God’s Math (Luke 21:1-4)

God knows all and everything because he is the Maker of heavens and the earth. Especially he knows our hearts. In the Scripture there are so many cases which blow our mind because it is so contrary to our knowledge and practices of this age. Here is one example. Jesus commends a poor widow who offered two very small copper coins that she put in more than all other rich people who offered big checks. Why is it so revolutionarily different each other? Because what is unseen is not the same as what is seen. What is seen is not all but what is unseen is. Even though we’re living in the world, we’re in invisible heaven where God reigns and rules in glory and honor and power and might. The word of God is written for teaching, reproaching, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Why do we need be taught, rebuked, corrected, and trained in righteousness? Because what we learn and know by birth and in the world is not accurate and correct. The devil has critically twisted and distorted the understanding of humanity with the deadly poison spread all over our body, which is called sin in the Scripture. Christ has come to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness. Let’s heed to his teaching and be rebuked and corrected and trained in righteousness.  

“As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘Truly I tell you,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’” (Luke 21:1-4)

Her offering is incomparably smaller than that of the rich. Why does Jesus say then the other way? First, what God sees is not monetary amount but heart, not quantity but quality if you will. Our Lord God knows what is in man. “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.” (John 2:24-25) The rich people most likely presented their gifts of big check into the temple treasury, being highly noticed and exalted by the religious priests and people. They blow the trumpet to get the attention and present their gifts. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” (Matthew 6:2) Lord Jesus says they have received their reward in full and thus nothing given to God though they give their gifts out of wealth. They are merely self-serving and praise-seeking by others, not by the Father in heaven.

Some are wealthy and some poor every place in this world. But wealth and poverty are neither morally right nor wrong. It is not true wealth brings happiness and poverty does unhappiness to mankind. It is not wrong to give their gifts out of wealth. It is not true that we have to give everything we have as our gifts to God. It is not what our Lord Jesus is saying though some interpret that way. What is it that God is seeking out of our gifts? It’s gratitude toward God who is all and in all. She has little to give to God but in wanting to do anyways. What she has is really little, just two very small copper coins. So, most likely she would bring her gifts with fear and trembling because it is so little, almost nothing. She might be afraid of being noticed by someone but she was seen by none other than the Son of God Jesus Christ. It is told as if the moment of widow’s giving was seen through the gigantic telescope from heaven. Her gifts was in fact considered more valuable than those of the rich. Our God is faithfully vigilant to catch all the moments of exercising the faith in Christ Jesus. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) As a matter of fact, nothing happens without him and all things are in him and through him. This poor widow has never been outsight of God’s radar of the fatherly care. I don’t believe that this one act of giving her gifts has moved the heart of Jesus. Rather, she has been made righteous by the grace of God through her faith in Christ. She is being accepted by the Father in heaven as a dear child of God because the Son of Man has been defending her in every area of her lives.

God’s mathematics is completely different from that of the world. How is the world functioning and running? The world says to save ourselves and to take care ourselves because if not we will not survive in this jungle-like hostile and competitive age. It also says not to give up our rights at any degree and whatsoever cost because it is the right thing to do. It sounds quite honestly compelling and convincing in hearing the claims of the world if exposed to just a handful of seemingly unfortunate circumstances. What about being bullied in school? What about being falsely accused without cause? What about being innocently cheated and deceived? What about being persecuted in traffic on the streets? What about being discriminated in work place? What about being treated like nobody or nothing? What about all the social injustices being practiced in every corner of our communities everyday? It is not difficult to succumb to the circumstances and to become revengeful and vindictive. So, Apostle John is saying to Christians not to love the world and anything in the world in the Epistle of John. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17) Here, the world does not indicate the universe God has made but the pattern of this world which is assuredly saying we should claim our rights now and never give up.

But God says completely the opposite of what the world says. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells to his disciples, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) How could we find life when we lose our life for Christ’s sake? Christ demonstrated that how we can find life through his death on a cross and the following resurrection from the dead on the third day. It is the mystery of God that Christ gave up all his rights for honor, power, glory, and authority as the Son of God and became a human being in the form of a servant and obeyed the Father even to the point of death. “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-9) Thus, the Father in heaven exalted the Son of Man above all names in heaven and on earth and under the earth. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11) Our Lord Jesus didn’t gain anything out of the world because there was nothing to give him in the world. All he received was the false accusations and persecutions and eventually death on a cross from the world. He voluntarily offered his body as the ransom sacrifice on behalf of the sin of the world.

