Bible Study With Jairus

Bible Study with Jairus - Colossians

Bible Study with Jairus - Colossians

We are striving to speed read several volumes of the Bible every month. The main consideration is to help some brothers and sisters who aren’t able to read further when they reach Exodus in the Old Testament, and Romans in the New Testament. This will help those new ones to have a rough understanding on the contents of some books in the Bible. We started to speed read the Old Testament, from the first book up to the Book of Ruth. Meanwhile, we have done the opposite in the New Testament. We began to speed read from the Book of Revelation up to Colossians. Although it’s just a passing glance, it might help some of our brothers and sisters who have never read the Bible from cover to cover.

This time, the inspiration that I got after speed reading Colossians is how Paul dealt with carnal Christians in the church at Colossae. Originally, we arranged a speed reading of 3 letters: the letters to the Colossians, and First and Second Thessalonians. But because of the rich content of Colossians (one meeting will take up most of the time), we will have one Bible study session on both First and Second Thessalonians later.

I had an inspiration after I read Colossians and First and Second Thessalonians. In Colossians, it was dealing more with carnality in the church. While in First and Second Thessalonians, it was dealing more with Christians who are easily deceived in church. As Paul mentioned in Colossians, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (NIV, Colossians, 3:2), and advised Christians in the church at Colossae to forgive each other.  In First and Second Thessalonians, it talks a lot about the lessons of the Antichrist which led people to be deceived.

What does this mean?  Even when people are long time church goers, we  find that many Christians may actually possess the knowledge and truths of the Bible, but when something really happens, they still can’t overcome their own flesh. For example, we know that God isn’t happy with the divisions in the church and hopes that all of us can get along with each other, but when something happens, we will still form sects and factions.  This is a common situation in churches today.

Another situation we find in today’s church is people who don’t have much biblical knowledge and haven’t meditated on the truths of the Bible.  They may not have strong fleshly desires but they are easily led astray by wrong teachings leading to greater losses.  Both of these situations are ubiquitous in the church.

Today, let's talk about Colossians. First of all, we have to clarify that there are fleshly or other problems in the church at Colossae but it isn’t entirely a bad thing. For example, in the church at Corinth, there were also a lot of problems that existed. Thus, Paul wrote two letters to them, revealing many truths about Christ.

There’s background information behind every letter. Similarly, Colossians has a special background.  Paul wrote four letters in prison - Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.   There’s very important historical background behind these letters. I asked a Christian who attended our Bible study, to imagine that he was Paul, he was in prison, he only had a little time left and the conditions were poor, but he has to say something important right from his heart to write these letters. Of course, after writing the letters, it has a lasting significance, letting the churches benefit from them for thousands of years after. But often, there is a latent cause in writing them initially. For example, when I mentioned the chaos in the church at Corinth, including the man who had married the stepmother, it leaves Paul with no choice but to write a long letter to them.

What is the background of Colossians here? There are many things in the Bible that are not accounted for, but it doesn’t mean that they didn’t happen.

I shared a story I personally heard. Soon after I received salvation, a brother told me of a situation that had happened in the church. There was a man who had been in the church for a long time and his car was accidentally hit by a newcomer causing minor damage. This man insisted on filing an insurance claim to let the newcomer compensate. Someone tried to persuade him to give a little grace to this newcomer, let him compensate just a little money, but the man refused. Naturally, in the end, the newcomer stumbled. The person, who told me the story, said that the man whose car had minor damage didn’t have enough grace. He lacked real Christian love.  He regarded his own car as more important than the newcomer’s stumbling.

Of course here in the United States when we encounter such things, there is no reason not to file an insurance claim. The point that the person telling the story was trying to make is that we should look less at the circumstance and have more grace toward the person to avoid having them stumble.

I don’t know whether a situation like this is a common occurrence in the church, but as far as my own experience is concerned, there are indeed many similar situations. On the one hand, we are Christians. On the other hand, we are human beings. Humans have fleshly desires. When we talk about the love of Christ, we may speak clearly and logically, but when our interests are involved, the flesh often speaks louder than the spirit and we lose.

After sharing this story in the meeting, I asked everyone “Is there a similar situation in the church at Colossae that Paul is concerned about?” As stated in Colossians 1:7, the church in Colossae was taught by Epaphras, and he also reported the situation of the church to Paul and others. Is there a possibility that after Epaphras told Paul about the grace of God to the Colossian church, he also told Paul about the situation in which some brothers and sisters become competitive, irreconcilable and unforgiving when they are in the flesh? And that these brethren are actually those whom Paul knew, even loved, or personally brought to be saved or trained? Is it possible that the two parties are both loved by Paul, but are incompatible, leading Paul to worry in prison and to write a letter to the Colossians to mediate them? Both are Paul's love, so Paul can't blame one, and hold the other in high regard. He must be very careful in dealing with this subtle situation.

If these situations are possible, if you were Paul, how would you deal with it? We don't know if Paul was facing these things, but we know that in the life of the contemporary church, we often have to face these situations.

We assume that this may be the background behind Paul's writing. Let's see how Paul's letters respond to this situation.    Suppose the parties involved are all Paul’s acquaintance, and the two people are still arguing, it will be difficult for Paul to directly judge who is right and who is wrong. And judging right or wrong may not be a good choice because the dispute between right and wrong is often in the realm of the mind, the flesh, or the soul. What Paul needs to do is to help the members of the two factions to break carnal, and spiritual strongholds, enter the mind of Christ in the heavenly, and look at these problems from the eyes and perspective of God. When they can look at these problems from a Heavenly perspective, they can escape from earthly, carnal, and spiritual strongholds and they will be able to forgive, tolerate, and mutually compromise in love.

If you were Paul, how would you start writing this letter? Of course, he wouldn’t begin by blaming the two brothers. Instead, he avoided direct accusation. He started from a very high place - Heaven. Paul’s slant at the beginning of Colossae is very high. Paul began by praising the believers of Colossae, saying he heard the praise of the Colossian believers from Epaphras, which he mentioned in 1:4: "because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people." (NIV)

After praising the Colossian believers, Paul switched the thread of conversation to directly mentioning the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

¹² Giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (NIV)

Then Paul used this opportunity to say that, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:15). He added, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:22). From here, we can speculate that what Paul means is we have eliminated all strife on the cross of Christ.

Paul then uses his experience again to testify that, “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (NIV, Colossians: 1:24).

Paul mentioned how he was called to complete God’s Word. He revealed the mystery hidden by God over the ages - Christ is our hope of glory. Paul has struggled and worked hard for this. He wants us to maturely dedicate our life to God.

In this chapter, Paul seems to be saying good things. It appears that he doesn’t have any criticism. But in the second chapter, Paul slowly began to raise the obscure issue of the Colossians. Of course, when Paul ended the letter, he never forgot to give encouragement and comfort to the audience of his letters. Some people call this type of writing a "sandwich". This kind of writing is very common in the Bible. For example, Jesus’ seven letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation are also in the format of a “sandwich." It praised the faithfulness of each church in the beginning. After which, it criticized the church in the middle. In the end, there were words of encouragement and promise again.

Let's take a look at how Paul began to put "meat" in this "sandwich" from the second chapter (we will use meat as a metaphor for Paul's criticism).

In verse 2:4, Paul said that, “ I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.” (NIV)

This sentence implies that in the church of Colossae, some people will use flowery words to deceive the Christians in Colossae.

2:8 says, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ”. (NIV)

 

This sentence has implicit meaning. In the church in Colossae, there are those who will use philosophy and empty deception according to human teachings rather on Christ, leading the Christians in Colossae astray.

Thus, in the second chapter, Paul especially revealed many of the mysteries of Christ in these two negative situations.

Then at the beginning of third chapter, Paul immediately encouraged the Christians in Colossae to set their minds on things above and not on earthly things (NIV, Colossians: 3:2). Chapters 3:1-4 are some of my favorite verses:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. (NIV)

Paul becomes more and more straightforward in here.

3:5 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (NIV)

3:8 says, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” (NIV) 

3:9 says, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.” (NIV)

3: 12-15 also say,

^“12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (NIV)

I shared my experience and said that when I was starting to learn to serve, I was with a brother who was a little older than me. We had a dispute when we once served together in the Church.   Our Elders in the church did not criticize us, but they let us sing Colossians 3:12-15. So at this bible study, my wife and I sang these same verses again to the tune of a hymn.

Why is Paul particularly emphasizing here that as God's chosen people, we must have compassion, kindness, humbleness, gentleness, patience, and even if there is a discord between people, we must always bear and forgive each other as the Lord forgive us? It is not enough to just forgive, but we must also have love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect unity.

So although these are just speculations, perhaps things such as carnality and strife among people really happened in the church in Colossae. Ultimately, the reason why such things happen is due to the fact that their life is not mature enough to let the life of Christ rule their lives.

So Paul said in 3:16-17 (NIV),

¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

In chapter 4, Paul has hardly any criticism. Instead, he began to comfort, encourage and greet.

4:2 says,

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (NIV)

4:6 says,

 ^“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (NIV)

In conclusion, Paul ended the four short chapters of Colossae with a lot of greetings.

Although our sharing is of a speed reading nature, or a passing glance, we can see that many of the verses in Colossians are written with a delicate touch. Let’s pray and try to fathom the implications of these verses. This will be beneficial to our Christian life because it especially helps us to grow up into Christ, overcome the flesh, and even enter and preserve Christian unity.

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 26

Bible Study with Jairus- Leviticus 26

 

We often talk about personal topics or current events before our Bible Study begins. Often, by the time we finish reading the scripture for that particular day, we find that it answers questions or confusion about the previous topics discussed.  The purpose of reading the Bible is not to simply read it, but to solve the problems we face every day and to seek God's guidance in our daily lives.  I often say that after attending a Bible study if the Bible didn’t speak to you and you don’t leave changed by the Word of God, you didn’t receive the guidance or revelation that you should have.  Basically the Bible study was a failure because “The Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (NIV, Hebrews 4:12). The Holy Spirit can illuminate the Word of God as we read the Bible.  He can also point the way and illuminate the path ahead of us.

 

The Bible tells us that “Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (NIV, Psalm 119:105). It also says that “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (NIV, Psalm 119:130). Therefore, whether we are reading the Bible by ourselves or we are the ones leading the Bible Study to help others understand it, we must always remember one principle, which is to pray to God. God will surely give us light, illuminate our hearts, and lead us on straight paths.

 

We are a group of Chinese Christians living in the United States. We are very concerned about the China-US trade war. Because of our special status and position, we are eagerly hoping that both China and the United States will have a bright future together. On the one hand, of course, we hope that China will have bright prospects because we are from China and our loved ones are still there. On the other hand, we also hope that the United States has a bright prospect for the future, because we and our children live in the United States.

 

As Christians living in the United States, it’s normal for us to be very worried about the current status of the country. We understand that there is a gradual decline of Christianity in the United States, the lack of attendance in churches, and people not having much enthusiastic faith.  The statement that God is judging or will judge America causes people to be very upset.

 

There is a general view that is not only very popular in Chinese Christian circles, but also popular in the American Christian world. It is the American decline theory. Although many people say that the competition between China and the United States is not a win or lose game, rather it can coexist, there are still many people who will unconsciously use the end of the rise and fall of the traditional great powers to set up a competition between China and United States. I have also been influenced by this view.   I pay attention to the different perspectives of the words of the prophets to the United States, and also my encounters with God, so slowly my thoughts have changed. My current thinking is not necessarily mature, but I think it might be worth sharing.

 

I said that some of the beliefs of the Chinese people on the American decline theory and the beliefs of the Western people on China’s collapse theory are wrong. They are misunderstandings that are brought about by the lack of understanding of the other country. We won’t talk about China here. We will mainly talk about the different views on the "American decline theory."

 

First of all, I don’t believe that God is satisfied with the current situation in the United States, but does this mean that He has given up on this country? Not necessarily. Why? When you look at the historical cycle of the book of Judges, you can see that God's people fell, and He allowed the Israelites to be oppressed by the Gentiles. When they called on God for help, God caused the Judges to rise again to save them. The historical cycle of the Judges may have lasted for many hundreds of years, but American history has only been for a little over two hundred years. I personally think that the United States is at a low ebb. It is currently placed in the hands of the Gentiles who are oppressing them like it was portrayed in the book of Judges.  .  After the September 11 incident, the United States has had other terrorist attacks but the main challenge that churches and Christian businesses in the US face is the far left view in society that has removed God from schools and persecuted businesses that don’t agree or comply with the homosexual agenda.   Perhaps God allowed all of this to lead American Christians to repent.I also believe there is some merit of those who teach that God will discipline the United States, perhaps allowing disaster to come.  We must remember that judgment   is not the goal.

The judgment is for redemption. The judgment is only a means, the redemption is the aim.

In another meeting, a non-Christian friend from China asked me, “Why is it that the United States has been infiltrated by Christianity for so many years, and yet there is still so much moral decline and social corruption?” I answered him with the revelation we got in Genesis 49. The twelve sons of Jacob of Israel are like layers of twelve waves.  Each wave overcomes the next one. God only promised to bring in the Messiah through the descendants of Abraham. He didn’t necessarily say that it wouldn’t come from the descendants of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. But Reuben defiled his father's bed, and Simeon and Levi killed countless people. Consequently, the genealogy of Christ couldn’t be carried out through them. Although Judah also had the opportunity he also sinned, and finally his daughter-in-law Tamar was able to turn it around and bring in the lineage of Christ. From this process, we can see that the enemy has tried every means to block God's plan, so it was indeed delayed, but in the end God still won. Similarly, the United States has the same path before God. God has a destiny for this country.  Just like Israel, United States will be the light of the world and a role model for the nations. There will be failures in the process, but God will reach out and save the United States. In the end, God has the victory.

 

Third, the United States is indeed a special country. When it was founded, there was a group of Christians who were pure in heart and who loved the Lord. Their spiritual standards were relatively high. Not only that, they also continued the Christian tradition of European Christianization. According to statistics, the number of self-proclaimed Christians in the United States accounts for about 70% of the population. Although we know that this is a bit exaggerated, compared to China, it’s extremely large A Chinese proverb says “the skinny dead camel is still bigger than the horse”. China's Christian population is only about 10% of the total population. This base is still much smaller than the United States. Moreover, the degree of Christianization of the whole society in China can’t be compared with that of the United States. There is a trend of thought that since there is a decline of American Christianity, God will increase the number of believers in China and use China in a powerful way. I think this is correct because God is indeed raising Christians in China and He will greatly use Chinese churches. But does this mean that God has given up on the United States? This is not necessarily the case. I think God will use both China and the United States. The main need that China is facing now is still evangelization. If China and the United States are to be personified, China is like a child who needs to learn to know Christ. The United States is like a Christian teenager who grew up in a church and who needs to be saved from rebellion and learn how to truly experience God.

