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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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #16) – God’s Sovereignty and David’s Taking the Lessons of the Cross

The New Testament is full of divine truth. By reading and studying these truths, we enter into the divine revelation: what God is occupied with, what His purpose is, and what He is desiring to accomplish. But what is lacking in the New Testament are illustrations or pictures. These are provided to us through the great stories of the Old Testament. For example, the New Testament teaches us that God is sovereign, that means He is over all, above all, and in all. Yet, it takes an Old Testament story such as the story of the young boy David, chosen and designated to be king over Israel, yet placed in the most difficult and trying situations for us to see and realize just how sovereign our wonderful God really is. more…

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1 & 2 Samuel (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The Bible is the divine revelation, the word revelation according to the Greek means to uncovered or unveil something that had been hidden or concealed. Though the Bible contains teachings and truths on many levels, fundamentally this book conveys God’s eternal purpose that which God Himself desire in His heart in the eternity past above all else and planned even before He laid the foundations of the earth and the universe. Surely for us to see such a divine and eternal purpose we need more than our merely mental faculties. We need what the apostle Paul prayed for, so earnestly in his epistle to the Ephesians believers. He prayed that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.”  Welcome to our first life study from the book of 1 Samuel.

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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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Numbers (Program #31) – A Vital Sketch of the Divine Revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers (1)

Most serious readers of the Bible recognize there are unmistakable portraits of of Christ in the Old Testament, among these of course are the Passover Lamb and the brass serpent.  If our understanding has been enlightened we can see not only Christ but God’s eternal purpose and plan in picture forms throughout the Old Testament.  The key to this understanding is what apostle Paul called the economy of God.  God’s economy is His plan, His purpose and all that He has arranged to work it out.  This life study of the Bible has this economy as its focus.  The result is that book after book, including the obscure  and seldom spoken of books such as Numbers in the Old Testament all become a rich treasury of light and truth unveiling Christ and God’s purpose in marvelous details.

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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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Numbers (Program #2) – Being Formed into an Army (1)

The first five books of the Bible are generally attributed to Moses and they formed a unit commonly referred to as the Pentateuch.  The fourth of this series is the book of Numbers, perhaps the most obscure among the five.  Outwardly it seems simple enough not overly inspiring for chronicles the numbering of God’s people Israel for the purpose of forming them into an army to fight for God’s testimony as they travel for 40 years through wilderness.  But if our eyes are open, our spirit set to receive God’s divine light, we can see the whole of the divine revelation express in picture forms through its pages.  Even the key elements of Christ’s ministry on earth and the ultimate consummation of the Bible, New Jerusalem are depicted here in Numbers.  Seem dubious?  Well stay tune.

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Numbers (Program #1) – An Introductory Word

The Bible, the infallible Word of God contains the entirety of the divine revelation.  This one book reveals everything that God has for man.  Nothing shall be added or deleted.  Yet within the Bible, from the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelation, the divine speaking progresses.  Especially the books of Moses or Pentateuch as they are called, present us with all the great truth of the revelations of the Bible but in “seed form”.  Just as a mighty oak contain in a tiny seed, all it needs is proper growth and development to be fully manifested.  It’s against this backdrop that we begin today the life study of the fourth book of Moses, the book of Numbers.   As we begin a tremendous life study that will show us God’s people formed together as a fighting army, to fight for His Kingdom and for His House.

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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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