<html> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered)"> <title>Untitled Document</title> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} p {margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} p.msochpdefault, li.msochpdefault, div.msochpdefault {mso-style-name:msochpdefault; margin-right:0cm; margin-left:0cm; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} .MsoChpDefault {font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <p>April Readings</p> <p>April 1 </p> <p>Num. 15</p> <p>The fact that he is condemned for having &quot; despised the commandment of the Lord&quot; (1 Sam. 12:9) in David's sin with Bathsheba indicates that He knew all along what God's will really was. The fact that the flesh took over does not in any way mitigate his responsibility in this. This is a direct quote from the Law's definition of the sin of presumption: &quot; The soul that doeth ought presumptuously...because he hath despised the word of the Lord...that soul shall utterly be cut off&quot; (Num.. 15:30,31). Knowing David s emotional nature and also the fact that he did not completely turn away from God afterwards, we would have expected a quicker repentance if it had been a passing sin of passion. It would therefore seem reasonable to assume that the sin was of presumption rather than passion. In his prosperity he had said  I shall never be moved and he was determined that he couldn t be (Ps. 30:6). Hearing those words from Nathan must have struck real fear into David- he was being incriminated for the supreme sin of presumption, for which there was no provision of sacrifice or repentance. It is a mark of his faith and knowledge of God as the God of love, that He is willing to go on to confess his sin, in the hope of forgiveness. &quot; Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it&quot; (Ps. 51:16) was spoken by David more concerning this sin of presumption for which there was no sacrifice prescribed, rather than about the actual sin of adultery. However, we must not get the impression that David was a hard, callous man. Everything we know about him points to him be a big hearted, warm softie. David's sin with Bathsheba was in that sense out of character. Yet such is the stranglehold of sin that even he was forced to act with such uncharacteristic callousness and indifference to both God and man in order to try to cover his sin. </p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/6-4-3Davids_Sin_With_Bathsheba.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/6-4-3Davids_Sin_With_Bathsheba.htm</a>&nbsp;</p> <p>Prov. 11 </p> <p>We too can be a tree of life to those with whom we live; we can win their souls for the Kingdom (Prov. 11:30). The Thessalonians would be accepted in the final glory of judgment day simply  because our testimony among you was believed (2 Thess. 1:10). Eve, taken out of the wounded side of the first man, was a type of the ecclesia; and her name means  source of life , in anticipation of how the church would bring life to the world. We really can lead a person to eternity! So we should make absolutely every effort to do so.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/9-3power_of_preaching.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/9-3power_of_preaching.htm</a></p> <p>Lk. 24 </p> <p>&nbsp; </p> <p>Reading Luke and Acts through together, it becomes apparent that the author [Luke] saw the acts of the apostles as a continuation of those of the Lord Jesus. This is why he begins Acts by talking about his " former treatise" of all that Jesus had <em>begun </em>to do, implying that He had continued His doings through the doings of the apostles. Luke clearly saw the early ecclesia as preaching the same message as Jesus and the apostles; they continued what was essentially a shared witness. This means that we too are to see in the Lord and the 12 as they walked around Galilee the basis for our witness; we are continuing their work, with just the same message and range of responses to it. Lk. 24:47 concludes the Gospel with the command to go and preach remission of sins, continuing the work of the Lord Himself, who began His ministry with the proclamation of remission (Lk. 4:18 cp. 1:77). </p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/20-24.htm </p> <p><br> April 2 </p> <p>Num. 16</p> <p>The NT not only encourages us to all be priests; but we can even aspire to the High Priesthood, in a certain sense. James 5:16 speaks of the need to pray for one another, that we may be healed. This is an undoubted allusion back to mighty Moses praying for smitten Miriam, and to Aaron staying the plague by his offering of incense / prayer (Num.. 16:47). Surely James is saying that every one of us can rise up to the level of High Priest in this sense. Under the Law, the provision for Nazariteship encouraged the average Israelite to enter into the spirit of the High Priest by imposing some of the regulations governing his behaviour upon them. All Israel were bidden make fringes of blue, in conscious imitation of the High Priest to whose spirit they all were intended to attain (Num.. 15:38). </p> <p>Prov. 12 </p> <p>God confirms men in the path they chose to tread. The very experience of sin confirms sinners in that way:  the way of the wicked seduceth them (Prov. 12:26). The more men sin, the more sin God counts to them, even if they may not have actually committed it. This is why we can t let up our guard and think that  well, it s only a little sin, just once&  .</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-11The_Downward_Spiral.html">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-11The_Downward_Spiral.html</a></p> <p>Gal. 1, 2</p> <p> Paul's attitude to his brethren seems to have changed markedly over the years. He begins as being somewhat detached from them; perhaps as all new converts are initially. We see the Truth for what it is, we realize we had to make the commitment we did, and we are happy to do our own bit in preaching the Truth. But often a real concern and care for our brethren takes years to develop. Paul seems to tell the Galatians that the Gospel he preached had not been given to him by men, because in the early days after his conversion he was rather indifferent towards other Christian believers; " (Paul) conferred not with flesh and blood" after his conversion, neither did he go to see the apostles in Jerusalem to discuss how to preach to Israel; instead, Paul says, he pushed off to Arabia for three years in isolation. He was unknown by face to the Judaean ecclesias, and even after his return from Arabia, he made no special effort to meet up with the Apostles (Gal. 1). The early Paul comes over as self-motivated, a maverick, all too ready to fall out with Barnabas, all too critical of Mark for failing to rise up to Paul's level of fearless devotion (Acts 15:39). And yet he grew over time to appreciate his need for commitment to his brethren; and it's a path we all follow as our discipleship progresses.