 

Fourth, each nation has their own beauty in the eyes of God. They also have their own missions in the hands of God. God created every snowflake differently, and the same is true for the nations. It is not simply a process of rising and falling. Rather, each country has a unique calling before God. For example, as mentioned in Isaiah 19, Israel is the inheritance of God, Egypt is the people of God, and Assyria is the work of God. “All things God works for the good of those who love him.” (NIV, Romans 8:28). God will not give up on the United States, nor will he give up on any of the other countries.

 

Fifth, there have been several great revivals in American history. Before each great revival, the spiritual state of the society was very low, the church was weak, and the people were committing crimes. But after the spiritual revival came, many of these situations changed. In other words, the reason why American society has a lot of progress and advancement is directly related to several spiritual revivals in American history. These great revivals brought more people to salvation. They have also brought spiritual revival, and improved people's morality. Therefore, in the face of darkness, we can use it as a canvas and background to write and create a spiritual revival. We can also become pessimistic and gloomy because of it, thinking that doomsday will come, and create an ostrich mentality and an escaping attitude. This isn’t right. Where there is darkness, there is always light. Darkness never overcomes the light.

 

Sixth, some false teachings of the modern church have made people think that doomsday and judgment will come soon. They believe the state of the world is hopeless and the church has fallen into the situation of Laodicea. Their view is that the Lord will come again, take the overcomer away, and send natural disasters for people to be punished. This view is problematic. If most people in the world don't want the Lord to be king, why did He return? I think the reason that the Lord returned is most probably because His chosen people on earth have won the battles and many countries have chosen to pursue Christ. This is why, the Lord has returned to reign on earth. To those few people who are not willing to repent, the Lord will discipline them. Now the Lord is already secretly a king on earth, and if the majority of people don’t welcome Him, why would He return to earth as king? If people don't welcome you, why come back? If I was Jesus I wouldn’t come back. So I believe the open return and reign of the Lord Jesus is due to the fact the majority of people want Him to come back. In other words, the former is teaching "escape theory" and the latter is teaching "winning theory” or “victorious Eschatology.”  Is the final ending of the church a failure or a victory? The church of God belongs to the Lord. If the church fails, it’s God's failure. If the church wins, it’s God's victory. I believe that the church as a whole will win in the end and the church in the United States will also win. God may discipline the United States in the middle of this process, but remember what I said earlier, judgment is not the aim. It is only a means. Redemption is the aim.

 

Seventh, the words that I personally received from the Lord have also made me think that the United States is still a promising place to live. In 2013 we weren’t happy living in Maryland.  My wife had a job opportunity open up in Pennsylvania so we were considering moving there.  One day, we drove to New York to see a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner. At that time, we didn't have our miracle baby. While we were driving home I was discussing this with my wife and a Christian sister, when I suddenly saw a prophetic vision. There was a stream of water whirling and spinning like a tornado and it rose into the sky. The spiritual inspiration at the time was that the flow of the Holy Spirit would flow from our place to the whole earth. I treated it as God’s leading and didn’t move out of Maryland. A few years later, the Lord appeared to me in a prophetic dream. In this dream, I stood on a high place; the Lord was at a higher level, and there were two rivers behind Him. Then the Lord said to me: "The two rivers will converge together." I foolishly said, "I will be building a canal in the upper reaches. That way, the rivers will be able to flow together” (Because I thought this would be the most cost effective).   But the Lord said, "No. The two rivers are going to meet in this place, but they are not ready yet”.  It seemed to me like the town of Columbia Maryland. Immediately, I was stepping on a hybrid wheel from the heights and I went down. As I went down, I saw the traffic jams on the muddy ground. But then, I wore a pulley-like shoelace again and brought my wife to re-enter the other side of the height, but the Lord had disappeared already.

 

Columbia is a small town in Maryland. The charismatic church that I attended at that time was in Columbia. We lived in a small town nearby. Later, I also received a lot of words from multiple prophets, saying that God would be with us, leading many people to come to our bases in the United States and then to the rest of the world for training and fulfilment. None of this has been accomplished yet. It is just the promise of the Lord. But these promises have led me to believe that God will greatly use the United States. And this is just the promise of the Lord to me. How many of the Lord’s promises to others are out there? What has the Lord prepared for the coming revivals in America? I don’t share my experience because I want to boast. I just want to show that God always has something planned which you may not be aware of. I personally heard many other testimonies from other Christian ministers that the Lord will raise up revivals in the US so it can accompany what I shared earlier.

 

Through the above analysis, I feel that the United States still has a bright spiritual future, but this doesn’t mean that the process will be smooth. In the context of our reading, and then looking at Leviticus 26, we see a principle of God's dealing with people and nations.

 

In Leviticus 26:1-2, God teaches the Israelites not to make idols for themselves and they must observe the Sabbath.

 

Leviticus 26:3-13 mentioned how God would bless the Israelites if they followed the law. This is similar to the situation in the United States. Since the United States exalted Christ and became the station of spreading the gospel to the nations, it was greatly used by God. Also, American Christians respected the Lord. Therefore, the Lord has greatly blessed the United States and it has become the most powerful country in the world in a very short period of time.

 

Leviticus 26:14-39 talks about how God would punish the Israelites if they didn’t follow the law. From the history of the Israelites, the Israelites rebelled against God and were severely punished by Him. So, will God discipline the United States or not? Perhaps He will. I remember that after the September 11th incident, someone asked the daughter of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, “Why God didn’t prevent this disaster from happening in the United States?” She said that, “It’s not that God didn’t prevent this disaster, rather we have driven God out of our classrooms, schools and families.” I am paraphrasing it and my quote may not be exactly correct. There are many prophecies saying that God will judge the United States and even allow foreigners to invade the United States. For example, Sadhu, a prophet of India, said that he saw a prophetic vision that Russia would invade the United States. Such kinds of prophecies are a lot on the Internet. But we don't know if this will happen or not. The American prophets Bob Jones and Rick Joyner also prophesied that the United States will have a second civil war.  They also prophesied that God’s people will win after this civil war, but if this prophecy is really true, then going through the civil war again will be a very difficult test for the United States.

 

Leviticus 26:40-46 says that if the Israelites confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, God will remember His covenant with Jacob, Isaac and Abraham and the land of Israel. Even if the Israelites abandon the land, God will still give peace to it. But God will not destroy them, because He is the Lord their God, and He made a covenant with their ancestors. God is very merciful. As Jeremiah said, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (NIV, Lamentations, 3:22-23). From here, the principle of how God treats His people is emphasized. Not only is it applicable to the Israelites, but it is also applicable to the United States today, or to any country. If you look at the history of Europe, Christianity once infiltrated every aspect of the society. But now you can see that Christianity has declined sharply in many countries in Europe. But this does not mean that God has completely renounced Europe. “With the Lord, a thousand years are like a day.” (NIV 2 Peter 3:8). We must look at the long river of history. Although some people will fall and God may punish, he will still save His people.

 

So the key here is that we must repent, be able to recognize our sins, and humble ourselves for our own sins and our ancestors' sins. But we know that it’s very difficult to make people humble themselves. That’s why God often allows certain things in our lives to compel us to be humble. God does discipline us in the environment, but as the author of Hebrews said, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (NIV, Hebrews 12:11)

 

Many prophecies say that China will have a great spiritual revival. This great revival will spread to all parts of the world. Chinese Christians will preach the gospel into the big European and American Christian states.  This prophesy makes me feel that there is hope for the United States. In 2016, while my wife was unable to bear a child, I came to Oregon to attend a prophetic meeting and to seek healing. At that special meeting, the Lord said two things to me. The first was "Plan your family in 2016". At that time, I was confident that we would have children. In the end, we got our miracle baby in 2017. The second was, "Jairus Bible World Ministry came out of Me.   I really wasn’t comfortable leaving my church at that time to start my own ministry, but God encouraged me to do so. Before I went to this special meeting, I’d read a book written by the American prophet Chuck Pierce. He mentioned the Lord had visited him and told him that China would have a great revival in the future, and this great revival would spread to the whole world. One day after I came back from that conference, I was walking down the street and I was thinking about this. I suddenly heard the Holy Spirit asked me: "What is a great revival?" I immediately replied in the spirit: "I heard that one tenth of the Chinese people are Christians, isn’t this a great revival already?" At that time, my service was limited to Chinese students and scholars in the United States. I never thought of serving brothers and sisters in China. The Holy Spirit immediately asked me: "How about two out of ten?" That was when I began to practice listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I clearly heard the voice of Holy Spirit so I was shocked. Later, a Korean prophet prophesied over me saying, “God led you to the United States for training. Not only will He let you go to China to serve the Chinese church in the future, at the same time since God has improved your English skills, He will also let you serve the American church in the future”.

 

God has personally led me into various trainings. He is currently leading me to study the Doctor of Theology at the United Theological Seminary in the United States. God gave me many promises and prophetic dreams regarding the revivals to come in many nations. The spiritual resurgence is like the overflowing of rivers. Although these have not yet been achieved, they have given me confidence in the spiritual future of the United States. God will save the United States and He will continue to use the United States greatly. If we ever have the chance, we will share more about God's plan for China. But since this article is focused on America, I want to say continue to pray for America and the coming revival.  Though the United States may appear to be lukewarm or even apostate a hidden fire within a deep volcano may be waiting to erupt.

 

Looking at the current situation in China and the US, it’s hard to believe that they will have bright spiritual futures as each country has its own difficult situations.  It’s easy to see the dark side at night but it is not easy to see the light at night. We need to understand that the light is soon approaching especially when we are in the darkest hour of the night. Remember darkness never overcomes the light. (John 1:5)

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 25

Bible Study with Jairus – Leviticus 25

 

Leviticus 25 talks about the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year. The Sabbath Year is once every seven years. While the Jubilee Year is the second year after seven times seven years or 49 years – which is the fiftieth year. God doesn’t allow the Israelites to plant in the Sabbath Year. While in the Jubilee Year, the people who sold themselves as slaves are to be set free, and the land must be returned to its seller.

 

During our Bible study we randomly (or perhaps by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), began talking about how American universities have a one year sabbatical leave for its professors every seventh year.  This sabbatical leave (which is probably derived from the word Sabbath) is a time when they can rest and do nothing or use the opportunity to study a particular field that they didn’t have a chance to do during their teaching time.  Some choose to study abroad for a period of time.

 

The United States is a Christian country. Most famous universities in the United States are also established by Christian churches. Therefore, we can say that the establishment of this system is largely because of Christianization.

 

Let’s think about when Adam first sinned.  God judged him and commanded him to cultivate the ground through sweat and hard work to earn his living.  Why then did God create the rules of the Sabbath for the Israelites and tell them not to work on the Sabbath day?  Doesn’t this seem to be a waste of time and human resources?  This is hard to imagine for the Chinese who are hardworking and wish they could make money twenty-four hours a day.  Though the United States has become more and more secular, stores are often closed on Sunday.  My mother-in-law often said that the weekend is the best opportunity for stores to make money and yet they close. This is unheard of in China and is an example of Christianization in American society.

 

Why did God make Adam sweat to live? Is it because God was unable to supply Adam's food, so He let Adam find a way to solve it? No, it is because Adam committed a sin and he needed to learn obedience through suffering. The Bible tells us that even the Son of God, Jesus Christ, learned obedience from what he suffered (NIV, Hebrews 5:8). Then why did God forbid the Israelites to work on the Sabbath? It’s for the same reason. The main purpose of working for six days is neither to get money nor to earn to get what we need in life, but to learn to know God through this process. As Moses said, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow.” (NIV, Psalm 90:10). It’s not easy to go to work. It’s not easy to be a man. It’s not easy to be a wife. It’s not easy to be a parent. Life is not easy. When people encounter various unsatisfactory things in life, they will often let out a heartfelt sigh saying what is the meaning of life? Slowly, people will seek and find God. This is God’s design. The purpose of the Sabbath is for us to stop and think about it. Have I drawn closer to God and do I know Him better even in the midst of encountering so many things at work and life during the week?  If you can’t say yes to this, start this week and purpose to continue finding God and continue this cycle until your intimacy with him grows and you know Him.

 

People have two different attitudes toward life and how to act in it. They are shy at the beginning and are not immersed in the role. They are hesitant. The other problem is that they get too immersed in the role. They are too invested in their performance. But the audience has already left, the stage is empty, and they are still unwilling to step down from the stage. Life is like this. Some people are not immersed in their role. They feel that life has no meaning so they don’t work hard. They become hopeless. They are not willing to actively participate in the search of God. They even commit suicide to end their lives. Another type of person is someone who gets too immersed in the role. They don’t understand or will even forget the principles of the Sabbath. They invest too much energy and time to make money to the point of costing them their life.  The issue of faith and eternal life wasn’t even a thought.  They didn’t get anything and just died because people come into this world with nothing and leave this world taking nothing.

 

Of course, there are still people who just don't understand the true meaning of working six days a week and resting on the seventh day or the Sabbath day. It’s like the pastor preaching on the stage and I am in the audience scrolling through Facebook or WeChat. I’m following all the rules, but my heart isn’t here. These type of people are among God’s chosen people who seem to have participated in everything, but in fact haven’t received much practical benefit.

 

The true principle of the Sabbath is to stop. Stop for whom? Of course, it’s to stop for God. Psalm 46:10 (NIV) says, “Be still, and know that I am God”. In other words, it’s not that we can’t hear the voice of God, but rather, we are too busy. It’s like being on a crowded bus. You don’t have a clue if your wallet is stolen. But when you are sitting alone in the balcony, you can even feel a breeze blowing through your hair. One of the main reasons people don’t know God is that they are too busy. They do not wait quietly for God. The word “busy” in Chinese has a "heart" on the left and a "dead" word on the right. It is being busy until the heart dies.

 

Saying stop is easy but it’s actually hard to do. If you don’t believe me, you can try doing it. If you decide to stop and pray to God, or wait for God, you will find that your thoughts are difficult to control even though you have only prayed for a few minutes. Your mind may be in Tokyo one minute, and then in Los Angeles the next minute. Your thoughts travel faster than light, like an uncontrollable wild horse, making them hard to control. Therefore, those who really practice spiritual discipline and who pray deeply are good at controlling their minds. They are able to control their minds not to run wild and to be restrained in the spirit. They set their minds on things above and not on earthly things (NIV, Colossians, 3:2). If we can control our thoughts and become the master of our own minds, we can quickly enter the spirit, communicate with the Lord, and live in His presence.

