Knowing God's Will - P2

1 Thessalonians 4:2-3 "For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality"

How you and I can know and follow God's W.I.L.L.
When we talk about the believer knowing the will of God, we understand this to be a central truth of scripture.  Great Bible teacher and theologian J.I. Packer wrote a little book years ago entitled: "Finding God's Will".  In that little book he writes: "Belief that divine guidance is real rests on two facts: first, the reality of God's plan for us; second, the ability of God to communicate with us. On both, the Bible has much to say." Another great thinker, Sinclair B. Furgunson, notes in his book: "Discovering God's Will" - "So, when we come to Christ and ask: 'Will you be my shepherd and my Guide through life?' he asks in return: 'Will you take up the cross daily, and follow me?' The two things can never be separated: Christ-likeness then, in glory, must be preceeded by Christ-likeness now, under the cross."  With those thoughts in mind, let us consider what God's Word has to say regarding how you and I as Christians can effectively know and follow God's will.  Yesterday we noted two of the four thoughts based upon the acrostic W.I.L.L from Deuteronomy 13-15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12:

Word of God. Deuteronomy 13:4,18; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3
Indwelling Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 13:4,18; 1 Thessalonians 4:8, 5:18

Today we want to consider two other necessary ingredients that are vital for Christians who want to know and follow the will of God:

Live in obedience. Deuteronomy 14:1-29; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
Love fellow Christians. Deuteronomy 15:7-8; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12

Live in Obedience.  Deuteronomy 14:1-29; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
Deuteronomy 14:1 starts out reminding the Israelites - "you are the sons of the Lord..."  That title indicates the level of relationship God was wanting to have with His people.  He had given them His Word to know His will and the Spirit to guide them, however He was calling them also to Live in obedience to Him.  As you explore the remainder of Deuteronomy 14, you will find the necessity of the people to not be worldly like the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 14:1-21).  Furthermore, Moses writes on the subject of tithing and stewardship, an area which is often used to demonstrate obedience of the believer in the scriptures. (Deuteronomy 14:22-29)

When you and I are purposefully living in obedience, we are positionaing ourselves to better know and follow the will of God.  Obedience is the Christian's way of opening the door of their life to God's power and purposes and presence in their life.  When God sees an obedient heart of faith, He will guide and direct by His Word and Spirit.  1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 states - "Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more".  The Thessalonains were reminded to be obedient in the area of loving their brothers by both their affection and giving.  We know that Thessalonica, along with the other Macedonian churches, were involved in a missions giving effort for the church at Jerusalem. (2 Corinthians 8:1-2) Obedience in the realm of stewardship will enable the believer to know God's will when it comes to finances.

In this same chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes how abstaining from worldy lusts is the will of God for Christians. (1 Thessalonians 4:3)  Obedience in these areas, like we saw in Deuteronomy 14, are just two examples of how we see obedience being a necessary requirement for knowing and following God's will.  Think about it: what two areas do you and I find people often confused and bewildered? Moral issues and financial decisions.  Our culture needs people who know God's mind on such matters.  If you and I will be but obedient in not only those areas, but in every area, we will know God's will.  As one preacher has noted: "Without God, we can't.  And without us, God won't."  Romans 12:1-2 states - "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

Love fellow Christians. Deuteronomy 15:7-8; 1 Thess 4:9-12
Deuteronomy 15 is concerned with how the Israelites were to treat, honor and love their fellow Israelites whether they were slave or poor.  In Deuteronomy 15:7-8 we read - "If there is a poor man with you, one of your brothers, in any of your towns in your land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand from your poor brother; 8but you shall freely open your hand to him, and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks."  This verse is a specific example of what Jesus called one of the greatest commandments, namely "loving your neighbor as yourself". (Mark 12:30-31)  How we love our fellow believers says a lot of how much we are operating in the will of God.  1 Thessalonians 4:9 tells us - "Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another."  Whenever I am aiming to love my neighbor or my fellow believer, I will find myself doing and knowing the will of God.

Jesus lays out this principle of the relationship between my love for my brother and my loving and knowing God.  In Matthew 5:23-24 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."  When you and I harbor bitterness or resentment, we will find our ability to know and follow God's will greatly hindered.  A bitter heart greatly hinders your ability to digest biblical truth (1 Peter 2:1-2) and hearing the Spirit of God, since a bitter heart grieves and quenches Him. (Ephesians 4:30-32; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)  Furthermore, a heart that stops loving a fellow believer will find itself inconsistent in obedience. (James 1:8)  It is critical that if we are to have a greater effectiveness in knowing and doing God's will, we clear our hearts of resentment, and have the love of God flow through unhindered. (1 John 2:10-11)

Conclusion - Knowing God's W.I.L.L.
We have seen in these past two blogs that in order for you and I to effectively know and follow God's will, we need the following necessary elements:  1. The Word of God 2. The Indwelling Holy Spirit. 3. Living in Obedience. 4. Loving our fellow believer.  With these four essential ingredients, we as Christians can operate and know that we know that we know God's will for our lives. 

Knowing God's Will - P1

Deuteronomy 13:4 “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Created to hear God and to know His will, lost the ability to hear God and know His will and recreated to hear God and know His will
What is the will of God? Simply put, God's will is His desire, His wish, His decree to bring to pass whatsoever he desires.  The whole message of scripture can be summarized through this concept of knowing God's will or hearing His voice. 

1. Creation - Man was created to hear God and know His will. 
In Genesis 1:26-28 we read of how God stated to Himself that he wanted to make man in His image and likeness.  The Triune God created man with the capacity to hear His voice and to know His will.  Genesis 2:16 "The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely".  God originally created Adam and his wife to walk with Him and he with them.  However the fall changed all of that.

