HWMR: Living by Faith—Being Today’s River Crossers to Live the Life of the Altar and the Tent.Week 14: Day 1: Rom.4:12 - And the father of circumcision to those...who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision. Gal.3:7 - Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham. 14-In order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The seed of Abraham is for the believers in Christ, who are Abraham’s seed, to inherit the consummated Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, as their divine inheritance—their spiritual blessing for eternity (Acts 26:18; Eph. 1:14a; Gal. 3:14). Christ is the seed of Abraham, and all His believers are also the seed of Abraham (v. 29)....Abraham is our father (Rom. 4:12). (The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, pp. 88-89) Today we are repeating the life and history of Abraham. Once there was only one Abraham; now there are many. The church life today is the harvest of the life and history of Abraham. Abraham’s life by faith is presently being repeated among us. We all are here building an altar and pitching a tent. Look at the church life: we have an altar and a real tabernacle. This is a picture of the coming New Jerusalem where we shall spend eternity with God. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 563) Today’s Reading: The word Hebrew was first used in Genesis 14:13, at the time when Abraham was about to fight for the rescue of his nephew Lot....Abraham was a Hebrew. As a result of considerable study, we discovered that the root of the word Hebrew means “to pass over.” It especially means to pass over a river from one region to another and from one side to another. Therefore, the word Hebrew means a crosser, a river crosser, one who crosses a river. Abraham was a river crosser. He crossed that great flood (Josh. 24:2-3). Abraham was born in Chaldea, the site of ancient Babylon, Babel. Between Chaldea and the good land of Canaan was a great river flowing from north to south. This is very meaningful. All things, including the land, were created by God to fulfill His purpose. The land of Chaldea became satanic, devilish, and demonic. It was a land filled with idols, a land totally usurped by God’s enemy and possessed by the evil one. So God intervened to call Abraham out of that idolatrous land, out of that land which had been usurped, possessed, poisoned, corrupted, and ruined by Satan. God simply called Abraham out without telling him where he should go (Heb. 11:8). Abraham had to look to the Lord step by step, saying to Him, “Lord, where should I go?” Abraham knew what he had to leave, but he did not know where he was to go. Eventually God led him to that great river, and Abraham crossed it. Joshua 24:2-3 says that Abraham “dwelt across the River” and that the Lord took him “from across the River and brought him throughout all the land of Canaan.” Therefore, a Hebrew is a person from the other side of the water. Now we can understand the real meaning of baptism. Why must all repentant people be baptized? Because the world in which we are has been usurped, possessed, corrupted, and ruined by God’s enemy. It is no longer good for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. God’s salvation is not merely to rescue us from hell to heaven. God’s salvation is to bring us out of the land that has been possessed and ruined by Satan. How can we pass out of it? By being baptized. Every baptistery is a great river, a great flood. After you have been baptized, you come out on the other shore....We must all declare, “We are Hebrews! We are typical Hebrews.”...We are the true, genuine Hebrews because we have passed over the river. Everyone among us is a real river crosser....We are people who have crossed over from the other side. What is for us on this side? Churching! We are the water crossers. We are Hebrews. The water has separated us....Now we, today’s Hebrews, are building the church. (Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 2-5) Further Reading: Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 1; The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, msg. 8
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:48:09 +0000
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