Crystallization-Study Outlines Exodus (2)

Transcription

1 2015 SUMMER TRAINING Crystallization-Study Outlines Exodus (2) BANNERS The highest profession on earth is to spend time being infused with God so that we can glow with God and shine forth God; this accomplishes the eternal economy of God to work Himself into man so that He may have His testimony, His enlarged and expanded expression. Keeping feasts unto God three times a year typifies the full enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ: the Feast of Unleavened Bread the purging away of sinful things through the enjoyment of Christ as the sinless life supply; the Feast of Harvest the enjoyment of the firstfruits of the Spirit of the resurrected Christ; and the Feast of Tabernacles the consummation of God s full salvation organically as the full harvest of our experience of God. The blood of Christ as the blood of the new covenant ushers God s people into God Himself and into the better things of the new covenant, in which God gives His people a new heart, a new spirit, His Spirit, the inner law of life, and the ability to know God; ultimately, the blood of the new covenant enables God s people to serve Him and leads God s people into the full enjoyment of God as their portion both now and for eternity. Under the vision of God in a transparent and clear heaven, we may receive the heavenly vision concerning the desire of God s heart to have a dwelling place with man on earth, built according to the pattern shown on the mountain with Christ as the redeeming life, generating life, and building life.

2 2015 SUMMER TRAINING Crystallization-Study Outlines Exodus (2) TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page Message One: The Law the Testimony of God Revealing Him to His People and the Living Word of God to Infuse His Substance into His Loving Seekers 1 Message Two: The Law the Engagement Covenant between God and His People 10 Message Three: Message Four: Message Five: The Word of God Being a Realm of Light in the Experience of God s Loving Seekers 22 The Blessing Received by God s Loving Seekers through the Function of the Word of God 28 Christ as the Slave of God and the Believers as Slaves of God and Christ Jesus in the Church Life 35 Message Six: The Covenanting God and His Covenants (1) Major Covenants That God Made with Man 44 Message Seven: The Covenanting God and His Covenants (2) The Contents of the New Covenant 56 Message Eight: The Blood of the Covenant 64 Message Nine: Keeping Feasts unto God Three Times a Year Typifying the Full Enjoyment of the Triune God in Christ 73 Message Ten: The Worship of God 81 Message Eleven: Message Twelve: The Angel of Jehovah for His People to Take Possession of the Promised Land 91 The Vision of God in a Transparent and Clear Heaven and the Heavenly Vision concerning the Desire of God s Heart to Have a Dwelling Place with Man on Earth 102

3 Exo 20:1 Exo 20:2 Exo 20:3 Exo 20:4 Exo 20:5 Exo 20:6 Exo 20:7 Exo 20:8 Exo 20:9 Exo 20:10 Message One The Law the Testimony of God Revealing Him to His People and the Living Word of God to Infuse His Substance into His Loving Seekers AY Hymns 501, 784 Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:1-17; 34:28; Psa. 19:7; Rom. 7:14; 2 Cor. 3:6; 2 Tim. 3:16; John 5:39-40 And God spoke all these words, saying, I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house; You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold guiltless him who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day so as to sanctify it. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your cattle nor the sojourner with you, who is within your gates. Exo 20:11 For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Exo 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be extended upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you. Exo 20:13 You shall not kill. Exo 20:14 You shall not commit adultery. Exo 20:15 You shall not steal. Exo 20:16 You shall not testify with false testimony against your neighbor. Exo 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor. Exo 34:28 And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Psa 19:7 The law of Jehovah is perfect, / Restoring the soul; / The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, / Making the simple wise; Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am fleshy, sold under sin. 2 Cor 3:6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, John 5:39 John 5:40 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. I. The law as the testimony of God, the expression of God, is the revelation of who God is to His people Exo. 16:34; 31:18; 32:15; 40:20; 25:21-22; 38:21; 20:1-17; Psa. 19:7; Gen. 1:26: Exo 16:34 As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony to be kept. 1