 

I heard a story of a smuggler arranging for illegal immigrants to sneak into the United States.  A steel cable was installed in the middle of a waterfall somewhere along the border and the immigrants had to take firm hold of the cable to cross over the falls.  If they were careless or tired they would be washed over the falls to their death.  I think this story is a very good picture of the distractions in our minds or daily pressures of the world or even ministry.  These things are like waterfalls trying to wash us away.  But our anchor of rest and trust is like the steel cable. We must unload our burdens and put our hopes on the promise of heaven, like how the illegal immigrants have put their hopes on their new life in the United States. Hebrews 6:19 (NIV) says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain."

 

We live on earth, and we have flesh, but our soul can choose whether to set our minds on the spirit to experience life and peace or set our minds on the flesh which means death (NIV, Romans 8:6). The anchor of our soul can be placed in the Holy of Holies. This is like what the above Hebrews 6:19 passage is saying about our spirit. If we put the anchor of our soul in the world, when the rushing torrent of the world falls, we will be swept away and die.

 

So the main purpose of God's principle of setting up the Sabbath is to let us stop the activities outside, whether it is making money or doing ministry. We should temporarily stop from the busyness of the world. We should place the anchor of our soul in the Holy of Holies through prayer, worship, sacrifice, praise, and other spiritual disciplines. We should go forward to the Holy of Holies and communicate with our Heavenly Father, listen to His voice, and accept His grace and light, allowing us to get supply, comfort, and spiritual encouragement from Him. We are created to be the vessels of God, to be like Him, to be filled with His glory, and to become His fullness. But if we forget this fundamental purpose and we’re just surviving for the sake of survival, we are just being busy for the sake of being busy, then we lose the meaning of life. Therefore, God has set up this Sabbath principle especially for Israel. Even when this principle was first established, a man who was found gathering wood on the Sabbath would be stoned as the Lord commanded Moses to do.  This was a warning for the Israelites.

 

If people are able to observe the principles of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, there is no need to set up a Jubilee. Why? The principle of the Sabbath is to work six days and rest on the seventh day. The principle of the Sabbatical year is to sow the field in six years and to rest in the seventh year. Not only do people have to rest, the land also has to rest. Whatever the land yields during the Sabbatical year will be food for the Israelites, and their manservant, maidservant, hired worker and foreigners and the wild animals in their land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten. (NIV, Leviticus 25:6-7). But the question is what if it is not enough? The Lord said that, He would send the Israelites such a blessing in the sixth year that the land would yield enough for three years and that they would be able to eat old crops during the eighth year (NIV, Leviticus 25:21-22).

 

Based on this cycle, the Israelites didn’t have to worry about not having enough food to eat.  When the Israelites situation was bad economy wise, often they would sell the land little by little. The land of the Israelites in the Bible represents the inheritance we received from God. In the New Testament, we can look at it as the faith we received from God. When we become so poor, we sell the inheritance we received from God, even selling ourselves into slavery. In the Old Testament, the Israelites sold themselves to other people as slaves. What this means in the New Testament is that we were sold as a slave to sin. If this is the case, what should we do? When the principles of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year are not observed, we lose the blessings that God has promised us. Just like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, who had squandered his family’s fortune and gradually become poor. In the end, he had no choice but to eat pods. This is the scenario of losing the inheritance of God and selling ourselves as slaves.

 

We need God to intervene at this time because we are unable to extricate ourselves. God has considered human weakness here, and stipulates that the land cannot be sold permanently. If a man sells a land, he can redeem it. If a man is too poor to redeem his land, his relatives can help him do so. If the man doesn’t have a relative nor the necessary wealth to redeem the land, all the lands that are sold and slaves will be released and set free in the Jubilee. This is God's rule to the Israelites.

When we are sinking in deep sin and unable to extricate ourselves, Jesus Christ, the Son of God came to proclaim the Lord's year of favor. Luke 4 records that when Jesus was tempted by the devil and He gained the victory, He returned to his hometown in Galilee in the power of the Holy Spirit. On the Sabbath day, when He arrived at the synagogue, someone handed Isaiah's book to Him, and He found the place where it was written:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (NIV, Luke 4:18-19)

 

Then Luke 4:20-21 continues:

 

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

 

Christ is the Jubilee that God has prepared for us. This is what helps us to be free from degeneration. It is the salvation that God has promised Adam (crushing the serpent’s head) by the seed of woman.

 

Someone might say I’ve already received salvation; does this principle apply to me? Yes. Let’s look at a verse below.

 

After we are saved, committing sin or falling will not cause us to lose our salvation because the faith of salvation comes from God, as specially said in Leviticus 25:23 (NIV), “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine.” It is particularly explained in 2 Peter 1:1 that this faith is from the Lord, just like the Israelites had received the Promised Land from God. 2 Peter 1:1 (NIV) says: “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.” Peter’s tone of voice is like when the Israelites received their own Promised Land from God. So, in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we also share the same precious faith. In other words, this faith is like the Promised Land that the Israelites received. Although the number and size may be different, the quality is equally valuable.

 

God’s faith for us will unlikely let us fall into eternal perdition after we are saved because the Lord Jesus himself said that no one can take us away from the Heavenly Father. Our salvation will not be lost, but it doesn’t mean that our communication with God will not be interrupted. Like a disobedient son, after he left his father, he’s still his father's son but his communication with his father is interrupted. Similarly, after we are saved, if we betray and stay away from God, and break the Sabbath principle, we will not lose our salvation. We will however, be cut off from our communication with the Heavenly Father, and lose the life, peace and joy from it.

 

Leviticus 25:29-30 (NIV) says: "If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It’s not to be returned in the Jubilee.” What does this mean? This means that the houses in the city were built by the people themselves. It is not like the Promised Land (that the Lord gave)   which completely belongs to God. There’s the work of man involved here. Therefore, the houses in this city can be said to be the experience of God in the Lord after our salvation, the extra richness we received from Him, and the reward we will be receiving. But if we lose the joy of salvation, it doesn’t mean that we have lost our salvation. It just means that we have lost the joy and peace that comes from our fellowship with the Lord. This is not difficult to understand. For example, how many Christians are feeling anxious and troubled like the world because they don’t have much joy and they lack the fellowship and intimacy with the Lord?   This is a picture of not being able to redeem the house in the city after it was sold. We often say that yesterday’s experience with the Lord cannot substitute our experience with the Lord today. It’s like saying that we already had breakfast yesterday so we don’t need to have breakfast today. Getting closer to the Lord and praying to Him should be done on a daily basis. For example, we prayed yesterday but did not pray today, and began to pray again the day after tomorrow. We may be able to still quickly enter God’s presence, but if we didn't pray yesterday, today, or for a long time, we will find that it will be difficult for us to quickly enter into His presence if we just pray to Him when we encounter difficulties. Because we don’t practice spiritual discipline, the lessons we learned before may be lost. As the Chinese say, if you don't practice calligraphy for one day, only you know it; if you don't practice calligraphy for two days, your family will know it; if you don't practice calligraphy for three days, people all over the world will know it. A more modern way of saying it would be, if you don't practice the piano for one day, only you know it; if you don't practice the piano for two days, your family will know it; if you don't practice the piano for three days, the audiences all over the world will know it. This is an exaggerated statement. But in any case, if you are a pianist, you must practice the piano every day. If you haven’t practiced for a while, although not everyone will know it, as soon as the professionals hear it, they’ll know that your piano skills have become rusty. You fooled others, but you can't fool a professional or yourself.

 

Our fellowship with God is like practicing calligraphy and piano. It should be a daily assignment that cannot be interrupted. It’s like the house we built, it’s the dwelling place and tabernacle of God. It’s the place where we are with God. Paul clearly stated in the Bible that we are the field and building of God. Our spirit is like the Holy of Holies, our soul is like a sanctuary, and our body is like an outer court. In other words, the three parts of a person – spirit, soul and body – is a small tabernacle in which God lives. We are communicating with God through Christ. We are building this spiritual house through the Holy Spirit. Peter also said that we are living stones. We are slowly building this house into the sanctuary of God to be a holy priesthood (NIV, 1 Peter 2:5). Each of us is building a house. The characteristics of this house and this city are the New Jerusalem. There’s a city there but there is no temple in the city, because the whole city is the temple. We are building a New Jerusalem, but it is stated in the book of Revelation that some people are outside the city. They are not in the city. Only those who wash their robes can enter the city. Although we don't know what is going on, at least we can roughly guess that some people are outside the city. They are alive. They also get sick because the fruit on the tree of life in the city is just given to some people to eat. But the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (NIV, Revelation 22:2).

 

I repeat, once we are saved, our salvation in Christ will not be lost, but this doesn’t mean that our reward in Christ will not be lost. I believe that some people, because they are lax, don’t manage to build their own houses. If they don’t work their land and fellowship well with the Lord, one day, they may lose the God’s reward. The Bible talks a lot about this, such as the stories of five foolish virgins, and the parable of hiding one’s talent. They don’t necessarily lose salvation because they all call the Lord, Lord, but they may have lost their rewards.

 

If person understands it that way, he or she can explain why the verse here says that the land sold can be redeemed, and will be returned in the year of Jubilee. Slaves are also to be set free in the Jubilee. However, selling a house in the city can be redeemed in just one year. After a year has passed, you can’t redeem it even in the Jubilee. God is righteous. God's grace allows us not to lose our salvation. But God's righteousness can only reward those who are worthy of His reward, right?

 

Leviticus chapter 25:31 says: (NIV), "But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee." Why is it different from the earlier verses? My understanding is that this is the difference in spiritual experiences. We often say that the closer we are to God, the stricter God's requirements are. The unwalled village here is like the experience of Christians in the outer court. How God deals with a man who just received grace and has occasionally disobeyed God, is very different from a man like Moses, a servant who is used by God and who does not obey. For example, if you have just been saved and you lose your temper once, you might be easily forgiven by God, or even comforted by Him. But if you are Moses and you have gotten angry with the Israelites when God wasn’t angry, He may let you pay a heavy price, losing the opportunity to enter the Promised Land.   So why is the degree of God’s punishment different for each person? As I said before, the Bible mentions that Moses knew God's ways and principles. Moses spoke to God face to face in the Holy of Holies. He knew that God was asking him to sanctify His name before the people, but losing his temper was disrespecting God. So, God got very angry. It’s like when outsiders are saying something about us today, we might not even get angry. But when our relatives or close family members say the same thing, it will hurt us more and often stir up anger. The type of house in the city is like Moses having a deeper experience in the Lord. While the houses in the villages without walls in the open country are like the first stage of our Christian life, having a shallow experience in the Lord. The principle of God’s dealing with new believers is more grace. But in dealing with people who are growing more mature, the principle of God is more discipline. God will discipline us, just as a father will discipline his children. The fathers in our flesh will discipline his children according to what he thinks is good. How much more will the Father of all spirits discipline His children? (Hebrew 12:9)

 

In chapter 25:32-33, it mentions the different situations of the Levites. The verse here says: "The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. So the property of the Levites is redeemable--that is, a house sold in any town they hold--and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites." (NIV). Why is it different here? The illustration here is about the experience of dedicating ourselves to God.  For example, the American evangelist D.L Moody, who was hesitant because of the contradiction between God’s call on his life and his lower educational attainment, later heard a British evangelist say, “Look, a person who is absolutely consecrated to God, the world is yet to see how God can and will use him to change the world”. This sentence greatly encouraged Moody. It let him break away from the inferiority of his own academic qualifications and become a person who was fully devoted to God, a person who was greatly used by God to change the world.  For those who are dedicated to God like Moody, it won’t always be smooth sailing when they are learning to serve God. They will also fail. But God promises them that no matter if they fail; they will fail in the hands of the Lord. Even if they fall, they will fall in the arms of the Lord. Because they are dedicated to the Lord, He will be personally responsible for them. If we are a person who is dedicated to God, honor and disgrace or even gains and losses are not important because we have completely handed over our authority to God. God will naturally be responsible for us. To those people who are not Levites or Nazirites, they haven’t completely handed over their authority to God. Therefore, God does not fully assume responsibility for them. They must shoulder their own responsibilities. But God is fully responsible for the Levites.

 

God especially told the Levites that “the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.” (NIV, Leviticus 25:34). This means that even if we are Levites and we dedicate ourselves to God, we shouldn’t be self-indulgent. There are some things that we can't do. We can't sell God's property. We should not be like Esau, who was tricked to sell his own birthright to his brother for a bowl of stew.

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 24

Bible Study with Jairus – Leviticus 24

Leviticus 24 begins with the Lord commanding Moses to let the Israelites bring olive oil to him to make the lamps burn continually (which Aaron is in charge of doing). The Lord also instructed him to put the twelve loaves of bread on the table of pure gold and as well as some pure incense on the bread to be presented as food offering to Him. Every Sabbath, the breads shall be changed before Him.

The second story is about the son in the tribe of Dan of Israel, who is married to an Egyptian, who blasphemed the Name of the Lord with a curse. In the end, the Lord commanded Moses to let the Israelites stone him to death.

After this story, the Lord enacted a law regarding murder. It is as follows:

¹⁷ “Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. ¹⁸ Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. ¹⁹ Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.” (NIV, Leviticus 24:17-20)

What is the relationship between these three stories? What is this chapter trying to say?

First of all, one of the questions that we have to consider is why the Lord immediately established the law at the trial regarding the punishments for murder after the son blasphemed the Name of the Lord. My insight is that in the eyes of God, murder is as serious as blaspheming His name. Because man is created in the image of God, the dwelling place of God is with man, and our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, whoever hurts the temple of God, will be hurt by Him.

We started discussing the death penalty and trial in our Bible study. This passage in Leviticus 24 is often used as one of the arguments for those who support the death penalty. But there is also a lot of debate in the United States regarding whether or not there should be a death penalty.

I remember when I was a reporter in Los Angeles, I was covering an event. There was a murderer who turned to God in repentance in prison and has become a role model for youth street gangs. He helped many youth street gangs to repent and believe in the Lord. So when California Governor Schwarzenegger approved his death sentence, it caused a lot of controversy. In one of the events, I interviewed a group of Christian pastors who protested against the death penalty sentence for this man. One of the pastors at the event said that God did not apply a death sentence to Cain, the first person to commit murder. God even prevented others from killing Cain and put a mark on him. Anyone who killed Cain would suffer vengeance seven times over. The pastor’s words left a deep impression on me.

Those who advocate the use of death penalty believe that this is the clear provision of the Word of God in Leviticus 24. They believe that without the death penalty, it’s difficult to deter people from committing crimes. But those who oppose the death penalty believe that even those who have committed crimes are created in the image of God. They also need opportunities for forgiveness and redemption.

