Mark (Program #25) – The Move of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (14)

Most of us remembered from our childhood the story of the rich man who came to Jesus asking what he must to do in order to have eternal life. The Lord’s answer instructing the man to go and sell all that he possessed and to give the proceed to the poor was more than the young man could bear. So he turned away and in despair of his inability to do what seems to be required.

The Lord’s disciples also expressed their dismay over His words to this young ruler to which the Lord answered, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

This passage from Mark chapter 10 though famous as a Bible story is also one that has perplexed many students of the Bible for there is no place in the scripture where we were given of such a requirement in order to be saved. Our salvation is by faith and not according to our works, such as selling all and giving all to the poor. And how should we understand such a story?

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Psalms (Program #40) -The Preciousness of Zion and Jerusalem in the Experiences and Praises of the Saints (2)

They are 15 Psalms that are referred to as the Psalms of the Ascent, from 120 to 134. These Psalms typified the ascending or raising up of God’s people, from a low suffering place to a place in the high peaks. These high places refer to as Zion in the scripture and it represents many things. Its’ from Zion that God first blesses His people and from Zion He deals with those who persecute and hate His people, is also from Zion that He bring His people into the light to realize their own fallen sinful condition so that they may repent and to receive His forgiveness. Making them humble where they had formally being proud and haughty. Once humbled God brings His people up to and into Zion where they can dwell in Him in oneness and where He can find His rest and His abode in them. This is Zion, this is the place to which we all must ascend for our ultimate destiny or destination in the Christian walk, is the heavenly Zion, the New Jerusalem where God and man will find their mutual habitation and full satisfaction.

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Psalms (Program #12) – David’s Concept Concerning David’s Kingship Before God Based upon the Keeping of the Law and the Principle of Good and Evil

Psalms 19:7 says, “The law of Jehovah is perfect, Restoring the soul; The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, Making the simple wise;” In the whole Bible there is no other portion which uplifts the law as highly as Psalms 19:7-11. Many Christians today also uplift this portion in Scripture; yet even if we could fulfill the law in the prayer expressed here about being clear of secret faults and presumptuous sins, God would still not be happy.

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Psalms (Program #11) – The Lines, the Principles and the Spirit of the Bible Concerning Christ and the Law

In order to understand, that is to really understand the Bible, we need several things. First, of course, we need light from God for we simply cannot apprehend the real spiritual significance with our natural understanding. But practically, there are some helpful points to bring us into that light. First, we need to see the lines or the threads that run throughout Scripture. Then there are the principles that govern Scripture. And finally, there is the Spirit of the Bible. If we see the lines, the principles and the Spirit of the Bible, we will begin to enter into not just a superficial knowing of God’s word but we will begin to enter into the depths of His words.

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Psalms (Program #9) – What Kind of Man May Dwell with God for His Heart’s Desire and Good Pleasure?

Two trees were there in the Garden of Eden before Adam. Two trees that signify two sources and two lines that run throughout all of Scripture. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is one line and the Tree of Life, with God Himself as the source, is the other. The human thought perfectly matches the line of good and evil, while the divine thought always brings us back to the line of life, the line of Christ. David, the psalmist, often teetered back and forth between these two lines- one minute declaring the superiority of keeping the law and doing good, while at other times he would abandon that altogether and flee to take refuge in Jehovah or as we would say in the New Testament, coming to Christ.

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1 Peter (Program #8) -The Full Salvation of the Triune God and Its Issues (6)

All genuine Christian experience is based on truth. The truth or reality convey in Scripture forms the base or foundation of all our real spiritual experience. Peter’s first epistle in the New Testament very much illustrates this point. The first twelve verses in chapter one lay out some of the great truth of the whole Bible.  Such as our being chosen according to the foreknowledge of God and our being regenerated unto a living hope and unto an incorruptible, undefiled and unfading inheritance, an inheritance that Peter shows us should be our portion, not just in eternity but also today. The in verse thirteen Peter goes on to tell us that based upon all these rich divine truths, we should gird up the loins of our mind and soberly set our hope on the grace that is ours at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

If we take Peter’s way, if we give ourselves to the word in this way, we will find that our own love and experience of the Lord as well as our love for one another will be greatly enriched and strengthened as well.

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1 Thessalonians (Program #14) – Watchfulness and Soberness

When Paul wrote words to the Church in Thessalonica to encourage them, he stressed that the life of the believers is a life full of hope. And even at the endurance needed to live the Christian life is linked to that hope and flows out of that hope. But just as what is the hope that he is referring to? Well, is not the hope that one day we will all die and go to be with the Lord in heaven.

Our hope and the hope of all believers is that one day the Lord Jesus will come again and we all will be caught up or rapture to meet Him. The rapture of the believers and the second coming of Christ are topics of immense interest to Christians and even to many unbelievers. But do the popular and common notions about these important matters really hold up in the light of an honest and thoughtful examination of Scripture?

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