4 Exo 31:18 Exo 32:15 Exo 40:20 Exo 25:21 Exo 25:22 Exo 38:21 Exo 20:1 Exo 20:2 Exo 20:3 Exo 20:4 Exo 20:5 Exo 20:6 Exo 20:7 Exo 20:8 Exo 20:9 Exo 20:10 Exo 20:11 Exo 20:12 Exo 20:13 Exo 20:14 Exo 20:15 Exo 20:16 Exo 20:17 Psa 19:7 Gen 1:26 And when He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He gave to Moses the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both of their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. Then he took the Testimony and put it into the Ark, and he set the poles onto the Ark and put the expiation cover upon the Ark above it. And you shall put the expiation cover upon the Ark above it, and into the Ark you shall put the Testimony that I shall give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the expiation cover, from between the two cherubim which are upon the Ark of the Testimony, of everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were counted according to the commandment of Moses for the service of the Levites by the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. And God spoke all these words, saying, I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house; You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold guiltless him who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day so as to sanctify it. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your cattle nor the sojourner with you, who is within your gates. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be extended upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not testify with false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor. The law of Jehovah is perfect, / Restoring the soul; / The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, / Making the simple wise; And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. A. A law is always a revelation of what kind of person has enacted that law. B. God regards the Ten Commandments, the ten laws, as the ten words (Deut. 4:13; Exo. 34:28; 20:1) a further indication that the law is a revelation of God Himself, since the words a person speaks are a revelation of that person: Deut 4:13 And He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them upon two tablets of stone. 2

5 Exo 34:28 And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Exo 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 1. God is jealous vv. 4-6; cf. 2 Cor. 11:2. Exo 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. Exo 20:5 You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Exo 20:6 Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. 2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 2. God is holy Exo. 20:7-11. Exo 20:7 You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold guiltless him who takes His name in vain. Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day so as to sanctify it. Exo 20:9 Exo 20:10 Exo 20:11 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your cattle nor the sojourner with you, who is within your gates. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. 3. God is loving vv , 6; cf. Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14. Exo 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be extended upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you. Exo 20:13 You shall not kill. Exo 20:14 You shall not commit adultery. Exo 20:15 You shall not steal. Exo 20:6 Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Rom 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves the other has fulfilled the law. Rom 13:9 For, "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Rom 13:10 Gal 5:14 4. God is righteous Exo. 20:5. Exo 20:5 Love does not work evil to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 5. God is truthful v. 16; cf. 1 John 1:5-6. Exo 20:16 You shall not testify with false testimony against your neighbor. 1 John 1:5 And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth; 6. God is pure Exo. 20:2-3, 17; cf. Psa. 119:140. Exo 20:2 Exo 20:3 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house; You shall have no other gods before Me. 3

6 Exo 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor. Psa 119:140 Your word is very pure, / And Your servant loves it. C. As the word of God and the testimony, the expression, of God, the law is a type of Christ as God s Word and God s testimony, God s expression; Christ describes and expresses God in a full and adequate way John 1:1, 18; Rev. 19:13; 1:5; Col. 1:15. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Rev 19:13 And He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God. Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, D. Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God; the testimony of God signifies Christ, the embodiment of God (2:9), as the living portrait of what God is: Col 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, 1. As the law is the ten words of God that reveal God to His people, so Christ is the Word of God revealing God to us John 1:1, 14. John 1:1 John 1:14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality. 2. We should not try to keep the law from without but let Christ live Himself out from within so that we may become the testimony of God, the expansion and enlargement of God s expression Rom. 8:4. Rom 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. E. The reality of keeping the law is to live God and express God; such a living, a living in the eternal economy of God, is the living of a God-man, a life of continually denying the self and being crucified to live Christ, who is God s testimony, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for the enlarged and expanded expression of God Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:4. Matt 16:24 Gal 2:20 Phil 1:19 Phil 1:20 Phil 1:21a Rom 8:4 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. II. There are two aspects of the law the aspect of the letter and the aspect of the Spirit; the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life 2 Cor. 3:6; cf. Psa. 119:50: 2 Cor 3:6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Psa 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction, / For Your word has enlivened me. A. If our attitude in coming to the law is to care only for the commandments in letters, we will 4