Though the death penalty is a topic of much discussion, that’s not the focus of this chapter. Is there a direct or indirect relationship between it and the lamp that Arron had to burn continually in the tabernacle?

I think there is a direct relationship. Let's see what kind of relationship they have.

Proverbs 20:27 (NIV) tells us that "the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord." If you regard man as a tabernacle, then the spirit inside is the lamp of the Lord. The work of the high priest Aaron in the sanctuary of the Old Testament is also the royal priesthood in our New Testament today. It is through continually praying, repenting, and purifying ourselves “fan into flames the spiritual gift God” (2 Tim 1:6) just as letting the lights on the golden lampstand in the sanctuary in the Old Testament burn continually.

We know that the burning lamps on the golden lampstand are from the oil of the pressed olives, and the olive oil represents the Holy Spirit, but the Bible clearly tells us, "whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior” (NIV, Titus 3:6). In other words, the Holy Spirit has always existed. But if Jesus Christ had not borne our sins and endured those crushing blows on the cross, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t be able to pour out abundantly on us.

And Ephesians 2:18 (NIV) tells us, “For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” “Him” here refers to Christ. Through the salvation accomplished by Christ, we can come to the Father through Jesus in the fellowship the Holy Spirit.

So what the Lord commanded Moses to let Aaron do is actually a picture of our fellowship with the Holy Trinity in the New Testament.

The human spirit is created by the Lord. It’s where the Spirit of God dwells in us, and also the lamp of the Lord. This lamp enables us to maintain fellowship with God, receive illumination from Him, enables us to live a holy life, and prevents us from committing sin.

We know that the Old Testament is a foreshadow of the New Testament’s reality. So here, Leviticus 24 is a very good picture representing the reality of the New Testament.

As Christians we should always pray in the spirit to keep our spiritual light shining before God. We often have very little time to pray because we get so busy with our daily lives, so our prayer life is slowly neglected. There is a famous spiritual man who said, “No fixed time of prayer is no life of prayer.” I think this really makes sense because we live in the flesh. If we don't offer our bodies and set a specific time to pray, it will be difficult to maintain a life of prayer.

I think this is why the Lord let Moses take the fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread on the table of pure gold before the Lord. Each of the breads uses two-tenths of an ephah, six in each stack. The breads were to be placed before the Lord each Sabbath, and then it was given to Aaron and his descendants to eat. I think these 12 breads represent the people of God or the body of Christ. Because twelve is the number of tribes of Israel, the fine flour also represents human nature, so I think this is what Romans 12:1 says, “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” (NIV). If we don’t continually fan our God-given Spirit into flames, or offer our bodies through the cycle of the weekly Sabbath (or the cycle of the Lord’s day in the New Testament), it’s difficult to maintain our fellowship with God in the spirit.

There are Christians who initially receive salvation but if they don’t fellowship with other believers or attend church, they will have a very difficult time maintaining a strong testimony in the spirit.  Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice is crucial.

We must know that our soul is very precious. In order to redeem our soul, Jesus was willing to give his life. It only takes a moment to receive salvation, but then our spiritual life must continue to grow and our body must also be constantly offered as a living sacrifice. The salvation of our souls should undergo changes over a lifetime to reach maturity.

This is a spiritual picture of the New Testament that the Lord commanded Moses at the beginning of Leviticus 24.

A series of problems will arise if we can't maintain constant fellowship with the Lord, if we gradually stop fellowshipping with Him because of sin and worldly influence, and if the lamp in our spirits is not lit up. We should work as priests and let our lights shine in front of God every week and every day. Then we’ll be able to get closer to Him.

When a person slowly moves away from God and neglects to take care of the lamp inside of him (our spirit), he will sin and fall. The son of the Egyptian father and the Israelite mother is a picture of this.

First, the law of God stipulates that the Israelites were not allowed to marry the Gentiles. So, the Israelite mother had already violated this law.  The light in her spirit had already been dimmed to a certain extent.  By marrying an Egyptian, her son would be part of an environment that makes it easy to fall away and be distant from God.

How can people commit such a serious sin? It is because the lights inside of them have long been dark. They lose God's presence, morality and even basic humanity.

We know that many Christians experience these things.  Before they are saved, lying, stealing, greed or harmful words and deeds don’t bother them. But after they get saved, they find that they can no longer do the things they used to do and say. If they do it, they  feel very uncomfortable. After a couple times, they   realize that they can’t participate in those things anymore. What’s the reason behind this?

One of the reasons is we are born again by the Spirit of God. The light of the Lord shines brightly within us. The things that we were doing in the darkness before didn’t bother us but under the illumination of the Lord's lamp, it can’t be done anymore.

So the main reason of the fall of man (committing sin and the decline of morality) is due to the fact that the light inside of him is dark. But God is the God of salvation. God’s intention for the high priest to continually light the lamps in front of Him represents Christ, our High Priest, who intercedes for us every day in heaven. This intercession will bring change to you sooner or later - from death to life and from darkness to light. One day, we will be saved and become a child of God. We will also begin to learn to serve as a priest. Continuously learning to be the lamp of God is to intercede for sinners around us, let the Holy Spirit work in them and light their lamps.

Our intercession to God in this way, brings the people around us to salvation, letting the light inside of them (which is their spirit) come alive.

It seems that the Israelite mother’s son was punished severely. But the judgment is not the aim, salvation is. Through this judgment, God is able to show the later generations that if they don’t pay attention to lighting up the lamp inside of them and if they constantly turn away from Him, the result will be tragic.

For example, we know the tribe of Dan was not numbered in Revelation chapter 7 among the 144,000 and this was often counted as a proof that the tribe of Dan was cut off. But Revelation 21:12 mentions that on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. From there we can speculate the tribe of Dan was eventually recovered and saved. How did this happen? We don’t exactly know but we can see some traces from the story in this chapter.

Judgement may come upon the tribe of Dan and its descendants. Paul says during his trial “for I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”（Philippians 1:19）Will this principle work for the tribe of Dan in the Old Testament? When the tribe of Dan was facing the difficult moment of being cut off, would this turn out to be their deliverance by the mercy of God?  I believe so.  I believe the judgement in this chapter reveals to us a hidden stream that God has been dealing with the tribe of Dan and eventually the name of Dan will be still written on the door of the New Jerusalem.

Again, judgement from God is always a means but not a goal. The goal is salvation as God is love and he wants to redeem us no matter how far we have fallen. If our light has been dim and we have sinned against God, judgement may come upon us but it’s also an opportunity for us to repent and rekindle the light within us. This is called The Gospel. It happened to the tribe of Dan and it will also happen to anyone who falls but chooses to repent.

 

Isaiah 61:1-4 says,

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

The Tribe of Dan was almost cut off and seems like they were burnt to ashes but God will “bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes” in the end. Let’s turn back to God and repent of our sin and light up the lamp within us. This lamp surely will restore us to receive this crown of beauty instead of ashes.

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 23

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 23

Leviticus 23 talks about the Sabbath principles and the seven festivals of the Israelites, which are the Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles. Why are these seven festivals and the teachings of the Sabbath put together? What is the spiritual significance? What kind of spiritual meaning do the seven festivals have?

Historically, there have been many different interpretations of these seven festivals, but the inspiration from the Holy Spirit that we received is that the seven festivals represent the seven different stages of Christian spiritual development. Of course, it can be further extended to the Body of Christ as a corporate Spiritual person and her seven different stages of life progress and maturity.

Let’s first talk about the principles of the Sabbath. Why do people have a Sabbath? Why should people work for six days and rest on the seventh day?

While everyone was discussing this issue, I was moved by the Holy Spirit and asked everyone the following questions. If you were God, how would you design a plan for the Israelites, churches, or even ordinary humans to seek God, eventually know Him as well as grow in His ways? Could it be that God doesn’t have the ability to supply people's basic needs to survive so He let people labor for six days? Or is it just because Adam committed sin, and God wanted to punish him to let him sweat and labor? Probably not, because God dropped down manna from heaven in the wilderness and gave it as food to the Israelites. He also gave quail to the Israelites as meat to eat. It is obvious from here that it’s not because God can’t supply the basic needs of people and so He let people work for 6 days. Instead, there are good intentions behind the six days of work.  People can constantly realize their own shortcomings through the six days work, and they can also know more about their need to know God.

But not everyone understood what I meant. I asked a friend in the meeting, who was a doctor, if she would still be a doctor after she goes to heaven. She said that she believes that there are still professions in heaven. She saw a testimony that said that angels also have different occupations. I don’t think that she understood my question. I asked another member of the Bible study who is an accountant  if she would still be an accountant in heaven. She said that she may not need to. I said that according to Acts 17 which we read last week, God has set the time and boundaries of lands for everyone so that we can seek God and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him. Without the permission of God the Father, nothing will happen. So her profession as an accountant is God’s way of helping her to know Him better.   The same applies to my doctor friend. Apart from the fact that what we are doing can benefit others, God mainly feels that these professions will help us better understand Him.

I shared this, and people seemed to gradually understand what I was saying. I continued to share that the best way for us is to imagine God as a teacher who trains us in class, or to imagine God as a parent who trains and disciplines His children. The best way for teachers to teach is to give students a little homework to check and see if they have learned anything from class. Anyone who has gone to school knows that if the teacher doesn’t give homework or have exams, it’s easy to forget the things you’ve learned after the course is finished. But if there is an exam pressure, the knowledge that we learn will leave a deep impression on us and will not be easily forgotten.  

In the same way, the principle of six days of work and resting on the seventh day established by God is like this. This doesn’t mean that not doing anything on the seventh day of the Sabbath is in accordance with God's will.  God's will is to give us a day to reflect on what we’ve learned after six days of work and study.

For example, if you apply for Graduate School, you need to prepare for the GRE exam. At the time I took the GRE exam, computer testing was still new. The computer test was designed as follows. If you correctly answer questions in the first level of difficulty, a new more difficult level will appear. If you continue to answer correctly the questions will get more difficult until the exam ends. However, if you answer wrong on the first level of difficulty, you will continue answering questions at that level until the exam ends.  Both seem to be answering the same amount of questions, but the scores of the test results will be very different.

Similarly, the path of life that God has designed for us is the same. For example, it took the Israelites more than 40 stations to pass the trial when they left the wilderness to reach the Promised Land. Some of them died in the wilderness and were never able to enter the Promised Land. But Caleb and Joshua were able to enter the Promised Land. God's promise to every Israelite is the same, but not everyone can enter the richness of God's promise.

The number of man is 6 because humans were created on the sixth day. So the first six days can represent human efforts. The seventh day is a temporary end to our human efforts to find God, know God or share the number of days of knowing God.

I recently accompanied my daughter to take part in her first Easter Egg Hunt.   The Sabbath principle is actually similar to the design of an Easter Egg Hunt.   Pastor Bill Johnson said that God hides the treasure for us not from us. An egg hunt is designed for parents to hide the eggs. The purpose of it is to let the children find them. The parents hide the eggs in more obvious places for the smaller children to easily find.

Acts 17:26-27 (NIV) says: “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

We need to realize that God's intention is to let those who are lost find Him, so He has arranged life, which is what the six days represent. He hopes that people will eventually find Him, which is what the seventh day represents. Some people don’t find God early in their life so he extends their life giving them decades of continuous searching for God.

Many people are fortunate to find God early, and enter the reality of the Sabbath, which is entering into God’s rest. If man has rest, naturally, God also has one. God is Our Father. When His lost son returns home, He naturally rests. This is the practicality of the Sabbath. However, some people are not lucky enough. They struggle for a lifetime seeking God but still haven’t found Him. They have been stuck in the principle of the first six days and haven’t entered the principle of the seventh-day Sabbath. When man doesn’t find God, he has no peace.  When God hasn’t found his lost sheep, he doesn’t rest.

This is the practicality of the Sabbath. Can people, who have found God, know more about God every day and make progress in being filled with God? This is another cycle. This is the circumstance of the Israelites. They are God's chosen people, but they still have to continue this cycle, constantly escaping from the six-day natural self, and constantly entering the reality of the seventh day Sabbath. In other words, the first stage is like a Christians’ journey of salvation, and the second stage is like a Christian entering the sanctification process.

This Sabbath is a weekly principle and also an annual principle. It is the principle of a human being, a Christian, or an Israelite. It is also the principle of a group of people, the State of Israel, and church, which is the body of Christ, in its entirety.

The reason why this chapter started to talk in general about the Sabbath and then later the seven annual feasts of Israel is because it is trying to highlight the general principle of the Sabbath cycle.  As the chapter continues it covers the seven festivals of the following year.  When each festival is about to end, they must return to the general principles of this Sabbath.  Seven equals six plus one.  Six represents human effort and one represents God’s rest.  Man was given six days of work but should enter into the rest on the seventh day. 

To start with, let’s look at the first festival. The first festival is the Passover. We all know the story of the Passover. It is the story of Jehovah leading the Israelites out of Egypt, to the wilderness, and finally to the Promised Land. We also know that the spiritual meaning of the Passover is Christian salvation, and transfer from Satan’s dark kingdom to the kingdom of light of God’s beloved Son.

I shared in the meeting that we Christians have entered the reality of the Passover, but how many friends and even family members are still struggling in the dark? It is a difficult struggle, and the process of struggling was in the principle of the first six days of the Sabbath, that is, they were not able to find rest on the Sabbath day. The reality of the Sabbath is not to argue whether Saturday or Sunday is the Sabbath. The reality of the Sabbath is that both God and man have rested. If you haven't found God yet, you haven't entered that rest. The Bible also tells us, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:9-11) So as Christians we must endeavor to enter into this rest every day. You must continually enter this rest moment by moment and day by day. You can’t say that you automatically have it since the time you were saved. No, the verses above mentioned clearly that we must make every effort to enter that rest.

We can call being saved the first cycle.  It’s a shame that many people stay stuck in this cycle for their entire lives. We can liken this to quests that are completed in online games.  Many get defeated in the first round and never get to the second level. The second level is entering to the rest daily and experiencing the transformation of our soul.  This will bring us to the next festival.

But after the Passover, you can’t just lie down and sleep. In the words of the Chinese, this is only the first step in the long march. The second day after the Passover, which is on the fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (which begins on the fifteenth day of the same month). Although the cycle of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days, it’s definitely not just seven days. Its principle applies to a cycle of seven days. In other words, we all know that the Feast of Unleavened Bread represents Christians who should live a sacred life. How can it be just left behind after seven days? This also should be for a lifetime. Seven days only means a cycle, so the Feast of Unleavened Bread once again goes back to the seven day principle of the week-long Sabbath that was established in this chapter. We should spend the rest of our lives eating unleavened food, that is, to be constantly filled with the life of Christ, and being transformed into His image.   This is level 2 (the second quest) of the game. Many people have also been defeated at this level. Think about how many Christians are saved, but have never lived a life of sanctification throughout their lives?

