The prophet Ezekiel lived in exile in Babylon during the period and after the Fall of Jerusalem. His message was addressed both to the exiles in Babylonia and to the people of Jerusalem. He was a man of deep faith. Many of his insights came in the form of visions, and many of his messages is expressed in vivid symbolic actions.
The prophet Ezekiel emphasized the need for inner renewal of the heart and spirit and the responsibility of each individual for his own sins. As a priest, as well as prophet, he had special interest in the Temple and in the need of holiness.
The name Ezekiel means "power of God"and the power of God is none other than Christ our Lord. It is also written that Ezekiel was "son of Buzi, which means "despised."
To understand Ezekiel as a figure of Christ, we go to Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians. It deals with problems of Christian life and faith that had arisen in the church that he had established at Corinth.
Paul says, "By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to all of you, my friends, to agree in what you say, so that there will be no divisions among you. Be completely united, with only one thought and one purpose."(1Cor:1:10) "Christ has been divided into groups!"(1Cor:1:13) "For the Message about Christ's Death on the cross is nonsense to those who are being lost; but for us who are being saved it is God's Power."(1Cor:1:18) "God has shown that this World's wisdom is foolishness! For God in His Wisdom made it impossible for human beings to know Him by means of their own wisdom."(1:21) "For what seems to be God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and what seems to be God's weakness is stronger than human strength."(1Cor:1:25) "From the human point of view few of you were wise or powerful or of high social standing. God purposely chose what the World considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and He chose what the World considers weak in order to shame the powerful. He chose what the World looks down on and 'despises' and think is nothing, in order to destroy what the World thinks is important."(1Cor1:26-28)
"By the River Chebar"(Ezek1:1). This refers to that very heavy River of the World. "And the Word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, son of Buzi, the priest."(Ezek1:3). This is the Word of the Lord who "in the beginning was God, the Word with the Father."(John1:1)
The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the eternal Word of God, who "became a human being and lived among us." John identifies the eternal Word of God with Jesus. John says, "In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him. The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out." (John1:1-5)
In his Second Letter, Peter addresses to a wide circle of Christians about the work of false teachers and the immorality which results from such teaching. The answer to this falsehood is found in holding to the true knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, which has been conveyed by persons who themselves have seen Jesus and have heard Him teach. He says, "False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you, bringing untrue and destructive doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon them-selves sudden destruction. Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of Truth. In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling made-up stories. .. These people are bold and arrogant, and show no respect for the glorious beings above; instead, they insult them. Even the angels, who are so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers, do not accuse them with insults in the presence of the Lord. But these people act by instinct, like wild animals born to be captured and killed; they attack with insults anything they do not understand. ..Pleasure for them is to do anything in broad daylight that will satisfy their bodily appetites;
they are a shame and a disgrace as they join you in your meals, all the while enjoying their deceitful ways! They want to look for nothing but the chance to commit adultery; their appetite for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into a trap. Their hearts are trained to be greedy. ..These people are like dried-up springs, like clouds blown along by a storm, .. They make proud and stupid statements, and use immoral bodily lusts to trap those who are just beginning to escape from among the people who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of destructive habits -for we are slaves of anything that has conquered us." (2 Peter 2:1-19)
"Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language. Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure Spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved." (1 Peter 2:1-2)
Psalm 82 says, "God presides in the heavenly Council; in the Assembly of gods He gives His decision:
'You must stop judging unjustly; You must no longer be partial to the wicked! Defend the rights of the poor and the orphans; be fair to the needy and the helpless. Rescue them from the power of evil people.
How ignorant You are! How stupid! You are completely corrupt, and justice has disappeared from the World. 'You are gods,' I said; 'all of You are children of the Most High.' But You will die like mortals; Your life will end like that of any prince." (82:1-7)
It is the Word of God that make believers into gods, therefore Ezekiel too was a god.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Sunday, January 14, 2018
LAMENTING THE FALL OF JERUSALEM.
This account of the siege of Jeru-Salem by Nebu-Chadnez-Zar should be compared with the narrative of its later destruction by Titus (70CE). History repeat itself presenting striking paralleles in the two cases: the close investment of the city, the desperate resistance, the horrors of famine within, the incidents of the capture, the burning of the Temple, the demolition of the walls, and the captivity of the people. Also, a coincidence occur when the sanctuary was fired by the soldiers of Titus, that it was on the very same month and day of the month on which the temple was burned by Nebu-Chadnez-Zar.
