Ephesians (Program #59) – Conclusion

Many great apostles contributed to the New Testament: John, James, Peter and Matthew as well as others. But the bulk of the New testament came through the apostle Paul.

The epistles of Paul in many ways formed the kernel of the New Testament. And it was through Paul also that the Church was spread through out much of the civilized world during New Testament time.

Yet at the end of this book, perhaps his highest work, Ephesians, this great apostle commissioned with the divine revelation in a very touching and intimate conclusion to his letter to the Church in Ephesus shows how much he valued not his own strength or vision or gift but taking his place as a living member in full coordination with the Body. And he asked for their prayers and petitions concerning him.  A very touching fellowship.

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Genesis (Program #76) – Resting and Enjoying

We have more marvelous pictures from the experience of Isaac.   Pictures is appropriate because anyone who has followed these life studies, I am sure has being able to see one picture after another.  And it’s amazing that the Old Testament book of Genesis that we have been in has been so much help to us with our New Testament experience of life.  What is the relationship between the Old and New Testament in the divine revelation?

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Ephesians (Program #6) – Redemption in the Son

If we take three simple words from the New Testament like ‘praise, glory and grace’, we may feel quite comfortable that we understand what they mean. But the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 links them together in one verse, verse 6 “To the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved;” How about now? Do you feel that your understanding is adequate according to the divine revelation especially when you put this verse in it’s context; that is, as the issue of our being predestinated unto sonship in verse 5?  Well, Ephesians is rich, high and mysterious because it is written from the viewpoint of God in the heavenlies. And from that point of view, ‘praise, glory and grace’ flowing out of our sonship are not simple at all but marvelous.

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2 Corinthians (Program #52) – Paul’s Vindication of His Apostolic Authority (7)

The concluding chapters of 2 Corinthians are Paul’s vindication of his apostleship.  His authority, especially with the believers in Corinth had been challenged and undermined by religious men  posing as apostles seeking to  lead them away from the simplicity and purity in Christ back to the Mosaic and Judaic practices of the old covenant.  It would be easy to consider that the points Paul makes in this portion would have little or any application to us. believers in a much different time and not necessarily in the capacity of leadership.  Yet as with all the Scripture the divine revelation contain in this portion is full of meaning and shows us once again a true pattern for all of us who desire to live Christ and experience Him day by day.

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Daniel (Program #17) – The Visions of the Overcoming Daniel (7)

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament covers a wide span.  If we have the proper understanding, Daniel shows us the entire Bible actually from Genesis to Revelation.  In fact, it could be said that without Daniel there is no way to understand the Bible as the single unique, divine revelation available to mankind.  We come to our final program today on this life study of Daniel…

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2 Corinthians (Program #39) – The Minister’s of the New Covenant (12)

The book of 2 Corinthians is the book of the New Testament that’s not that well known, not frequently quoted and not really that well understood. One passage however that is familiar to most believers is found in chapter 6 in verse 14, where Paul tells the Corinthians,  “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?”

It’s good to consider this verse in any context but better is to consider it in the context to which it was delivered to us in the divine revelation.

Here 2 Corinthians chapter 6 is in the context of the New Testament Ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry where Paul under his commission by the Lord charges the believers in Corinth to be fully reconciled to God.

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2 Corinthians (Program #23) – Transformed into the Image of the Lord by Beholding and Reflecting (2)

There are many marvelous word pictures or metaphors in the Bible. Without which the task of comprehending many of the deeper truths and thoughts of scriptures would be difficult indeed. But most of those whom were used by the Holy Spirit to bring God’s divine revelation to man were very adapt at the used of such metaphors and for those of us who love the Bible, the riches that it contains. We come to love the types and shadows and metaphors as well.

2 Corinthians, Paul’s autobiography in a sense is a book that is replead with such metaphors. And as we’ve seen in chapter 3 are among the most significant.

Listen once again to Paul’s word again in 2 Corinthians 3:

16 “But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

17 “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

18 “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.”

Just how is it that we can be transformed as spoken of in these verses?

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Jeremiah (Program #11) – A Word concerning Israel’s History

On Mount Sinai, Israel was in the dawning of a divine revelation. God had revealed the law to them as a portrait, a picture of Himself. And opened His heart’s desire to them that He would be everything to them, even a Husband that they would be a people to Him and eventually become even His duplication. But the history of Israel reveals how quickly they have departed from this revelation and this sunrise soon became a sunset, leaving Israel in darkness and under the chastising hand of Jehovah. This was the situation when God had to call a young boy to be a prophet for Him. Jeremiah was raised up by the Lord because Jehovah found no one among His kings, princes or even His priests that would be faithful to Him and speak His word to the people. To see Israel in the sunset of the divine revelation becomes a sober warning to us today – never to forsake Him, the fountain of living waters.

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Jeremiah (Program #4) – The Intrinsic Content of Jeremiah

For all of the notable differences between the covenant of law that characterizes the Old Testament and the new covenant of grace in the New Testament, it is the consistency of the whole of the divine revelation that is most striking. Because all the elements of the New Testament are visible in seed form in the Old. Some of the most profound and significant of these seeds are found in the prophet Jeremiah. One very good example is 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, To hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.” This same thought and even some of its language can be seen throughout the New Testament gospel of John and in the Epistles of Paul. The seeds planted in the Old Testament are developed in the New and consummate in the ultimate expression of God in His divine economy, the New Jerusalem.

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Jeremiah (Program #3) – Crucial Aspects of the Divine Revelation in Jeremiah

The Lord Jesus in the gospel of John chapter 5 speaking to the religionists of His day told them, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40) Well, the clear message in this strong word to them and to us is that the whole Bible – both Old and New Testament – reveal Christ and should bring us to the very Christ it reveals every time we touch it. How crucial it is for us to keep such a view in mind whenever we come to the word of God especially in the Old Testament book such as Jeremiah.

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