2. Sin - Man lost his ability to hear God and know His will.
When we come to Genesis 3, we find Adam and his wife exchanging the glory and truth of God for created things, heeding the voice of the serpent rather than God's voice.  Genesis 3:8-9 has God coming down in the cool of the day.  God knew what man had done.  He was searching out the man and his wife, for they were lost and hiding from him.  At that point God was not under any further obligation to reconnect with man.  The original covenant of works He had made with man had been broken by man.  Despite that, God issued forth a covenant of grace, whereby through faith and the shed blood of an innocent substitute, man could be re-created in his innermost part (his spirit) to hear and known God's will.

3. Recreation - Man is born again by grace through faith to believe, hear and know God's will
2 Corinthians 5:17 states - "If any man be in Christ, He is a new creation, old things have passed away and behold, all things become new."  Salvation in the Bible is about God reconnecting with man, and man in turn responding in that grace through faith to reconnect with God.  Jesus said concerning His reason for coming in John 10:3-4  “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4“When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice."

How you and I can know and follow God's W.I.L.L.
When we talk about the believer knowing the will of God, we understand this to be a central truth of scripture.  Great Bible teacher and theologian J.I. Packer wrote a little book years ago entitled: "Finding God's Will".  In that little book he writes: "Belief that divine guidance is real rests on two facts: first, the reality of God's plan for us; second, the ability of God to communicate with us. On both, the Bible has much to say." With that thought in mind, let us consider what God's Word has to say regarding how you and I as Christians can know and follow God's will.  Consider four thoughts, based upon the acrostic W.I.L.L from Deuteronomy 13-15 and 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12:

Word of God. Deuteronomy 13:4,18; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3
Indwelling Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 13:4,18; 1 Thessalonians 4:8, 5:18
Live in obedience. Deuteronomy 14:1-29; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
Love fellow Christians. Deuteronomy 15:7-8; 1 Thess 4:9-12

For the sake of space we will consider the first two thoughts today...

Word of God
As Moses is preaching to a new generation of God's people, he warns them of not heeding the voice of false prophets.  The reason being is because He is training them for how to discern true from false prophets.  To heed the voice of a false prophet is to follow the will of man.  To heed the voice of God's Word from God's man meant they would follow and know God's will.  Deuteronomy 13:4 states -  “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  In Deuteronomy 29:29, the same author Moses writes -  “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."  Those revealed things are God's Words - His revealed will, His known will. 

 In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3a "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God..."  To know God's word is to know God will, since the scriptures are the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)  Quite literally the scriptures are the written mind of God.  The people to whom Moses was preaching had to know God's will, since they were going to be entering into the promised land under Joshua's leadership within a span of two months.  That is why God had raised up Moses, the greatest prophet of that era and most faithful to God in that capacity. (Numbers 12:6; Hebrews 3:5) 

So if you and I are going to effectively know God's will, we must first begin in the scriptures themselves, which are the known will of God for both us and out children. (Deuteronomy 29:29)  However there is a second thing necessary for you and I to effectively know and do the will of God....

Indwelling Holy Spirit
As Moses writes onward, he states in Deuteronomy 13:18 "if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God." The voice of God, being the will of God, is no doubt equated with the scriptures.  However we also know that the voice of God is transmitted by the person of the Holy Spirit.  Was it not God the Father who spoke in the creation, with the Spirit of God hovering and taking those words and transforming them into sounds of life? (Genesis 1:1-2)  As God spoke to Moses and these people, scripture tells us in Hebrews 3:7 - "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE."  In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit spoke to Moses and to His people, however something took place when God the Son came in human flesh in the New Testament.  Jesus Himself promised that when He raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven, the Father would send in His name the Holy Spirit, who would speak and guide believers from within their heart or human spirit. (John 14:17)

In Moses day, the Holy Spirit spoke to his people by the scriptures, as we have seen already in Deuteronomy 13:18.  However in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 we see the Holy Spirit guiding and speaking in His people  "So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you."  The Holy Spirit is given to New Testament saints to indwell and guide the child of God to know God's will through the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 6:19,20)  

As you and I dear Christian give ourselves to the scriptures, the Holy Spirit indwelling our human spirit will begin to speak to us. As a Christian is led more and more by the Holy Spirit in his human spirit, the scriptures that are taken into the human mind will equip him to know God's will.  1 Corinthians 2:10-13 "For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."  Romans 8:16 tells us - "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God".

More tomorrow as we consider two more elements necessary to effectively know and follow God's will........

 

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Why Christians need the Gospel

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

When Paul wrote his first letter to the Church at Corinth, he had to deal with quarrels and divisions that had arisen in that congregation. (1 Corinthians 1:11)  In dealing with those issues, Paul proclaimed to the church the only remedy - The Gospel.  As you read 1 Corinthians 1:17-2:5, you quickly discover that the Gospel must not only be heard and believed by sinners in order to be saved, but it must be heard daily by the saints so that they can be more effective in their lives after getting saved.  In todays blog I want you to see the various names the Apostle Paul uses in describing the Gospel that he preaches.  If we can see other names given in scripture for the Gospel message, we can then understand better why as Christians we need to hear the Gospel everyday.

THE GOSPEL....
1. In content "The Word of the Cross."    1 Corinthians 1:18a
2. In its strength "The power of God".     1 Corinthians 1:18b, 24
3. In its resource "The wisdom of God." 1 Cor 1:21, 24b, 30 
4. In its focus "Christ crucified".    1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2
5. To the world "foolishness of God."     1 Corinthians 1:25
6. To us who believe "testimony of God". 1 Corinthians 2:1
7. Changes lives "demonstration of the Spirit and of Power" 2:4

As Paul preaches this Gospel to these Corinthians, he knows that only the Gospel can change their hearts, call them out of their compromise and reinforce their identity in Jesus Christ.  The purpose of preaching this Gospel and hearing it daily is spelled out in 1 Corinthians 2:5 "so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." Christians need the Gospel, so that they can operate not on the wisdom and power of men, but of God. 

Necessary Ingredients for Following Jesus

John 1:35-37  "Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."

