You are writing to much, that I can't respond in between your responses. It really don't take all of that to prove a point. Jesus says in (Matt. 5:16) Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. You are supposed to glorify your Father in heaven, and let your light shine before men. And how do you do that? By having good works. Sometimes as a Christian you don’t have to say a word, people will see your works. You are talking against faith and works and it's written with example so many times in the Bible. You really don't understand these works Jesus is talking about here. "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). This faith and works go to together, you can post all day long, but to be a Saint one must keep the Commandments (see...Exodus 20: 1-17), and we see what Jesus says about works.
Dear bro.tan,
Your comments on Mat 19:16-22 come from a carnal understanding of scripture. As I have been saying, God's Word is written in the spiritual language of Christ but your understanding of it is still carnal. You are still waiting on the Lord to come to you a second time to heal your spiritual blindness. Until that day arrives, you are not going to understand the truth of God.
Paul's blindness on the Damascus Road "typed" this truth about spiritual blindness. Paul was blind after He received the Early Rain and was "called out". It wasn't until Christ (typed by Ananias) came a second time to Paul that the scales fell off Paul's eyes.
Mark 8:21-25 also teaches this truth:
Mark 8:15 And he charged them, saying, take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have no bread. 17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? 18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. 20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. 21 And he said unto them, how is it that ye do not understand?
In these verses, Christ is giving His disciples a lesson on the spiritual language of God's Word - His language. At this point in time (before they were converted at Pentecost), the disciples had not yet received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Latter Rain) and because of such, they were still spiritually blind. They had been called out from the world (as was the whole Nation of Israel), but they still could not understand what Christ was teaching them. After Christ’s short lesson, He ends it by asking them this question:
“How is it that ye do not understand”? No response from the Apostles is recorded in scripture. However, Christ answers His own question in the very next four verses.
Mark 8:22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Since Christ is the Word of God, He teaches us not only through His words which are recorded in scripture but also by the things He did. In answering the question that He proposed to the disciples in verse 21, Christ goes to Bethsaida and gives us His answer in
type by the healing of a blind man. This type is the same type which Christ uses with the Old Testament events to teach His spiritual truths.
In verse 23, Christ leads a blind man out of the city. Once outside the city, Christ places spit on his eyes and touches him with His hands. These actions occur as the blind man is looking down which symbolizes the carnal aspect of His healing. Christ does not have to tell the blind man to look down, the blind man just does it naturally. The spit (water) symbolizes the blind man receiving the
Early Rain of the Spirit with its accompanying vision (understanding). This event represents the time when an unbeliever is called out from the world and enters the church. After Christ asks the man what he could see, the man looks up and says that he could see men walking as trees. "Walking as Trees" is a spiritual symbol for called out believers who walk by sight rather than by faith. At this point, the blind man is a type of a called out believer. The man’s blindness was not total any longer but he was still very near-sighted.
This first healing of the blind man reflects the true spiritual condition of a new believer when they first enter the church. At that time, they are left carnally minded and spiritually near-sighted. They can see a little but that only opens the door to Satan's deceptions - deceptions which each new believer readily accepts due to their carnal nature still being in control of them.
Peter says this near-sighted condition is the same as being blind:
2Pet 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
In the final verse of the story, Christ lays His hands upon the man’s eyes again, but as He does, Christ has the man look up instead of down. This second healing represents the
Latter Rain of the Spirit when true spiritual vision is given to the believer. The man’s upward gaze represents the spiritual aspect of the healing in contrast to the carnal aspect when the blind man was looking down at the earth. From that moment onward, we now know that the blind man is a type of a called and chosen believer who has received both the Early and Latter Rains. He has been given eyes that can see. From his new ability to understand God's Word, he will then come out from Satan's deceptions and will begin walking by faith. He will be included in the resurrection of the First Fruits and will receive life during the ages.
As for the "good works" you mentioned from Mat 5:16, those are
works of faith which Christ does through a converted believer. We cannot take credit for them, nor can we boast about them.
Isa 26:12 O Jehovah, thou appointest peace to us, for, all our works also thou hast wrought for us.
Phil 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Because all the work of our salvation is accomplished by Christ, the Elect (24 elders) are shown to cast their crowns before the throne of Christ. The Elect are acknowledging that Christ is the only one who deserves the glory because He did all the "works":
Rev 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
The Doctrine of Free Will is a lie from Satan which causes a person to remain under the Old Covenant of Law.
One last point: the
works of the Law which teach Sabbath Day keeping, tithing, circumcision, animal sacrifices, etc. are NOT the same as
works of faith. When the works of the Law are removed (because they were fulfilled by Christ), all that is left of the Law is loving God and loving your neighbor. Those are the commandments which Rev 14:12 mentions.
Paul says that if you try to keep one part of the Law, you become a debtor to keeping the whole Law:
Gal 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Since you are a debtor to keep the whole Law, are you doing so? Do you teach circumcision, tithing, animal sacrifices? Do you keep the feast days and the Sabbath Day? Have you never broken even just one of them once in your life?
James says that if you have ever broken even just one part of the Law, you are guilty of breaking the whole Law:
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Since all mankind has sinned and has broken the Law, we are all
condemned. The only hope for mankind is to trust Christ by faith so that He will make us into a new creation. Under the New Covenant, Christ will do
all the work of making this happen. When we accept this truth by faith, we have entered into the "rest" of Christ.
This is going to be my last post on this thread if you are not starting to understand and receive what I have presented. It simply is not your time to receive the "knowledge of the truth".
We all must wait on the Lord for Him to do His work within us:
1Tim 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4 who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
This is the patience of the saints (
Rev 14:12).
Joe