The earlier destruction fulfilled the predictions of the prophets, the later the predictions of our Lord.
The days that mark the different stages of the siege of Nebu-Chadnez-Zar are carefully remembered. The 9th Year of Zedek-Iah, in the 10th Month, in the 10th day of the month, Nebu-Chadnez-Zar came, he and his host, against Jeru-Salem; in the 11th Year of Zedek-Iah on the 9th Day of the 4th Month the famine prevailed in the city, and a breach was affected; in the 5th Month, on the 7th Day of the month, which is the 19th Year of the King Nebu-Chadnez-Zar, the Temple and other buildings were burned by Nebu-Zar-Adan, adviser to the king and commander of his army. We have the same careful dating in Jeremiah 39: 1,2; Jeremiah 52: 4,12 (in the latter passage 10th for 7th). They were observed afterwards as regular days of fasting. (Zechariah 7: 3,5; Zechariah 8:19)
Ezekiel 21 is a vivid prophecy of the siege. It announces the capture of the holy city. A sword is furbished to work terrible destruction. The prophet is directed to mark off two ways along which this sword is to travel -the one leading to Jerusalem, and the other to Rabbath of Ammon. The scene changes, and we see the King of Babylon standing at the head of the two ways, deliberating, which one he shall choose. He shakes the arrows, consults images, looks for omens in the liver of dead beasts. The decision given is for advancing first against Jerusalem. Now he is at its gates, and has appointed captains to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering-rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to built a fort. (Ezekiel 21: 21,22)
For a Year and 5 Months the siege dragged itself on. Jeremiah held out no hope. When Zedekiah, at the beginning of he siege entreated him, "inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us," Jeremiah plainly told him
that the city was delivered to the Chaldeans, and that Nebuchadnezzar would not spare them. (21:1-7)
Life was promised, however, to those who should surrender themselves to the enemy. This strain was kept up throughout, in spite of imprisonment, threats, and the contrary testimonies of false prophets.
(Jeremiah 32; 34; 37; 38) At one point the Egyptian army came forth to arrest the Chaldeans, and great hopes were raised, but Jeremiah bade the people not to deceive themselves, for the Chaldeans would prevail. By-and-by the misery of the people became extreme. The Book of Lamentations gives vivid glimpses of the horrors -the young children fainting for hunger at the top of every street; crying to their mothers, women eating their own offspring, etc.
Lamentations say: "How lonely lies JeruSalem, once so full of people! Once honored by the World, she is now like a widow; the noblest of cities has fallen into slavery."(1:1) "No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony." (1: 2-4) "The splendor of Jerusalem is a thing of the past. Her leaders are like deer that are weak from hunger, whose strength is almost gone as they flee from the hunters." (1: 6) "Her honor is gone; she is naked and held in contempt. She groans and hides her face in shame. JeruSalem made herself filthy with terrible Sin. Her uncleanness was easily seen, but she showed no concern for her fate."(1:8-9)
Jeremiah says: "Nebu-Zar-Adan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. (Jeremiah 52: 15)
Exodus says: "The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: 'You have seen how I, the Lord, have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to Me. Make an altar of earth for Me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship Me, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stone for Me, do not built it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for My use. Do not build an altar for Me with steps leading up to it; for if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps."(20: 22-26) "... I now make a Covenant with the people of Israel. In their presence I will do great things such as have never been done anywhere on earth among any of the nations. All the people will see what great things I, the Lord, can do, because I am going to do an awesome thing for you. Obey the Law that I am giving you today.I will drive out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as you advance. Do not make any treaties with the people of the country into which you are going, because this could be a fatal trap for you."(34:10-12) "All the skilled workers among you are to come and make everything that the Lord commanded."(35:10) "Moses said to the Israelites, 'The Lord has chosen Bezal-El, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur from the Tribe of Judah. God has filled him with His Power and given him skill, ability, and understanding for every kind of artistic work, for planning skillful designs and working them in gold, silver, and bronze; for cutting jewels to be set; for carving wood; and for every other kind of artistic work. The Lord has given to him and to Oholi-Ab son of Ahis-Amach, from the Tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their crafts to others. God has given them skill in all kinds of work done by engravers, designers, and weavers of fine linen; blue, purple, and red wool; and other cloth. They are able to do all kinds of work and are skillful designers."(35: 30-35) "Bezal-El, Oholi-Ab, and all the other workers to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding, who know how to make everything needed to build the sacred Tent, are to make everything just as the Lord has commanded." (36:1)