Meet a Christian who followed Jesus for at least 75 years
The man named "John" in the passage above was John the Baptist, the forerunner who preached and prepared Israel for the first coming of Jesus the Messiah.  The two disciples or followers of John the Baptist were Andrew and another man named John.  That John who from this point forward we will refer to as the "Apostle John", is the author of the Gospel of John from whence the above passage is taken.  Why are we interested in the Apostle John? because his faith-life is unique in the New Testament in that he is the longest recorded follower of Jesus.  From his own testimony here in John 1:35-37 till we come to his final book, the "Revelation of Jesus Christ" represents roughly 75 years of time (assuming John was 20 or so at his conversion).  75 years is a remarkably long period of time for anyone to be following Jesus.  What is even more remarkable is how you can see John's faithwalk from beginning to end. 

Today I want us to consider the Apostle John's faithwalk as recorded in various poritions of the New Testament as outlining for us what it really takes to follow Jesus Christ over the long haul.  As you study his life, you discover the following four ingredients necessary for following Jesus Christ:

1. Convinced by Faith to follow Jesus Christ
The way you begin the Christian walk is by grace through faith believing on Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to follow Him in discipleship.  It is rare that on the first hearing of the Gospel that anyone will actually excercise true saving faith.  The Apostle John was no exception.  When we compare Jesus' encounter with him, Andrew and Peter in John 1:35-39, the apostle John is right beside his then mentor, John the Baptist.  Upon hearing John the Baptist proclaim "behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29), the Apostle John follows Jesus, but merely out of curiosity.  He was emotionally and intellectually stimulated.  He heard his mentor's words with his physical ear, but evidently the Spirit of God had not yet dealt with the ears of his heart. (Ephesians 1:16-18) 

In Matthew 4:18-22 we see Jesus on the Sea of Galilee calling out to Peter, John and James.  That episode is the second time Jesus calls them.  It had been months since the first encounter recorded in John 1:35-39. In this second "call" of Jesus, Peter, James and John all "leave their nets" and follow Jesus permenantly.  What was the difference?  Evidently the Spirit of God had been working in John's heart since that first encounter, and in this second instance, John was convinced by grace.  He "heard" with the inward ears of the heart and was not merely curious, but convinced to followed Jesus. (John 1:12-13) 

2. Closely Follow Jesus
As John began his faith walk in his early twenties, Mark's Gospel gives us snapshots of this disciple whom Jesus loved.  In Mark 3:17 we see John listed as one of three "inner disciples" among the twelve, as evidenced by his name among the top three first listed.  As John grows in his faith, Jesus lets him be one of the only three disciples he allowed to enter into the room where Jesus would raise jairus' daughter from the dead. (Mark 5:37) Other texts in Mark (9:2, 13:3,4, 14:43) all show John as being in close proximity to Jesus.  John early on evidenced a faith that hung on Jesus' every word.  Dear friend, this is the kind of faithwalk we ought to have as Christians.  Notice a third necessary ingredient of following Jesus...

3. Constantly pursuing to please Jesus
When we speak of wanting to "please Jesus", were not talking about making Him like us or love us more.  Rather we're referring to our thoughts and actions bringing him pleasure.  Every Christian will at points have the right heart but the execution of those motives won't always come out right.  In Luke 9:51-54 we see Jesus and the disciples ministering in Samaria.  Apparently some of the people rejected Jesus, prompting a then young Apostle John to request permission to call down fire from heaven.  The Apostle John loved his master.  He saw everything in black and white, however his wording, his timing and his actions evidenced a faith still in process and maturity.  This ingredient became seasoned throughout the course of John's long life, as evidenced in numerous New Testament examples. (Acts 1:13-14; 3:1; 4:3; 8:14; 12:1-2; Galatians 2:9)  You and I should be a people who pursue to please Jesus. But notice a final necessary ingredient of following Jesus....

4. Consumed with Scripture
As we come to see John in his mid-nineties, we see the Holy Ghost inspiring five writings to be produced by the Apostle John: The Gospel of John, 1,2,3 John and Revelation.  John's long walk with Jesus produced in him a consuming desire for the Word of God.  Whenever you read the key verses to two of his writings, John 20:31 and 1 John 5:13, you find a man who wants his readers to know Jesus Christ through the scriptures.  In the Book of Revelation we find John alluding to over 200 Old Testament verses! John was obsessed with scripture.  We as a people of God need to be a people of the book if we are to ever be effective people for Jesus Christ!

Loving the Loving God

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

The Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God
As Moses preaches his final set of messages to the generation of Israelites who are poised to enter into the promised land, he is urging them throughout His messages to Love the Lord their God.  In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 we see this command to love God being most clearly articulated, with Jesus in Mark 12:30-31 defining it as the greatest commandment.  Other places throughout Deuteronomy reinforce the greatest commandment and most important priority of the believer: love the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 7:7-9; 7:12-13; 10:12,15; 11:1,13, 22; 13:3; 19:9; 23:5; 30:6,16,20). 

So then with Moses' making this command the central thought of his message, the question is: Who is this God that we are to love? To answer this question, we must first consider what kind of God we are to love, followed by secondly thinking about Who this God is that we are to love.

The Loving God that we are to love - Sovereign and Singular
So what kind of God is God? First of all God is the Sovereign God - that is, He is in control of all places, all people and all times.  Deuteronomy 10:14 states: “Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it."  Numerous passages throughout scripture assert the Sovereignty of God.  In the New Testament we find these words in 1 Corinthians 8:6 - "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. "  

As scripture asserts the Sovereignty of God we note a second trait of the kind of God we are to love, namely that He is Singular.  Deuteronomy 10:17 “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.  Now when you read that  statement "God of gods", at first glance it may appear that Moses is perhaps saying that God is greatest among other gods.  Understand that this is a Jewish way of proclaiming uniqueness or greatness. To proclaiming something to be the "only, one and most greatest", the Old Testament Hebrew will take a word and then repeat that word again.   We see validity in this interpretation by noting 1 Timothy 6:15-16 "which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen."  God by nature is One God, Singular in existence and Sovereign in power.  