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/14-2-1paul_and_his_brethren.htm </p> <p> <br> April 3</p> <p>Num. 17,18 </p> <p>The command that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel is referring back to how the priests had no material inheritance but lived off the sacrifices (Num.. 18:11). And for us, the honour and wonder of preaching Christ should mean that we keep a loose hold on the material things of this life. And as we are all priests, we are all preachers.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/a1.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/a1.htm</a>&nbsp;</p> <p>Prov. 13 </p> <p>Solomon saw himself as the Messianic King and therefore infallible. He again and again failed to realize the conditionality of all God has promised. His own words were so true of him:  There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing [quoted in Rev. 3:17 about the rejected]: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great wealth (Prov. 13:7). This last phrase is quoted about the Lord Jesus, who made Himself poor on the cross. And yet Solomon, who made himself rich, was the very anti-Christ. &nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-5-3Solomons_Self_Justification.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-5-3Solomons_Self_Justification.htm</a></p> <p>Gal. 3, 4 </p> <p>In Jn. 18:37 Jesus told Pilate in the context of His upcoming death that He had come into this world to bear witness to the truth- the cross was the supreme witness and exhibition of the truth. There was no doctrine preached there, but rather the way of life which those doctrines ultimately lead to. Gal. 3:1 remonstrates with the Galatians as to how they could not obey the truth when the crucified Christ had been so clearly displayed to them; clearly Paul saw obedience to the truth as obedience to the implications of the cross. There is a powerful parallel in Gal. 4:16: I am your enemy because I tell you the truth... you are enemies of the cross of Christ. Thus the parallel is made between the cross and the truth. We are sanctified by the truth (Jn. 17:19); but our sanctification is through cleansing in the Lord s blood. The same word is used of our sanctification through that blood (Heb. 9:13; 10:29; 13:12). Perhaps this is why Dan. 8:11,12 seems to describe the altar as  the truth . The cross of Jesus is the ultimate truth. There we see humanity for what we really are; there we see the real effect of sin. Yet above all, there we see the glorious reality of the fact that a Man with our nature overcame sin, and through His sacrifice we really can be forgiven the untruth of all our sin; and thus have a real, concrete, definite hope of the life eternal.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/alcohol/alcohol_b4.htm</p> <p><br> April 4</p> <p>Num. 19 </p> <p>The  water of separation&quot; granted cleansing, in prophecy of the effect of the blood of Christ (Num.. 19:21). But the Hebrew for  separation&quot; is also translated  uncleanness (Lev. 20:21; Ezra 9:11; Zech. 13:1). Touching this water for any other reason made a man unclean. Only if used in the right context did it make him clean (Num.. 19:21). This is why it is described with a word which has these two meanings. Thus the RSV gives  water of impurity&quot;, the Russian, following an LXX manuscript:  water of purifying . And so it is with our contact with the work of the Lord, symbolized in the emblems. We are made unclean by it, we drink damnation to ourselves, if we don t discern it. Only if we properly discern it are we cleansed by it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/cross/7-4-4breaking_of_bread_and_judgment.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/cross/7-4-4breaking_of_bread_and_judgment.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 14 </p> <p>he utter <i>folly </i>&nbsp;of the rejected is a major theme (Prov. 14:8,18; Ps. 5:5; 49:13; Mt. 7:26; 25:8). Israel wandering in the wilderness until their carcasses lay strewn over the scrubland of Sinai connects with Cain also being a wanderer after his rejection. He was made a &quot;fugitive&quot;, from a Hebrew root meaning to shake, to totter, to reel. He was to wander, shaking with fear, reeling. The word is also rendered 'to bemoan'. It's an awful scene: bemoaning his lot, shaking, wandering, reeling, nowhere. The same image is found in Prov. 14:32:  The wicked is driven away [Heb. to totter, be chased] in his wickedness . And yet is this how Cain literally lived? Apparently not, for he married and built a city. He went through all the normal human functions, but in his soul, he was shaking, reeling, tottering, bemoaning his lot. And so it will be for the rejected. Jude matches this with &quot;<i>wandering </i>stars, unto whom is reserved the&nbsp; blackness of darkness&quot; (v.13). It does us good to think of the reality of rejection; that our destiny is only one of two possible outcomes. It helps us be the more grateful that we have been saved from wrath and condemnation through Jesus.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/judgment/judgment4_7.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/judgment/judgment4_7.htm</a></p> <p>Gal. 5, 6 </p> <p>To this extent does the preacher manifest his Lord, to the extent that Paul s preaching amongst the Galatians was a placarding forth of Christ crucified (Gal. 3:1 Gk.). God  was pleased to reveal his son in me, that I might preach him (Gal. 1:16). And thus Paul could conclude in Gal. 6:17 by saying that he bore in his body [perhaps an idiom for his life, cp. the  broken body of the Lord we remember] the stigmata of the Lord Jesus. He was so clearly a slave belonging to the Lord Jesus that it was as if one could see the marks of the nails in his body. Preaching is a revealing to men of the Christ that is within us; this is what witnessing in Christ is really about, rather than pushing bills or placing press adverts or writing letters. Not that any of these things are to be decried, but the essence is that we from deep within ourselves reveal Christ to men. This is why those who witness to Him, as only those in Him can, testify to His especial presence in this work. The promise that  I am with you always was in the context of being near the preacher as he or she witnesses.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/1-1-2Witnessing_For_Christ.html <br> April 5</p> <p>Num. 20, 21 </p> <p>Moses is one of greatest types of the Lord Jesus, in whom the Father was supremely manifested. Because of this, it is fitting that we should see a very high level of God manifestation in Moses. Indeed it seems that God was manifest in Moses to a greater degree than in any other Old Testament character. Israel  chode with Moses...they strove with the Lord (Num.. 20:3,13) uses the same Hebrew word for both  chode and  strove . To strive with Moses was to strive with the Lord- i.e. with the guardian Angel that was so closely associated with Moses? Num.. 20:4 continues rather strangely with the Israelites addressing Moses in the plural:  The people chode with Moses, saying...Why have ye [you plural] brought up... . Could it be that even they recognized his partnership with God? Likewise Num.. 21:5:  And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye [plural] brought us up out of Egypt to die? .This amazing partnership between God and a man is replicable in <em>our</em> lives too!