A LOVE STORY: THE BOOK OF RUTH

Chapter 41

WE ARE BEING INTERNALLY TRANSFORMED FROM A DEN OF THIEVES INTO THE HOUSE OF PRAYER

03-23-08

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(1 Cor 3:16,17)  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

(2 Cor 6:15,16)  And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

(2 Th 2:1-4)  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

(Rev 11:1,2)  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

(Rev 11:18,19)  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

(1 Cor 6:19,20)  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

THE FIRST PASSOVER JESUS CHRIST ATTENDED (found in John - only):
THE FIRST GREAT PUBLIC ACT OF JESUS’ MINISTRY

(John 2:13-17)  And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge [whip] of small cords [schoinion, schoinion; (a rush or flag-plant); a rushlet, grass-withe or tie (gen.)] [symbolic of the Law], he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them [specifically and only “unto them”] that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise [market]. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up [“I will be consumed with jealousy for the honor of Your house” Amplified Bible].

1.       Commentary: The first Passover Feast that Jesus entered into symbolizes His first coming into the temple of our body, our eternal salvation, and our reception of “the earnest” (2 Cor 1:22;5:5; Eph 1:14) of the Holy Spirit. This was physically typified by the Israelites when they “passed over” the Red Sea (water), and into the wilderness. Symbolically, the Israelites were sanctified and cleansed “with the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26). Who is the word? Who is the water?

a.       (Exo 20:1-3)  And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2.       (Psa 69:9)  For the zeal [jealousy] of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

3.       (Psa 69:9 NIV) for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

(John 2:18-23)  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign [miracle] showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

1.       believed = Gk: pisteuo, pist-yoo'-o; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by impl. to entrust (espec. one's spiritual well-being to Christ):--believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust.

(John 2:24,25)  But Jesus did not commit [pisteuo (as in a marriage)] himself unto them, because he knew [understood] all men, And needed not that any should testify of man [(about Himself)]: for he knew [understood] what was in man [Well, what was in man then?? Given the clear biblical evidence, what do you suppose is in man now?].

1.       (Jer 17:9,10)  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

THE LAST PASSOVER JESUS CHRIST ATTENDED (found in Matthew, Mark, Luke):
THE LAST GREAT PUBLIC ACT OF JESUS’ MINISTRY

(Mat 21:12-14)  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple [no mention of a whip this second time], and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them [i.e. typifying the Millennium when we shall actively possess the fullness of the Holy Spirit].

1.       Commentary: The last Passover Feast that Jesus entered into symbolizes His Second Coming into the temple of our body and the activation of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This was physically typified by the Israelites when they “passed over” the river Jordan (water), and into the Promised Land. Symbolically, the Israelites were sanctified and cleansed “with the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26). Who is the word? Who is the water?

2.       (Jer 17:7,8)  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

a.       Commentary: What very interesting seeming anomaly do you see in these two verses, and how does that significantly relate to our eternal future?  

b.   (Gen 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Amen

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