The Loving God who we are to love
In noting the kind of God we are to love in scripture, the next question is: Who is this God of love?  When you consider for just a moment what it takes to have love, you need three things: A Lover or source of love, A Loved One who receives the Love and who is the Object of the Lover, then of course the love cycling back and forth between the Lover and the Loved One.  As we will see in a moment, the loving God's identity can only be His Trinitarian, Three-fold identity as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Illustrating the Trinity by the marriage relationship
Genesis 2:24 states: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."  The language used in this verse of "the husband and wife being one" is similar to the language we use to defining God's identity as "Three persons who exist as One God".  In reflecting on the marriage relationship in Genesis 2:24, we know that love was to be the central expression of the Husband, the lover, to his wife, the beloved.  I would point to the Book of the Song of Solomon, wherein this language of "lover" and "beloved" are used to describe the love of one spouse as received by the other spouse.  Clearly there is love between the husband and wife. Hence on the greatest of all human relationships, you have a lover (Husband) beloved (wife) and the love between.

Ephesians 1:6 describes God the Father loving God the Son: "to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."1  Here you have God the Father, Eternal Love, directing such love to an Eternal Beloved - the Son.2   There was never a time God the Father has not loved, leading to the second truth then that there has to be an Eternal Second person to receive such love.  Furthermore, the Love shared between the Two has to be a Third Person and not just a force, since Eternal Love requires a Third Eternal person to embody the Love expressed. 3  

Illustrating children as the outcome of the husband and wife's loving union as picturing the Triune God's overflow of love choosing to create and redeem
Children are the natural by-product of the loving union of the husband and the wife.  I find it comical at times how children will be surprised by the fact that life existed before them.  When you look at the Bible, is it not God's way of telling us who by grace through faith have believed on Him that He loved the Son and the Son loved Him with the Holy Spirit going between both  before we came along or before He made this world?  Why do husbands and wives have children?  Because they desire to have beings with whom they can share the overflow of love that has already been occuring between themselves.  In an eternal and more profound way, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit did not create this world out of need, but choice.  Even though he knew man would sin, He sent His Son to express in human flesh how adamant He is to extend His love, by His Spirit, to those whom He loves, and whom need to believe in order to receive such love. 

How to love the Loving God
Unless God is Triune in His identity, He cannot be the God of love whom we are to love.  So then how are we to love this loving God? Deuteronomy 11-13 outlines for us how we as believers are to love this loving God.  For the sake of brevity I have just mentioned the key verses in Deuteronomy and corresponding New Testament texts which emphasizes each key point:

1. Walk with Him in love.  Deut 11:1; Eph 4:1, 5:1-2

2. Serve Him in love.        Deut 11:13; 1 Cor 10:31

3. Hate Sin.                     Deut 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15

4. Love His Word.             Deut 12:32-13:1; Jn 14:21

May you and I strive to love this loving God who first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
End Notes__________________________

1 In Deuteronomy 10:15 tells us that this Sovereign and Singular God is the Loving God. As you travel the rest of scripture, you discover the true identity of this loving God. First of all He is the Father, the Eternal Source of love. Moses' final writing of Deuteronomy focuses entirely upon God the Father and His relationship to Israel His people. (Deuteronomy 1:31; 32:6). The Old Testament in fact ends by referring to God as Father. (Malachi 3:17) God the Father has been the Loving God from all eternity. There has never been a time where the Father was not the Loving Person of God. 

2 Which takes us to the Object of the Father's eternal affection, namely God the Son. Psalm 2:7 records a conversation taking place in Eternity where the Father says to His Son: “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." Though the Old Testament focuses more on the Oneness of God's being rather than the plurality of His identity, we do see some reference to God the Son in passages like Proverbs 30:4. As you come to the New Testament, the Son has been with the Father from all eternity. (John1:1) Furthermore, He as always been loved. (Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 1:13) Therefore when God the Father speaks from heaven to Jesus at His baptism by John in Matthew 3:17, its not that the Father began to love Jesus then and there, rather He is stating the fact of His love which has been for the Son from all eternity. 

3 So if God the Father is eternally loving, and the Son has been eternally loved, then it only stands there to be a Person who embodies such eternal love. Scripture reveals this third Personification of such love to be the Holy Spirit. We meet the Holy Spirit as early as Genesis 1:2, and we see the Psalmist in Psalm 143:10 asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide Him. Romans 15:30 identifies the Spirit of God as the Love between the Father and Son -"Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me". It is the Holy Spirit who as the Love between the Father and Son pours Himself into believer's hearts so as to affect love towards Jesus Christ and the Father. (Romans 5:5)

Ultimate Beauty:The Holy Trinity

Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

God's glory in comparison to a city sky-line
Years ago I used to live about 30 minutes outside of Tulsa.  I can recall working different jobs in that area.  Sometimes I would be working a job at night and have to drive in or out of that city.  The skyline of course shimmered, with the lights of the skyscrapers and bridges glistening like diamonds on a black cloth.  In the past I've driven near other big cities as well, marveling at what man can do in the realm of architecture and cityscapes, lighting and effects. 

But then I changed jobs and began working in the early morning hours, running errands almost every week into Tulsa.  Often in my duties I would drive into the city in the early morning hours.  Psalm 19:1 speaks of how "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth His handiwork."  As the sun of God's creation began to change the sky from the dawn of deep brown and orange into the gradual hues of the brillant sapphire, the sun's rays would hit the main skyscrapers.  At dawn those skyscrapers of metal and glass would be transformed into columns of flame and light.  As I drove, the glories of man were eclipsed by the glory of God shown through that morning sky. 