</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/4-8-1God_Manifestation_In_Moses.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/4-8-1God_Manifestation_In_Moses.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 15 </p> <p>There should be an element of preparation before offering  prayer, as there was before offering a sacrifice. Note how Prov. 15:8 parallels sacrifice with prayer. Prayer ought to be a humbling experience, perhaps alluded to by the incense, representing prayer, needing to be &quot;beaten small&quot;. Preparation of prayer involves humility. David takes words of supplication to himself, which as King he must often have heard from desperate citizens, and uses it in his own prayers to God: &quot;Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call... A Psalm of David&quot; (Ps. 20:9). In this one sees a conscious humility in how David formulated his prayers.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pr/3-9how_to_improve_prayer.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pr/3-9how_to_improve_prayer.htm</a></p> <p>Eph 1, 2</p> <p>At our baptism we became " in Christ" . Through that act we obeyed all the Lord's invitations to believe " in Him" , or as the Greek means, to believe into Him. We believed into Him after we heard the Gospel, by baptism (Eph. 1:13). We are now connected with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; we are treated by God as if we are His Son. His supreme righteousness is counted to us; we have a part in His redemption and salvation, because we are in Him (Rom. 3:24). In God's eyes, we became newly created people, because we were in Christ by baptism (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 1:16,17). He made in Himself a new man (Eph. 2:15). But do we appreciate what it means to be " in Christ" as well as we might? The richness of His character, the wisdom and knowledge of the Father that is in Him, is there for our eternal discovery (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:27; 2:3). We were baptized into His death; He had a cup to drink of (His death) and a baptism to be baptized with (His burial) which we now become united with (Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:10-12). As such great attention was focused upon that suffering Son in His death, as such lavish, almost senseless extravagance of care for His burial: all of this becomes lavished on us as we become in Him. All that is true of Him becomes in some way true of us; as He is the seed of Abraham, so we become; and so the list could go on. </p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/1-1-1What_It_Means_To_Be_In_Christ.html <br> April 6</p> <p>Num. 22, 23</p> <p>Balaam was one of God's prophets. Balak, an enemy of Israel asked him to curse Israel, in return for money. Balaam really wanted to curse Israel and get the reward, but God wouldn't let him. Balak sent a messenger to ask Balaam to come to him. Balaam asked God whether he should go. The answer was that he should not go. Then the messenger came again; and this time, God told Balaam to go with them, but only to speak God's word. It was as if God was pushing Balaam down the road to spiritual ruin. The end result of Balaam meeting Balak was that he advised Balak to make Israel sin with his women, which would mean that God would curse Israel. And for this Balaam was condemned. If Balaam had not gone with the messengers in the first place, he would not have fallen into this sin. But God told him to go with them (Num.. 22:20). And if we chose to be weak, then God can confirm us in our weakness, pushing us into a downward spiral.</p> <p>Prov. 16 </p> <p>Solomon came to see himself as somehow more than human. Consider his comment that &quot;the wrath of a king is as angels of death&quot; (Prov. 16:14). As God sends out angels of death, as on Passover night, it's a reflection of His decision as King in the court of Heaven. But Solomon decided that his court was as God's court, and therefore his thoughts, emotions and decisions would therefore be somehow Divinely fulfilled, with Angels sent out to fulfill them. He took 'God manifestation' to such a degree that he denied his own humanity, and this destroyed his own person. We see it happening all around us- church pastors, visual artists who think somehow God is speaking through them to the point they see themselves as &quot;Gods in their own right&quot; [as Dali and Picasso have been described as seeing themselves], Kings and political leaders and corporate directors and office managers and working class husbands and obsessive, domineering single mums... who all somehow come to see themselves as little gods with a 'Divine right' to infallible decision making for others. </p> <p class=MsoNormal>Solomon writes inspired truth in Proverbs of course, but it is inevitable that much of what he writes about the need to respect the man who has wisdom, and his superiority over all others, was written with an eye to his own self-justification. He even writes as if the king must be accepted as automatically infallible:  A divine sentence is in the lips of the king; his mouth transgresseth not in judgment& the fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul (Prov. 16:10; 20:2). &nbsp; It was really Solomon's self-justification.&nbsp; </p> <p class=MsoNormal>Often Solomon s Proverbs bring out the tension between wealth and wisdom, and the need to chose wisdom (Prov. 8:11; 16:16). But whilst he was inspired to write this, and true as it all was, it is inevitable that Solomon said all this with his mind on the way that he had rejected wealth for wisdom when asked by God for his wish. He thought that his right choice in early life [cp. Christian baptism] justified him in later loving wealth rather than wisdom. </p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-5-3Solomons_Self_Justification.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-5-3Solomons_Self_Justification.htm</a></p> <p>Eph 3, 4 </p> <p>The Lord had prophesied that His followers over time  shall become one flock (Jn. 10:16 RV); they would be  perfected into one, that the world may know (Jn. 17:23 RV). He surely hoped this would have become true in the first century. And it could have been like this in the first century- for Eph. 3:9 speaks of how the unity of Jew and Gentile would  make all men see the Gospel. This is the urgency of Paul s appeal for unity in Ephesians- he knew that their unity was the intended witness to the world which the Lord had spoken of as the means of the fulfilment of the great comission in Jn. 17:21-23. But sadly, Jew and Gentile went their separate ways in the early church, unity in the church broke up, and the possibility of world-converting witness evaporated. Seeing the great commission is to be powerfully obeyed in our last days, we simply <em>must </em>learn the lesson. </p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/16-3-4Unity_In_The_Church.htm <br> April 7</p> <p>Num. 24, 25 </p> <p>Balaam's eyes were opened to the Angel blocking his way, and when he realized how he had closed his spiritual vision to the Angel trying to stop him going to Balak, he fell down on his face (Num.. 22:31). But when he is later given a vision of Balak s judgment, the vision which Balaam didn t want to see, he describes himself as  the man whose eye was closed and yet had to see the vision with his eyes open (Num.. 24:3,4 RV). He didn t learn the lesson. He closed his eyes so as not to see the vision, and yet God forced him to open his eyes and see it. And again, he fell down upon his face (Num.. 24:4,16 RV), as he had when the Angel blocked his path earlier. He wouldn t learn his lesson, he wouldn t perceive how circumstances were being repeated in God s desperate effort to get him to repent.