A ROYAL BANQUET DECLINED (Luke 14:15-24) “Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ But they all with one accord began…
In our last post in answer to the question: What is pictured by the Cup? We had determined that the Cup was a picture of the Sin Offering experiences of Jesus and the Church, of the sufferings, trials, ignominy and self-denials he endured and what all who would be joined to the body through his baptism would have to endure. It’s as if our Lord is inviting us – beckoning to us – “Come my children – suffer with me…
In the Communion or Memorial Service two emblems are brought to our attention, the bread and the cup, here though our focus is upon the cup. (Excerpts here were taken from an article entitled, Why two emblems? by Brother George Tabac) What is pictured by the Cup? The Cup is a picture of the Sin Offering experiences of Jesus and the Church – which together will seal the New Covenant, a very similar picture as that of the blood of…
“Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of?” (Matt 20:22) “We might think of the word Cup as representing various experiences of life-that everybody has, his or her Cup of mingled joys and sorrows. But Jesus used the word in a different sense. When He was in the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”…
“Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death (Made participators with him)?” (Rom 6:3) What does it mean to be a participator in Christ death? How do we participate with him in his death? It might be helpful if we first asked about his death that is how exactly he died? Yes we all know that he was crucified on the cross, but that is not what we…
What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? As was mentioned in our previous post the baptism of the holy spirit came upon the Church at Pentecost and as such has continued with us even unto this day. To be baptized in the holy spirit is to be baptized into Jesus Christ, and to be baptized into Jesus Christ is to be baptized into his death. Even as the Apostle so states in Rom 6:3-5: “Do you…
We have put together the following reply in response to a comment made on one of our post in which we had stated: “The Scriptures make a distinction between the faithful of the past who were moved by the holy spirit, and those during the Gospel age who are begotten by the holy spirit. Both have the holy spirits presence and guidance, but only those begotten of the holy spirit are begotten to a new nature, a spirit nature. A…
Words and Phrases The Seven Spirits The expression, THE SEVEN SPIRITS, occurs four times in the book of Revelation. A comparison of these usages reveals the likely interpretation of the meaning. Rev. 1:4: shows the seven spirits BEFORE THE THRONE —a symbol of the position of SERVICE. Rev. 3:1: points out that Jesus also has these spirits, that 1:4 showed them to be God’s is here strengthened by stating that they are “OF GOD.” Rev. 4:5: “defines” these spirits by…
Words and Phrases The Four Living Creatures HOW DO WE KNOW THE FOUR BEASTS REPRESENT GOD’S ATTRIBUTES? It has become standard Bible student response to say that the four living ones (four “beasts” in the KJV) of Revelation represent the four attributes of God —Wisdom, Justice, Love, and Power. From whence did this understanding come? It seems to have been defined by Brother. W. I. Mann in 1883 (See R529). To summarize his explanation, we give the following: By building…
Without Chronology, the Interpretation Goes Astray Many of those who attempt to interpret Revelation don’t see that the time periods of 1260 days, 42 months, and 3 ½ years are NOT to be interpreted as LITERAL time periods. For that reason, they think that many of the events fall into a future 3 ½ year period, a future time frame. Time in Revelation is interpreted symbolically, and it should, as a general rule, be computed at a day for a…