As in the dawning hours, I learned to look at the dusk of sunset in a whole new way.  At times, when driving near a city, my eye is no longer so much impressed with the lights of the city as the varying hues of the sunset overhead.  No city of this world can illuminate the soul, only the eye.  It takes the glory of God, refracted through the Person and work of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit to stir up genuine faith that will glory in the beauty of His holiness.

God's Holiness is the sum total of all His beauty
What is beauty? In art classes that I have taken, we would often define beauty by the standards of symmetry and perfect proportion.  If an object or a person pleased the eye and conveyed a sense of harmony and balance, we regarded it as "beautiful".  Certainly in one respect that is true.  However the scripture's definition of beauty goes one step further.  In the King James Bible, English Standard Version and New Living Translations, the above text at the head of today's blog reads about worshipping God in the "beauty" (KJV) or "splendor" (ESV, NLT) of His holiness.1

For something to be regarded "beautiful" in the Jewish mind meant that whenever the appropriate affections were kindled in my heart in a way that befit the object or person upon whom I was admiring, I would conclude them to be "beautiful". 

Staring at the sun can be either harmful or beautiful, depending upon what is included or excluded
God's holiness in respect to the Christian's relationship to grace is like peering at the Sun through a veil of clouds.  Take away the clouds and the sun will blind me.  God's holiness is regarded by the human heart untouched by grace as being painful and undesireable to look at.  However when grace comes to me and I believe, now I see that holiness transformed into a glorious sunrise - comprised of various hues of color and majesty.   


Seeing the Triune God as both the source and object of Eternal beauty
To worship God in the beauty of His holiness involves my heart already tuned into finding it a thrill and fulfillment in God Himself.  As the Supreme source of Beauty, God in His exquisite beauty of holiness must be by nature One God and by identity the Trinity.  In thinking on what Christians of the past have written about the Ultimate beauty of the Triune God, comparing the Trinity at times to the things of nature, I thought of an illustration.2  Though the illustration below is limited and imperfect, I hope it can convey why it is the authors of scripture point us to the Triune God as Ultimate Beauty in His holiness. 

When we speak of beauty, say a rose, we have to have three essential elements: The root, the stem/petal and the scent.  Take away the root, you do away with the plant itself.  God the Father is the root relationship within the life of God.  From the root at the same time is begotten forth the stem and petal system.  The stem/petal system is what makes the life of the plant visible.  Ruin the petals and stem, you do away with the visible qualities of that Rose.  God the Son is He who makes visible and plain the otherwise unseen Father. (John 14:7) He is the Eternal Object of the Father's unending life, since the Son Himself has the identical unending life. (John 5:26) Then of course what would a Rose be without the scent? Is it not the scent of the Rose that alerts us to its presence and beauty?  I turn around because of the scent proceeding from the petals and stem tied into the root.  All three are interlinked.  The Holy Spirit is the Third member of the Trinity Who draws, convinces and woos the heart to conclude that salvation is needed and that Christ alone can save. (John 16:13-16)

I hope that with some of these thoughts the Lord has shown you just how Ultimately Beautiful and worthy the Triune God is of worship and adoration. 

Endnotes:_______________________________________
1 In page 207 of "Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament" (TWOT), the Hebrew word translated "beauty" or "splendor" is defined as referring to "God's goodness" (Leviticus 23:40; Psalm 111:3; Isaiah 35:2); the beauty of a wife (Proverbs 31:25) and the splendor of a king in his majesty. (Psalm 21:5). Further study reveals that this same word can also speak of the splendor or beauty of cities like Jerusalem. (Isaiah 5:14, Lamentations 1:16) As I looked at these passages, I discovered that often this word translated "beauty" or "splendor" evoked certain affections or emotion in a person. 

2 The Christian writers of which I speak include: Tertullian, Augustine and Jonathan Edwards.  The early church fathers Tertullian (2nd century) and Augustine (4th century) often drew parallelels between the Trinity and things such as plants and various aspects of people.  I know the limitations in such illustrations and use them on a limited basis - due to the fact that the Triune God is in a class by Himself, incapable of ultimate comparison and Worthy of our adoration and worship and love.  Jonathan Edward's (16 century American theologian and preacher) writings on the Trinity have really helped me understand better the significance of the Trinity to understanding the Bible and living the Christian life.  I think of these three particular writers, since all three wrote significant pieces on the Trinity.  In the words of one writer (can't think of their name off hand), I stand as a dwarf on the shoulders of giants in order to admire the lofty heights of the glory of God. 

Body, soul, spirit, Life, Salvation, Death, Resurrection

1 Thessalonians 5:23 "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ."

Today's blog will attempt to tell the complete saga of man, a soul with a spirit clothed in a body, through five main points covered in scripture: creation, fall, redemption, death and resurrection.

1. Man as a soul, with a spirit clothed in a body at creation.
Man is a three-fold being who was created to know God and excercise authority in this world. As we noted yesterday we defined man as a soul with a spirit clothed in a body.  After working our way through many scriptures and several observations, we concluded that man is essentially a three-fold being: body, soul and spirit.  Second, though a second viewpoint (dichotomy) terms man a two-fold being, immaterial/material, we did not entirely dismiss that view out of hand.  The reason being is because from Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 2:7 we see God revealing the creation of man from two angles: a spiritual being in a physical body who was to walk with God and a soul clothed in a body who was to take dominion over his surroundings and be self-aware. 

In short, here is what we learn of mankind as originally created:

1. Humanity's body was perfect, capable of interracting and working the physical environment.  Being that the body of man was made from the earth, God embdued the body with five senses and the capability to be aware of the world.

2. Humanity's soul is the life of the man.  The soul was breathed from the Spirit of God embduing physical life into the man.  Man was uniquely created with the ability to think, feel, choose and have conivictions or a conscience.  The soul is the man himself. We could say, with older Bible teachers of the past, that the soul is simply man's self awareness and the body is his center of world awareness.