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/5-2-1Repetition_In_Biblical_Narratives.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/5-2-1Repetition_In_Biblical_Narratives.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 17 </p> <p>Gossip is part of a downward spiral of spirituality. Once gossip starts a quarrel, it's like water bursting out of a dam; soon the whole land of Israel will be flooded (Prov. 17:14 NIV). So it's best not to start it, not only for our own sakes, but because of the effect it will have on the rest of the body. Peter likewise points an antithesis between gossiping and receiving &quot; the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby&quot; (1 Pet. 2:1,2). Real spiritual growth is impossible if we are taken up with gossiping; and this is true on the communal as well as individual level.<b>&nbsp; </b></p> <p class=MsoNormal>Prov. 17:9 says that seeking love by covering a transgression is the opposite of  repeating a matter . Think through this. It implies that we gossip, i.e. we repeat others s sins, because we chose not to cover their sin by forgiving it.<b>&nbsp; </b></p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-4-1Gossip_In_The_Church.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-4-1Gossip_In_The_Church.htm</a></p> <p>Eph 5, 6 </p> <p align="justify">Paul's argument in Eph. 5 is quite clear: the man represents Christ, and the woman represents the ecclesia. But have a look down at 5:30: " We (all of us) are members of (Christ's) body, of his flesh, and of his bones" . That the church <em>is</em> the body of Christ is a common New Testament theme. The figure of <em>being</em> somebody's body could not be more intense and personal. You touch your own body, feel your bones beneath your flesh- that's fundamentally <em>you</em>. Whilst of course Christ does have a separate bodily existence, we are fundamentally Christ. Without us and our inherent sinfulness, Christ would not have come into existence, nor would He now exist.  </p> <p>So, the man represents Christ, and the woman the ecclesia. But the ecclesia, all of it, <em>is</em> the body of Christ; so in this sense husbands should love their wives " as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh" (5:28,29). The more we appreciate the strength and power of typology, the more we will realize the spiritual unity which there should be between brethren and sisters. The physical body of Christ is not divided- there is only one Jesus in Heaven. If brethren represent Christ and sisters typify His body, then there should be no division- either between husbands and wives, or amongst brethren and sisters within Christ's body. Thus marriage breakdowns and internal ecclesial strife are equally wrong- they both spoil the typology presented in Eph. 5. They effectively tear Christ's body apart, as men tried to do on the cross. We say " tried to" because ultimately Christ's body is indivisible- in the same way as in a sense His body was " broken" (as it is by division in the body), whilst in another sense it remained unbroken, in God's sight. Likewise, the ecclesial body in God's sight is even now not divided- we are one in Christ.</p> http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/3-4One_In_Christ.htm <p><br> April 8</p> <p>Num. 26</p> <p>There is reason to think that over time, the perception of the promises by the body of believers has moved from the physical to the spiritual. Thus the early Israelites thought of the promised inheritance as being effectively fulfilled in the fact that they had entered Canaan and were living there (Lev. 25:46; Num.. 26:55; Dt. 1:28; 12:10; Josh. 14:1). David went on to realize that the promised inheritance was not in this life, but looked forward to the day when God's people would eternally inherit Canaan through the gift of immortality (Ps. 25:13; 37:9,11; 69:36). Solomon went further, in that he spoke of the promised inheritance as the glory (Prov. 3:35), depth of knowledge (Prov. 14:18) and spiritual riches (Prov. 8:21; 28:10) which God's people will inherit in the future Kingdom. The Lord Jesus rarely spoke of the inheritance as inheriting land, but rather of inheriting &quot; everlasting life&quot; (Mt. 19:29), the Kingdom (Mt. 25:34), &quot; all things&quot; (Rev. 21:7). Likewise the NT writers saw the &quot; inheritance&quot; as forgiveness (Acts 3:25,26; 1 Pet. 3:9) and salvation (Heb. 1:14). These more abstract things will all be experienced in the land promised to Abraham; this is the unchangeable, literal basis of all the other blessings.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/2-4-1Jacob_And_The_Promises.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/2-4-1Jacob_And_The_Promises.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 18 </p> <p>Our Community has many strong points, and many indications of real spiritual growth. But there are some practical areas to which we have all paid insufficient attention. One of these is the terrible human tendency to repeat rumour, to draw unsupported conclusions, and to get disaffected with others until we imagine untrue things about them which we then state to others. I am not innocent in this area. And neither are any of us (not that this fact in any way comforts me). Let's not pretend that any of us don't gossip. And let's admit that our ears <em>love</em> to hear gossip. &quot; The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's innermost parts&quot; (Prov. 18:8 NIV), i.e. we dwell on what we hear very deeply. This is one reason to interrupt a gossiping brother or sister before they go further; for the words of gossip will go deep down within us, and we will ruminate on them. <em>Gossip in the church is, sadly, becoming a real sin amongst us</em>. If a community becomes full of gossip, allegation and counter-claims, very soon we will destroy ourselves. </p> <p>As gossip in the church spreads, it becomes distorted, sometimes horrendously. The result is that when the victim hears it, they inevitably become angry, and often feel that they cannot associate with their brethren and sisters if such things are thought about them. They are ashamed, angry because what was said was untrue, and they are tempted to become vindictive against those whom they hold to be responsible. In extreme