Jeremiah says: "But Nebu-Zar-Adan left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields." (Jeremiah 52; 16)
Lamentations say, "The enemies robbed her of all her treasures. She saw them enter the Temple itself, where the Lord had forbidden Gentiles to go."(1:10) "There is murder in the streets even indoors there is death."(1:20) "The Lord in His Anger has covered Zion with Darkness. Its heavenly splendor He has turned into ruins. on the Day of His Anger He abandoned even His Temple."(2:1) "Her people groan as they look for something to eat; they exchange their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. 'Look at me!' she cries to everyone who passes by. 'No one has ever had pain like mine, pain that the Lord brought on me in the Time of His Anger. He sent Fire from above, a Fire that burned inside me. he set a trap for me and brought me to the ground, Then he abandoned me and left me in constant pain. He took note of all my Sins and tied them all together; He hung them around my neck, and I grew weak beneath the weight. The Lord gave me to my foes, and I was helpless against them."(2:11-14) "Our glittering gold has grown dull; the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets. Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold, but now they are treated like common clay pots."(4: 1-2) "People who once ate the finest food die starving in the streets; those raised in luxury are pawing through garbage for food. My people has been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom, which met a sudden downfall at the Hands of God."(4: 5-6) "The Will of the Lord alone is always carried out. Good and Evil alike take place at His Command. Why should ever complain when we are punished for our own Sin? Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray, 'We have sinned and rebelled, and You, O Lord, have not forgiven us.' You pursued us and killed us; Your Mercy was hidden byYour Anger, by a cloud of Fury too thick for our prayers to get through.
You have made us the garbage dump of the World. We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies. We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear. My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people. My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us. My heart is grieved when i see what has happened to the women of the city. I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me. They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone. Water began to close over me, and I thought Death was near. From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to You, and when I begged You to listen to my cry, You heard. You answered me and told me not to be afraid." (3: 37-57)
The earlier destruction fulfilled the predictions of the prophets, the later the predictions of our Lord.
The days that mark the different stages of the siege of Nebu-Chadnez-Zar are carefully remembered. The 9th Year of Zedek-Iah, in the 10th Month, in the 10th day of the month, Nebu-Chadnez-Zar came, he and his host, against Jeru-Salem; in the 11th Year of Zedek-Iah on the 9th Day of the 4th Month the famine prevailed in the city, and a breach was affected; in the 5th Month, on the 7th Day of the month, which is the 19th Year of the King Nebu-Chadnez-Zar, the Temple and other buildings were burned by Nebu-Zar-Adan, adviser to the king and commander of his army. We have the same careful dating in Jeremiah 39: 1,2; Jeremiah 52: 4,12 (in the latter passage 10th for 7th). They were observed afterwards as regular days of fasting. (Zechariah 7: 3,5; Zechariah 8:19)
Ezekiel 21 is a vivid prophecy of the siege. It announces the capture of the holy city. A sword is furbished to work terrible destruction. The prophet is directed to mark off two ways along which this sword is to travel -the one leading to Jerusalem, and the other to Rabbath of Ammon. The scene changes, and we see the King of Babylon standing at the head of the two ways, deliberating, which one he shall choose. He shakes the arrows, consults images, looks for omens in the liver of dead beasts. The decision given is for advancing first against Jerusalem. Now he is at its gates, and has appointed captains to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering-rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to built a fort. (Ezekiel 21: 21,22)
For a Year and 5 Months the siege dragged itself on. Jeremiah held out no hope. When Zedekiah, at the beginning of he siege entreated him, "inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us," Jeremiah plainly told him
that the city was delivered to the Chaldeans, and that Nebuchadnezzar would not spare them. (21:1-7)
Life was promised, however, to those who should surrender themselves to the enemy. This strain was kept up throughout, in spite of imprisonment, threats, and the contrary testimonies of false prophets.
