Revelation (Program #8) – The Seven Lampstands

It has been said of the Bible that the Old Testament is a book of pictures while the New Testament is a book of captions. But one book in the New Testament is also a book of pictures, and that is Revelation.  Most of the pictures in Revelation, it turns out, are found also in the Old Testament but the view in Revelation has been enlarged. One of these pictures, that is a key to understanding this book is that of the seven golden lampstands seen in chapter 1.

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Psalms (Program #8) – David’s Concept Concerning God’s Judgment on David’s Enemies Among the Nations and Concerning Man’s Condition Before God

The Psalms beloved by all of God’s people are composed of the expression of the sentiments, feelings, impressions and experiences of godly men. Many of the psalms express primarily the concept of the writer. David, for example, in a number of the psalms was frequently in grave danger being pursued by his enemies those who were desiring even to do away with him. And so we see his crying out to Jehovah for safety and deliverance. Other of the psalms exult and uplift the law of God connecting God’s blessing with our ability to keep the law. There are however, many psalms that express a much higher thought, even the divine thought. Psalms which present the very Christ of God maybe not in direct reference but in unmistakable clarity. These are psalms which convey God’s deepest feeling and His heart’s desire for man that Christ would occupy the center in our lives as He occupies the center of God’s own economy.

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Revelation (Program #7) – The Local Churches

The practical revelation of the churches on the earth is a very crucial matter.  It’s a matter of the churches practically as they are expressed and seen on the earth, not the universal church globally. It’s interesting that this revelation follows in chapter 1, very closely with the matter of the Lord’s coming again. Is this coincidental or is there a purpose?

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Psalms (Program #7) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (2)

The psalmist David had a particular perspective or point of view when he wrote the 8th psalm. After being intensely occupied with his own desperate messy situation in Psalms 3 through 7, his gaze turns to the heavens and his language and his psalm becomes equally heavenly. “When I see the heavens”, he writes in verse 3, “the works of Your fingers – the moon, the stars which You have ordained…”. Well at this point, David utters one of the great lines in all of Scripture, “What is mortal man that You remember him? And the Son of Man that You visit him?” This is a line so central to God’s eternal plan that Paul quotes it in the New Testament.

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Revelation (Program #6) – Joint Partaker In the Tribulation Kingdom and Endurance Jesus

Revelation is a book that shows us the Coming of the Lord Jesus. As no other book in the Bible, it’s mentioned in the very first chapter in verse 7, “Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him…” This verse is the subject of untold Bible studies. But just two verses later, is a verse that is often overshadowed by verse 7, yet it’s a verse that we should surely not miss if we are those who really love His Coming.

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Psalms (Program #6) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (2)

The early Psalms, many of which were written by David, present us with two very strikingly different concepts; Psalm such as 3 through 7 give us David’s idea of what it is to live a godly life. But the language, the content and surely the inspiration expressed in Psalm 8 is altogether different. “Oh Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, You who have set Your glory over the heavens!” Here the language is heavenly and the thought does not convey the human concept of godliness but rather brings us to the divine concept and the divine thought where Christ is exulted and uplifted to the uttermost. Clearly though this Psalm was also penned by David, it was initiated by God Himself and full of His heart and thought.

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Revelation (Program #5) – The Coming Again of Christ

Nearly all Christians agree that the Bible reveals Christ is coming to earth again. The Book of Revelation particularly focuses on this point. But beyond this, there is much disagreement, much confusion on the matter. It seems to be contradictory in certain places in Scripture.

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Psalms (Program #5) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (1)

In Psalms chapter 1, David, the beloved King of Israel, extols the value of God’s law and exults the law to the uttermost. This is wonderful. But, recall the story of 2 Samuel when the same King David so grossly abuses his kingly authority to have an innocent man, even one of his generals murdered, so that he could steal away his beautiful wife, Bathsheba. In the span of this one sin, David breaks two of the most serious commandments, those which he exulted – murder and fornication. How could this happen, we ask? Well the answer comes from the apostle Paul in the New Testament – where the Bible reveals that although the law is good and holy and righteous, it is also powerless to help us because though it may motivate us to keep it, it cannot supply us with the life supply to meet its demands. So its demands fall upon the flesh for their strength. Both David in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament discovered this harsh reality the hard way. The question is, have we?

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Revelation (Program #4) – The Triune God In Revelation

Of all the books in the Bible, Revelation is quite unique in the way that it reveals things.  John told us himself that this is a book of signs.  But these signs often convey not just the future events of prophecy, but the basic items of the faith as well. Among the basic and fundamental signs it gives us, is to show God to us in His Trinity.

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Psalms (Program #4) – Christ in God’s Economy versus the Law in Man’s Appreciation (3)

In our natural common mentality, the law of God easily assumes a preeminent position.  We can relate to the notion of keeping a high moral standard of conduct.  And surely this seems in line with what must be God’s plan and desire for mankind.  After all God Himself gave the commandments to Moses to pass on to His people, the children of Israel.  But there is a fundamental problem; when we afford the law the central position in our relationship to God and that is although it is good and righteous and holy, the law is powerless and must rely on man’s fallen flesh to carry it out.  Try as we may and regardless of how much desperate prayer expressing our earnest desire to carry it out we add to it,  the result is inevitable, an utter failure, leaving us defeated and condemned and spiritually dead.  Oh that our eyes would be open to see that this righteous law that so vividly portraits God’s holy nature has never occupied the central place in His plan.  For that place throughout eternity is reserved unchangingly for the Christ of God alone.

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