Mark (Program #42) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (4)

As Jesus was hanging there on the cross for six agonizing hours bearing the reproach of man and the judgment of God, He did so as a genuine man. Yes, He was unique among all mankind in that He was without sin even of Himself, but His humanity was the same as ours in every other way.

Yet at the same time He was also God and despite the fact that for the final three hours of His suffering, God as the economical Spirit had to forsake Him, while He took upon Himself the sins and transgressions of every man.

Yet intrinsically and essentially He was and still is God.  This is Christ Jesus, the Lord our Savior. The immortal Who put on mortality.  And this mysterious and marvelous God Man died a death that accomplish what no other death could ever accomplished.

His death accomplish far more than just the forgiveness of sins as we will see today. And in addition to dealing with all the negative things, His death also release the divine life to create the New Man, the New Creation and ultimately to bring in the kingdom of God.

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Mark (Program #41) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (3)

On the day of His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross for six hours, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon.  During the first three hours, He suffered mocking, slander and humiliation at the hands of all manner of men even though He was dying to redeem.

But beginning at twelve noon something remarkable happen and is recorded in Mark chapter 15 verses 33-34, “And when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is interpreted, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

During the final three hours of His time on the cross, the Lord Jesus was no longer been judged by evil mankind. He had taken upon Himself the sins of mankind to such an extend that God the Father even had to turn away from His beloved Son in righteous judgment, as Christ offered up Himself, an eternal sacrifice for all.

As believers we cherish this story and never tired of hearing it. But beyond this message of redemption and hope, this story also bears consideration for what it says about the inner relationship of the three divine persons in the Godhead.

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Mark (Program #39) – The Death and Resurrection of the Slave-Savior for the Accomplishment of God’s Redemption (1)

The record in Mark chapters 14 and 15 give a striking account of how the Lord Jesus prepared Himself for His crucifixion. Even manipulating those who would ultimately kill Him to do so according to God’s time table and not man’s.

Often overlook in this portion, however, is that the same chapters also record the experiences of Peter. In a very real sense Peter also was being prepared by the Lord to pass through the process of death and resurrection.

It’s somewhat easy to realize that Peter in these chapters is representative of all the disciples. What’s not so easy to see, but just as significant is that Peter’s experiences of failure upon failure eventually resulting in his been striped of any confidence in his natural strength and ability, represents all of us, the Lord’s believers as well.

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Mark (Program #29) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (3)

During the period of His gospel service, the Lord Jesus was traveling from Galilee first north toward Caesarea Philippi and Mount Hermon.  Then returning south all the way to Jerusalem. With Him on this long journey which took roughly three years were a small number of faithful disciples particularly Peter, James and John were with the Lord step by step.  And thorough out this period they witness first hand all the items, including the miracles, the teachings, the healing and His dealing with the religious opposers.

As those who desire to know Him and to know His word richly today, we need to realize that this long journey and all these events were not random. From the beginning the Lord’s intention was to arrive at Jerusalem, the religious, cultural and governmental capital.  For it must be in Jerusalem during the specific month and even on the appointed day that He would be offered up as the Lamb of God to accomplish His all redeeming and all-inclusive death.  But we also need to realize that all the preceding event were part of the Lord’s preparation and in addition for the real preparation of His disciples not just to be witnesses but to be those who would pass through His death and enter into the reality of His resurrection.

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Mark (Program #28) – The Preparation of the Slave-Savior for His Redemptive Service (1) & (2)

At the end of a nearly three years long journey with His disciples the Lord Jesus at the end of His gospel ministry makes a triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  Just six days before the time of His sacrificial death on the cross the Lord Jesus surprises His disciples confounds His opposers and thoroughly captivated the hearts of the people of the great city of Jerusalem.

During these final days, Jesus was finished performing the miracles, the great teachings, the casting out of demons even the healing and the cleansing of lepers. For now He is totally focus on the preparation necessary for His death, His burial, His resurrection and ultimately His ascension.  Mark chapter 11 gives us a marvelous account of these six days of preparation.