After the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we aren’t sure about the specific time and period when the third feast of the Jews, the First Fruits, is to be celebrated. At the Feasts of First Fruits, the Jews dedicated the first fruits (e.g. field crop) to God as a sacrifice. Remember, the first two festivals can take place in the wilderness. When the Jews are wandering in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, they could celebrate the Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread, but could not celebrate the Feasts of First Fruits. Why? Because in the Feasts of First Fruits, they need to offer the first fruits of the crops from what they sow in the field. They must enter the Promised Land, and work hard so that they can dedicate the first fruits of their labor. We all know that the wilderness represents the Christian's soul undergoing transformation, and entering the Promised Land represents a certain degree of spiritual victory. First of all, it’s already considered a victory for the Israelites to be able to enter the Promised Land. Being able to operate and produce the first fruits in the Promised Land is a step closer to further victory. In terms of our spiritual experience, the experience of the Feast of First Fruits is a sign that Christians were not only saved, but also for a period of time were free from sin and living an unleavened life. This then will produce to a certain degree the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It can even produce gifts of the Holy Spirit, testimony, and effects of its spiritual work outside, allowing God to be pleased with our ministry and conduct. This is the spiritual meaning of the Feast of First Fruits.

This would be considered the third level (or third quest) of the game. In this level, God's spiritual requirements and requirements of the spiritual sacrifices are different. Christians use a variety of spiritual explanations to explain the seven feasts of the Jews, but the inspiration that we received is the fact that these seven feasts not only represent the seven feasts God gave to the Jews, but also some spiritual stages and the course of development. They also represent the seven different stages of spiritual growth that an individual Christian can experience on earth. I shared in the meeting that we don’t have enough time to study the relationship between the Number seven mentioned in the book of Daniel, and the seven bowls, seven seals and the number 7 etc. in the book of Revelation. But I have a feeling that these sevens and the seven feasts of the Israelites may have a relationship to some extent. No one knows when God's economy will be completed, but my guess is that this mystery may be contained in the seven feasts that Jehovah gave to the Israelites.

I started to have a lot of prophetic dreams beginning in 2015. Many of my dreams were scenes of heaven, so I especially pay attention to other people’s testimonies who claim they have seen heaven. Actually, witnessing heaven is a rising trend in recent decades. In the United States, a female prophet named Kat Kerr is one of them. She claims that she has been to heaven thousands of times. One of the testimonies she mentioned was that she saw some Jewish festivals in heaven, and they even used some of the patterns and signs used by the Jews. She asked God why there were some signs of Jews here. God answered her and said, "This is originally mine, I just lent it to them."

If this testimony is true, if heaven continues to celebrate some Jewish holidays, then to a certain extent it explains that this cycle will not just end on earth, it will continue in heaven.  What I noticed most about other people’s visions about heaven is that everyone’s distance and understanding about God is quite different.  We still have so much to learn about God.

I am not here to talk about the testimonies of heaven, but to talk about the spiritual life cycle of Christians and their different stages of spiritual growth. In addition to offering the sheaf in the Feasts of the First fruits, they also need to offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering. What is the spiritual meaning of this? Leviticus 23:13 (NIV) says, "together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil—a food offering presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine”. What do these sacrifices represent? To be honest, I am not entirely clear, but if you look at this pattern of development, the Lord does not require the Israelites to offer anything at the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They can just enjoy God’s providence. But it is different in the Feasts of the First fruits. Those sacrifices mentioned above must be offered to the Lord.

What does this mean? It’s like a family. When a child is still small, parents do everything for them. They just have to eat well and have no responsibility. But if the child grows up to a certain age, and still does not do anything, and wants to have everything done for him/her, it either means the child has a disability, or, the parents are spoiling him/her too much. This is not normal. The things between God and us are family matters. We’re in the house of God. The Heavenly Father is our father. The Lord Jesus is our Savior, our elder brother, and our bridegroom. The Holy Spirit is our helper, and we are born again by the Holy Spirit. As members of God’s family we should help each other with His family matters. One day, Our Father hopes that our life will grow to a place that we can help Him a little. We can do something, put something on the table during His feasts so that He can be satisfied and we can let the priest get supplies of grain offerings, and let other young people be fed. However, today, in the Body of Christ, how many Christians have offered their first fruits when they reached a “grown-up” age, and yet still have their diapers on, waiting for others to feed them? I don't think there is anything wrong with being fed by someone else, but it’s a little abnormal when you are just waiting for others to feed you. Many Christians should be able to offer a male lamb one year old without defect. Although the lamb is only one year old and has lesser spiritual experience, at least there is no defect. You can please God and testify of His salvation to a certain extent.  The finest flour represents our conduct and how much we have experienced the changing work of Christ’s salvation in our character or souls.

Basically what we are saying here is that even a young lamb (or Christian) has a limited dedication to God.  It’s not about the amount of service that counts, just the fact that even a young Christian can do something for the Lord.

The fourth festival, Pentecost is also known as the Shavuot. After 49 days of offering the sheaf, a new grain offering is presented the next day (fiftieth day). Remember, the Jubilee is the 50^th year after seven cycles of sabbatical years (a total of 49 years). Daniel's prophecy of the destiny of the Israelites is seventy weeks, which is 490. This is divided first into seven weeks, then sixty two weeks and then one more week. I don't fully know the relationship between these 7 and God's seven feasts for the Israelites, but I personally think that God is letting the Israelites and Christians complete His destiny through the cycle of 7 to reach spiritual maturity. In other words, these 7 are just game quests that God has set up for us to learn, and this game is a tool for God to educate His children to grow. I don't think it’s important to guess in detail what kind of practical meaning each cycle will achieve. Rather, the most important thing is that we cherish every one of the 7 cycles that God has put us in and learn the lessons He gives us. When the time is complete, God will naturally lead us out of this cycle.

I think it’s meaningless to focus our attention on the days, the new moon, when the Rapture will happen, or any other auspicious day. The most important thing is that God wants us to achieve spiritual growth through this design.

Pentecost is the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and it’s also the birth of the church.   This feast of Pentecost is very unique and is the day when the Gentiles were grafted into God’s family. When the brother of the Lord, Jacob, declared the church to accept the Gentiles, he quoted some words of the prophet, “God had pre-selected the Gentiles. Originally, they were not called God's chosen people but today, they would become one.”(Acts 15:14-21) In other words, using popular expression, Pentecost is the passing lane set by God.  God has chosen Israel, but if Israel doesn’t play well in this game, God will guide other players to play. This is not to eliminate the Israelites, but to put pressure on them to actively participate. Although Pentecost is about harvest and richness, it has specifically mentioned that “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor.” (NIV, Leviticus 23:22). This reflects the thoughts of God I just mentioned.

The offerings of Pentecost are more abundant, including two loaves of bread as a wave offering, seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. “They will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings.Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offeringand two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the first fruits.” (NIV, Leviticus 23:18-20). In short, the sacrifice is richer than the experience of the Feasts of the First fruits. Pentecost is often used to indicate the filling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I personally feel that these sacrifices show the gifts of the Holy Spirit after experiencing its filling and outpouring. It also shows the fruit of the Holy Spirit brought about by the changing work of the Holy Spirit in us.

We can say that Pentecost is a hurdle. It is of great significance both to the church and the individual. There is also a great controversy in theory and practice. I have been an evangelical Christian for 13 years. Later I was forced to look for prayer and healing everywhere due to ten years of infertility. I inadvertently left my original church and was exposed to the Charismatic and Prophetic movements. I have been involved in evangelical churches as well as charismatic churches. My process of seeking healing was intertwined with the process of seeking the in-filling of the Holy Spirit. Finally, I was filled with the Holy Spirit in 2015 and gave birth to my miracle baby in 2017.

My experience being filled with the Holy Spirit was unforgettable and I gained so much through it.  When the Holy Spirit was poured out on me, the two men who prayed for me were overtaken and none of us could stand up.  We tried to stand, took several steps backward and fell to the ground.  I’ve also experienced the Holy Spirit filling my body with electric current.  I don’t share these experiences to boast.  People that come from the same background as I do have a lot of fear and suspicion about the Holy Spirit.  We often don’t dare to challenge the traditional teachings because of the fear of man.  In turn, we can miss God’s richest blessings for us. This issue is not only about the negative attitudes of various churches who don’t accept this.  The attitude of the individual toward this issue determines whether you can receive the richness of the Holy Spirit.  Countless numbers of people have experienced this without fear.  Teachings that cause fear on this subject aren’t necessarily right.  Though it can be a spiritual hurdle to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit, don’t be afraid and give up.  Just believe, receive and enjoy the richness of His goodness to us. 

Although the Feasts of the First fruits and Pentecost has a fixed date every year, the Bible has not mentioned their specific dates. In addition to the unpredictable date of the feast day of the sheaf of first fruits, spiritually it also signifies that a person needs to be mature during this uncertain period of time. This is not a unilateral decision of God, but a period in which God has given a certain degree of freedom and grace so that people can seize the opportunity to grow. After the second detailed sixty-two weeks of Daniel, there was an uncertain period of time until the last seven weeks came. Biblical scholars usually called this period the Grace Period.

No one knows when the grace period ends. Although God is full of grace, we cannot keep refusing to grow up and mature indefinitely. There is a specific date for the Rosh Hashanah, which is the 10th of July. I guess there may be some connection between the Rosh Hashanah and the Festival of Trumpets. It is at some point when the time that God has established, has come. If people continue to refuse to repent or mature, God will begin a process of “ripening”, which of course may include changes in the environment and the striking of disasters etc. But still, God has good intentions. His purpose is to let people repent and further mature.

There is also a specific date for the Feast of Tabernacles, which is July 15. The Feast of Tabernacles is the last festival of the Israelites. It signifies the rejoicing and celebration after the final harvest. It’s a festival that is celebrated by both God and man. This signifies the Israelites have lived in tents. Although there is a remembrance to Christ's suffering outside, there is a celebration of the union of God and man.

The Feast of Tabernacles is not only the ultimate hope of the Israelites and the church, but also the highest stage of spiritual maturity in an individual Christian. I believe that through the ages, many spiritual Christians have achieved this very high stage of spiritual experience (although it’s on earth, it’s like in heaven) of being in harmony with God. In their experience, perhaps they have been celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles every single day.

On the last day of 2017, I had an experience of being brought to heaven in a dream. In heaven, the Lord pointed to a few people and said to me, “Do you want to be like them?” The Lord pointed out a few people to me, but I didn’t identify who they really were, but I had a spiritual feeling they might be   Godly people. Certainly, I’m longing to be like them.

Looking back at this experience, I shared in the meeting that one of my life’s ideals is to be able to reach spiritual maturity on earth and achieve the experience of Sukkot that many saints have reached. The   thing that many people who have gone to heaven regret is losing the great opportunity to pursue God on earth. Let’s encourage each other not to waste our beautiful time on earth.

I hope that you will be able to finish the game designed by God and get a great reward from Him and become a winner in life!

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 21

 

Bible Study with Jairus Leviticus 21

A common problem when reading the Old Testament is that after a person reads how God is depicted in the Old Testament, they often think that God is cruel, angry and frequently kills people.  This is the reason that many atheists think that the God depicted in the Old Testament, is bad-tempered and narrow-minded. He seems to frequently seek revenge against debtors. But the Gospel of John in the New Testament tells us that God loves the world. John the apostle also tells us in his epistles that God is love. So, how do we reconcile this contradiction?

A friend and I used to talk about the Bible quite a bit. He had the same questions. During this time, I happened to see a person writing a big "I LOVE U" in the snow and the word LOVE was drawn inside the shape of a heart. Because more than a foot of snow had fallen in Maryland at that time, these three words were written in very thick snow and were written so big that you had to stand on the second story to see the full image of these words. When you stood in front of it, you would just see lots of indents in the snow. You couldn’t clearly see what the words said. Then, I suddenly received inspiration and said to my friend, understanding God relates to these words. When we are too close we can’t clearly see what it says. But when we look at it from high places, we clearly see the whole picture. The same is true for the Bible. The angle and height we view it from are not the same as the angle and height of God. The words and the works of God are like His footprints. From a distance, we may be able to clearly see the words: "I love you"   But when we who are as small as an ant in comparison to God, look at things from a close view, we can barely make out the dot in the letter “i”.  When we look at things from God’s view we can get a better understanding of what the Bible is actually saying.

God is love, and every book, chapter and verse in the Bible show us His love. After reading any book of the Bible, if you feel that God is not loving or you feel that God is cruel, then there is a good possibility that you didn’t understand the chapter and need more of the Holy Spirit’s illumination. Each week in our study we read a chapter in the Old Testament and a chapter in the New Testament. We have already read up to the book of Acts in the New Testament and the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.  With each chapter we read we are moved by the love of God and the Holy Spirit gives us a deeper understanding and proof of the lavish love that God has for each of us.

We encountered some challenges when we read Leviticus 21 and I proposed the same principle. As a result, when we finished our Bible study, we were all aware of God’s love..

The first half of Leviticus 21 talks about how priests should be holy when they are serving God. They cannot defile themselves. First, the priest should not make himself unclean for any of his people who die, except for a close relative or an unmarried sister.  Second, priests must not shave off the edges of their beards or cut themselves. Third, priests must not marry a divorced woman or a woman defiled by prostitution. Fourth, if a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she must be burned in the fire.

As for the requirements of the high priest, it’s even more strict. First, he must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother.  Second, he can't leave the sanctuary of God; third, like priests, he can only marry a virgin and fourth, his children can't be defiled.

The contents of verses 1-15 in chapter 21 can be understood, but the following content has a problem. Let’s read chapter 21 verses 16-24. 

21:16  The Lord said to Moses, 

21:17 “Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 

21:18 No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; 

21:19  no man with a crippled foot or hand,

21:20 or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles. 

21:21 No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. 

21:22 He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; 

21:23 yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.’”

21:24 So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

A Christian friend felt that after reading these verses, that God seemed to discriminate against disabled people. Why can't a disabled man offer food to God? They can’t even go near the sanctuary and offer  food to  God. Why does it say that because they have a disability they will desecrate the sanctuary of God? Isn’t this obvious discrimination towards people with disabilities? How do we explain this?

I replied that according to the principle I mentioned before, if you believe God discriminates and is unloving, you need to take a deeper look from a different angle because God is always love. And, if you didn’t feel His love here, it’s not that He is wrong, rather, we are looking at it from the wrong angle and height. We can't pull God down to our level and use our natural mind to understand Him. We must pray that God will use His Holy Spirit to illuminate us and ask Him to bring us to heavenly heights in the spirit to see God’s love from a higher perspective.