7 have the law in the aspect of the killing letter: 1. Whether in our experience the law is positive or negative depends on the condition of our heart in receiving the law cf. Exo. 19:8-9; 20: Exo 19:8 And all the people answered together and said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do. And Moses brought back the words of the people to Jehovah. Exo 19:9 And Jehovah said to Moses, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever. Then Moses told the words of the people to Jehovah, Exo 20:18 And all the people witnessed the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people witnessed it, they trembled Exo 20:19 and stood at a distance. And they said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak with us, so we do not die. 2. If in coming to the law we do not seek God in love but rather separate the law from the living God as the source of life (cf. John 5:39-40), the law, which was intended to result in life but cannot give life of itself (Gal. 3:21), will become a condemning and killing element to us. John 5:39 John 5:40 Gal 3:21 You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Is then the law against the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given which was able to give life, righteousness would have indeed been of law. B. However, if we take every part of the law all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgments as the word breathed out by the God whom we love (2 Tim. 3:16), we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit: 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 1. If we love God, humble ourselves, and regard the law as His living word through which we contact Him and abide in Him, the law will become a channel through which the divine life and substance are conveyed to us for our supply and nourishment. 2. By being infused with God s substance through the law as God s word, we become one with God in life, nature, and expression and spontaneously live a life that expresses God and corresponds to His law Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:21a; John 6:57, 63. Rom 8:4 Phil 1:21a John 6:57 John 6:63 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For to me, to live is Christ As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. III. The function of the law has two aspects: A. On the negative side, the law exposes man s sin (Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-8) and subdues sinners before God (3:19); the law also guards God s chosen people in its custody that they might be conducted to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24). Rom 3:20 Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him; for through the law is the clear knowledge of sin. Rom 5:20 And the law entered in alongside that the offense might abound; but where sin abounded, grace has superabounded, Rom 7:7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But I did not know sin except through the law; for neither did I know coveting, except the law had said, "You shall not covet." Rom 7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every 5

8 kind; for without the law sin is dead. Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may fall under the judgment of God; Gal 3:23 But before faith came we were guarded under law, being shut up unto the faith which was to be revealed. Gal 3:24 So then the law has become our child-conductor unto Christ that we might be justified out of faith. B. On the positive side, as God s living testimony, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers (Psa. 119:2, 88), and as God s living word, the law functions to dispense God Himself as life and light into those who love the law (vv. 25, 116, 130). Psa 119:2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, / Who seek Him with all their heart. Psa 119:88 Enliven me according to Your lovingkindness, / And I will keep the testimony of Your mouth. Psa 119:25 My soul clings to the dust; / Enliven me according to Your word. Psa 119:116 Uphold me according to Your word that I may live, / And do not let me be ashamed of my hope. Psa 119:130 The opening of Your words gives light, / Imparting understanding to the simple. IV. The law is the living word of God to infuse His substance into His loving seekers to make them His testimony for the fulfillment of His eternal economy: A. The law is spiritual, the same in essence, nature, and substance as God, who is Spirit Rom. 7:14; John 4:24. Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am fleshy, sold under sin. John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness. B. The law as God s ten words is His breath to convey His element into the ones who receive His words 2 Tim. 3:16: 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 1. Christ Himself is God s real and living law, the Word of God, the breath of God, the expression of God. 2. By pray-reading the Word, we breathe God s element into us, being infused with what God is, to cause us to live Christ and become the living expression of God, His living law, the living portrait of God Eph. 6: Eph 6:17 Eph 6:18 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints, V. The highest and most intrinsic function of the law as God s word is to impart God s substance into us to make us one with God, the same as God in life, nature, and expression but not in the Godhead: A. While Moses was receiving the law from God, he was being infused with the element of God to cause him to glow with God Exo. 34: Exo 34:32 And afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. Exo 34:33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. Exo 34:34 But whenever Moses went in before Jehovah to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out; and when he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he had been commanded, Exo 34:35 The children of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. Then Moses would put the veil back on his face until he went in to speak with Him. B. When we are infused with God s substance through His word, we become what He is, and His divine attributes are expressed in our human virtues. C. We keep the requirements of the law not by our own efforts but with what has been infused into us of the Lord through our contact with Him; once we have been thoroughly infused 6