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Exodus (Program #42) – The Water of Life in Resurrection

Every record in the Bible has a spiritual significance.  We shouldn’t try to understand any portion of the biblical record simply according to the black and white letter.  Let’s take Exodus 16 as an example.  This is a chapter revealing the giving of manna to the children of Israel.  Surely manna is something mysterious and spiritual.  Chapter 17 shows us how God provided water for the children of Israel as Moses struck or smote the rock in the wilderness and the water flow from the clefts.  Surely this also bears tremendous spiritual significance.  The spiritual reality of the water flowing from the smitten rock is our story today of this life study of the Bible.

We are going to pick up Witness Lee’s own speaking for our introduction today.  He make a very striking point about interpreting the Bible.  Of course, we do believe it literally word for word.  But we also don’t want to be blind to its spiritual and mysterious implication.

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Hebrews (Program #19) – The Remaining Sabbath Rest (2)

After six days of His creating work, God rested. The Sabbath has been a topic of intense interest to some Christians and widely ignored and misunderstood by others. But to see the Sabbath in the clear revelation of God’s purpose is truly marvelous. We’ll focus again today on the real Sabbath rest for God and for man on the life study of the Bible.

What is meant by this term “the corporate Christ”?   In the Gospels, what we see is the individual Christ but this individual Christ, this wonderful Person whom we love, He passed through death and He entered into resurrection. And in resurrection, He produced the Body of Christ. Now, when we talk about the corporate Christ, we’re referring to the Christ that we see in the Epistles after Christ’s resurrection. This Christ is the corporate Christ. In resurrection, He became the Head of the Body. Also the New Testament shows us that Christ is not only the Head of the Body, He is the Body of the Head. more…

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Hebrews (Program #17) – The Good Land for the Fulfillment of God’s Purpose

The good land typified in the Old Testament is profoundly related to God’s eternal purpose to have a corporate expression. Hebrews 2:5 says, “For it was not to angels that He subjected the coming inhabited earth concerning which we speak.” Though we may long for heaven, it is the earth, the land, the good land that has occupied God from the ages for His purpose. We will see all this land typified in today’s life study of Bible.

Though we’re in the midst of the life study of Hebrews, today we’re going to touch many points that we first touched in the life study of Genesis for those that were with us at that time. What is the basis or the ground to draw upon the pictures that were presented in Genesis in order to help us with the book of Hebrews?

As we will soon see this particular message connects as the Bible does the matters of the land, Christ and God’s chosen people. In Genesis 1, we have these three matters either stated or implied. The land is obviously signified by the dry land that emerged from the dead waters on the third day. This dry land, the sphere for the living of the human beings created by God typifies Christ in resurrection. Significantly as Genesis 2:7 reveals, humankind was created from the dust of this land. more…

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Hebrews (Program #16) – Partners of Christ

As believers in Christ, we have a number of statuses – we’re the children of God, we’re the servants of God, we’re the disciples of Christ, we’re the sons of God, we’re members of Christ’s body and as we will see today, we are also partners of Christ. For God to accomplish His purpose requires the coordination and involvement of all three of the Godhead; but surprisingly, it also requires the involvement of Christ’s partners. Who are His partners?

It’s been wonderful to see both from Romans and now from Hebrews that we are Christ’s brothers, this is quite a realization to our Christian life. But today we find out that we are also His partners. Why does the eternal and all-powerful God need partners?

Though God is eternal and all-powerful, we must see also that He is very purposeful and He’s chosen to accomplish His purpose by His infinite wisdom. God’s intention was really with man even in eternity past. If you remember back in Genesis, it talks about God having a council saying “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. When He first created man, His intention was to get into man, to be life to man – and therefore, He needs man. He needs these partners to carry out what He’s doing. more…

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Hebrews (Program #10) – The Captain of Salvation (2)

This wonderful Jesus is not only our Savior but He is also the marvelous captain of our salvation. And He is leading us even during this broadcast into the goal of our salvation. Glory is God expressed – this may seem simple but nonetheless this is what the Bible reveals. But just as we need our entire body to be adequately expressed, God desires to bring us as the members of His body into the region of His glory. So He’s provided us with a captain of salvation to lead us into glory.

We’ve spoken our first life study of Hebrews about though it’s a mysterious and somewhat hidden book to a lot of Christians when we’re given just one or two keys, it opens up like a flower. We’ve just spoken of the two of the keys that we’ve been given and these will be part of our life study today: river-crossers and the captain of salvation. more…

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