cases, this can lead to resignation from the community. An offended brother is harder to be won back than a fortified city (Prov. 18:19). Over the past year as you read this, <em>this will have&nbsp; happened</em>. But often the result is simply a decreased enthusiasm to attend the meetings, to break close contact with the brethren and sisters who ought to be our true friends. This results in a community which is cold and untrusting of each other, with every one of us internalizing our struggles, appearing righteous on the surface but never opening our hearts. <em>And this also is happening amongst us</em>. For all concerned, the process of gossip and counter-claiming all saps real spirituality out of us. We have enough wonderful things to contemplate: the supremacy of the love of Christ, far above our human knowledge; the sublime intricacy of God's word and character; the fulfilment of prophecy; the wonder of our Hope. These things ought to fill our thinking- and our conversation with each other. If they don't, and gossip in the church becomes the main diet of our conversation, <em>something is very seriously wrong with us</em>. We only have a few years <em>at most</em> (probably far less) to sort ourselves out before we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We need to be using every moment.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-4-1Gossip_In_The_Church.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/7-4-1Gossip_In_The_Church.htm</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Phi 1, 2 </p> <p>The early church are held up as our example in Phil. 1:27: " Stand fast in <em>one spirit, with one mind </em>striving together for the faith of the Gospel" . Doesn't that sound just like an allusion to the early ecclesia? Now go on to 2:2: " Be likeminded, having the same love, being <em>of one accord</em>, of one mind" . There's that phrase " one accord" again. It's hardly used outside the Acts, so we should read that like a signpost, saying 'Go back to the Acts!'. So Paul is saying: 'You believers must always remember the great spirit of " one accord" in the early ecclesia in Jerusalem. Let the early church be your example!'. And if you look closely, you'll see a number of other allusions back to the early chapters of Acts. For example, v.4: " Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" . Twice we read there in Acts of disregarding our own " things" . Paul definitely has his eye on Acts 4:32: " The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul (just as Paul spoke about in Phil.2:2): neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own (cp. " his own things" in Phil.2:4); but they had all things common" . And then in v.3 Paul warns against doing things " through vainglory" . Doesn't that sound like an allusion to Ananias and Sapphira? Then he warns them in v.14 " Do all things without murmurings and disputings" . It can't be coincidental that in Acts 6:1,9 we read twice about there being murmurings and disputings in the early ecclesia.  Phil. 2 describes the exaltation of Christ on his resurrection. It seems no accident that this is then described in the very words which the apostles so often used in their preaching in the early chapters of Acts. Thus in v.9, " God hath highly exalted him" is a reference to Peter s words: " Being by the right hand of God exalted ...him hath God exalted" (Acts 2:33; 5:33). The whole theme in Phil.2 is of Christ suffering on the cross and then being exalted by the Father, and given the mighty Name. The very same language is used so often in Acts (2:9-11=Acts 2:36; 2:10= Acts 4:10; 3:6,16).  </p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/16-1-2Early_Church_Our_Example.htm</p> <p><br> April 9</p> <p>Num. 27</p> <p>Joshua is to be seen as really our example. Num.. 27:20 LXX says that Moses put or gave of his glory upon Joshua- and this passage is alluded to by the Lord in Jn. 17:22:  The glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them . Note that the Lord s prayer of John 17 is full of allusion to Moses, as detailed in http://www.carelinks.net/books/dh/bl/4-4Moses_As_A_Type_Of_Christ.htm. So the disciples, indeed all those for whom the Lord prayed in His prayer, are to see themselves as Joshua. Further, in the same context, the Lord washed the disciples feet. This would ve been understood by the disciples as an allusion to a well known Jewish legend that in Num.. 27:15-23, Moses acted as a servant to Joshua by preparing a basin of water and washing Joshua s feet(1). And the LXX of Moses final charge to Joshua in Dt. 31:7,8 [ fear not, neither be dismayed ] is quoted by the Lord to His disciples in Jn. 14:1,27.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/4-9-4Joshua_Our_Example.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/4-9-4Joshua_Our_Example.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 19 </p> <p>Being generous to the poor is likened by Prov. 19:17 to lending to the Lord; and He will repay that 'debt'. There are countless ways in which God's word could tell us that what we give to the poor, we will somehow receive back from God. But God chooses to use this figure- thus indicating His own solidarity with the very lowest of society, and how God feels in the debt of those who are for them. It's of course only a figure, but God surely shows His humility by using it.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/6-5The_Humility_Of_God.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/6-5The_Humility_Of_God.htm</a></p> <p>Phi 3, 4 </p> <p>Our reward in the Kingdom will in some way be related to the work of upbuilding we have done with our brethren and sisters in this life. The " reward" which 1 Cor. 3:14 speaks of is the " work" we have built in God's ecclesia in this life. In agreement with this, Paul describes those he had laboured for as the reward he would receive in the Kingdom (Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19). Relationships in the Kingdom of God were to be his reward. This not only demonstrates the impossibility of attaining the " reward" if we ignore the brotherhood; it also shows that the Kingdom will mean something different for each of us; the " reward" we will be given will be a reflection of our own personal labours for our brethren in ecclesial life.  </p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/5-1-2Relationships_In_The_Kingdom_Of_God.htm </p> <p><br> April 10</p> <p>Num. 28</p> <p>The idea of a mutuality between God and man is quite a theme in the Bible. The sacrifices, offered on the altar as the table of Yahweh, were the bread of God (Num.. 28:2), offered at the same times [morning and evening] as God fed His people. He feeds us, and beyond our understanding our sacrifices can give something to God, we can touch His heart, and thereby  feed Him. This idea is brought out in Ez. 16:19:  My meat [food] also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee&  . The flour, oil etc. were the things Israel were to offer in sacrifice to God- the food with which they were to feed Him. Yet, Ezekiel goes on, they had offered them in sacrifice [ fed them] to idols. Yet those very things were fed to Israel by God. </p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/5-1-3Mutuality_Between_God_And_Man.