense, he will not be completely dead till we leave this
World. [2 Corinthians 5.]
And in another sense, until we are raised glorified from the dead.
[1
Corinthians 15: 52, 53.] The ritual of Baptism in one perspective
is the connection between Christ’s death and our death to this World by faith
while we are yet in this World. A great part of our walk in this earth is the
impact of Scriptural believing in the life
after this life. To consider your self dead to this World, and alive unto
Christ, is to comprehend the life after. The flesh / old man nature is at enmity with God’s Spirit
and cannot be reformed nor entirely
eliminated while we are alive in this World. We will not be what we are now when we experience death to our bodies, for the
life of the place of the intermediate death is completely different and without
the life
of this World. The old man has no life as he is literally dead, as he
no longer has the “oxygen” from this World, he is
gone forever.
What
life takes his place? Not glorious
life. That is for some only, and
that is only in the appointed time
when He raises His Bride (worthies) out
from among the dead at the First resurrection. [Luke 20: 35, Phillipians 3: 11, 1 Corinthians
15: 52,
53.]
Then what life / nature are we here
experiencing in the centre of the Earth?
This is the intermediate life of the “dead alive”, (Luke 20:
38)
the first awakening reality of the [disembodied] Soul’s true existence, which is forever.
A new
life and more real nature we discover is now our experience. Without the
Worldly flesh, the World’s influence, the devil’s lies and illusions, there is
only questions and true facts that will fill our minds. Christ is declared to
be present in 3 Worlds, the heavens, the earth, and beneath the earth
in Hades. Paul’s ... “to
die again...” ... his “... with Christ, which is far better...”, his “... to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord”
... place. Our surroundings cause our mind to question thoughts, and to
immediately compare what we see to what we thought and received about the afterlife on the Earth, We are without
the previous World’s deception façade to obscure our mind, to present thoughts
that are a “tour” of the World pointing all of
its glorious delights, (the devil’s temptation of Christ) false thoughts that
shaped our nature while we were subject to it. Once shed of it, we will now
then quickly apprehend what and where we are. With a new clarity of thought, in
this intermediate life that is uninhabited by lies and illusions by the past
life, we face the reality of what we really are and examine ourselves in our
new surroundings in the understanding of the deceptive life we have just left
behind. We will not be void of feelings / emotions / intellect / imagination /
volition. Our senses are in tact. And as we think about where we are [today], we will
quickly review our lives on the earth with a new sense of reality and purpose.
The
realization of where we are, begins with processing, and is in direct
correlation to what we thought and followed above on the earth. The mind is now
going to be renewed relatively freed from all misconceptions. It is from here we will now await the Call of the
Bridegroom.
*
* *
V
HEBREWS FOUR
HEBREWS 4: 14 - 5:
8
The last 3 verses of Hebrews 4 turns from having established that Jesus the Great
Redeemer has entered into God’s presence and into His present work, having gone
before us as forerunner (see Hebrews 6: 20. He is forerunner
of the Heavenly Calling to His [redeemed] Body of believers.) He had “finished”
His work of being the Great Apostle (sent one) to this World. (John 19: 30.) Jesus
being our Great Delivered (sent one) to deliver the people from
...
“Jesus ... (the Son of
Man) the Son of God, Let us hold fast our
profession (confession). For we have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us
therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need.” (It is not enough that He, as our LEADER, has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness. For we are not yet clear of
Satan in this “wilderness”. We are yet
subject to his fiery attacks, for he once
was our master. And he is more powerful than we, seeing also that he has a dry
kindling ally in our camp; which is our own fallen nature.) “seeing then that...” (great need of sympathetic understanding and a
representative before our God to address the accusations of our great
adversary) “... we have a
great high priest...”
(greater than Aaron’s temporal earthly priesthood). As what is Aaron’s
priesthood in comparison to that of the Son of God’s Priesthood, Whose
priesthood covers all the heavenly places to intervene for us? For this great eternal
priesthood He was appointed, in that although He was tempted in all points as
we, yet He was without
sin. We are His, and He is ours. In that He became the acceptable unblemished
offering for sin, unto Priesthood. (He then set aside the Old Covenant, as is
seen symbolically in the high priest rending his clothes (Matthew
26: 25), and upon His offering Himself on the Cross; the two
earthquakes, the rending of the Temple veil from top to bottom, and out of the
grave came those to witness of Him. See Matthew 27: 50-55 and 28: 2.)