(Jeremiah 32; 34; 37; 38) At one point the Egyptian army came forth to arrest the Chaldeans, and great hopes were raised, but Jeremiah bade the people not to deceive themselves, for the Chaldeans would prevail. By-and-by the misery of the people became extreme. The Book of Lamentations gives vivid glimpses of the horrors -the young children fainting for hunger at the top of every street; crying to their mothers, women eating their own offspring, etc.
Lamentations say: "How lonely lies JeruSalem, once so full of people! Once honored by the World, she is now like a widow; the noblest of cities has fallen into slavery."(1:1) "No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony." (1: 2-4) "The splendor of Jerusalem is a thing of the past. Her leaders are like deer that are weak from hunger, whose strength is almost gone as they flee from the hunters." (1: 6) "Her honor is gone; she is naked and held in contempt. She groans and hides her face in shame. JeruSalem made herself filthy with terrible Sin. Her uncleanness was easily seen, but she showed no concern for her fate."(1:8-9)
Jeremiah says: "Nebu-Zar-Adan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. (Jeremiah 52: 15)
Exodus says: "The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: 'You have seen how I, the Lord, have spoken to you from heaven. Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to Me. Make an altar of earth for Me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship Me, I will come to you and bless you. If you make an altar of stone for Me, do not built it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for My use. Do not build an altar for Me with steps leading up to it; for if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps."(20: 22-26) "... I now make a Covenant with the people of Israel. In their presence I will do great things such as have never been done anywhere on earth among any of the nations. All the people will see what great things I, the Lord, can do, because I am going to do an awesome thing for you. Obey the Law that I am giving you today.I will drive out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as you advance. Do not make any treaties with the people of the country into which you are going, because this could be a fatal trap for you."(34:10-12) "All the skilled workers among you are to come and make everything that the Lord commanded."(35:10) "Moses said to the Israelites, 'The Lord has chosen Bezal-El, the son of Uri and grandson of Hur from the Tribe of Judah. God has filled him with His Power and given him skill, ability, and understanding for every kind of artistic work, for planning skillful designs and working them in gold, silver, and bronze; for cutting jewels to be set; for carving wood; and for every other kind of artistic work. The Lord has given to him and to Oholi-Ab son of Ahis-Amach, from the Tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their crafts to others. God has given them skill in all kinds of work done by engravers, designers, and weavers of fine linen; blue, purple, and red wool; and other cloth. They are able to do all kinds of work and are skillful designers."(35: 30-35) "Bezal-El, Oholi-Ab, and all the other workers to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding, who know how to make everything needed to build the sacred Tent, are to make everything just as the Lord has commanded." (36:1)
Jeremiah says: "But Nebu-Zar-Adan left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields." (Jeremiah 52; 16)
Lamentations say, "The enemies robbed her of all her treasures. She saw them enter the Temple itself, where the Lord had forbidden Gentiles to go."(1:10) "There is murder in the streets even indoors there is death."(1:20) "The Lord in His Anger has covered Zion with Darkness. Its heavenly splendor He has turned into ruins. on the Day of His Anger He abandoned even His Temple."(2:1) "Her people groan as they look for something to eat; they exchange their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. 'Look at me!' she cries to everyone who passes by. 'No one has ever had pain like mine, pain that the Lord brought on me in the Time of His Anger. He sent Fire from above, a Fire that burned inside me. he set a trap for me and brought me to the ground, Then he abandoned me and left me in constant pain. He took note of all my Sins and tied them all together; He hung them around my neck, and I grew weak beneath the weight. The Lord gave me to my foes, and I was helpless against them."(2:11-14) "Our glittering gold has grown dull; the stones of the Temple lie scattered in the streets. Zion's young people were as precious to us as gold, but now they are treated like common clay pots."(4: 1-2) "People who once ate the finest food die starving in the streets; those raised in luxury are pawing through garbage for food. My people has been punished even more than the inhabitants of Sodom, which met a sudden downfall at the Hands of God."(4: 5-6) "The Will of the Lord alone is always carried out. Good and Evil alike take place at His Command. Why should ever complain when we are punished for our own Sin? Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray, 'We have sinned and rebelled, and You, O Lord, have not forgiven us.' You pursued us and killed us; Your Mercy was hidden byYour Anger, by a cloud of Fury too thick for our prayers to get through.