If you agree with what we said here or if you agree with our view that God is love, then, how can we see God's love in these verses?

This friend shared an explanation from the online BiblePoint.net:

The blind represents that he doesn’t know God and the will of God; the lame represents that he’s all talk and no action; disfigurement represents no spiritual sense of smell and has no discretion; the dysmelia (or deformed) represents the flesh; the man with crippled foot or hand represents the lack of spirit at work; the hunchback represents submission and compromise; the dwarf represents that the person’s life is not long; the man who has eye defect represents that this person is prejudiced, short-sighted and snobbish; festering sores and scabies represents that the wound cannot be healed and it’s bitter.

This explanation is quite good. I know that the person who interpreted this received the same spiritual teaching as I did, known as spiritual interpretation. It’s through spiritual meaning that we can explain some of the Bible, especially the Old Testament Scriptures. With this, we can match it with the spiritual significance of our situation today.

If we follow the principles we have talked about before and if we don’t see that God is doing this out of love, then, we are still misunderstanding the bible.  I asked the question, what about when Moses told the Lord that he was slow of speech and slow of tongue to do the task that He had given him.  What does the Lord mean when he responded to him in Exodus 4:11 saying: “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

According to the literal meaning of this sentence, God makes human beings dumb, deaf, and blind. Why would God do that? How do we understand that God is love here? Everyone was speechless because we couldn’t understand why God said this.

Slowly, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we began to understand the spiritual significance of this passage. First, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Even if people were born mute, deaf, and blind, this should also be considered as the result of the sin. This concept is also so common among the Israelites that the disciples of the Lord asked Him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (NIV, John 9:2). The Lord Jesus replied that it was not the sin of this man, nor the sin of his parents, but it is to manifest and display God's work.

How do we understand what Jesus is saying here?

First, we know that the disciples asked this question because they were very familiar with the laws of the Old Testament. They knew that the law of God stipulated that blind people could not offer sacrifices to God. They were deeply influenced by the law and they had a strong concept of good and evil. But Jesus wants to turn their eyes from the horror of human sin and the result of sin to the provision that God is mighty to save in His love. The meaning of this sentence is that God has prepared salvation for the sin of man, that is, the coming of Jesus Christ so that people can be set free from their sins and return to God.

I believe the meaning of this sentence is not the fact that Jesus denies that man is sinful and that the wages of sin is death, because it is clearly stated in the Bible that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. This blind man and his parents may also have sinned, and his blindness may be the result of his sin or the sin of his parents. But the Lord Jesus is here to let the disciples focus on how Jesus Christ can save the sinner, and not let them focus on what is right and wrong, or judge who caused this person to be blind.

The reason why I say this is because God clearly said to Moses that He was the one who created human beings to be mute, deaf and blind. And in the New Testament, Lord Jesus also told us that not one of the sparrows will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. (NIV, Matthew 10:29). And we know that every creation of God is good and God would not deliberately create people who are mute, deaf and blind. But why are there still people who are mute, deaf and blind in this world? Isn’t this contradictory? How do we explain these contradictions?

I heard a message from Kenneth E Hagin that many verses in the Old Testament mentioned that the disasters and plagues brought or sent by Jehovah to people are actually mistakes in translation. He quoted a Hebrew scholar's research that the usage of these words is actually passive forms of the original text. In other words, these words should be translated into God's permission to allow these plagues to fall on people.

In addition, I have heard Peter Horrobin, an expert in deliverance, give a very vivid example to explain why the sins of the ancestors often caused the offspring to be possessed by demons. In deliverance ministries, people often encounter demonic oppression due to the fact that their ancestors are practicing idolatry, fornication, and other sins, causing their children and grandchildren to be possessed. This is biblical.

It says in Exodus 34:6-7

⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet he doesn’t leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (NIV)

God did say that “He punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” (NIV, Numbers 14:18). This doesn’t affect God’s claim that He is a God of mercy and a God of grace. When we compare punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third or fourth generation, we also need to recognize that His blessings will reach up to a thousand generations.

Peter Horrobin gave a very vivid example when the audience was puzzled by why God allowed the result of sin to be circulated through the family. He stood on the podium to represent God. He let a member of the audience sit under the podium, under his feet to represent a father. He let another person  stand below this person to represent a son, and then he poured water out of a bottle on the podium. The water dripped onto the head of the person sitting on the podium, flowed over  the person’s body, and then dripped onto the person sitting under the podium.

He said that when God created us, He set up a principle that the blessings of our ancestors will be passed down from generation to generation starting from the son to the grandchildren. The blessings and grace of God will be passed on to the family as characterized by this example. He said that pouring down mineral water is like God pouring some of the oil on Aaron's head. Then it flowed through Aaron's beard and robes, soaked the whole body, and then this blessing has also passed through Aaron’s sons and grandchildren. It’s passed from generation to generation.

He said that if God stops the consequences of human sins through the ancestors and passing on one’s genes to the next generation, it’s like asking God to close the principle of the Father's blessings to his children that He established. This is not what God wants to do, nor what God will do. What God is doing is changing the source of sin and not closing the channel of God's blessing. When Jesus Christ comes to earth to redeem us from sin, the channel of God's blessing will still work. God will continue to bless us to a thousand generations. In other words, God is looking at the problem from eternity’s perspective. In God's eternal eyes, sin is only a problem that occurs at a certain time. God won’t change the principles of the Father's blessing to his children or the Father's passing on genes to his children that He has set for eternity because of bad things that happened during a certain period of time.

Peter Horrobin said that if God closes the path of inheriting the sin of the ancestors to the descendants, it also closes the way God blesses the son through the Father. There is no problem with regards to the inheritance principle set by God, nor is it the root cause of the problem here. The root cause is that the source is wrong. People made the wrong choice. They chose Satan and sin as the source. God's solution is to change the source, correct the error made by the source. If the error of the source is corrected, slowly other things will be solved, but this will take a time.

From this perspective, God allows sin to flow to the third and fourth generations. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love people. But in God's eternal eyes, God continues to retain the blessings of the Father to his children and grandchildren. The blessings of God are to be passed for generations. The New Testament also tells us “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29). We have to resolve the contradictions of the Bible here. We don’t need to deny that God does allow the passing on of sin in families, and the fact of mute, deaf and blind caused by the result of sin. We should instead stand at a higher altitude and eternal perspective to look at God's plan and economy. You must know that in God's eternity, sin is short-lived. There are no records of sin in the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three chapters of Revelation. The law was established because of sins. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” (NIV, Romans 5:20). This is what Paul said in   Romans.

Similarly, the Lord Jesus is answering the disciples that it’s not the sin of his father or the sin that the son committed that made this person blind, but to show the work of God. I personally think that Jesus is not denying the fact that He or His ancestors had sinned, but rather saying, when sin abounds, grace abounds much more. Jesus is teaching his disciples not to focus on sin, but to focus on the grace and the work of God.

So how do we understand why this chapter said that God doesn’t allow disabled people to come to Him to sacrifice? How can this be linked to God's love, and not make God look so mean?

I feel like I was inspired by the Holy Spirit and I shared this at the meeting:

What is the essential difference between philosophy and other religions and Christianity? The essential difference is that Christianity teaches us that we must come to God through a unique mediator - Jesus Christ. No matter how kind, godly and hard we work, we cannot reach God.

Throughout the ages, Satan has encouraged people to strive for salvation through human efforts, religion, asceticism, good deeds, and the law to please God, but 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

If you try to convince an atheist or others who are passionately pursing God’s acceptance through philosophy and good deeds that Jeus Christ is the only way to God, these people would consider you to be narrow minded. The message of one way to God eliminates their freedom to pursue a variety of paths.

Why do you feel hurt when it says here that God doesn’t allow disabled people to offer sacrifice to God? This is the result of the damage that the sin brought that distorted our mind. Let me give you a few examples to illustrate this.

As a child, because I was thin and I had white skin compared to other Chinese children, I was often bullied by my classmates. Some students often laughed at me because I was white-skinned. Although the classmate that called me white was only teasing, because of the bullying and insults I received, I thought of the word white as a person who is thin, weak and unhealthy. I hated that my skin was white, and I longed for my skin to be darker.  I thought if a person was dark-skinned, they were strong because I saw a lot of strong people that had dark skin. So when it comes to the word white, my instinctive reaction was to be annoyed. I liked the word black. But does black and white really represent my interpretation? Does black connote good and white connote bad?

Does white and black really have different meanings? No, in fact, white and black are the same. They have no special meaning, but the fall of man adds meaning to them because of the taint of sin. This meaning is not necessarily correct. Just like my experience, I thought that black was better than white, but that is actually a wrong judgment caused by the twisted soul.

When Adam sinned, God came to look for him and asked where he was. His first reaction was to think that God would punish him, so he hid. But God came not to punish him, but to redeem him. God not only slaughtered a sacrificial animal for them, but He also covered them using animal skins and promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.

Why is it when God came to Adam to save him, Adam felt that God was going to hurt him? A person will have an orphan spirit after he/she has committed a sin. What is an orphan spirit? An orphan spirit is like the prodigal son in Luke 15. It is clear that his father loved him, but he didnt feel that way. So, he wandered away from his father.

Bethel Church, in Redding California which is led by pastor Bill Johnson had a prophet named Kris Vallotton, give an example to explain the meaning of an orphan spirit and it left a deep impression on me. He said that their family adopted an orphan. Because of his lack of love, the child isolated himself when he first came to their home. Later, when he felt the warmth, he opened up his heart, but he still obviously had the orphan spirit. Kris said that during Christmas, his daughter was responsible for distributing gifts to the stockings. She accidentally put two identical gifts in the stockings of another child and unintentionally put just one gift in the stocking of the adopted child. After the adopted child opened the gift, his first reaction was anger. He said, “Why is it that the other children have two gifts and I only have one?”

Kris said that the first reaction of this child is not to thank others for giving him a gift, but rather he was hurt because he thought that the others looked down on him. This is a typical example of the orphan spirit. When we hear the Word of God say that disabled people could not sacrifice in front of God, it stings our orphan spirit and we feel that God is condemning us.

It’s just like I didn’t like to hear others say that I’m white due to the ridicule by my classmates. It’s a reaction from cognitive distortion.

What does God mean here? God's meaning is completely good and it’s completely out of love.

Since people have been tempted by Satan's temptation to fall, Satan has always used two methods to deceive people. One is to constantly lie to people telling them that God doesn’t love themor that God has abandoned them.. When people believe the lies, they become more distant from God. This is an orphan spirit, the sickness that the prodigal son in Luke 15 had.

Satan's second trick is to constantly encourage people to become like God, or to strive to reach God's standards. First of all, the fall of Satan is due to the fact that he said he wanted to be like God in his heart. Second, he first deceived Eve saying that if she ate the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, she would be like God. Satan also stirred Cain up to give his produce as an offering to God. We all know that Cain's produce from the field represents people's efforts and religions in an attempt to please God. But after his failure to please God, he became a murderer.  Men with religious spirits will tend to act this way. The brother of the prodigal son in Luke 15 has this sickness. This is called the religious spirit.

So Satan encourages all kinds of religions, philosophies, and human efforts to work hard to reach God, practice to be God or to be accepted by God. All of these efforts are types of disabilities in the eyes of God. These are the tactics of the enemy to stop people from using the unique, perfect sacrificial lamb, and our high priest, Jesus Christ to come to God.

In other words, you should understand the words of the Lord like this. God doesn’t say, "You can't get close to God if you’re disabled. You are all disabled. You are not worthy to come near me." Instead, you should hear God shout loudly: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind that is Christ Jesus. No one outside of him can get close to me. Anyone who is mute, deaf, or blind can come close to me, but you must come through my son Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrificial Lamb. In Him, I can see that you’re also flawless. Don't try to use personal efforts to do what pleases me. It's all Satan's tricks to stop you from getting close to me. Don't be fooled! Mute, deaf, blind, I long for you to serve me, so I prepared my son Jesus Christ to be a perfect sacrificial Lamb. In Him you will become righteous, you will be close to me, and I will no longer see you as mute, deaf and blind."

These words are actually God preparing the right path to salvation and sacrifice for the sake of the mute, deaf, and blind. But because people have an orphan spirit, they misunderstand God.

To summarize what we said in the beginning, it’s important to see and know God’s love within every chapter of the Bible.  If we cannot grasp his love within the chapter, we need to continue to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in revealing it.  The Bible is God’s love letter to us.  He is love.  God is often blamed unjustly although he is quietly patient and longsuffering with us.  He’s madly in love with us but is often treated as the bad guy.  Hey…it’s not easy to be God!

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus20

 Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 20

Leviticus 20 records the three kinds of punishments for the various crimes in Israel and their corresponding intensity.

Leviticus 20:2 says that “Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death.” Verse 9 then states that “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” Verse 10 follows with, “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the adulterer and adulteress are to be put to death” and verse 11 says, that “If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, both the man and the woman are to be put to death”

Leviticus 20:12 states that “If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death.”  Verse 13 follows by saying that “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, they are to be put to death.” Verse 14 states that “If a man marries both a woman and her mother, both he and they must be burned in the fire.” Verse 15 then says that “If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death.” Finally, in verse 27, also states “that the medium or spiritist must be stoned to death.”

The scriptures above are more serious sins, and God’s final judgment is for the offenders to be killed. Note that the degree of judgement in the situations below is quite different. I didn't notice the difference when I first started reading the Bible, but after the woman shared her perspective this week, I noticed that there was actually a distinct difference in the level and intensity.

Verse 17 says that “If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, they are to be publicly removed from their people.” What does “publicly removed” mean? Does it refer to killing? I do not believe it refers to killing, but rather cutting him out from the people or community. The following verse says that “If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, both of them are to be cut off from their people.” From here, we can presume that maybe what it’s saying is to be cut off from Israeli traffic.

The next sin seems to be at another level. Verse 19 says “Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, or else both will be held responsible.”, but it did not specify here what punishment in particular.   Verse 20 follows with “If a man has sexual relations with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.”. In other words, they can still live in Israel but will no longer able to pass on the family name. Verse 21 states that “If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity; they will also be childless. This is a filthy thing.” John the Baptist once blamed Herod for marrying his brother's wife, Herodias. I assumed that it was because of verse 21. But the Bible also explicitly mentions that his brother died, and his younger brother should marry his elder brother's wife and give birth and establish an heir for his elder brother.

By reading this passage, I believe that it is clear it mentions the wife of the brother-in-law not because of the death of his elder brother, but because his brother was still alive when Herod married his brother’s wife.