Paul
carries our thought from 4: 14 through 5: 11 from the deliverance from the kingdom of darkness and
begins to lay out the deeper things of God’s Word. One deeper thing being that
of attentive faith should
progressively then carry the [obedient] believer into spiritual maturity, such as the
understanding that “... every high priest taken from among men is ordained (appointed) for men in things pertaining to God, that he might offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way ... And no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is
called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself, to be made an high priest; but he
has said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day I have begotten thee. ... Who in the days of his flesh (while
alive on the earth) when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying
and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in
that he feared; Though he were a
son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered...” This being no correction, as in an ordinary son, whose
tendencies are unto disobedience, but to the Son of God, Creator and
Sustainer of all things ... never having to bow to a superior’s
command. He never had a will other than that of perfect harmony with the
Father’s. Now as the Son of Man, He was willing to be put into circumstances to
yield to His Father’s will. (Even circumstances counter-intuitive of a father,
in that His Son must suffer, and who then “wills”
it to be so. God’s will is contrary to the Son of Man’s will, for as a man, He
fears; not the fear of death to His body, but that of going into the place of
Death. How shall He get out, the Father having turned His back upon Him. That
was the fear, and that being the suffering test unto obedience. He learned what
it was to suffer and obey. Submission unto suffering was the requirement of the
Son of Man; unto the appointment of God the Father as the faithful Great High
Priest unto those sons of glory called to the heavenly calling. It was the path
that Satan attempted to lure Him from. And that great suffering with His own will, (related to
the terror of no return from the Place of Death in Hades) is what He
wrestled with in the Garden and in the experience upon the Cross. (Psalm 22:
1, Matthew 27: 46)
Thus
He has learned and was perfected by the experience and the difficulties man faces
in following the will of God by obeying Him. Thus the Hebrew Christians should
recognise His sufferings unto the Great High Priest equals their atonement for
mercy and grace needed to fulfil the Calling. Something they should have fear of
falling short of due to lack of diligence on their part and Satan’s
presentation of the world in the deceitfulness of sin on the other part. Modern
Day Christianity knows
nothing of this “fear” as they erringly have
placed themselves outside the possibility of God’s threatened warnings
of recompense for faithless unbelief of those who fall short of the heavenly
calling. The next verse 9 of
chapter 6 says: “And (Jesus the Messiah) being
made perfect, he became the author of eternal - [i.e., Gk. ‘aionios’,
meaning age-lasting in this context.] - salvation unto all them that OBEY him...” It does not say or mean; as some
suppose, ‘to all that BELIEVE on Him’.
Now
Paul pauses in verse 11 with revealing the spiritual depths associated with Christ in
Melchizedek, seeing their lack of active enlightening faith in God’s revelatory
Word. In Hebrews 5: 12
... Having left off with the Father, and deeper explanations of Christ’s
ministry as High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Paul is moved by the
Holy Spirit to lay the groundwork for the 3rd warning to Believers
In that their tepidness has caused it to be past time for their being
established in the New Covenant doctrines of Jesus Christ. The exhorting
declarations in 5: 12 - 6: 3 and
the dire warning in verses Hebrews 6: 4-8 are
some of the most debated of the New Testament as to what their precise meanings
are and to whom they speak.
Returning to 5: 12, “... For...” (This word ties together his previous
pronouncement of Christ’s High Priest understanding with their current state,
dull of hearing, childish in their understanding for which God holds them
responsible as poor students, since it is far past time for them to have grown
spiritually. They had heard the foundational doctrines of Jesus Christ,
first-hand by Christ and His Apostles, and having been apart of that first
generation, had seen and experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. Those things
having the inherent power to make them faithful and fruitful, they are therefore in danger of letting
themselves drift past their calling unto inheritance, and even worse; fall under the judgments of APOSTASY.
[Hebrews
6: 4-8] “For is impossible
for those who were once enlightened (granted
an enlivened spirit), and
have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers to come, if they
shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify
to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame.
For the earth which drinketh in the
rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it
is dressed receiveth blessing from God: But that
which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
This
third warning is an amplification of the first two, and that after having given them
the previous passages, even more insight assurance of the legitimacy of the heavenly
calling, and establishing even greater the realities and warrant of
that Calling unto God’s future Redemption
Rest, and the seriousness of [regenerate] believers
in
Christ to not fall short of its attainment. Including now the great
effect of Jesus the Son of God and Son of Man resurrected, having entered into
heaven and now at the right hand of the Father, as our intermediary High
Priest, unto the procuring of that Calling. In that He has granted additionally
in Christ’s Atonement, an open audience to the throne of grace; that
we might obtain mercy to find grace to help in time of need in the diligent
continuation in faithfulness unto the final inheritance of His heavenly Calling
as worthy sons of glory, the Redemption
Rest of God.