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/5-1-3Mutuality_Between_God_And_Man.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 20 </p> <p> The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts&quot; (Prov. 20:27); our self-examination is what reveals us to the Lord. What we think about at the memorial meeting, as we are faced with the memory of the crucified Saviour, is therefore an epitome of what we really are. If all we are thinking of is the taste of the wine, the cover over the bread, the music, what we didn t agree with in the exhortation, all the external things of our Christianity; or if we are sitting there taking bread and wine as a conscience salver, doing our little religious ritual to make us feel psychologically safe- then we simply don t know Him. We are surface level believers only. And this is the message we give Him. Our spirit / attitude is the candle of the Lord, with which He searches us. Our thoughts when confronted by the cross reveal us to Him who died on it. Likewise Joseph (one of the most detailed types of the Lord) knew / discerned his brethren by his cup (Gen. 44:5).</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/cross/14.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/cross/14.htm</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Joh 1 </p> <p>John describes himself as resting on Jesus bosom (Jn. 13:23); yet he writes that Jesus is now in the Father s bosom (Jn. 1:18). He is saying that he has the same kind of intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus as Jesus has with the Father. Yet John also records how the Lord Jesus repeatedly stressed that the intimacy between Him and the Father was to be shared with all His followers. So John is consciously holding up his own relationship with the Lord Jesus as an example for all others to experience and follow. Yet John also underlines his own slowness to understand the Lord. Without any pride or self-presentation, he is inviting others to share the wonderful relationship with the Father and Son which he himself had been blessed with.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/4Preaching_And_Humility.htm </p> <p><br> April 11</p> <p>Num. 29, 30 </p> <p>The Son of Man is given authority and power over all so that people of all nations, races and languages should serve Him. We must remind ourselves that out of the 5,000 or so languages in the world, the vast majority have no true Christian representatives; and only about half of them have the Bible in their own language. And as of the year 2000, only 12% of the world have English as a first or second language; yet the majority of those holding true Bible teaching, so far as we know, are English speaking. If, as indeed we believe, we alone preach the True Gospel...then we have a long way to go in fulfilling this. Either that, or the scope of God s acceptance of men from all these languages and nations over time and over space today is far wider than we as a community have thought. Both of these possible conclusions arise from meditation upon the fact that the authority of the Lord must be extended over every nation and language group. Both of them are intensely challenging to our community. Rev. 5:9 presents us with the picture of men and women redeemed from every kindred [tribe / clan], tongue [glossa- language], people [a group of people not necessarily of the same ethnicity] and nation [ethnos- ethnic group, lit.  those of the same customs ]. This means that not only redeemed  Yugoslavs will stand before the throne in the end; but Macedonians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrans, Bosnians...every ethnic group, with every custom, will have representatives who will have believed the Truth and been saved. This idea is confirmed by considering how 70 bullocks had to be sacrificed at the feast of ingathering (Num.. 29), prophetic as it was of the final ingathering of the redeemed. But 70 is the number of all Gentile nations found in Gen. 10. And it is written:  When he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel (Dt. 32:8). A total of 70 went down with Jacob into Egypt; and thus 70 seems an appropriate number to connect with the entire Gentile world. And representatives of all of them will be finally ingathered.</p> <p>It seems highly doubtful to me that over the past 2,000 years, the Truth has been taken to every ethnos, tribe, clan, custom and language, especially in Africa and Asia. So it follows that only once we have done it in our generation will this come true. The brethren in those parts especially have work to do yet, it seems to me. And we should all support them as best we can. I have a real belief that given the current rate of progress in preaching, the current generation could witness literally world-wide representation by those who understand true Christian doctrine- if we all do our bit. It is very difficult for me to reproduce in writing the kind of picture I have in my mind. But it is a thrilling and all consuming, all-demanding vision.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/5-2great_commission.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/5-2great_commission.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 21 </p> <p>God s judgment is a learning process for the observers:  When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise (Prov. 21:11). We are to do this in this life; and it s also going to happen in the day of judgment. Indeed it could be that this is the main reason for it- for the whole outcome and judgment process is known to God before judgment day.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/2.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/2.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 2, 3 </p> <p>As the Lord was the light of those that sat in darkness (Mt. 4:16), so Paul writes as if all the believers are likewise (Rom. 2:19). The light of Christ lightens every man who is born into the spiritual world (Jn. 3:9), with the inevitable effect that he too becomes the light of the world for others (Mt. 5:14). John  was not the light in the sense that he was not Jesus personally (Jn. 1:8 RV); but he was in another sense  a burning and shining light (Jn. 5:35) in that he like us was  the light of the world on account of his connection with Jesus. The Son was  sanctified and sent into the world (Jn. 10:36). And yet we too are sanctified (Jn. 17:17,19), and likewise sent into the world (Mk. 16:15). As the Lord was sent into the whole world, so are we (Jn. 17:18). So let's shine as lights of Him this very day!</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/3-3paul_preaching_christ.htm</p> <p> <br> April 12</p> <p>Num. 31</p> <p>God makes concessions to human weakness. Having reminded Israel of how they sinned with the Midianites, He allows them to keep unmarried Midianites as wives (Num.. 31:16,18). We need to not only take comfort from this but do the same in our judgment of others' situations.