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Imo the answer depends on the disposition of the person listening. If your sister is struggling with God’s judgements, like a fish trying to be escape capture, pulling the reel with verses that speak of the punishment of sinners, risks breaking the line. In that case you should rather let go of...

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2) Imo, waters in this context – overwhelm being the keyword – represent the knowledge...

Thank you for the welcome. :-) Your exclamation is spot on. Agape and holiness go hand in hand.

I agree with you. It is contrary to common sense, but so is turning the other cheek, giving your cloak also and loving your enemy... not to mention the foolishness of the Cross. (1 Corinthians 1:21-23)

I once heard a certain wise man give the following definition (or rather illustration) of righteousness and holiness: Imagine a basket having two apples, one good and one rotten and two people sharing a table. The righteous person throws away the rotten and divides the good apple in two, one...

Willie has a point... after all the Bible does say: Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. (Luke 6:30)

That is a good observation. Three servants were sent in the former (parable) asking for fruit and for three seasons the same was required in the latter. The fourth season being the dispensation of grace, as the forth servant or rather son sent was Christ, has the keeper of the vineyard promising...

The jawbone of an ass stands for the sinless body of Christ, the true Nazarene and Sun* (of Righteousness), which He assumed - like Samson picked up the jawbone - and with which He slew the power of the Enemy. This body He cast away, as in given up to death, at Ramathlehi (Judges 15:17), which...

In that particular context, yes. I realize it's a 'strange' interpretation, more of a type and a shadow. I thought the explanation I gave was sufficient, but evidently I was wrong. Don't focus only on the objects/actors but also their interactions/relationships. The latter is as useful if not...

I know this is somewhat off topic, and I hope HiddenInHim will forgive me, but the story of Noah you quoted is not entirely irrelevant. Noah represent God the Father, the true Husbandman. The vineyard is of course the people of Israel whose evil deeds, as if intoxicating wine, caused Him to...

At the time they were one and the same... or at least trying to be, the spiritual part I mean.

I think it is clear from my response that the people of Israel are the vineyard. This vineyard, and specifically those that believed Christ’s message, and which has now grown to include the Gentiles, was given to the Apostles, the new husbandmen and to those whom they appointed and their...

The Jews were always physically and spiritually Israel, God's vineyard. They physically cast Him out by crucifying Him outside of their city and spiritually by rejecting Him as their Messiah. Since Christ is the vine (or the root of the vine), those who rejected Him essentially cut themselves...

Which is stored on the harddrive of your heart... I assume? :-)

A country is far from a certain point of reference i.e. another country. From God's point of view far country is the place/condition of one living in sin, as in the case of the prodigal son. From those living in sin on the other hand, far country is the state of holiness in which God dwells...

Jacob’s ladder is also a symbol of the Cross, being made out of wood and having Christ God affixed upon it. Through the Cross, Christ has opened a pathway for us to heaven. We climb it by crucifying our passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). Put another way, we climb it by acquiring the...

The knocking at the door (Matthew 7:7-8), i.e. the working (knocking involves the hands, hence working) of Christ's commandments (the door). John 14:21 states it more explicitly: He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved by My...

I know people don't usually follow links or read lengthy posts, but having received a lot of spiritual benefit from this*, I can’t help myself but share the treasure. _______ * This is the chapter on humility from St John Climacus’ (~7th century) book, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.”

So the two women represent the leaders (and those who assume the role of teacher) of the two peoples that make up the Church: those of the Nations and those of the Jews. Their children are the peoples from each group that they nurse with the teaching of Christ and the Law, respectively. The...

That's it! Land of Israel is a heart filled with the (experiential) knowledge of God in which ‘the mind that sees God’* finds pleasure. Cities of this land are the virtues: humility, meekness, purity, charity and many others, which God gives (as a foretaste now, but permanent possession in the...