Jeremiah (Program #16) – A Full Picture of God’s Economy by His Dispensing

The book of Jeremiah reveals God’s righteous judgment upon His people, Israel, for their many sins and the idolatry that had overtaken them. But if we look carefully and consider this book in the light of the entire Bible, we see that in the midst of all this negative history, God’s economy – that is His desire to dispense Himself and His riches into His chosen people that they might be reconstituted with Him and become His very corporate expression, is also revealed. In the first pages of Jeremiah’s account, God commissions him to tell all the people that their greatest evil is that they have forsaken Him not as their Creator nor even as their God, but as the fountain of living waters.

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Jeremiah (Program #15) – Jehovah’s further Commission to Jeremiah (2)

When we read a verse from the Bible, particularly from an Old Testament book like Jeremiah, there’s usually a fairly clear and straightforward meaning. For example, Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah And whose trust Jehovah is. And he will be like a tree transplanted beside water, Which sends out its roots by a stream, And will not be afraid when heat comes; For its leaves remain flourishing;” On the surface we read and come away with a thought that if we trust in the Lord, He surely will bless us. Wonderful and certainly accurate according to the truth of this verse. But there is another equally accurate and yet far more profound understanding that can gleaned from such verses. It is this deeper and more intrinsic aspect that beckons our consideration and fellowship on this life study program.

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Jeremiah (Program #14) – Jehovah’s further Commission to Jeremiah (1)

The prophet Jeremiah was one with the Lord in many regards. So much so that during the troubling and tumultuous time in which Jeremiah lived, God used him as His own mouth. Bringing Jehovah’s direct speaking to the apostate and rebellious people of Israel. Yet despite being the Lord’s called and anointed prophet, Jeremiah also suffered greatly, sharing in Israel’s judgment. It’s understandable then at times he was given to complaining and bitterness. Yet the Lord was continually with him, comforting him and encouraging him not to speak “worthless things” as the people did. But to speak words that matched the preciousness of Jehovah and all that He had revealed to Jeremiah.

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Jeremiah (Program #13) – God’s Economy with His Dispensing in Jeremiah (2)

It seems upon casual reading of the Old Testament that the central focus of the book is the law of Moses.  When God brought Moses to the mountain and deliver the ten commandments that surely was a key moment, a key factor in God’s dealing with His people Israel.  But in the New Testament, the apostle Paul tells us that the law was not part of God’s original intention for man, rather it was something added due to man’s failures and sins.   In Galatians chapter 3 he says, “Why then the law? It was added because of the transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise was made, it being ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. ”  Actually God’s intention for man has never changed.  From the beginning He has desire that He Himself would be everything to man.  And Jeremiah, he lamented that His people Israel had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters.  If we have this view of God’s eternal desire, our understanding of such Old Testament books as Jeremiah will be greatly uplifted.

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Jeremiah (Program #12) – God’s Economy with His Dispensing in Jeremiah (1)

The Bible consummates with the revelation of the city of New Jerusalem. This indicates that the New Jerusalem is God’s goal. In fact every book in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is in some way related to the New Jerusalem as God’s goal. And as the ultimate goal of His plan and purpose with man, the New Jerusalem is just too wonderful for us to imagine. So God reveals this matter bit by bit. First by the Bible’s own words and then the stories, types, history, shadows and figures make it more and more clear to us. The Old Testament of Jeremiah is rich in the aspect of God’s economy that are revealed throughout. In Jeremiah, God’s goal of having a group of human beings that have been filled with Him and that bear His image and likeness to become His corporate expression for eternity is very much on display. And this vision unlocks all the riches and treasures in this book.

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Jeremiah (Program #10) – A Word concerning Israel’s History

Many people think the book of Jeremiah is not easy to read nor to understand. Well, it maybe hard to ready because it seems to be full of the failures and degradation of God’s people, Israel. Yet despite page after page of such failures, there are wonderful crystals of God’s economy and of the new covenant and of Christ Himself. It’s hard to understand because much of it is based on the history of God’s people and what has led up to the time when God called a young man, even still in his mother’s womb to be a prophet for Him and speak on His behalf to the rebellious and unfaithful people of Israel. This was the prophet Jeremiah.

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Jeremiah (Program #6) – God’s Faithfulness in Fulfilling His Economy

Though the Bible was written by many hundreds of years and written by scores of different authors, there are several consistent theme that run through from the beginning to the end. The most significant of which maybe seeing God as a flowing fountain or a river. This picture, the flowing fountain, the river of life, really reveals God in His divine economy in a marvelous way. And we see it quite profoundly in the book of Jeremiah.

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Isaiah (Program #42) – The Servant of Jehovah Revealed in the New Testament Economy

Nearly everyone know something about Christ.  There is a kind of natural understanding of Christ that is common to humans everywhere.   Many people consider Him as a great man, great spiritual leader or a teacher.  Such superficial knowledge can began from even a casual reading of the Old Testament.  But portion of the Old Testament such as chapter 53 of Isaiah reveal Christ of God’s economy.  The Christ of our salvation, the Christ that gave immeasurable pleasure and delight to God the Father and willingly and humbly going to the cross to die so that God may have many sons brought forth.  May the Lord grant us the grace and wisdom to present such a Christ to you today on this life study of the Bible.

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Proverbs (Program #9) – Using Proverbs for Building Up the New Man

When we come to the book of Proverbs in the Bible we need to see that the place that the book of Proverbs placed in God’s economy.  According to God’s economy, Proverbs should not be used to build up the Old Man.  The big Proverbs are like nuggets and the small ones are like gems and they are not for us to build up our Old Man to cultivate ourselves and our natural man.  Rather they are for us to build up our New Man.  It’s for this purpose that the Proverbs are useful.  While we are still living in this body on the earth we need the Proverbs to give us instructions on how to live rightly in so many aspects in order to build up our New Man.

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Proverbs (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

It’s probably safe to say that the book of Proverbs would be a favorite of a large percentage of Bible readers in all cultures. Written primarily by the legendary King Solomon, the possessor of great wisdom, it’s a book that’s easy to read and to study and to admire the marvelous examples of human wisdom and godly principles that are the main contents of this book. But while it is a book that may help us to live a better life to improve our character, and even to learn the valuable principles that reflect various aspects and attributes of God, there is also a profound danger with such a book. And that danger is that it can be a book that we can apply by our own strength and our own individual pursuit of human perfection. Why is that a danger, you ask? The answer to that can only be found by studying not only the Old Testament books such as Proverbs and Job but studying the entire Bible itself and being brought into the divine revelation. And that divine revelation shows us in that in God’s ultimate economy, wisdom like everything else, becomes the very Person of Christ Himself.

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