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/6-3Bible_Paradoxes.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/6-3Bible_Paradoxes.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 22 </p> <p>Solomon could write of the folly of the ruler who oppressed the poor (Prov. 22:16)- and yet do just that very thing. The Proverbs so frequently refer to the dangers of the house of the Gentile woman; yet the Song of Solomon shows the Egyptian girl dearly wishing that Solomon would come with her into her house. And&nbsp; Solomon,&nbsp; just&nbsp; like&nbsp; the foolish young man he wrote about, went right ahead down the road to spiritual disaster he so often warned others about. There s something deeply perverse within us, with which we battle each day.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-3-2The_Song_Of_Solomon.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/7-3-2The_Song_Of_Solomon.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 4 </p> <p>The Lord likened His preachers to men reaping a harvest. He speaks of how they fulfilled the proverb that one sows and another reaps (Jn. 4:37,38). Yet this  proverb has no direct Biblical source. What we <em>do </em>find in the Old Testament is the repeated idea that if someone sows but another reaps, this is a sign that they are suffering God s judgment for their sins (Dt. 20:6; 28:30; Job 31:8; Mic. 6:15). But the Lord turns around the  proverb concerning Israel s condemnation; He makes it apply to the way that the preacher / reaper who doesn t sow is the one who harvests others in converting them to Him. Surely His implication was that His preacher-reapers were those who had known condemnation for their sins, but on that basis were His humbled harvesters in the mission field. Let this be the basis of your witness today.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/4Preaching_And_Humility.htm </p> <p><br> April 13</p> <p>Num. 32</p> <p>Consider God s statement that the whole people of Israel would have been left in the wilderness and now allowed to enter the land, if Gad and Reuben refused to cross the Jordan river (Num.. 32:15). But this would have broken the Divine promise of Num.. 14:31 that all those under 20 would enter the land. Even that promise, therefore, had unstated conditions attached to it. And yet God had yet another option- if they refused to go over Jordan, then they would forfeit their land and receive a different inheritance (Num.. 32:30). The complexities of these conditions are of course beyond us, because we are seeing only a part of the working of God s infinite mind. The point is, there are conditions attached to God s promises which aren t always made apparent to us. </p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/11-2-1Conditional_Prophecy.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/11-2-1Conditional_Prophecy.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 23 </p> <p>There s no doubt that the Gospel must be a way of life, not certain actions like prayer, attendance of meetings and the breaking of bread which we religiously perform at certain times. God essentially seeks <em>the heart</em>, the unshareable self, to be given to Him:  my son, give me thine heart (Prov. 23:26). The word  spirit is used in different senses in different contexts. It can mean the thinking and consciousness, and yet also  power . Yet these things are linked, in that as a man thinks and feels and desires in his heart, so he is (Prov. 23:7). Our physical actions, the way we uses our  power , are a reflection of our inner spirit. Likewise, the Spirit of God is <em>God in action</em>, God showing His power, and yet in its expression it articulates the inner mind and characteristics of God.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-15A_Way_Of_Life.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-15A_Way_Of_Life.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 5 </p> <p>Even in His life, the Father committed all judgment unto the Son (Jn. 5:22). The Lord can therefore talk in some arresting present tenses: "Verily, verily, I say unto you [as judge], He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation". According to our response to His word, so we have now our judgment. He goes on to speak of how the believer will again hear His voice, at His return: "The hour is coming, and [also] now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live". Our response to His word now is a mirror of our response to His word then. Hence the hour is yet future, and yet now is. 'The Son right now has the authority to execute judgment on the basis of response to His word. He will do this at the last day; and yet even as He spoke, He judged as He heard' [paraphrase of Jn. 5:27-30]. Because He <em>is </em>the Son of man, He even then had the power of judgment given to Him (Jn. 5:27). These present tenses would be meaningless unless the Lord was even then exercising His role as judge. When He says that He doesn't judge / condemn men (Jn. 3:17-21), surely He is saying that <em>He</em> won't so much judge men as they will judge themselves by their attitude to Him. His concentration was and is on saving men. The condemnation is that men loved darkness, and prefer the darkness of rejection to the light of Christ. Likewise Jn. 12:47,48: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to [so much as to] judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me...hath one that judgeth him: the word [his response to the word, supplying the ellipsis] that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day".</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/judgment/judgment1_3.htm</p> <p><br> April 14</p> <p>Num. 33</p> <p>Mt.1:17 mentions that there were 42 generations before Christ. This must have some connection with the 42 stopping places before Israel reached Canaan, as described in Num..33:2. Thus the birth of Christ would be like God's people entering the promised land of the Kingdom in some way.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/james/james_d04.html">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/james/james_d04.html</a></p> <p>Prov. 24 </p> <p>he book of Proverbs is a good example of spiritual knowledge creating even more. The purpose of the Proverbs is to enable us &quot; to perceive the words of understanding&quot; (1:2); the words of the Proverbs make one more sensitive to other &quot; words of understanding&quot; . If, as has been suggested, Proverbs is a commentary on the Law, then we can see why the book opens by explaining that its purpose is to allow greater perception of other parts of the word. The very experience of wisdom and obedience creates a sweet palate for it, as eating honey does (Prov. 24:13,14 LXX). The man of knowledge  increaseth [Heb.  confirms / adds to ] strength (Prov. 24:5).</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-10-1The_Upward_Spiral.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-10-1The_Upward_Spiral.