The
language of verse 4 is clearly addressed to Christian converts from
Judaism in the first century who are now wavering in their faith, being tested
as to whether they will maintain their confession
that Jesus is the Messiah. It is
the premise of the Book, causing divisiveness among the Jews unto their
persecution.
The
strong language of this warning being a description of those for whom it would
be impossible
to obtain repentance... Being no
mere glance at Jesus, but an established relationship now forsaken, and thereby
verse 8 reveals “...as nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.” Burned being taken to mean eternal lake of fire by
many - [deluded and mistaken] -
commentators, this being the great controversy between Calvinists and Armenianists (as to whom
Paul is referring to) over the centuries.
Now
3 things should be known to rightly see who and what is in view with this
warning of fiery judgment. 1) that
eternal life is NOT in view or at
risk as it is a [‘free’
R.V.]
gift. 2) but the heavenly kingdom
calling unto God’s 1000 year Redemption Rest of reward IS in view and at dire risk.
3) that all Christians shall stand
before Jesus Christ’s fiery Judgment Seat, of which few have understood to be
truly a JUDGMENT seat for His “saved” or born again believers. 1 Corinthians 3: 15
being a great example of what is being threatened in Hebrews
6: 8. Further examples being seen in Matthew 18: 23-35, 24: 42-51, 25: 14-30, Mark 8: 34-38, Luke 12: 1-12, 41-48, 19: 11-27.
Now
these first generation Hebrews Christians are in danger of being judged for doing
exactly what those first generation Israelites did, in the clear type found in Numbers
14. Where they, the redeemed
Israelites from
Numbers 14: 20-23, 25, 30, 35 “...And the Lord said, I have
pardoned according to thy word: (having dealt with the loss of life (eternal) threat, now the
inheritance issue) But
as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory (millennial) of the Lord. (but) Because all those men which have seen my
glory, and my
miracles (a clear type of
those in Hebrews 6: 4), which
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice: Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their
fathers, neither shall any
of them that provoked me see it: ... Tomorrow
turn you and get you into the wilderness. ... Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein,
... I the Lord have said, I will
surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. (This all speaks of the threatened fate of those in Hebrews
6: 8. Those He will not suffer to enter into His heavenly kingdom; to be
realised in the First Resurrection from among the dead, nor even to see it; as
they will remain in the fiery wilderness of Hades under judgment, - [i.e., within
that department (Luke 16: 26) of the
underworld]
- the intermediate place of the dead, until the 2nd Resurrection [unto
immortality]
of all the remaining dead, as those disinherited from His promised Millennial
Day of Redemption Rest in Christ’s heavenly kingdom.
And
as those in the type, who changed their minds /repented the next day, they
found that God did NOT [change His mind!] ...
and so the repentance impossibility
spoken of in Hebrews 6: 6 is on
God’s part, not the believers. As God does not take lightly those who have seen His revealed
glory and yet later turn away - [i.e. Apostatise, which is much worse than
backsliding]
- in faithless
short-mindedness or cowardly fear.
*
* *
VI
THE COMMITTED LOVE WALK
JOHN CHAPTER 15: VERSES 12-17
Verses
12 through 27 begin and end with this chief
command of Jesus... Verse 12 “This is My commandment, that you
love (agape) one another as I have loved (agape) you.” The Greek word agape translated love is defined in
different ways by different interpreters, often describing agape as unconditional
love. And to a certain limited extent it can so be described, in that God loves
all mankind in their lost condition of any kind. (See as an example John
3: 16 which says that God so loved (agape) the world
that He sent His only Son...”) But what is often lost in the unconditional
statement that God so loves all
is that redemption is conditional,
in that God only will redeem a loved (agape) man who approaches Him in
contrite faith and repentance, whose sin is atoned for by blood. A man being
once redeemed has secured eternal
life as it is a gift that was only subject to those conditions. The conditions for redemption is faith,
repentance, and blood while the conditions for fruitfulness must be met to
produce fruit unto God, such as obedience, selflessness, and faith motivated by
love.
