Friday, January 8, 2016
The Age of Israel is about to be interrupted by the death, burial, resurrection and ascension which leads to the dispensation of the Church-age.
1CO 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
1CO 2:8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
There is a period of about three years of His public ministry when they would have the privilege of being "salt" and "light" as far as the impact of their spiritual life was concerned and their way of life as disciples.
"What did salt represent in the ancient world?"
1. Salt represented that which gives taste to food and the spiritual application is that the adult spiritual believer gives taste to the spiritual food of Bible doctrine to those who observe the life that they live in the midst of the devil's world.
2. Salt also represented preservation in the ancient world because it was used as a form of preserving food and therefore a reference to the pivotal believer preserving his or her family, their home, job, city, state and nation, but most of all, their church.
3. Salt is also used in the Bible for seasoning food, as JOB 6:6‑7 says, "Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? "My soul refuses to touch them; They are like loathsome food to me."
4. Lack of seasoning is used to indicate human viewpoint whereas doctrine seasons life and thought as the spiritual salt that seasons our life.
5. Salt was used for making a promise or covenant with others in the ancient world, --- it meant that you were safe as long as you were together with them; LEV 2:13.
LEV 2:13 'Every grain offering of yours, moreover, you shall season with salt, so that the salt of the covenant of your God shall not be lacking from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.'
6. Salt was used in the food offering to indicate that once you had believed in Christ, you are in His hands forever; MAT 5:13; JOH 10:28.
7. Salt also portrayed judgment or discipline. a. GEN 19:26, Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. b. Deut 29:23, Sodom was destroyed by salt. c. MAR 9:47‑49, salt is part of eternal judgment.
Salt is analogous to the mature believer preserving his nation, MAT 5:13; MAR 9:50. The greatest thing you can do is have salt (Bible doctrine) in you.
Unsaltiness is analogous to backsliding or reversionism and is used to portray divine discipline, LUK 14:33‑35.
Give up does not necessarily mean give away but it means to give up the power that possessions have over you.
8. Salt is also analogous to the mature believer in the expression of divine viewpoint, COL 4:6; JAM 3:10‑12.
COL 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.
9. Salt was used as an antiseptic or something that is used for cleansing, EZE 16:4. The antiseptic of your soul is Bible doctrine used under the principle of reversion recovery.
EZE 16:4 "As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths."
10. The "salt of the covenant" is a phrase used in the Old Testament describing the spiritual guarantee the Lord would make with His people because of the pivot of mature believers- NUM 18:19; 2CH 13:5.
The presence of the believer in any national entity or any society is the basis of the preservation of that national entity or society.
Many nations have survived for no other reason other than a maximum number of believers who have PVTD within the nation.
The principle which is involved in this first concept of salt is that divine judgement against a nation is often restrained because of the presence of believers in that nation.
The believer’s positive impact as the salt of their nation and the world is measured in terms of evangelism and the communication of Bible doctrine.
Most people think that the solution to man’s problems is the improvement of man’s environment and making all races or all people equal.
“if” is a third class condition which says maybe you will and maybe you won’t;
"become tasteless" means that it is no good and one of the worst things that can happen today in the Church-age is for believers to become tasteless.
How can you as a believer function as a preservative unless you are filled with the Spirit and unless you have a knowledge of doctrine.
“it is good for nothing” or as the Greek says “it has ability for nothing.”
1. Human good is identified in the Bible as dead works — HEB 6:1. 2. Human good will not save mankind — TIT 3:5. 3. Human good is not ever acceptable to God — ISA 64:6; ROM 8:8. 4. Human good is condemned by God in the bel; 1CO 3:11-16. 5. Human good is condemned by God in the unbel; REV 20:12-15.
With the verb "to be," this should be read that “You keep on being the light of the world.”
Jesus Christ is the light of the world (JOH 8:12), but now Jesus Christ is absent from the world which is why every believer is now an ambassador for Christ; 2CO 5:20.