But that’s the not the end of story. Christ did not stay in the cold tomb forever but on the third day he was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures. Because it was impossible for death to get its hold on Christ Jesus. “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:24) Thousands of ten thousands of people have been saved and released from the grip of darkness and confusion under the devil’s lie through Jesus Christ who once for all died for the sin of the world and was buried and risen from the dead. When Jesus denied and submitted himself to the Father even to the point of death, God gave him the name of above every name and let him be seated in the highest place of all heavens. That’s God’s mathematics. How can be sure of all that? Because our God is faithful in keeping his promises. What’s the promise? Jesus says to his disciples not to worry what to eat, what to drink, or what to wear, because God is our heavenly Father who is greatly concerning our well-beings on earth, let alone in heaven.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

This is a narrow path and a few come through it. It is giving ourselves to the Lord God one after another. God is giving his love all the time. He gives, gives, and gives now and forevermore. He still loves when he is seemingly silent. He still loves in the midst of struggles and challenges. He still loves when it seems he is doing nothing. His love reservoir never runs dry. It flows, flows, and flows from the grace throne, rivers of living water. The Father God lived in the Son Jesus Christ and the Son in the Father. Likewise, Christ lives in us and we in Christ. it is the hope of glory for mankind, “Christ in you.” We are dearly cared and protected by none other than the Father in heaven, not because we give our gifts out of wealth but because we have been made righteous in Christ through faith. Abraham followed the narrow path, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses, King David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi did too. They did not follow the pattern of the world, but God. They did not receive what was promised but hoped for the city God had built for them even before the time began. “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)

April 20, 2017

© 2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

Suffering in Life Is Common to Mankind (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)

All Scripture is written by the inspiration of God and is useful for teaching, reproaching, correcting, and disciplining in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:17). God chose a people out of all peoples on earth to set an example not because they were great in numbers but because they were the fewest of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7:7). It started with one man Abraham and down to Isaac and Jacob and the twelve tribes of Israel. God put them under the yoke of King Pharaoh over four hundred years as told to Abraham and delivered them on the night of the Passover and let them cross the Red Sea on foot like a dry land. Although they were supposed to enter the land promised to the patriarchs, they refused to obey God because they feared the Canaanites more than God. So, they had been wondering in the wilderness forty years until all unbelieving people perished except Caleb and Joshua. The new generation obeyed and entered into the land led by Joshua, crossing the Jordan River on foot. Entering into the land signifies our obedience to entering into God’s rest, which means our continual reliance on him only. These things happened in ancient days are exactly happening in this age as well because they are the sample nation called by God and delivered by the blood of Christ Jesus the Lord.

“For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.’ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-13)

Israel deserted the Jehovah God so many times during the wilderness wondering. Idol worship, sexual immorality, testing, and grumbling are the ones they have committed and received the due punishment. Why had God dealt with them so severely? Because it is provoking the wrath of God for the violation of the Law of God. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” (Romans 1:18-19) Note that the people of Israel have been liberated through the blood of Christ on the night of the Passover and crossed the Red Sea. So, they are representing the New Testament Christians who are in Christ and the Father God. And yet they have violated the law which God forbid through Moses, which has invited the severe punishment of God. It is two-fold, one is the preview of the Day of the Lord and the other is the examples and warnings out of the love of the Father. God is saying unless we repent and turn from our evil ways we would be severely punished. No one is exempt from the wrath of God as soon as they violate the Law of God. Take a daily life example. If we hate someone for any reason, righteous or unrighteous, we lose peace in mind, all but touchiness, disturbance, and even bitterness in heart. God punished the people even though they were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and ate the same spiritual food, manna and drank the same spiritual drink from the rock, Christ the Lord.

“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:16-19)

Why do people in Christ still violate the law of the Lord? Do they not know the words of curse spoken loudly in the Scriptures? Yes, they do know. It’s because idolatry seduces them, falsely promising to give something although it delivers nothing. That’s idol whatever it is instead of God. Money may be idol if one believes it would deliver him from all troubles of lives. Sex may be idol if one believes that it would give meaning and joy in life. Fame, honor, recognition, children, and even religious zeal could be idols. The enticement and temptation of idols are so wide-spread and rampant throughout the ages and many believers fell into it. The Lord God confirms that they forsook him and served idols since they came out of Egypt. “And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’” (1 Samuel 8:7-8) These people experienced the mighty power of God demonstrated through the ten plagues and witnessed the death of all the firstborns both men and animals by the angel of death on the night of the Passover. The Sea was stopped flowing, yielding a way, so they walked through it on foot as on the dry land. During the wilderness wondering, they ate the food came down from heaven, manna forty long years and drank the water gushed out of the rock. How could they then fail to heed the words of warnings and curses and fell into idol worship? That’s what we are. Anything coming out of the earth even the religious commitments and devotions cannot make man be faithful to the Lord God, because there is nothing truthful and trustworthy in our flesh.

