Angelic Conflict part 178: Human history – Exo 32:31-33; Mat 5:43-48; Luk 6:27-38.
length: 74:30 - taught on Oct, 20 2013
Class Outline:
Title: Angelic Conflict part 178: Human history - EXO 32:31-33; MAT 5:43-48; LUK 6:27-38.
EXO 32:31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.
EXO 32:32 But now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out from Thy book which Thou hast written!"
Such a sacrificial laying down of life for an undeserving other could only be legitimate and virtuous in a world in conflict with great opposition against God.
Moses, though a sinner, is not guilty in this situation, but lends expression to what is in his heart, atonement for the guilty.
MAT 5:43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.'
You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
To this the corrupt teachers added ‘hate your enemy’ as if the one implied the other. That type of thinking is dualism, ying always has a yang, or for every thesis there is an antithesis. Unless the antithesis is stated in the Scripture it doesn’t always exist.
MAT 5:44"But I say to you, love [virtue love and not personal affection] your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.
But though such precepts were in the Law and personified in Moses, they were never before expressed—perhaps not even conceived—with such breadth, precision, and sharpness as here by our Lord. Our Lord is here only the incomparable Interpreter of a law in force from the beginning. This is the entire strain of this Discourse.
Some have taken this sermon on the mount to be the source of justification, but no flesh will be justified by the Law, but by faith alone. Some have said that the sermon on the mount is too high for mankind and dismissed it. Some have stated that it is for Israel only and so dismissed it for the Church. The minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees had long perverted the Law's instructions on justice and human conduct and consequently had perverted what sin was and the breach of it. They had grown obtuse, unspiritual, and self-satisfied. And so Christ began His ministry with this teaching on the justice found in the Law. And yet the things He taught still apply to us today because they are teachings of conduct in righteousness. In fact, the moral code of the Law has been intensified in the Church into the royal family honor code, which brings love to a whole new level.
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
Yet no man is justified by this. All believers are justified and righteous through the work of Christ, and so they are commanded to walk in that righteousness and not to walk for the purpose of becoming righteous.
MAT 5:45in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
You cannot judge the spiritual status of another by the witness of their prosperity or adversity. But what you can do is live in your own integrity and love with divine, agape love.
Sons of your Father means that you love as He does, neighbor or enemy, for God so loved the world that He gave.
MAT 5:46"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers [whom the nationalistic Jews hated, but were no different] do the same?
MAT 5:47"And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles [pagan or unbeliever] do the same?
MAT 5:48"Therefore you are to be perfect [telios = complete], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“perfect” - te,leioj[teleios] = brought to an end, finished, complete, or perfect. Divine, self-existing, virtue love as the Father has in essence.
LUK 6:27 "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
LUK 6:28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
LUK 6:29"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.
LUK 6:30"Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.
Christianity was rejected by many so-called philosophers or worldly rulers because they thought it was weak and only produced weak people as if war and hatred produces strong people. One must remember that this is all under the condition of trusting God for deliverance. What I lose He will supply. What gets hurt He will heal. But He will do so in His timing.
But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
What further strength this gives is a freedom from the slavery of reputation, world opposition against Christ, materialism, human pride, etc. These are things that are absent in Christ and He is the strongest man in the world; God man. The believer, whose heart is being transformed into conformity with His, is also gaining that strength, true strength is in the mental attitude of any person.
considering [Moses] the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.
LUK 6:31"And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way.
LUK 6:32"And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
LUK 6:33"And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same [therefore it is a natural function of a fallen creature].
LUK 6:34"And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive back the same amount.
LUK 6:35"But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
The important thing is not that we are vindicated before our enemies but that we become more like God in our character. Character is a reward that lasts eternally.
LUK 6:36"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
LUK 6:37"And do not judge and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.
LUK 6:38"Give, and it will be given to you [by God]; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
He was not talking about eternal judgment but the way we are treated in this life. If we live to give, God will see to it that we - receive; but if we live only to get, God will see to it that we lose. This principle applies not only to our giving of money, but also to the giving of ourselves in ministry to others.
EXO 32:31 Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves.
EXO 32:32 But now, if Thou wilt, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out from Thy book which Thou hast written!"
This expression is founded upon the custom of writing the names of the burgesses of a town or country in a burgess-list, whereby they are recognized as natives of the country, or citizens of the city, and all the privileges of citizenship are secured to them.
The book of life contains the list of the righteous (PSA 69:28 ), and ensures to those whose names are written there, life before God, first in the earthly kingdom of God, and then eternal life also.
PSA 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life,
And may they not be recorded with the righteous.
This is according to the knowledge of salvation, that one is saved by faith in the Savior.
PSA 69:26 But I am afflicted and in pain;
May Thy salvation, O God, set me securely on high.
And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
As revelation progressed into the New Testament we see the heirs of salvation recorded in the book of life.
PHI 4:1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, so stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
PHI 4:2I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.
PHI 4:3Indeed, true comrade [yokefellow], I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
PHI 4:4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
The last book of the Bible reveals that the Church age believer has two names in the book of life - his name and his new title as overcomer.
REV 3:5 'He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
Those who worship the beast in the Tribulation have not had their names written in the book of life. Anyone whose name is not in the book will be cast into the LOF.
REV 13:3 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
REV 17:8 "The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
REV 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
REV 20:13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
REV 20:14And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
REV 20:15And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Those whose names are in the book of life will live in the New Jerusalem in heaven forever under the glory of the Lord.
REV 21:25 And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed;
REV 21:26and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;
REV 21:27and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
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