Agape love is best understood by the enlightened seeker as a gift from God capable of developing him. Agape love was
shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit, with the intent to bring the
redeemed man unto the highly fruitful state
of a complete commitment to a pure, wilful, sacrificial giving love,
that intentionally desires another’s highest good (as did the love of Jesus). The attainment of which
is again: conditional by the redeemed now exercising that gift of
agape in obedience to Jesus commands. Such commitment and abiding fruitfulness
holds forth the promises of God in His First Resurrection Harvest of those worthies of the inheritance in nearness of
approach unto eternal glorious
Jesus
as the Son of God incarnate as Son of Man always had the agape love of God, which was
retained in the womb. Jesus’ arrival in
The
agape
love is something different than the natural love of man. According to Strong’s
Concordance, phileo means ... to love; 5368 phileo (from 5384/philos,
“affectionate friendship”, to show warm affection in intimate friendship, characterized by tender, heartfelt consideration and
kinship. Which would also include the natural love of parents and siblings;
represented by the word storge in the Greek. Then there is another word for the
natural love of man, that being eros, from where
the word ‘erotic’ comes, and is described as: the sum of
life-preserving instincts that are manifested as impulses to gratify basic
needs, (as sublimated to the culture’s standards to make it culturally
acceptable), and as impulses to protect and preserve the body and mind.
Now
the subject of the different kinds of love in a New Testament believer in Jesus
are perceived in Scripture as broad and intricate in that they overlap and are
entwined or involved in our whole being: the spirit and its senses, the soul
and its senses, and the body and its senses, having to do with loving God and /
or loving the World sometimes defined as spirit and the flesh. Nevertheless, without
a lot of expounding here, Jesus draws attention to the love wherewith He loved
them, and commands disciples to love with this love,
Initially, it is enough for the believer to see and acknowledge the realities of the distinctions between
God’s love and man’s ‘natural’ love (this
natural love being that which was God-given to unfallen Adam who then lived and
loved according to his pure spirit, and thus passed to Adam’s seed, although
now these ‘loves’ being a part of the fallen
nature are carnal and misdirected), and to renew his mind by the Word of Jesus
to His kind of love, and exercise it. What is soon discovered by the believer
becoming a disciple of Jesus is that these loves all were in and out of the
soul and are to be sorted out in a [regenerate] believer’s heart by the enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit.
Scripture
reveals that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit answers to the Messiah’s
Atonement. Jesus contrasts the Holy Spirit’s presence and mission in perfecting
in the Old Testament with the New Testament “...
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” Here is a great advancement; in that the Holy Spirit
sheds abroad the ‘agape’ love of God in the New Testament believer’s heart. That
gift was never realised before in the saved man in the Old Testament and was
exclusive to the Atonement and prayer to the Father by Jesus. (John
7: 37-39) This should answer to the questioning heart, as the
commands of Jesus instructing us in walking in an advanced form of love, not
known here before to man. This willing giving-love can
only be found through Jesus the Second victorious Adam.
What
was God demanding with promise or curse under the Old Covenant Law-Keeping of
Moses? God had commanded
Does
this mean that God, knowing that chosen
What
does Jesus expect from His disciples in His new command ‘to love one another as He loved them’? Did not His
command of love (agape) and expectation exceed that of the Old Testament? Yes.
And it is supposed that all believers in Jesus would attest, ‘we believers in Jesus are not to just look for justice for
harms done against us, but to forgive and
forget wrongs even if it causes our loss’. Agape can do this.
Another contrasting example (that this New Testament love does exceed the love
of the aggressive justice of the Old Covenant Law) is when Jesus commands His
disciples in the New Testament display of love / agape / ... ‘if you are slapped on the one cheek you should turn the
other cheek, and if someone demands your coat, give him also your cloke’.
These verses and many others really come home to roost when New Testament
believers are tested in what kind of ‘love’ they
are to display when ‘patriotism’ for Country or
home come into question. For example, if someone is burglarizing your home, do
you consider yourself justified if you defend your house by lethal force
without hardly a second thought? Do you feel justified in that the intruder was
doing something morally wrong? Or is it really because he intended to take
something that really is yours? Is killing them intentionally really desiring
the highest level of good for others, as we are supposed to put into practice
if we are walking in agape love? You may reason that if
you don’t take up arms, then look at all the bad things that can happen if you
don’t. But ‘Reason’ will always argue you out
of your willingness to serve God in agape love. Old Testament mindset
seeks justice (eye for an eye-returning evil for evil) while New Testament
believers who have been filled and equipped with the indwelling
power of the Holy Spirit are to exercise the commands of Jesus in every
situation. To actually be able to not react in the flesh in that
situation or in others like it, is to have had the necessary building,
training, and maturing into that mindset. If you know you would react in the
flesh, it is a good idea to be constantly praying that you would not be led
into the temptation to do so and to ray that you would trust in what 1st Corinthians 10: 13 says... “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way of escape,
that ye may be able to bear it.”