9 with God s substance, He Himself, the Law-giver, from within us will keep His own law. VI. There are two kinds of people dealing with the law the loving seekers of God and the letter-keepers of the law cf. Gen. 2:9; 2 Cor. 3:6, 15-16: Gen 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 2 Cor 3:6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Cor 3:15 Indeed unto this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart; 2 Cor 3:16 But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. A. The psalmists were the loving seekers of God, loving the law as the testimony of God and as His living word: 1. They loved God Psa. 18:1; 73:25; 116:1. Psa 18:1 I love You, O Jehovah, my strength. Psa 73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but You? / And besides You there is nothing I desire on earth. Psa 116:1 I love Jehovah because He hears / My voice, my supplications, 2. They sought God 42:1-2; 43:4; 119:2, 10. Psa 42:1 As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants / For You, O God. Psa 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, / For the living God. / When will I come and appear / Before God? Psa 43:4 And I will go to the altar of God, / To God my exceeding joy; / And I will praise You with the harp, / O God, my God. Psa 119:2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, / Who seek Him with all their heart. Psa 119:10 With all my heart I have sought You; / Do not let me wander from Your commandments. 3. They dwelt with God 27:4; 84:1-7; 90:1. Psa 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple. Psa 84:1 How lovely are Your tabernacles, / O Jehovah of hosts! Psa 84:2 My soul longs, indeed even faints, / For the courts of Jehovah; / My heart and my flesh cry out / To the living God. Psa 84:3 At Your two altars even the sparrow has found a home; / And the swallow, a nest for herself, / Where she may lay her young, / O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God. Psa 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; / They will yet be praising You. Selah. Psa 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, / In whose heart are the highways to Zion. Psa 84:6 Passing through the valley of Baca, / They make it a spring; / Indeed the early rain covers it with blessings. Psa 84:7 They go from strength to strength; / Each appears before God in Zion. Psa 90:1 O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations. 4. They beheld God s beauty 27:4. Psa 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple. 5. They were infused with the riches of God 52:8; 92:13-14, 10. Psa 52:8 But I, like a flourishing olive tree / In the house of God, / Trust in God's lovingkindness / Forever and ever. Psa 92:13 Planted in the house of Jehovah, / They will flourish in the courts of our God. Psa 92:14 They will still bring forth fruit in old age; / They will be full of sap and green; Psa 92:10 But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; / I am anointed with fresh oil. 6. They enjoyed the riches of life 36:8-9. Psa 36:8 They are saturated with the fatness of Your house, / And You cause them to drink of the river of Your pleasures. 7

10 Psa 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; / In Your light we see light. 7. They were supplied with God to keep His word 119:57. Psa 119:57 Jehovah is my portion; / I have promised to keep Your words. 8. They treasured the law of God vv. 14, 72, 127. Psa 119:14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies / As much as in all riches. Psa 119:72 The law of Your mouth is better to me / Than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. Psa 119:127 Therefore I love Your commandments / More than gold, indeed, more than fine gold; 9. They tasted the sweetness of the law v Psa 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! / Sweeter than honey to my mouth! 10. They hoped in the word of God and mused upon it vv Psa 119:147 I anticipated the dawn and cried out; / I hoped in Your words. Psa 119:148 My eyes anticipated the night watches, / That I might muse upon Your word. B. Simeon and Anna were also among those who lovingly sought God: 1. As Simeon and Anna waited for Christ, the Holy Spirit was upon them Luke 2:25. Luke 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 2. They also had the revelation of the Holy Spirit and walked by the Spirit vv Luke 2:26 And it had been divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Luke 2:27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the little child Jesus for them to do according to the custom of the law concerning Him, 3. Dwelling in the temple, they served God with fastings and petitions; thus, they enjoyed God and received His infusion v. 37. Luke 2:37 And she was a widow up to the age of eighty-four, who did not depart from the temple, serving God with fastings and petitions night and day. 4. Because they had been infused with the substance of God, they could live a life that corresponded to the law as God s expression. C. The Judaizers, the legal and dogmatic letter-keepers of the law, had a heart not for God but for the killing letter of the law, seeking the law apart from God Matt. 15:8; Gal. 6: Matt 15:8 "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart stays far away from Me; Gal 6:12 As many as desire to make a good show in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, but only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Gal 6:13 For neither do they that become circumcised keep the law themselves, but they desire you to be circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. D. Before he was saved, Saul of Tarsus was zealous for the law (Phil. 3:5-6); as a Judaizer, he was even a blasphemer of God and a persecutor of man (1 Tim. 1:13). Phil 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day; of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Phil 3:6 Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless. 1 Tim 1:13 Who formerly was a blasphemer and a persecutor and an insulting person; but I was shown mercy because, being ignorant, I acted in unbelief. VII. By being infused with God s substance through His living word, we become the true worshippers of God, those who are according to what God is, who correspond to what God is, and who reflect what God is for His glory John 4:24; 5:39-40; 2 Cor. 3:18: John 4:24 John 5:39 John 5:40 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness. You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 8