3. Humanity's spirit was to be the aspect of man wherein he communed with God.  Being made in the image of God meant among other things that man alone could communicate and be communicated to by God in his spirit. 


2. Man as a living soul, clothed in a body, died in his spirit at the fall
When Adam and Eve heeded the voice of the serpent tempting them in the garden to partake of the tree, the scripture says that for Eve, the tree was pleasant to the eyes and desireable to eat.  She had already began to alter God's word in her mind and by her will she chose to abnadon the grace of God on her life in preference to her soulish desires.  Adam willfully chose his wife over God and the two of them fell from the Grace that has been clothing their mortal bodies.  As souls they continued to live, however the curse of death and decay began to set in, killing their spirit, affecting their soul totally to the point of where they could only live by their own desires.  The bodies of the both of them would be subject to physical death.  All of this of course ended up affecting every single person born into this world, with the sin and guilt of Adam passed down through the bloodline of the father's side. (1 Peter 1:17-18) In short:

1. Man died in his spirit
2. Is corrupted in his thinking, feeling and choosing in his soul.  Nothing he can do, apart from grace and saving faith can please God.
3. Will die in his body.

3. Saved man is a soul who has a resurrected spirit and lives in a body
When a man is born again by the Spirit of God and believes on Jesus Christ for the forgivness of sins, the Bible is clear on what takes place.  First, the Holy Spirit at saving faith has pentetrated past my mind, emotions, will of my soul and through God Word, pierces the dividing wall between soul and spirit. (Hebrews 4:12) As He shows me the awfulness of my sin and the awesomeness of Jesus Christ, by the New Birth I believe and am saved, born again, justified or decllared righteous and adopted into God's family. (John 1:12-13; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:3; Romans 8:16-17)  At salvation I am instantly saved in my spirit or "inner man" by the New Birth or Regeneration. As I grow in grace through the process of sanctification, I am being saved in my soul as I conform my mind, emotions and will to God's Word.  Though sin indwells my soul, my new nature in my spirit is the working of the Spirit who desires to affect me in my soul.  The body of course is still decaying.  In short:

1. My spirit or inner man is made alive by the New Birth
2. My soul is being saved and I through Christ am urged daily by the Spirit in my human spirit to go to the scriptures and be led by Him
3. My body is still decaying.  I realize now as a Christian I am to look forward to resurrection. 

Sadly not everyone will by grace through faith believe on Jesus Christ.  It is God's grace, His Spirit and His word which prevail upon people to choose and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is man who choosing to reject Christ apart from grace deems himself unworthy of eternal life. (Acts 13:46) Unless the Spirit of God moves, and unless a person believes and repents of his sins, they will still be a soul with a dead human spirit living in a decaying body.  An unbeliever functions in their body, soul and dead spirit much like those who evidence never having been truly saved as seen in 1 Timothy 5:6 "she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives."

4. Saved people are souls, with living spirits who die and leave behind a dead human body and go to heaven.  Unsaved people are souls, with dead spirits who leave behind a dead human body and go to hell to await judgment
So what occurs at death?  For the Christian, the Bible states in 2 Corinthians 5:6 "Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord"  The Christian as a soul with a spirit goes immediately into the hands of the Lord in Heaven, where he is welcomed with a glorious entrance. (2 Peter 1:11-12)  The body, called by Paul (2 Corinthians 5:1-5) and Peter (2 Peter 1:14) a tent, refers to the frail and temporary nature of our current physical body that eventually returns to the dust from when it came.  Unbelievers, when they die, are souls with dead human spirit who immediately go to a place called Sheol, Hades or hell, as exampled by the Rich Man in Luke 16:29-31.  Contrary to pop culture today, when a person dies, it is a one way trip to the immediate presence of God for believers and Hell for sinners.  With those sober realities outlined, we must understand that scripture reveals one more point in its saga of believers/unbelievers in the body, souls and spirits....

5. There is to be a resurrection for the righteous and a resurrection of the unrighteous
Though a Christian in their souls and spirit go immediately into the presence of the Lord, the totality of His salvation for them is not yet complete.  Yes they are free from the penalty of sin in their spirit - thus in that respect they are instantly saved.  Concerning their souls, they are progressively saved by the Spirit's sanctifying work, making them more and more like Jesus while they excercise their mind, emotions and will in His Word - hence the removal of sin's power.  And even when they get to Heaven, believers certainly enjoy a dimension of existence whereby they are set free from the presence of sin - i.e glorification.  However the Christian in that state is looking forward to the day they get a resurrected body like their Lord.  At His return, Christ will resurrect every believer, Old and New Testament, transforming their bones and decay into a glorified resurrected body - setting the body free from the putrification of sin. (Daniel 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; 1 John 3:1-3)  The ressurrection represents the goal of redemption, a hope that was first revealed to men such as Job (Job 14:14; 19:25-28) and Abraham (Hebrews 11:19)

Sadly for unbelievers, they await the final judgment which will occur a thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous.  Though not spelled out in near the detail as that of believers, unbelievers evidently will have a ressurected body capable of withstanding eternal judgment. Daniel 12:2b tells us that the resurrection of the wicked will receive a body that is "disgraceful, existing in everlasting contempt".  Christ at that final judgment will cast them into the Lake of Fire, along with the Devil and his fallen angels. (Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:11-15)

Conclusion: Today's blog attempted to tell the complete saga of man, a soul with a spirit clothed in a body, through five main points covered in scripture: creation, fall, redemption, death and resurrection.  My prayer is that this will aid you in your study of the scripture and perhaps shed light on both your own life and your dealings with others.  Remember, what is done on this earth will pass, what is done for Christ will last. 

A soul, with a spirit, clothed in a body

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:7  Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.


Man is a soul, with spirit, clothed with a body  
David in Psalm 8:4-5 asks - "What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? (5) Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!"  Human beings are uniue among all of God's creations.  In the two passages of Genesis quoted above, we see the creation of man from two different angles. 