We
can’t ignore or deny the Scriptures we chose not to follow. Loving our enemies
is one of those. It takes time to be developed into Christ-like character.
Tests or trials will either train us in it or will prove us as one who walks in
the flesh. Don’t be an obstacle to God moulding, forming, and developing in you
the agape
of Christ. Most Christians operate in a phileo pretentious love that is
selfish, and tend to care only about their oun
wellbeing. They tell themselves they can’t or they won’t walk in agape
love when thrown into a lion’s den situation, but the one who is committed to
incorporate Christ’s Words in their lives says that he will be able to. As Paul
put it, “I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me...” If
we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in our actions, we will be able to do all
things through Christ Who gives us the strength.) When we look at the New
Testament Words of Jesus to His disciples to live a life of agape
(as defined above), can we not see there is some disconnect, some lack of
essential practice and lack of maturity in understanding in implementing the
Words of Jesus into our practical living? Do we believe that God has given the
New Testament command to express ourselves in selfless agape love, or do we just
mentally ascent to what we ought to do, but in real life, lower the standard to
avoid of walking in selfless agape love?
Human
love, although God given, albeit in a purer form before the fall of Adam, left
alone without God, tends to be selfish and makes man a god unto himself.
Natural human love / phileo in the believer can be a rival
to God’s agape love if insisted on, or it can be elementary preparatory
imitations of agape in need of Jesus’ instruction and training as His
disciple, Jesus, as the Son of Man and Second Adam, possessor of phileo
and eros love, perfected these
various loves of God that were given / created in man, in the agape
of God. It is to this giving new kind of love He calls His disciples into that
they might become givers of it. And that
by that means of amalgamation, their incorporated love is perfected in selflessness,
that they might be found worthy to be
the Father’s sons and His Bride.
Verse 13 “Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man may lay
down his life” (psuche;
Greek ... it is not life in the body that is in view here but the soul {manifesting
agape} living purposely in a state of selflessness) for
his friends.” Jesus life / living
in agape
selflessness (in the matured aspects of phileo and eros)
was in itself the laying down of His soul, and was the embodiment / fulfilment
of the Old Testament sacrificial system in that the Atonement of Jesus had two
separate applications, as shadowed in the Old Testament offerings; 1.) first application; the general
application as seen in the Passover lamb’s blood that allowed for the passage
out of
2.) And the second application aspect had to do with the ongoing sins of
the redeemed Israelite soul. There were to be justly / mercifully dealt with in
the blood of the burnt offering or sin offering or whole burnt offering or the
guilt offering of the animal’s blood on the altar. The blood being
representative of the ‘soul’ of the animal being
poured out in substitutionary atonement covering for the sinful soul of the
individual man, while living, and making the offering with sincere intent to
draw nigh to God. “For the
soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I
have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement (covering) for your soul.” so as in the shadow, where the blood of the animal
sacrifice does not represent its bodily life, but its soul living life, so in
the reality of Jesus’ Blood, it was not His bodily life, but its soul living in
perfected love that is the reality seen in the shadow offering unto the Father
now fully manifest, that was now to be willingly poured out in Atonement for
His redeemed to attain with supernatural abilities (agape love increasing
from the image of Jesus within, expressed by keeping the commands of Jesus in
the power of the Holy Spirit) unto nearness for union.
It
was something beyond the continual need for covering sin with blood in vain
attempts to approach Him under the Law of Moses. That
something is forgiveness of sin beyond redemption afforded in the Blood of
Jesus with the inward work of the Holy Spirit forming character change That
which is to say; of incorporating the agape love into the human love
characteristics with a promised complete nearness of approach unto His desired
and proposed union for His lovingly obedient disciples / friends / servants,
that which is promised in the first resurrection out from among the dead in Hades. It is a
union that could only be typed in the Old Testament and never attained as the
animal’s soul would cover and bring the seeker a little closer, but never could
purge the human soul into nearness for union. What is seen is that the
Old Testament animal soul / blood covered the sin latent in the soul of the
saved Israelite than another unheeding saved Israelite. This necessity of an
ongoing animal soul / blood atonement beyond redemption’s bringing an Israelite
out of the kingdom of Satan, is that it eventually falls short of bringing that
redeemed Israelite into his promised land kingdom, and speaks to the need of
the saved in a further work addressing the hindrances of nearness and union with
God that of the pollution of the fallen nature yet abiding in every saved soul,
continually manifesting in the perversions of God’s phileo and eros love in the creation of Adam.