11 2 Cor 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. A. A true worshipper of God is one who is infused with God and lives out God, who thereby becomes a person according to what God is and corresponding to what He is; the living of such a person corresponds to God s living and reflects what He is this is the living testimony of Jesus. B. The law as the word of God is God s breath for us to breathe in God so that we may have the strength of life to live out the law, which corresponds to God s nature and expression 2 Tim. 3:16; Eph. 6:17-18; Rom. 8:4. 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, Eph 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, Eph 6:18 By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints, Rom 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. VIII. The highest profession on earth is to spend time being infused with God so that we can glow with God and shine forth God; this accomplishes the eternal economy of God to work Himself into man so that He may have His testimony, His enlarged and expanded expression 2 Cor. 3: Cor 3:15 Indeed unto this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart; 2 Cor 3:16 But whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Cor 3:17 And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. 9

12 Message Two The Law the Engagement Covenant between God and His People EM Hymns 546, 547 Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:1-12; 34:27-29; Isa. 54:5; Jer. 2:2; 31:3, 32; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19-20 Exo 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, Exo 20:2 I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the slave house; Exo 20:3 You shall have no other gods before Me. Exo 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water beneath the earth. Exo 20:5 You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Exo 20:6 Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exo 20:7 You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold guiltless him who takes His name in vain. Exo 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day so as to sanctify it. Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, Exo 20:10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your cattle nor the sojourner with you, who is within your gates. Exo 20:11 For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Exo 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be extended upon the land which Jehovah your God is giving you. Exo 34:27 And Jehovah said to Moses, Write these words, for according to the speaking of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Exo 34:28 And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Exo 34:29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai-and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain-moses did not know that the skin of his face shone by reason of His speaking with him. Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your Husband; / Jehovah of hosts is His name. / And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; / He is called the God of all the earth. Jer 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: / I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, / The love of your bridal days, / When you followed after Me in the wilderness, / In a land that was not sown. Jer 31:3 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying, / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Jer 31:32 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah. Ezek 16:8 Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine. Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth you to Myself forever; / Indeed I will betroth you to Myself / In righteousness and justice / And in lovingkindness and compassions; Hosea 2:20 Indeed I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness, / And you will know Jehovah. I. The subject of the entire Bible, the content of God s economy, and the secret of the entire universe are the divine romance between God and His chosen and redeemed people: 10

13 A. The entire Bible is a divine romance, a record of how God courts His chosen people and eventually marries them Gen. 2:21-24; S. S. 1:2-4; Isa. 54:5; 62:5-7; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:3, 32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19-20; Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2, 9-10; 22:17. Gen 2:21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Gen 2:22 And Jehovah God built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man. Gen 2:23 And the man said, This time this is bone of my bones / And flesh of my flesh; / This one shall be called Woman / Because out of Man this one was taken. Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. S.S. 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine. S.S. 1:3 Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; / Your name is like ointment poured forth; / Therefore the virgins love you. S.S. 1:4 Draw me; we will run after you - The king has brought me into his chambers - / We will be glad and rejoice in you; / We will extol your love more than wine. / Rightly do they love you. Isa 54:5 For your Maker is your Husband; / Jehovah of hosts is His name. / And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; / He is called the God of all the earth. Isa 62:5 For as a young man marries a virgin, / Your sons will marry you; / And with the joy of the bridegroom over the bride / Your God will rejoice over you. Isa 62:6 Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, / I have appointed watchmen; / All day and all night / They will never keep silent. / You who remind Jehovah, / Do not be dumb; Isa 62:7 And do not give Him quiet / Until He establishes / And until He makes Jerusalem / A praise in the earth. Jer 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: / I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, / The love of your bridal days, / When you followed after Me in the wilderness, / In a land that was not sown. Jer 3:1 It is said, / If a man divorces his wife / And she goes from him / And becomes another man's wife, / Will he return to her again? / Will not that land be / Utterly polluted? / But you have committed fornication with many lovers. / Yet return to Me, declares Jehovah. Jer 3:14 Return, O apostate children, declares Jehovah, for I am a Husband to you; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and will bring you to Zion. Jer 31:3 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying, / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Jer 31:32 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah. Ezek 16:8 Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine. Ezek 23:5 And Oholah committed fornication instead of remaining with Me, and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, who were close to her, Hosea 2:7 And she will pursue her lovers / But will not overtake them; / And she will seek them but not find them; / And she will say, I will go / And return to my first husband, / For it was better for me then than now. Hosea 2:19 And I will betroth you to Myself forever; / Indeed I will betroth you to Myself / In righteousness and justice / And in lovingkindness and compassions; Hosea 2:20 Matt 9:15 John 3:29 Indeed I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness, / And you will know Jehovah. And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and 11