You have made us the garbage dump of the World. We are insulted and mocked by all our enemies. We have been through disaster and ruin; we live in danger and fear. My eyes flow with rivers of tears at the destruction of my people. My tears will pour out in a ceaseless stream until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees us. My heart is grieved when i see what has happened to the women of the city. I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me. They threw me alive into a pit and closed the opening with a stone. Water began to close over me, and I thought Death was near. From the bottom of the pit, O Lord, I cried out to You, and when I begged You to listen to my cry, You heard. You answered me and told me not to be afraid." (3: 37-57)
Saturday, January 13, 2018
PREDESTINATION.
The words translated "predestined" in the Scripture comes from the Greek word "proorizo,"which carries the meaning of "determine beforehand," "ordain," "to decide upon ahead of time."
Predestination is God determining certain things to occur ahead of time. Let's now open the Bible and see what it has to say about predestination.
The term is found in two of Paul's writings. Here is what the inspired apostle said about this subject:
Romans 8: 18-23, "I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with 'the glory' that is going to 'be revealed' to us. (Remember when Moses went down from Mount Sinai, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord, but he did not know it). All of Creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His children. (Remember Lamech words at the age of 182, when he had a son and said, "From the very ground on which the Lord put a curse, this child will bring us relief from all our hard work;" so he named him Noah) For Creation was condemned to lose its purpose not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. (Remember God's Words to the man after his disobedience,"You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse.") Yet there was the Hope that Creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. ... But it is not just Creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us His children and set 'our whole being' free. ... God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His Will. We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, those whom He has predetermined according to His purpose. ... So those whom God predestined, he called; and those He called, He put right with Himself, and He shared His Glory with them.
In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he said, "In our union with Christ God has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly World. Even before the World was made, God had already predestined us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Because of His love to the humankind God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His children -this was His pleasure and purpose. ... In all His Wisdom and Insight God did what He had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan He had already decided to complete by means of Christ... to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. ... God chose us to be His own people in union with Christ because of His own purpose, based on what He decided from the very beginning. (Ephesians 1: 1-13)
The apostle Paul, then, in his letter to the Romans, to prepare the way for a visit, he explains to them, "We know that the Law is spiritual; but I (Paul) am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do; for I do not do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. Since what I do is what I do not want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the 'sin' that lives in me... So I find that this Law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. My inner being delights in the Law of God. But I see a different Law at work in my body -a Law that fights against the Law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the Law of Sin which is at work in my body. ....
Thanks be to God, Who does rescue me from this body that is taking me to death, through our Lord Jesus Chris! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's Law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the Law of Sin. (7:14-25)
Predestination is God determining certain things to occur ahead of time. Let's now open the Bible and see what it has to say about predestination.
The term is found in two of Paul's writings. Here is what the inspired apostle said about this subject:
Romans 8: 18-23, "I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with 'the glory' that is going to 'be revealed' to us. (Remember when Moses went down from Mount Sinai, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the Lord, but he did not know it). All of Creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal His children. (Remember Lamech words at the age of 182, when he had a son and said, "From the very ground on which the Lord put a curse, this child will bring us relief from all our hard work;" so he named him Noah) For Creation was condemned to lose its purpose not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. (Remember God's Words to the man after his disobedience,"You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse.") Yet there was the Hope that Creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God. ... But it is not just Creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God's gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us His children and set 'our whole being' free. ... God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His Will. We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, those whom He has predetermined according to His purpose. ... So those whom God predestined, he called; and those He called, He put right with Himself, and He shared His Glory with them.
In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he said, "In our union with Christ God has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly World. Even before the World was made, God had already predestined us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Because of His love to the humankind God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His children -this was His pleasure and purpose. ... In all His Wisdom and Insight God did what He had purposed, and made known to us the secret plan He had already decided to complete by means of Christ... to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head. ... God chose us to be His own people in union with Christ because of His own purpose, based on what He decided from the very beginning. (Ephesians 1: 1-13)
The apostle Paul, then, in his letter to the Romans, to prepare the way for a visit, he explains to them, "We know that the Law is spiritual; but I (Paul) am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do; for I do not do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. Since what I do is what I do not want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the 'sin' that lives in me... So I find that this Law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. My inner being delights in the Law of God. But I see a different Law at work in my body -a Law that fights against the Law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the Law of Sin which is at work in my body. ....
Thanks be to God, Who does rescue me from this body that is taking me to death, through our Lord Jesus Chris! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's Law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the Law of Sin. (7:14-25)
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