Here
we can see further the two aspects of the Atonement of Jesus: 1.) towards His friends; the redeemed
Israelites (initially the saved Israelite disciples, whose promises were owned
by the Nation of Israel, to be united with the Messiah in the Theocratic
Government. And later, the heavenly portion of that promise to Abraham’s seed
taken up by
Verse 14 “Ye are my friends,
if ye do whatsoever I command you,” Look in the New Testament and notice every
reference of the word IF
which shows that God’s promises are conditional.
Just as Abraham’s limited ‘friendship’ into
intimacy was connected to his obedience. (Genesis 18: 17-19) The higher form of “friendship”
with Jesus (or our brethren) is our natural love perfected in the giving of His
gifted love, exclusive to the
New Testament. ‘Friendship’, in either the case of Abraham or the One
New Man, is a much greater nearness beyond redemption. This friendship exceeds
the friendship of phileo ... for it has eternal worth to be discovered in our
union as friends in Christ, whereas phileo friendships built on agape
love in this life. The fruit of friendship with God / Christ is dependent upon loving obedience to
His commands. These, being the disciples of Jesus, are thereby set free from
the Law of Moses, but not in personal freedom that they may do their own
bidding. For Jesus, from another view, is then their Master and they are to learn and be careful to be obedient to Him. For though they
are friends, they are also servants.
Verse 15 “Henceforth I call
you not servants; for the servant
knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I
have called you friends; for all things that
I have heard of my Father I have made known to you.” The first Adam
had been given the authority to call the creatures what he would. The Second
Adam had the authority to bestow mercifully the Father’s love upon His
followers and call / name them friends. And as an act of His loving friendship,
He communicates His plans and purposes. It is one thing to be a ransomed sinner
condemned to death; it is another to be advanced into a position of love that
we might be called His friends, even His brethren. (Matthew 2: 11)
It’s a great advancement beyond servants of Moses’ Law where there was no possibility
for the unfolding of the nature of God within unto the union of sons in the
likeness of the Son of Man. He reveals the coming of the Holy Spirit that will
bring them into the fullness of the councils of the Father. These things are
hidden since the foundation of this world. (Ephesians 1) (Open then before us as believers are the counsels
of God unto sonship to be discovered in Jesus, in the Old and New Testaments.
This begs the question ... What has captured our attention? What are we
otherwise foolishly pursuing that would otherwise over fruitfulness unto?) We
are to produce fruit pleasing to God as sons of obedience. The sons of
disobedience have fruit of a different kind...
“wild grapes” and ‘fruit that follows and brings forth death’. (Isaiah 5: 1-5 and Romans 7:
5)
Verse 16 “Ye have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you (and give
the terms of our friendship), (‘planted’ you in the Garden of God), that ye should (choose by the act of your will to remain in the
Vine) go (as My Jewish disciple unto the Gentiles (Matthew
28: 19-20) and
bring forth fruit (in the
Messianic Kingdom of Israel), and
that your (these called-to-be His
Apostles) fruit should remain (as it has ... but not as the fruit of the Nation of
Israel, in that after Israel’s Leaders’ continued rejection of the Messiah,
after the testimony set before them by His Apostles throughout the Book of ACTS,
they as a nation were finally rejected as the Purveyors of the heavenly Vine
and calling, and thus it then became the fruit of Apostles of the One New Man):
that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name (in
answer to Joel 2: 18-32 in
the repentance of Israel and the accompanying outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon Israel in evangelic power), he
may give it you.
Verse 17 “These things I
command you, that ye love one
another.” It is the summarizing of what He has just said. It is
the chief command, in that without the commitment of the higher love / agape
for Jesus and for one another, they will grow fruitless in the vain labour of
the phileo
of the unrenewed stubborn soul. The branch remains whole and increases by
loving obedience, which answers to the sap of love / agape found in the Vine.
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