14 hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full. 2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her Eph 5:26 That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, Eph 5:27 That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish. Eph 5:28 In the same way the husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his own wife loves himself. Eph 5:29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also the church, Eph 5:30 Because we are members of His Body. Eph 5:31 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. Eph 5:32 This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church. Rev 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. Rev 19:8 And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints. Rev 19:9 And he said to me, Write, Blessed are they who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God. Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev 21:9 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Rev 22:17 Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely. B. God is a courting God, and the entire Bible is God s courting word; because He has courted us, we are in the church life today; if we would keep God s courting word, we need a responsive, affectionate love for Him John 21:15-17; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; John 14:21, 23; S. S. 1:1-4; 6:13; 2 Cor. 11:2. John 21:15 John 21:16 John 21:17 Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Shepherd My sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved that He said to him the third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. 2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us because we have judged this, that One died for all, therefore all died; 2 Cor 5:15 And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised. John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. S.S. 1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. S.S. 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine. S.S. 1:3 Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; / Your name is like ointment poured forth; / 12

15 Therefore the virgins love you. S.S. 1:4 Draw me; we will run after you - The king has brought me into his chambers - / We will be glad and rejoice in you; / We will extol your love more than wine. / Rightly do they love you. S.S. 6:13 Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps? 2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. C. When we as God s people enter into a love relationship with God, we receive His life, just as Eve received the life of Adam; it is this life that enables us to become one with God and makes Him one with us Gen. 2: Gen 2:21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and He took one of Gen 2:22 his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And Jehovah God built the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman and brought her to the man. D. We keep the law not by exercising our mind and will (cf. Rom. 7:18-25) but by loving the Lord as our Husband and thereby partaking of His life and nature to become one with Him as His enlargement and expression. Rom 7:18 Rom 7:19 Rom 7:20 Rom 7:21 Rom 7:22 Rom 7:23 Rom 7:24 Rom 7:25 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not. For I do not do the good which I will; but the evil which I do not will, this I practice. But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it out but sin that dwells in me. I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. II. God s intention in giving His law to His chosen people was that they become His lovers Exo. 20:6; Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:35-38; Mark 12:28-30: Exo 20:6 Deut 6:5 Matt 22:35 Matt 22:36 Matt 22:37 Matt 22:38 Mark 12:28 Mark 12:29 Mark 12:30 Yet showing lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the great and first commandment. And one of the scribes approached and heard them disputing; and perceiving that He answered them well, he questioned Him, Which is the first commandment of all? Jesus answered, The first is: "Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength." A. In bringing His people out of Egypt and giving His law to them, God was courting them, wooing them, and seeking to win their affection. B. Jeremiah 2:2; 31:32; and Ezekiel 16:8 indicate that the covenant enacted at the mountain of God through the giving of the law (Exo. 24:7-8; 34:27-28) was an engagement covenant, in which God betrothed the children of Israel to Himself (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2): Jer 2:2 Jer 31:32 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: / I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, / The love of your bridal days, / When you followed after Me in the wilderness, / In a land that was not sown. Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to 13

16 Ezek 16:8 Exo 24:7 Exo 24:8 Exo 34:27 Exo 34:28 bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah. Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Here is the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words. And Jehovah said to Moses, Write these words, for according to the speaking of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. 2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 1. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: / I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, / The love of your bridal days, / When you followed after Me in the wilderness, / In a land that was not sown Jer. 2:2. 2. The covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah 31: Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine Ezek. 16:8. C. Both Ezekiel 16:8 and Jeremiah 31:32 use the word covenant, a word that refers to the law given in Exodus 20; when God gave the law, He betrothed Israel unto Himself, and Israel became engaged to Him; this is what Jeremiah 2:2 refers to in saying, The love of your bridal days. Ezek 16:8 Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine. Jer 31:32 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah. Exo 20 be omitted. D. God s goal in giving the law was to make His chosen people one with Him as a wife is one with her husband; the law would then impart God s substance into them, usher them into God, and unite them with God in life and nature. III. In giving His law to His people, God was seeking lovers, and the giving of the law was a transaction in which God s people became engaged to Him: A. The law was an engagement covenant between God and His people: 1. God loves His people with an eternal love 31:3; Gal. 6:16; 1 Thes. 1:4; Eph. 1:4. Jer 31:3 Jehovah appeared to me from afar, saying, / Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness. Gal 6:16 And as many as walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy, even upon the Israel of God. 1 Thes 1:4 Knowing, brothers, beloved of God, your selection; Eph 1:4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, 14