Man is a spiritual being: having a spirit and a physical body, a two-fold spirit/body creature
In the Genesis 1:26-27 we see the emphasis placed upon man the physical being created with the capacity to communicate and be communicated to by God.  Man is thus a spiritual being with a physical body.  In some places in scripture, we are given this two-fold view of man as a spirit in a body.  (Psalm 31:5; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Luke 23:46; John 19:30; Acts 7:59; James 2:26; 1 Corinthians 7:34)  

Man is a soul clothed with a body, a two-fold soul/body creature who perceives himself and relates to this world
Then in Genesis 2:7 we see the same creative event from the standpoint of man the physical being in relationship to himself and his surroundings.  The text in the original language reads that God breathed into the nostrils of man and he became a "living soul".  Here we see man "becoming a soul" with a physical body, endued with the breath of life from God.  Throughout scripture we at times we see a two-fold picture of man as a soul clothed with a body - emphasizing man as he perceives himself in relationship to his surroundings. (Genesis 35:18; 1 Kings 7:21; Isaiah 53:12; Luke 12:20)   

Now some Bible teachers have concluded that man is a two-fold being, material body and immaterial spirit or soul. 1 They will point out at times how the scripture will use the terms "spirit" and "soul" interchangeably.  Furthermore, the term "heart", which is used in scripture to describe the source from whence man thinks, feels and acts, is used either to describe the soul or spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5;Mark 12:30-31) 2 

Mankind is a soul, with a spirit clothed in a body
In the progressive revelation of scripture, we come to discover that the passages speaking of man as a spirit/body, and those referring to man as a soul/body are viewing man from two angles, just as we have witnessed in Genesis 1:26-27 and 2:7.  Further study will reveal that mankind is not just a two-fold being, but a three-fold being: a soul, with a spirit clothed with a body.3  Three passages in the New Testament bear out this important insight, two of which simply define mankind as a three-fold being and one of which explains this truth in detail:

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Hebrews 4:12  "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

3. 1 Corinthans 2:1-3:4. (Natural Unsaved man, Saved Spirit-filled man, Saved Spirit-indwelt carnal man).  In 1 Corinthians 2 we see the contrast between unbelievers who are operating as living souls, with a dead human spirit clothed in a body and believers as living souls, with regenerated spirits clothed in a body. When we come to 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, we find believers who with regenerated human spirits quenching the Holy Spirit and relying more on their carnal appetites in their soul and bodies.  

First, natural unbelieving man is a living soul who thinks (mind), feels (emotions), chooses (will) and has convictions (conscience).  However his human spirit, which was designed originally to commune with God, is dead, thus to the natural man, operating as a sinful soul with a dead human spirit, regards the Gospel and the things of God as incomprehensible (1 Corinthians 2:6-8) and foolish (2:14). 

Next Paul describes what takes place at salvation.  The natural man is engaged in conviction and grace by the Holy Spirit, who penetrates past the mind, emotions and will of His soul into his spirit.  With that Divine working of the Spirit, the soul of the man responds at the resurrecting work the Spirit is doing in that persons human spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13)  Natural man becomes supernatural.  He is instantly born again in his human spirit by God's grace working faith as he chooses Jesus Christ.  The Christian with his soul is able to take into his mind, emotions and will God's Word, enabling him to commune with the Holy Spirit who lives in his human spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:10-13, 6:16, 19-20; James 1:18)  Overtime, the Christian can begin to think and act more and more like Jesus, since with God's word he is developing the mind of Christ, which is the sum total of the contents of divine scripture.   

Sadly, and thirdly, Paul explains what can happen to a Christian who though having the indwelling Holy Spirit in his human spirit, decides for a period of time to listen to the remaining carnal remnants of sin in his soul. (1 Corinthians 3:1-4)  As a result, the Spirit of God is greived and quenched, meaning that unless the Christian repents, no communication and leading by the Spirit will occur lest that Christian repents. (Ephesians 4:30-32; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 2 Timothy 2:24-26).  This condition of the Christian is what we term "carnal".  In affect, the Christian operates as a "reverse hypocrite", meaning that he is trying to be what he really is not, namely acting as an unbeliever even though He is a Christian.  Thankfully God the Father will not let a Christian operate persistently in this condition for too long without executing fatherly discipline to turn the child of God back. (Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6-8)

Endnotes:_____________
1 This position which is quite popular among conservative Bible believing Christians is called "di-chotomy" proposes man to be a two-fold being - immaterial and physical.
 
2 I will grant, the language used by scripture to explain the nature of human beings can exhibit overlap, however the primary point of the Bible's description of mankind is not merely clinical. Rather the Bible is describing man primarily as a spiritual and moral individual in need of salvation and resurrection. 

3 This position of viewing man as a three-part being is what we term "tri-chotomy".  My own viewpoint on this subject is that with dichotomy and trichotomy, people should not pit one against the other.  I believe that dichotomy represents legitimate observations of scripture that do define man in a two-fold way, however the viewpoint needs to follow through and see how the Bible takes those insights and shows man to be a body,soul and spirit.  Thus I do see man as a trichotomy, however we need to understand that there is two ways to speak of man.  First, man is a spirit being with a body, classified as seperated from God spiritually as a sinner or knowing God spiritually as a Christian.  Second, mankind is a soul clothed with a body who can be creative and interact with the world around him. As a sinner he is subject to the appetites of the fallen drives and thus operates completely out of the mind, emotions and will of the soul through his physical body. 

 

Jacob's Vision of Heavenly Glory

Genesis 28:12 "He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it."



Yesterday we looked at Abraham's vision of heavenly glory, noting the God centeredness of what He saw in his vision.  He saw the Lord, called in the Hebrew "Adonai" - the Master of all things.  He saw how the Lord reigns in various aspects in providence, redemption, revelation and prophecy.  Today we will be looking at Abraham's grandson Jacob.  Jacob's conversion experience is recorded for us in Genesis 28.  As you will see in this very brief overview of what Jacob saw and witnessed, his vision of Heavenly glory entails the vision of a ladder, with its top reach up to Heaven. 