After stating these various crimes and their corresponding punishments, Jehovah said that the reason He did not allow the Israelites to commit them was because the Canaanites had done this before, leading Jehovah to despise them. At this time, Jehovah once again mentions God’s promise of giving them the land of milk and honey and declares that He’s the God of Israel and has made Israel a separated nation.

Verse 25 states that "You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground--those that I have set apart as unclean for you.” In verse 26, it says "You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”

The question raised by the woman at the beginning of our study showed that she did not understand what “sanctification" really meant. She looked for other Chinese translations on the Internet and found the word "self-cleaning".

I told her that it was a very good question. Often, when we are reading the Bible and come across unanswered questions, we feel disturbed. It is very likely that the Holy Spirit is going to answer our questions, but He answered it through a question raised by one member. We must pay attention to this as the Holy Spirit often uses this type of question to provide us with timely answers.

What is sanctification or self-cleaning? Understanding this contains a very important spiritual and practical significance for Christians today who are living in an era of controversial issues such as homosexuality and abortion. If we understand this concept, it will greatly influence our understanding and application of God's law. If we misunderstand, misinterpret, and misapply God’s law, it will cause a series of difficulties.

As we are not in a hurry to answer this question, let’s first consider another question.  Why did God ask Noah to bring seven pairs of clean animals and unclean animals into the ark?  We can imagine that the flood had wiped out a lot of people and animals, but have you ever thought that since God had sent the flood to destroy the entire world of humankind and beasts, why not just let Noah bring clean animals to the ark and leave the unclean ones? If that is the case, wouldn’t it be an extinction of unclean animals? Wouldn’t that be that a good thing?

This question is not difficult to answer. Imagine the vision that God gave to Peter. When God called Peter to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, he saw that there was a variety of unclean animals in Tabriz and commanded him to slaughter them. But Peter refused, he said that he had never eaten these impure or unclean animals before. But Jesus said that “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15). This story shows that if Noah had not brought unclean animals to the Ark at that time, the vision would not have happened. The answer to the earlier question is that there is a process of making something unclean, clean.

Abraham was originally an Aramean who lived in idolatry, but God called him and the Israelites to sanctification or cleaning in order to make them holy to be a sacrifice to God. They had gone through the process of being unclean to clean. Similarly, under the grace of God, God also gives a clean process to other unclean people. If God had not provided a process, when Abraham lived beyond the Euphrates river and was involved in idol worship, God could have killed him or cut him off, but God did not do that. Instead, God called him. Thus, Abraham became clean from unclean.

 

In addition to undergoing the process of being unclean to clean, God has different requirements for clean and unclean people. In other words, judgment begins at the house of God. The people who are part of God's family are those cleaned by God. If they do unclean things, they will be severely punished and disciplined by God. For those who are not yet clean, or who have not yet known Jesus Christ, God's mercy triumphs over judgment.

If you understand this truth and think about the words of Jesus: "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45), it will become very meaningful. It is not that God doesn’t differentiate between good and evil, He gives the "wicked and evil" time to become "good and just." Words such as good and bad, and good and evil are not good spiritual vocabulary and therefore, are easily misunderstood. We can replace good or evil people with the words clean or unclean.

God's words in the Bible, even the law, have different contexts and intended audiences. We cannot generalize it. We must cut straight the truth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. First, God has different treatments and approaches regarding people and sins. Second, God's demands, as well as how He handled the time period for the Israelis and Gentiles are also not the same.

Romans tells us that God used the law to judge the Israelites. Although the Gentiles have no law, they are a law unto themselves (their conscience is the work of the law). Romans 2:11-12 NIV says that: “For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law." This part is well-written. God does not favor people. Whether it’s the Israelites who are holy to God, or the Gentiles who are not holy to God (here is the Canaanites), the crime is to be judged and the capital punishment is death. This is beyond doubt. However, this is not the focus of our discussion here.

What we are discussing here is the scope and application of the law, and the limitations that we have on law. It is essential for us to understand how to be spiritual Israelites in this fallen society today.

God asks the Israelites and the people that are saved today to be the salt of the earth so that the Gentiles can witness God Himself. In order to make us more holy and to manifest God more, some laws or moral requirements have been put forward. When we manifest God, and when these Gentiles or sinners become attracted to God, He will continue to let them sanctify themselves in order to fulfill God's requirement - holiness.

God never imposed these laws or moral requirements on the Gentiles. This is why, when Jesus came to earth, he treated the tax collectors, prostitutes and Pharisees in a completely different way. The attitude of the Pharisees is that these people are sinners and unclean, therefore, cannot come close to God and His presence; the attitude of Jesus, on the other hand, is that these people are sinners, and He should be a friend to them first in order to show God to them. After seeing God's manifestation, they will know God and see salvation. The power of salvation will lead them further to the path of cleansing and sanctification.

I am not saying that the law of God does not apply to the Gentiles and sinners.  What I mean is that Christians should not use the law to condemn others or distance them from God.

 

Let me give a simple example. One of the hot topics discussed in the US is   about abortion and homosexuality. We Christians should hate the sin and love the sinner.  But we often failed to show love to the person who are sinners.

 

When Jesus came to Earth, he did not keep some laws such as the law of the Sabbath. He healed the people and let the disciples gather ears of wheat on the Sabbath day.  The first thing He took into consideration was to treasure the people and make them feel the love of God, and for them not to simply obey the law for the sake of obeying. But in stark contrast to Jesus, some Pharisees kept the law for the law. Their concern was the law and not the people. Therefore, Jesus condemned them saying “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).

I firmly believe that the responsibility of Christians today is not to have moral judgement but to have "self-sanctification" or "self-cleaning." When we put our focus on this goal, we will be able to reflect God’s glory and we will gradually transform and become the image of Christ. People will naturally see the manifestation of God in us, leading them to have feelings of conviction and repentance.

When we are judging people's mistakes and failures before our very eyes, it is very easy for us to put ourselves in the wrong position and treat ourselves as Gods in judging them. But God clearly tells us in the Bible that "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy."(James 4:12). God will judge everyone, and Paul also tells us that since Gentiles have no law, conscience acted as their law.

I mentioned during the meeting that many people are so eager to judge others. But if they look inside themselves to see if they have fulfilled God’s requirements of being holy, they will find that they are far from meeting it. It’s easy to judge others, but it’s difficult to be holy.

I am not against Christians maintaining the basic standard of morality in a society or against anyone to oppose the continuous moral decline in society. My point is that if Christians can pay more attention to the righteousness in themselves and rely more on the light and grace of God to live out the reality of the law, we will be able to change the current situation of moral degradation and this will lead to better results.

To know the level of morality in the world is actually a manifestation of the cleanliness and spirituality of Christians and churches before God. The root of the degradation of morality in society is the church, not the unbelievers. If we only think about how to correct people’s behavior and not change what we have inside, then we are doing things in the wrong order.

Bible Study with Jairus - Romans 1

Bible Study with Jairus - Romans 1

I asked everyone at our Bible study to think about Romans chapter 1 and ask questions about what they didn't understand.  There was silence around the room. I jokingly said that this made sense for those who have been Christians for a long time.  When you have diligently read the Bible for many years, you become so familiar with it that you feel like you completely understand it.  Unfortunately, this can be a dangerous place to be because you may have the knowledge and Biblical truth but could lack in new spiritual insight given by the Holy Spirit.  God's word should be a living (Rhema) Word to us.  Romans 1:17 says, "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written; "the righteous will live by faith." St. Augustine was said to be so inspired after reading this verse that he repented and was saved.  Martin Luther restored the truth of justification by faith after this verse inspired him.

We focused on Romans chapter 1 in mid-May, 2020.  I told everyone that the Holy Spirit would illuminate this chapter and speak a timely word to us.  Our intention isn't to explain the chapter verse by verse or word by word, but to enter into fellowship with the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to speak.

The book of Romans was written during Paul's three months in Corinth.  Why did he write the book of Romans in Corinth? Romans is a long letter with sixteen chapters.  The letter was probably written on parchment because Paul obviously didn't have a computer back then.  Can you imagine the burden he must have had to write such a long letter to the church in Rome?

Paul wrote the book of Romans in Corinth, having never been to Rome, so more than likely, the church in Rome wasn't established by him. It seems strange that he would write such an intimate letter to people he wasn't close to.  As an example, if you were Paul today and established churches in Los Angeles and New York, you would naturally want to stay connected by writing or visiting those that the Lord had burdened your heart for.  Wouldn't it seem odd if you suddenly wrote an incredibly long, personal letter to a church in Texas that you never even visited? There must have been some sort of hidden connection that Paul had to the Roman church for him to send this letter.  If we can understand why he had the burden to write the book of Romans, we might have a better understanding of how it applies to us today.

The Holy Spirit will often disrupt our thoughts with questions because he wants to speak to us through them.

Paul mentioned in Romans 15 that he planned to go to Jerusalem. Believers in Macedonia and Achaia collected an offering for Paul to take to the poor in Jerusalem. He also planned to go to Rome later, and then to Spain (Romans 15:25-28).

Acts 19:21 (ESV) said: "Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome." At that time, Paul was in Ephesus in Asia, while Apollos was in Corinth.  Paul laid his hands on and prayed for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to fall on those under Apollos' ministry who had not received yet.  Later, he was "resolved in the Spirit" that he would pass through Macedonia, Achaia, and go to Jerusalem. He even said that he "must" see Rome. We know that the reason why Paul went to Jerusalem was to deliver the contribution from Macedonia and Achaia to the poor Jewish Christians. But why did Paul say that he "must" go to Rome?

What is the reason Paul decided that he must see Rome?  Although Paul felt that he must see Rome, he didn't know whether it would happen because he said in Romans 1:10 (NIV), "I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you."  Paul was saying that he wasn't sure if he would be able to go to Rome.  He was still praying that God would open the way for him.

After Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, Agabus and some disciples (Acts 21) prophesied that he would be bound in Jerusalem. Even the disciple Luke opposed him of going up to Jerusalem. But Paul was determined to go, saying that he was ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (NIV, Acts 21:13).  Therefore, when he went to Jerusalem, he was prepared to die, not knowing whether he would go to Rome.  It was only after Acts 23:11 that the Lord appeared to Paul at night and promised that he would go to Rome safely.  But when Paul was writing the book of Romans in Corinth, although he had a burden for Rome, he did not know whether God would open the way for him to go.

Where did Paul's burden for Rome come from? The Holy Spirit stirred us to look at the verses in Acts 18:1-3, which answered the questions we raised.

Acts 18:1-4 (NIV) said: "After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome.  Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.  Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks."

The Holy Spirit has particularly pointed our attention to the phrase "Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome."  Why did Claudius order all the Jews to leave Rome?  We know that most of the Christians in the early churches were probably Jews. Although they were in gentile nations, there were also many Jews in the church. It was only after the gospel had spread before the Gentiles gradually increased.

We checked the history of this period online. Historically, the conflict between the Jews and the Gentiles existed in the city of Rome.  At that time, the situation was similar to the case of Germany during World War II.  Anti-Semitism was flourishing to the extent that there were many conflicts between the Jews and the Gentiles.  At about 40 AD, the Roman consul was drawn in by the anti-Semites.  They began to persecute the Jews. These persecution measures included burning the Jewish synagogue and forcing them to eat pork, causing many riots.  At that time, Caligula did not handle the situation well. Later, after Claudius succeeded to the throne, he regained some favor with the Jews.  This matter was then temporarily resolved.  But later, the Jews were incited by others to stir up trouble.  Because the spread of the Christian gospel was very active there, it caused conflicts between Christians and non-Christians, and between Jewish Christians and other Jews who had opposed the gospel.  Perhaps to avoid these troubles, Claudius had driven the Jews from Rome.  However, no one knows when Claudius's decree became invalid. Anyways, many Jews had begun to return to Rome later.

In short, from these historical records and Romans 1, we can speculate about the situation there. The message of the gospel was flourishing in Rome.  Paul said in Romans 1:8 that he thanked God for the people of the Roman Church because their faith was being reported all over the world.  Rome had a revival before Paul went there.  Why did God burden Paul and confirm that he was to go there in Acts 23?  Romans 1:11-13 (NIV) says, "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.   I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles." From these verses, Paul's meaning was clear. His purpose of going to Rome was to strengthen these Roman Christians, mutually encourage each other and to preach the gospel more to bear some fruits.

Paul's purpose was mainly to stabilize and strengthen the church in Rome. I'll use a war example to illustrate.  For example, two armies are fighting for a mountain top.  But if they advance and retreat, this can't be regarded as stabilizing the place.  Only if they fight for a place and establish a base there can they be considered as stable.  The same is true in Rome. Although Rome had a revival, since the Jews were driven out, this shows that the church had not yet established a foothold in Rome.  When Priscilla and Aquila and Paul were setting up tents together, they might have discussed these situations with Paul in detail, giving Paul the burden to help strengthen the church in Rome.  According to the record from the book of Acts, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18, and it was only recorded in Acts 19 that Paul was resolved in the Spirit and decided to go to Rome. Therefore, we can boldly speculate that Paul's encounter with Priscilla and Aquila fueled the burden for the church in Rome.

Next, let's look at the record of Romans 16. Paul mentioned a lot of names here.  This shows that he knew many people in Rome. In Romans 16:3, His greeting to Priscilla and Aquila shows that they returned to Rome. But neither the Bible nor history records when they returned to Rome.  In addition to Priscilla and Aquila, Paul also greeted Sister Phoebe (Romans 16:1), as well as Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia" (Romans 16:5) and Andronicus and Junia, who had been in prison with him and dozens of others. This shows that Paul knew a lot of people there. Therefore, although he had not established the Roman church and he had never been to Rome, his connections with Priscilla and Aquila and others more than likely fueled his burden for the church.

Because Paul was not sure whether he would reach Rome safely, he was heavily burdened with writing the content of the gospel in detail to the church in Rome to help them understand the pure gospel.  Paul said at the end of Romans 16, "Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past." (NIV, Romans 16:25).  He is raising the bar with these words.  Although revival had come to the church in Rome, many believers there may not have understood the depth of the gospel message. It's possible that some of the preaching may have deviated from the truth.  Priscilla and Aquila may have passed this information on to Paul or perhaps Andronicus and Junia, who were in prison with him.  This could be why Paul felt burdened to write such a detailed letter about the gospel of Jesus Christ to educate and strengthen the believers there.

The book of Romans is often called "Paul's Gospel" by theologians.  Although it is not included in the gospel, it is a very detailed explanation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many theologians have commented that Paul's gospel is very helpful for future generations to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.  People such as Augustine and Martin Luther, who we mentioned earlier, represent some of the people who were helped by the book of Romans.