Even the redeemed in Christ is not without exception from the temptation of evil in the sinful flesh until we are redeemed bodily, being clothed with the heavenly body of resurrection that God made and prepared for us even before the creation of the world. Apostle Paul describes the struggle, defeat, frustration, groaning of Christians due to the weakness of the flesh in the Epistle to the Romans Chapter 7. “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:17-19) Even if it is true that we cannot obey God in the sinful flesh, we do not lose heart because right at the moment we acknowledge that we are not able to, Christ in us cleans and delivers his beloved children with the mighty power of God. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 7:24-8:2)

Some might say, “It is too much to bear. How can we live if it is impossible to keep the law of God with our best effort?” That’s the most pleasing and delightful moment that our Lord God is expecting all of his children to come to, because we’ve been made to live in him and with him and through him. We’re never made to live without him, not even a single breath of life. Our God is faithfully and constantly compassionate and merciful. Our God is not a remote and impersonal being, leaving us like orphans. Rather, he cares and empathizes his own people like a hen gathers her chickens under her wings. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) He knows his people because he made them in his image and in his likeness. He knows what we are, what we are in need, who we are, why we are, and why we are in need. He also knows how and when we need him and most significantly makes himself available wherever and whenever and however we seek him. In fact, he indwells in us forever (Hebrews 13:5). “No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14)

Furthermore, God is kindly assuring us that there will not be any temptation which may overtake us. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” God disciplines his children for the growth and transformation to be more godly and like Christ. I believe that God’s vehicle of discipline for his children is suffering in the midst of lives. The Book of Hebrews assures that all discipline comes upon us because God dearly loves his children (Hebrews 12:6). All is going through sufferings, all kinds of aches, difficulties, obstacles one at a time because all temptation is common to mankind as the Scripture says. Some may think that they are going through the most difficult times. I suspect that everyone who is undergoing sufferings may react with some sort of resentment and bitterness. There is one famous saying, “Why me?” “Well, it just turns out to your turn,” says a wise man. But when we are tempted, God will also provide a way out so that we can endure it. What a promise! What a God we have and trust! God so loved the world that he gave his begotten Son Jesus Christ and whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus Christ is our way out, overcoming the world by taking the cross of death and being buried in a tomb and raised from the dead on the third day. So, we fix our eyes on him who forgives our sins and transgressions and cleans and purifies us from all unrighteousness. He is our real food and drink on which we live his eternal life now and forevermore.

We know that Apostle Peter denied the Lord three time on the night of Jesus’ trials and bitterly wept after he remembered the words of the Lord. As other disciples, he did not like being suffered and humiliated and cursed that he rebuked the Lord Jesus who spoke his death and resurrection. Like Peter and other disciples, we are all in the same page. Who likes suffering at all? Who welcomes pains and aches? No one. But we can face it because our Lord Jesus went through in our place as the Son of Man. He was most accused falsely, humiliated, ridiculed, and finally charged untruthfully and sentenced to death like a criminal in our place. Peter wept in misery and brokenness. However, the Risen Lord Jesus visited him on the Sea of Galilee and reinstated him as a shepherd of God’s flock on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. I am sure that he broke his tears when Jesus fed him with bread and fish. Finally, he understood the true Messiahship that Christ must have gone through the crucifixion on a cross, shedding his blood, in order to be raised from the dead, so that all may have life in him, more abundantly. Peter is still encouraging Jesus’ followers to greatly rejoice though for a little while we may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. This is written in his Letter to the saints.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:3-9)

April 13, 2017

© 2015-2017 David Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.

The Resurrection and Marriage (Luke 20:27-47)

Every human must die once. Is it the end? Is there anything after death? No one knows. Just many speculations and theories. Man is fatalistic if this life is all and no more. Paul says that the believers in Christ are most to be pitied if only for this life we have. “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19) Thank Jesus who tells what death is and what follows after. There is a group of people who say there is no resurrection come to Jesus with a question. They are called the Sadducees, one party of ruling body in the first century Israel. One must die once, then the resurrection follows, says the Scripture. So, death is considered not as a terrible separation with the loved ones but sleep, a necessary refreshment to maintain strength and stamina in living on the earth and a guarantee to wake up again after hours. Two kinds of resurrection are there—one for eternal life in glory for those who believe in Christ and the other for eternal separation from the Lord for those who do not believe in the Son of Man, the cornerstone.

“Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. The second and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died too. Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” Some of the teachers of the law responded, “Well said, teacher!” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.” (Luke 20:27-40)

The question is carefully designed to make the resurrection claim as ridiculous and ludicrous as seven brothers would be in a very awkward position if it were true. It sounds logical, reasonable, and even intelligent. But what does Jesus answer? Matthew put these words of Jesus first, saying “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) It must be a statement of great offense to the Sadducees who are supposed to be considered as the dedicated students of the Scriptures in knowing and understanding. As always, our Lord Jesus truthfully answers for them in love. They are in error in knowing what would look like in the age to come, so their question simply reflects their blindness and ignorance. They are just saying what’s happening in this age that people get married and die. What does it mean that people will neither marry nor be given in marriage and they can no longer die, for they are like angles? This is a new revelation taught by the Son of God himself though it is faithfully in line with the Old Scripture as our Lord Jesus tells a story of Moses in the account of the burning bush where he was shown that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord “God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  

I believe our Lord Jesus is shining the light on marriage which is written in the Scripture as the highlight of God’s creation. Almost everyone marries both male and female. In heaven, our Lord says people will not marry nor will be given in marriage. Why do then people marry and are given in marriage in this age? Why did God institute marriage between Adam and woman, the first couple on earth? Marriage is a profound teaching vehicle for God to use in our humanity. Apostle Paul calls marriage a profound mystery. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32) Marriage is a picture and image of the union between God and his children in Christ. What is marriage? It is the union of one man and one woman in body, soul, and spirit. It is to know each other, going through lifetime commitment and many ups and downs. Knowing the spouse is a life long process. Knowing what? I think it is to learn how much they are different each other and gradually how to love each other as Christ submitted himself to the Father. Male and female are opposite in sex and different in many ways. Differences between man and woman are visibly obvious physically and psychologically, but no difference spiritually. Knowing the spouse is so significant as our Lord Jesus says this, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Marriage is designed to understand life eventually.

What is a tool God has hidden in marriage? It’s sex. Only within the marriage boundary between one man and one woman, sex is permitted liberally and freely. “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4) Premarital sex, any sex outside of marriage called adultery, and the same sex marriage are wrong and evil in God’s eyes. It is a serious and dangerous violation of the Law of God. Because it involves the sexual union in the act of sex. Apostle Paul reveals further regarding the sacredness of human sexual relations. “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:16-17) Sexual relations are not something that people can enjoy and forget about even in prostitution. It is the expression and language of exquisite intimacy, becoming one flesh through the union of sex. There is no such free joy ride of any sexual relations outside marriage. The ignorant cannot avoid the painful and hurting consequences. Why is it so intimate? Because it involves spiritual union beyond physical union. Paul continues to plea the saints in Corinth to flee from all sexual immorality, including modern day pornography.

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

Through marriage in this age, God is teaching the ultimate holy union between Christ and the church. That is not the second thought of God. We’re made so before the creation of the world. We’re made as the temple of God, the dwelling place of the Lord forever. God is our inheritance and we are his inheritance for he bought us with a price. We’re never made to live on our own independently without him. All marriage vow must be kept pure by yielding one to the other. “The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” (1 Corinthians 7:3-5) Marriage in this age is temporal and will not survive through death. But the value and principle of marriage survives forever.

Through marriage, God is teaching how we become one regardless of differences in nature. This picture teaches how we come to become one with God though we are his creature, fallen and lost in rebellion against him and becoming his enemies. So, we no longer die because we are one with God who is eternal and immortal. We are one with God in Christ, constantly eating his body and drinking his blood out of rivers of living water. Heaven is definitely described as follows in the Scripture. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) Because we will be drinking the living water which will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

We are the children of God and thus inherit the life of the Father in Christ as the children of the resurrection. We have been yearning and hungering and thirsting for being clothed with the righteousness of God. That cloth has been prepared for the believers even before the time began. “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

David calls Jesus the Lord who is the son of David because God is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. Jesus became the son of David to fulfill the Scriptures, making himself nothing and humbling himself to present his body to the Father as the sin and drink offering on a cross. But those who continue to live unrealistically by being boast of themselves and hypocritically by robbing the honor and respect and power and glory of God on their own will be punished most severely (Luke 20:45-47). With the hope of the resurrection being clothed with the heavenly dwelling which God designed, we make a living everyday worthy of the Lord, offering our bodies to the Father in heaven as the living sacrifice. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Because what will be happening to the believers in Christ at the last trumpet call is that we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye. At the last trumpet call, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:50-53). And we will be with the Lord forever.

April 1, 2017

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