Which Heaven was Jacob able to see into?
For regular readers of my blog, I had blogged several days ago about what the Bible teaches about Heaven in a post entitled: "The Bible's Four Heavens".  In that blog it was noted that the Bible's use of the word Heaven can refer to the 1st heaven - the air; the 2nd heaven - the universe; the 3rd heaven - the present abode of God; and the New Heavens, which will be manifest at the end of Christ's millennial reign.  I wanted you the reader to ask yourself: "which heaven is Jacob peering into?"  It can't be just the 1st heaven, the sky, since that is normally populated by birds.  It can't be the 2nd Heaven - the universe, since that is the domain of planets, stars and moons.  What Jacob is seeing into is the third Heaven - the domain of angels and the highest aspect of that being the abode of the Infinite Holy Triune God.

What was Jacob's ladder?
Quite literally heaven came down to him - and no doubt it caused him to shudder in fear and wonder.  Genesis 28:16-17 16Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  The focal point of this vision was the ladder.  Some have suggested that the pillar which Jacob set up and anointed with oil was a replica of that vision. Whatever the case may be, the point is that the ladder coming from the top to the bottom occupied the center stage.  Now why do I say that? Because it is not until almost 2,000 years later that Jesus says these words at the onset of His ministry in John 1:51 -  "And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  That ladder which Jacob saw was none other than an Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ.!

What can we gain about heavenly glory from Jacob's vision?
As we now have seen, Jesus Christ is that ladder reaching from heaven to earth.  In John 14:6 Jesus says of Himself - "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but through me."  As we close out this blog today, I want to leave you with three thoughts that explain what Jacob saw in his vision of heavenly glory - pointing the way to the Lord Jesus Christ:

1. He saw the way to Heaven.  Genesis 28:12
Jesus Christ reaches from the top to the bottom.  All other religions teach about the way to Heaven, whereas Jesus alone claims He is the way to Heaven. 

2. He saw the Truth that gets you to heaven. Genesis 28:13-17
All other religions, ideologies, philosophies and "isms" will teach you morality, but know this - their roads paved with bricks of human effort will lead straight to the gates of hell.  However what did Jacob say: that the place of his vision, Bethel, was the "gate of Heaven".  Jesus Christ is the way.  In fact Jesus Himself says in John 10:9 that he is the doorway, the gateway through which the sheep can enter.  Truth by nature is exclusive - and Jesus Christ alone is the true and tried way by which you by grace through faith can enter into Heavenly glory.

3. He saw the life of Heaven. Genesis 28:18-22
Jacob's life was never the same from that encounter.  He did not know what He saw by name, but the substance of the person of the Son was ever stamped on His heart - Jacob literally saw the Lord through the veil of visions and shadows.  He saw that living ladder, Jesus Christ.  When he had went to sleep, he was a rebel - however when he awoke, and grace called Him, and He believed upon the one whom He saw, Jacob became a worshipper.  His speech changed, his actions changed and even his pocketbook changed.  He wanted to talk about the things of God, do the things of God and give toward the things of God.  In other words - the life of God in heaven entered into his life.  Jacob was never the same from that moment. 

Abraham's Vision of Heavenly Glory

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”



Abraham saw the master of all things, Adonai, the Lord of Heavenly Glory
Acts 7:2 tells us about Abraham -  "And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran."  What characterized Abraham's walk with God was the fact that he heard and saw God.  In Genesis 15 the Lord appears to Abraham in a vision of Heavenly glory.  What God does is to take this 75 year old Patriarch by way of dreams and vision through four centuries of time to the days of Moses and the Israelites.  What is it that this patriarch saw? He saw the Lord (Adonay in the Hebrew), the master of all things. 

This chapter is significant in that the Lord, the Master of all things, utters a phrase that we see for the first time in scripture: "Do not fear". (Genesis 15:1)  Over 200 times in the Bible do we see God saying this to His people.  When you and I have been impacted by the Master of all things, Adonai, The Lord, we will have no fear.  If you will but fear God, you will fear nothing else, but if you fear everything else but God, you will be bound by fear. 

So with that bit of introduction, what exactly did Abraham see in regards to the Heavenly glory of the Lord? What we discover from this chapter as well as others that speak about heaven and its glory - God is at the center and circumference.  Heaven is heaven only because of the fact that it is a radically God centered reality.  Abraham saw the Lord, Adonai reigning in His glory.  Note by way of key thoughts what Abraham saw when he beheld the Lord reigning in His heavenly glory:

1. The Lord Reigns in Providence in Heavenly glory.
Genesis 15:1-5

2. The Lord Reigns in Redemption in Heavenly Glory.
Genesis 15:6-8

3. The Lord Reigns in the Revelation of His Heavenly Glory. Genesis 15:9-17

4. The Lord Reigns in Prophecy which foresees His Heavenly Glory. Genesis 15:18-21

The man who was always looking up
This wonderful chapter centers the reader on God, for we are seeing the events, both past, present and prophetic, through the eyes of a prophet of God, Abraham. (Genesis 20:7)  Heavenly glory is what drove Abraham to walk all over the land of Canaan, as he was a man searching for city whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:7)  As you follow Abraham's 175 years of existence, you find a man who is becoming more and more Heavenly minded.  Hebrews 11:10 tells us that He was looking for a better country, with Hebrews 11:12 telling us that He was directed to look into the stars of Heaven.  When you have been touched by God's Heavenly glory, your heart pines for that which is eternal.  Colossians 3:1-3 tells us as Christians to keep our eyes fixed on things above, where Christ is.  John 14:1-3 tells us that Jesus has went on to build and prepare a place for the child of God. 

May you and I today be like the patriarch Abraham, the father of faith, who was captured by the Master of all things, Adonai, the Lord of Heavenly Glory.