The light of the world has the concept in the principle of witnessing — making an issue out of Christ — and that is exactly what true evangelism is.
In the analogy, the spiritual life of the pivotal believer in the night or in the darkness is said to be light in the world or the cosmic system.
A man who tried to find happiness and meaning in this life or in the things of this world, and his conclusion is that he said there is nothing worth living for "under the sun."
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us about that frantic search for happiness that he went on searching for something new, something that would entertain him, or stimulate him, or keep him going.
Solomon learned the principle of doctrine that "There is no place like home" and that the believer's home is from above not from below."
JOH 3:31 "He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
JOH 8:23 "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world."
a. Anthropocentric Academic Speculation or regarding humans as the central element of the universe, Ecc 1.
b. Seeking happiness in pleasure, ECC 2:1-11 or the "eat, drink and be merry" life which was a wasted life leading to vanity.
c. The All in the Family experiment, I'm going to have children and keep everything "all in the family," Ecc 2.
d. The Philosophy of Time Orientation, Ecc 3.
e. He looked for happiness from money, wealth and prosperity, Ecc 5.
f. "I am going to build a reputation," Ecc 7.
g. He had to go the Sex and intimate relationships traps, Ecc 7.
h. Looking for happiness in the hero image, Ecc 9.
Solomon will tell us in the end that the key to the enjoyment of time and the enjoyment of everything meaningful in life was having Bible doctrine saturating the soul.
Solomon tried a few other things but he finally came to the conclusion that while there are a lot of wonderful things that God allots to us in time, they're no good without Bible doctrine in the soul!
He came to realize that without Bible doctrine in the soul, the believer with the best of everything is the most miserable of all.
The believer was designed in time to have his capacity for these allotments through Bible doctrine in the soul!
Solomon tells us that the key to the enjoyment of time and the enjoyment of the New year is Bible doctrine saturating the soul.
They can never give the happiness, contentment or satisfaction that we are all looking for.
His first experiment we called Anthropocentric Academic Speculation or regarding humans as the central element of the universe and therefore seeking happiness through education.
In Ecc 2, we have the experiment of seeking happiness in pleasure, ECC 2:1-11 or eat, drink and be merry.
Solomon did something very interesting, he said in effect let me mix them, let me try them both together, pleasure and wisdom.
His third experiment is what I called the All in the Family experiment, I'm going to have children and keep it all in the family.
We have experiment number 4, The Philosophy of Time Orientation.
Experiment number 5, looking for happiness from money, wealth and prosperity.
He is saying this is the grievous evil....those who have clutched can quickly crash!
His sixth experiment that he thought would give him happiness is building a reputation.
Many people who were wealthy and smart would put ointments and perfumes over their body so that they would smell better than the average person.
1KI 10:10 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very great amount of spices and precious stones. Never again did such abundance of spices come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
The point is that the ointments of the ancient world made one a person very attractive.
A good name is that which has influence and character and that which changes lives and is made up of a fine reputation.
In Ecc 7, verses 25-28, wisdom reveals the fact that intimate relationships are compelling, but often not satisfying.
The word folly is the Hebrew noun kecel, which means stupidity, or the propensity or inclination to make stupid or foolish choices.
Madness is the Hebrew noun howleelowt which means insane or an irrational thought process.
ECC 7:25 I directed my mind to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness [an irrational thought process].
Solomon had a thousand women: 700 princesses as his wives and 300 mistresses. He was a sexual athlete, but his experience did not gain him any wisdom or fulfillment.
Sex with the wrong man or wrong woman is wrong.
Homosexuality or lesbianism is trying to find happiness in having sex with a member of the same sex, and that is a distortion.
Masturbation is self responding to self, and that is also a distortion.
Bestiality is forbidden by God, and that is a tremendous distortion.
The final analysis is that real truth comes when you "put yourself together" in the person of Christ.
When the man sees himself in Christ, complete, satisfying to the Father, and ready to take in His wisdom, that man's world comes together.