Seeking the Truth of the Kingdom, chapter eight
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After the seven parables of Matthew 13, Jesus adds another small parable that concerns the future ministry of His disciples… and, of course, the teaching is for all disciples down through the ages. Then, the chapter ends with an account of Christ returning to His own village, Nazareth, where he was raised and now is rejected. They reject His person and cannot understand his teaching. That was and continues to be the story of Jesus in this world, but Christians are not dismayed by it. Christ told us before hand that this would happen, but at the same time a plan would unfold for everyone that believes in Him.
8. WHAT FOLLOWS AFTER THE PARABLES?
“Have you understood all these things? They said to Him, ‘Yes.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.’” Matthew 13:51-52
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| This is the last chapter of this book |
TREASURING NEW AND OLD THINGS
Yes, they had understood. Over a period of 3½ years of discipleship, Jesus gathered the material and formed a firm base upon which to build, but still they lacked much, there is no doubt about that. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (Jn. 16:12). Before Jesus left them and went to heaven, “He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk. 24:45). He opened a door of understanding in their beings, so that the Holy Spirit of truth could continue to lead them, teaching them the principles of the Kingdom of God. “The word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me… The Holy Spirit… will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you… The Spirit of truth… will testify about Me… When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth… He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (Jn. 14:24,26; 15:26; 16:13,14).
We see in these texts in John that the things that Jesus taught were not altogether new, but were the same words of the Father and connected with all that He had given since the beginning of time. The Holy Spirit’s teaching would not be new either, but wholly related to that of Christ. The doctrine of the apostles, full of the Holy Spirit, did not contain anything besides that which Jesus had given His followers in the Gospels. The entire Bible is a single, unified word.
January 29 - February 4 Daily Meditations in the Psalms
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Daily Meditations
January 29
Psalms 7:11-17
11. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17. I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.
Every sinner ought to know, that he never opens his eyes from a night's sleep, but that God is angry with him. Every day his soul awakes to the greatest peril. While he persists in his sinful state, the wrath of God burns against him. It is only a question of time, with no guarantee that the time will be long, before he is eradicated. God is at war with the sinner and what is the sinner's arsenal against His? Is there a shield to ward off the arrows of the Almighty or is there armor to stop the thrust of His sword? There is none, even in this day of sophisticated resistance. Though they may shake the earth, hydrogen bombs bounce off heaven's doors like cotton balls. Do not be deceived, God is equipped with instruments of death and He can kill and cast into hell. The Psalm declares that He premeditates and preordains the death of the wicked. Only timely repentance can save him.
Is God just in executing fierce retribution against men? Remember that every sinner is a threat to human well-being and a reproductive channel of future evil. He is a pregnant bombshell, a birthing agent of deception and mischief. His own inventions will turn against him. He has birthed them to his own destruction and they will snap back in his face. David used Goliath's sword to cut off his head. Every weapon of the enemy is a self-destructive boomerang.
For this, David gives praise to God. It is a demonstration of His righteousness, not a calamity, when wickedness is judged. We are not holy or merciful, if we recoil against His acts. If we do, we may be demonstrating rebellion against His righteousness.
Why Do We Believe that the Bible is the Word of God?
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BUILDING UPON THE ROCK… essential doctrines
On Sunday, January 26, on Radio Luz a las Naciones, we started a new series of programs in Spanish entitled “Building Upon the Rock. We will be presenting the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. These are doctrines, about which all true Christians over the centuries in all parts of the world have been in agreement… and they must be in agreement, if they are to be considered true Christians. Everyone, who calls himself a Christian, should know these doctrines and base his life and faith upon them.
We have the Bible as the only foundation, upon which we can and will teach these essential Christian doctrines. Therefore, it must be clear to us why we consider the Bible the maximum authority and why we believe it to be the Word of God. I want to briefly explain the reasons.
The Old Testament: We will begin in Romans 3 to see there what Paul said concerning the Old Testament: “What advantage has the Jew?” he asks in verse 1 and immediately he gives his answer in verse 2: “Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” This is a very important declaration, because it indicates that there was a body of writings, which were considered to be authoritative and divinely inspired. They were produced solely within the Jewish nation. Peter teaches about the Old Testament, saying that “no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Just as the prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit in order to write, so there were godly Jews, guided by the Holy Spirit in order to discern which writings were truly inspired. Sovereign God, watching over His word, ordered this work throughout their history.
Seeking the Truth of the Kingdom, chapter seven
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Jesus did not teach His disciples how to fish men; He was going to make them become fishers of men. The first supposition signifies an action; the second is a state of being. Fishing is something a person can take up and later leave, but a professional fisherman can never abandon his net. It is his life. The Lord gave all His disciples the same task and we still have it today. Christ came to seek and to save those that are lost and everyone, who follows Him, without exception, also enter this ministry.
7. THE SAME NET CATCHES GOOD FISH AND BAD
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it is filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:47-50
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THE SEA OF UNSTABLE HUMANITY
Several of the previous parables had something to do with the earth, but the one we just studied involved a product taken from the sea. This last of the parables of Matthew 13 also focuses on the sea.
Along with the parable, Jesus gives the interpretation, so we have three of the seven parables interpreted. With the first one, the Parable of the Sower, left by itself, we could group the other six into three pairs, according to the similar lessons that they teach: 1) The mustard seed could be paired with the leaven, 2) the hidden treasure with the pearl of great price, and 3) the net with that of the wheat and the tares.
A difference between the wheat and the tares and the parable that is before us now, is that one has to do with a land product and the other is found in the sea. Another difference is that the tares were sown purposely by an enemy, whereas the good and bad fish are all caught by the same net. However, it is within the realm of probability that the enemy guided the bad fish to the net. He wants to use his influence in everything that has to do with the work of God. If he can, he will take the seed of God’s word out of the heart of a listener, he will sow bad seed among the good, he will cause a tree to grow beyond God’s intentions, puff up bread to appear much larger than its real substance, and, as we now consider, possibly he will guide bad fish into a net. It would be very consistent with his character and intentions that he does so.
The Intimacy of the Gospel of John
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Intimacy with God
This Saturday, January 25, at 3 p.m., we start a new radio program in Spanish on the Christian radio station Radio Luz a las Naciones. This program will be called “El Verbo de la Vida” (The Word of Life) and will be a commentary on the Gospel of John. As most Christians know, John’s Gospel presents Jesus Christ as the Son of God and John begins by presenting a biography written in eternity before the beginning of all creation. The experts tell us that John wrote his history 60 years after the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. These three give an account of many of the miracles of Jesus, but John explains the significance of all that He did.
It’s not hard to arrive at the conclusion that this book is the most spiritual of the four Gospels. What other cites the prayer of the Son with the Father? When we read that prayer in chapter 17, we are treading on holy ground. And, of course, this Gospel contains the most quoted and well-know verse in the Bible… John 3:16.
John’s purpose in writing his Gospel was to help readers to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and, in believing, that they might have life in Him. What occurred to me this time, as I meditated in preparation for the radio programs, is that John, chosen and inspired by the Holy Spirit, also is inviting his readers to a life of intimacy with God. I don’t believe that there is another book in the Bible comparable to it in this respect.
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