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 6 </p> <p>The very human perspective of the disciples is almost predictably brought out by their response to the Lord s question to them about where to get bread to feed the hungry crowd.  Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient was Philip s response (Jn. 6:7). Andrew s comment that they had five loaves and two fishes surely carried the undertone that  & and that s not even enough for us, let alone them- we re starving too, you know! . The disciples wanted the crowd sent away, to those who sold food, so that they might buy for themselves (Mt. 14:15). As the Lord s extended commentary upon their reactions throughout John 6 indicates, these responses were human and selfish. And yet- and here is a fine insight into His grace and positive thinking about His men- He puts their very words and attitudes into the mouth of the wise virgins at the very moment of their acceptance at the day of judgment:  The wise answered [the foolish virgins] saying, Not so, lest there be not enough [s.w.  not sufficient , Jn. 6:7] for us and you; but got ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves (Mt. 25:9). Clearly the Lord framed that parable in the very words, terms and attitudes of His selfish disciples. He counted even their weakness as positive, and thus showed His desire to accept them in the last day in spite of it. Another reading of the connection would be that the Lord foresaw how even in the final moment of acceptance into His Kingdom, right on the very eve of judgment day, His people would still be as hopelessly limited in outlook and spiritually self-centred as the disciples were that day with the multitude. Whatever way we want to read this undoubted connection of ideas, we have a window into a grace so amazing it almost literally takes our breath away.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/bl/15-7Disciples_And_Imputed_Righteousness.htm</p> <p><br> April 15</p> <p>Num. 34&nbsp; </p> <p>The borders of the promised land appear to change between the various passages which delimit them. The borders here are certainly not the borders of the land promised to Abraham. In this we see how God is willing to change the details of His purpose with us, but above all He wishes to keep working with us- even if like Israel we fail to rise up to the ideal intentions He has for us. They were too weak in faith to inherit all the land promised to Abraham- but still God worked with them and redefined the borders accordingly.</p> <p>Prov. 25 </p> <p>Although God joins together man and wife, He allows His work to be undone in that He concedes to separation, even when there has been no adultery (1 Cor. 7:11). Prov. 21:9; 25:24 almost seem to encourage it, by saying that it is better for a spiritual man to dwell in a corner of the housetop than to share a house in common (LKK <em>koinos</em>) with his contentious wife. The same word occurs in Mal. 2:14 LXX in describing a man s wife as his  companion (<em>koinonos</em>). Thus God is willing to make concessions, to let principles conflict in order to elicit from us true self-examination and rightly motivated behaviour. And this should lead us to a grace-filled attitude to others.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-7-3Biblical_Ideal_Of_Marriage.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/mm/2-7-3Biblical_Ideal_Of_Marriage.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 7 </p> <p>Jn. 7:38: " He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly (" innermost being" , NIV) shall flow rivers of living (Gk. spring) water" . What " scripture" did the Lord have in mind? Surely Ez. 47:1,9, the prophecy of how in the Millennium, rivers of spring water will come out from Zion and bring life to the world; and perhaps too the references to spring water being used to cleanse men from leprosy and death (Lev. 14:5; 15:13; Num. 19:16). Out of the innermost being of the true believer, the spring(ing) water of the Gospel will <em> naturally</em> spring up and go out to heal men, both now and more fully in the Kingdom, aided then by the Spirit gifts. The believer, <em>every</em>  believer, <em>whoever</em>  believes, will preach the word to others <em>from his innermost being</em>, both now and in the Kingdom - without the need for preaching committees or special efforts (not that in themselves I'm decrying them). The tendency is to delegate our responsibilities to these committees. There is no essential difference between faith and works. If we believe, we will do the works of witness, quite spontaneously. And note how the water that sprung out of the Lord s smitten side is to be compared with the bride that came out of the smitten side of Adam. We, the bride, are the water; thanks to the inspiration of the cross, we go forth in witness, the water of life to this hard land in which we walk.</p> <p>http://www.aletheiacollege.net/ww/1-2making_disciples.htm</p> <p><br> April 16</p> <p>Num. 35 </p> <p>We died and rose with Christ, if we truly believe in His representation of us and our connection with Him, then His freedom from sin and sense of conquest will be ours; as the man guilty of blood was to see in the death of the High Priest a representation of his own necessary death, and thereafter was freed from the limitations of the city of refuge (Num.. 35:32,33). So the challenge comes down to us today- to live life feeling and living out our identity with the Lord Jesus.</p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pb/2-31Freedom_From_Sin.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pb/2-31Freedom_From_Sin.htm</a></p> <p>Prov. 26 </p> <p>Prov. 26:10 makes a link between God as creator, and God as judge:  The great God that formed all things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors . The very fact that God formed us means that we are accountable to His judgment. We can never, not for a nanosecond, avoid or opt out of the fact that we were created by God. And therefore and thereby, we are responsible to Him as our judge. </p> <p><a href="http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pb/2-3God_As_Creator.htm">http://www.aletheiacollege.net/pb/2-3God_As_Creator.htm</a></p> <p>Joh 8 </p> <p>It seems reasonable to conclude that Isaac was offered on or near the hill of Calvary, one of the hills (Heb.) near Jerusalem, in the ancient  land of Moriah" (cp. 2 Chron. 3:1). The name given to the place, Yahweh-Yireh, means  in this mount I have seen Yahweh . The events of the death and resurrection of the Lord which Isaac s experience pointed forward to were therefore the prophesied  seeing of Yahweh. When Abraham  <em>saw</em> the place [of Isaac s intended sacrifice] afar off" (Gen. 22:4), there is more to those words than a literal description. Heb. 11:13 alludes here in saying that Abraham <em>saw</em> the fulfilment of  the promises"  afar off". The Lord in Jn. 8:56 says that Abraham <em>saw</em> His day or time [usually a reference to His sacrifice]. And yet that place of offering was called by Abraham  Jehovah Jireh ,  Jehovah will be <em>seen</em> . Note the theme of <em>seeing</em>. In some shadowy way, Abraham understood something of the future sacrifice of the Lord