To better help the members of our study understand Paul's experience in Rome (including Paul's burden to go, the environment does not allow him to go, and finally continuing the trip later), I shared some of my experiences.  I hope it can help everyone better understand Paul's spiritual experience and its significance to us today.

I went to Oregon in January 2016 to attend a prophetic meeting hoping to hear from God about my wife's ten-year infertility problem and to learn how to listen to God's voice. In this special meeting, God told me that not only will I have a child in 2016, but also "Jairus Bible World Ministry" came out of Him.  I was saved in the Local Church Movement.  I never thought of having my own ministry, nor did I ever think of serving the churches in China.  But before this special meeting, I read a book by Chuck Pierce, who is an American prophet.  He talked about Jesus appearing to him in the 1980s, telling him God's plan for China until 2026, and China becoming a very powerful country and having a great spiritual revival that will spread to the whole world, significantly changing China and the world.  One of the keynote speakers of the special meeting that I had attended was Chuck Pierce, and he repeated this story.

One day after coming back home, I was walking the streets of Washington, DC, and I remembered this vision. Suddenly I heard the Holy Spirit asking me, "What is a great revival?" At this point in my spiritual walk, I wasn't used to hearing God's voice clearly, so I was taken aback at His question.  I immediately answered Him in the spirit, "I heard that one-tenth of Chinese people are Christians. Isn't this already a great revival?"  Because I was saved overseas, I never participated in the church services in China.  The teaching I received at the Local Church Movement was mainly to minister to Chinese scholars and students overseas.  I never thought of serving the churches in China and the United States.  The Holy Spirit immediately asked me, "How about two out of ten?"  I was even more surprised.  I quickly counted in the spirit, and I realized there would be 100 million more Chinese that will be saved.  The conversation with the Holy Spirit this time had changed me a lot.  I started to have a burden on China.

God placed a burden for China in my heart, but He hasn't opened the opportunity for me to go yet.  His current path for my life is training. I'm studying for my Doctor of Ministry degree at the United Theological Seminary.  Part of the training was leaving the Local Church Movement and exploring truths from the Charismatic movement, which led me to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit and learn about the various gifts of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has assured me that the burden for China will be fulfilled.  A Korean prophet prophesied that God had set my base of ministry in the United States but would send me all over China to minister.  God would also open the door for ministry in the United States.  Other prophets confirmed this prophetic word.  My experience is similar to Paul's in that God gave the burden, but the circumstances didn't permit the door to be opened right away.  Through the waiting period, Paul wrote the book of Romans.  My waiting period includes finishing my Doctoral degree and other writing projects.  As I've been going through this series of processes, I realized what God's plan was for me.  He is preparing me to help stabilize and strengthen Chinese and American churches someday.

The application of Paul's experience isn't to be limited to me.  I would like to challenge every believer to ask God how He is preparing you for His purposes during this coronavirus pandemic.  One woman felt like God allowed her time to prepare for the CPA exam.  Another woman said that God used these circumstances to draw her deeper into faith for healing a physical illness to prepare her to serve Him better in the future.  The Chinese character or word for crisis has two meanings, crisis, and opportunity. It's important to look at situations like the coronavirus or the riots from God's perspective so that we can take advantage of any opportunities he has for us in the middle of the crisis. One man in our study said that this pandemic has exposed sin in many people.  God is more than willing to give them the opportunity to repent and strengthen their faith through this trial.

At the end of our study, we blessed and prayed for the people in China, the United States, and the world. May God be merciful to them; let them not ignore the grace of God for giving them sun, air, and water. Like Romans 1:20 (NIV) says, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."  God has allowed our circumstances to change pretty dramatically, and people are feeling weak and helpless. 

It's time to turn to God with a repentant heart, surrendering our will to Him and allowing Him to work through us in power.

 

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 19

Bible Study with Jairus- Leviticus 19

There are a lot of details stipulated in the law in Leviticus 19. For example, in verse 19 (NIV), it says, “Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.” How can we understand what this means? Each time we read a portion of scripture, we have a person lead the discussion by sharing some thoughts about the chapter and asking questions that they may have.  Then we all engage in discussion.

 

The question raised by the woman who was leading our Bible Study, was that she often talks to her atheist friends and they argued with her saying that: "The accounts in the Old Testament are really behind the times, you see, the hybrid wheat has saved a lot of people’s lives. But the Bible wrote that you cannot cross two different seeds. It’s really outdated."

 

How can we come to an understanding in this situation?  Imagine if the Lord Jesus was here today and faced with this question.  How would He answer?  Another woman asked the question, “Should we use genetic modification?”  We may not know exactly how the Lord would answer but we do know that when the Pharisees, teachers of the law, elders and chief priests challenged Jesus’ behavior in eating with tax collectors and prostitutes that the same principles can apply.

Based on the principle described in Leviticus 19, let’s take a look. Jesus is a Jew. The Jews should not have dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus is also a man, and a man should not talk with a Samaritan woman, but He had done this. When He did this, not only did his disciples express surprise, but even the Samaritan woman was shocked. She said, “Are you not a Jew? Why did you ask a Samaritan woman for a drink?” This clearly reveals that the Jews didn’t speak with the Samaritans at that time. In addition, the analogy in the parable of the Good Samaritan told by Jesus is also a great breakthrough in the Jewish idea. Perhaps, the person who was attacked by robbers is unclean, and if the Levite and the priest touch Him, they may become unclean, affecting their observance of Sabbath rules and rituals.

 

Why did the Jews think so?  This is the application of the principle. The Jews are God's chosen people, and God does not allow them to intermarry with Gentiles, or mix with the sinners, thereby, tarnishing them. So when Jesus and the tax collectors who are dining together, or the sinful woman kissing His feet there, the teachers of the law, the priests, the elders, and the Pharisees felt that Jesus violated this commandment. But we know that Jesus has His own reason for doing this.

 

Why did the teachers of the law, the priests, the elders, and the Pharisees think that Jesus had violated the rules? Who is in wrong here?  The teachers of the law are doing what they are doing in accordance with the rules of Jehovah in the Old Testament. So in the literal sense, there is nothing wrong with it. Of course, the Lord Jesus is God, and He certainly can't be wrong. But how do we discern the difference between the two?

 

A theological teacher at the United Theological Seminary in the United States tells a new version of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and may help us understand this difference more deeply.

 

This story goes like this. A beggar is asking for food at the intersection. A pastor who’s driving a BMW has comes to the intersection stopping for the red light.  The beggar comes to the car and asks for food. The pastor pretended not to see him. When the light turned green, he drove away. The second person drove up and the beggar again asks for food. This time, it was a Christian mother. She looked around her car and found a chocolate bar for the beggar. Then, when the traffic light was green, she also drove away. The third person to drive through was a homosexual. The beggar asked for food again and the gay man stopped the car. He let the beggar get in his car, took the beggar to a restaurant to eat, and gave the beggar shelter so that he could rest. My teacher then asked us: "So, which one is the good neighbor and which one is the Good Samaritan here?"

 

Obviously, the Good Samaritan in this story is the homosexual. In the United States where the author lives, the issue of homosexuality can be said to be a very controversial issue. Many Christians oppose homosexuality not only because the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin, but more because homosexuality has become a “vocal minority” in the United States. They actively participate in social activities and politics, and thus, largely determine public opinion. Christians, who account for the majority of the population in the United States, are at a disadvantage. The level of hatred by most Christians towards homosexuality is similar to the degree of hatred of the Jews towards the Samaritans during the time of Jesus. If we only use the story of the Samaritans in the Bible times, we may not understand the deeper meaning, because the words "Good Samaritan" are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people today as something to be esteemed. It represents something good but for the Jews at that time, the Samaritans would compare to homosexuality in a Christian nation.  Christians are very uncomfortable with this lifestyle.

 

Why should the Israelites comply with the provisions of the law, whereas, the Lord Jesus doesn’t need to obey/follow them? Where are the limitations of the law? Paul in the New Testament tells us very clearly that the law was our guardian because the Israelites were held in custody under the law when they were still young. If we understand this, we will be enlightened.

 

In other words, it depends on who you are and how deep your spiritual maturity is.  For example,  Jehovah clearly stipulated that the Jews could not marry foreign women.  There was a Jew who married a Gentile woman and God sent a plague against them.  The plague didn’t stop until the Israelites got angry and killed the man and Gentile woman.  Then we have Moses, who married the Cush woman.  Aaron (the brother of Moses) and Miriam (the sister of Moses) harshly criticize and accuse him seemingly defending the law that they believe Moses violated.  Jehovah angrily summoned them and afflicted Miriam with leprosy.

A Christian man in our Bible study suggested that perhaps Moses’ relationship with God was very intimate so that his marriage to a Cush woman would not influence him to turn from God and worship idols.  Joseph also married a Gentile woman.  Perhaps God didn’t have a problem with it based on the nature of their relationship.  The average Israeli however was not like Moses who knew God’s principles.  They are limited to knowing and understanding only the acts of God.  If they mix marriages with the Gentiles, they might be influenced by their idolatrous customs and as a result pulled away from the Lord.  God established this law to protect the Israelites in their childhood keeping them from the influences of the Gentiles who were committing idolatry. The purpose is not to eliminate the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles. If this is the case, why did God say (by the mouth of the prophet) that one day, the Gentiles will have a part in the Kingdom of God?

 

But the Israelites confuse the temporary means with the eternal goal. God does not allow them to intermarry with the Gentiles. The purpose is to temporarily protect them from the attack of the idols, but the Israelites misunderstood and regarded this as God wanting this to be their purpose and ultimate goal.

 

The mistake made by the Israelites is worthy of our careful attention. This error points out a principle that we may continue to make the same mistake today. Will we do what God calls us to do and make it perpetual as God’s eternal goal or God’s continuous calling for us? After God’s call to goes forward or is changed, we are tied up by the lessons from the past.  This leads to our hesitation to move forward. I used to hear people say that one mistake that a denomination or a Christian ministry often makes is to take the work that God has entrusted to us as His central work or His only work. Although it is true that sometimes, the entrustment is given to us by God,  we must not neglect that God has other work to do. There is no doubt that what God has entrusted to us is important but this is not necessarily His central work or only work.

 

When I was at the meeting, I mentioned with our members the story of a charismatic American woman that I’ve heard. This woman has the gift of prophecy and healing.   Many people in the United States are obsessed with pornographic videos. One study shows 70% of the Christians that were interviewed even admitted to watching pornographic videos. In order to help these Americans who were obsessed with pornographic videos, she led a ministry team to some Porn Conference in the United States. They set up their own booths at these conferences through the means of Christian dream interpretation, and using the gifts of the prophets and the gifts of healing to minister to those at this Porn Conference. They prayed and ministered healing to a lot of participants; they also helped a lot of people to get rid of their obsession towards pornography through deliverance ministries. This story is thought-provoking. If we based it in the general principles of law mentioned above, Christians are not allowed to participate in such activities, especially if they cannot overcome their sexual temptation in this kind of conference.

 

Doesn’t it stand to reason that a Christian participating in a porn conference opens themselves to temptation?

 

This Christian woman minister is not tempted by pornography.  She participates in these conferences because of her love for these people and desire to see them set free.  The power of God is with her as she ministers and the results are not bad. 

 

There is one more example. There is an American prophet who has the gift of dream interpretation. He was criticized by some traditional Christians as a person who is possessed by demons because God called him to explain the meaning of tattoos to people with tattoos through prophecies and tattoo interpretation. He said, God told him, "Look for these people who have tattoos. When you talk to them, I’ll tell you their initial thoughts on why they chose a certain tattoo. That way, they will be amazed and they’ll know that God is with you. At the same time, they will be open to you, and you can then preach the gospel to them.

 

Leviticus also explicitly mentioned in this chapter that people are not allowed to have tattoos. This American prophet said that since he had tattoos, originally, some groups in the Bible belt who had invited him to speak, no longer invited him. This prophet argued that Jesus also had a tattoo. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords (New International Version, Revelation 19:16) and God’s name was engraved on the one who is victorious. He also said that Leviticus had also recorded that you shouldn’t eat pork, but many people still eat pork.

 

 Of course, whether his debate is correct or not is not the center of my discussion. The problem is that there are so many people who have tattoos in the United States. God calls this prophet to love them and care for them. Using their tattoos is his way to share God’s love with them.  It is not wrong for him to obey God’s leading and pay the price in doing so, because this becomes a role model for others to minister to the outcasts.

 

So the key here is love. If you love someone, love and mercy should triumph over judgment. It’s true that the law is important, but don't forget that “Christ is the culmination of the law” (Romans 10:4).

 

 It doesn’t mean that we only need love and don’t need the law anymore. That’s not the case.

 

Jesus said that: “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill them. Not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law.” (New International Version, Matthew 5:17-18). The two greatest commandments are: love the Lord, your God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus pointed out to the expert in the law that these two are the greatest commandments in the law. Jesus is the ultimate manifestation of God's love. He came and he turned the sinners into the sons of God, exalted them and let them sit on the throne with Him.

 

He came, and is willing to associate with people of low position and let them feel exalted. Jesus and the Israelites are not the same. The Israeli teachers of the law, elders, priests, and Pharisees treated tax collectors, sinners and the Gentiles that way because it would help them maintain a higher status. Perhaps they could trample these sinners, tax collectors, and Gentiles under their feet in order to exhibit their nobility. But Jesus is different. Jesus is God and a great person. A great person is never shy about sharing his greatness with others because he is great. A person who is not so great will have difficulties in sharing the greatness he has with others because he is not that great.

 

I’ll share a personal experience in order to further discuss about this truth. The Christians who have experience in the Chinese American Church discovered that in a lot of aspects, there’s a difference between a man who comes from mainland China or from Taiwan. One difference that surprised us is that we saw that some Taiwanese brothers don’t need to cook; it’s the wife who’s busy doing all the cooking. I have witnessed such a situation with my own eyes. Of course, for the brothers who are from the mainland, they feel surprised and envious. My wife and I  talked about these things.

 

Chinese men still have that “macho male” persona to a certain extent, but because of the liberation of women in modern China, that macho persona has been suppressed to some extent.  I’ve experienced this in my own marriage and the Lord has helped me continue to die to self and let go of my own ego.  He showed me that I lacked love and the power to love.

 

I went to Oregon to attend a special meeting in 2016. I brought a few books about Hebrew text back. The title of the book is God’s Secrets only Hebrew can reveal and the author is Dr. Danny Ben-Gigi. I didn't read them because I was busy, but my wife looked at them. One day, when we talked about the problem of me lacking the power to love, my wife shared her experience in reading this Hebrew writing. She said: "Did you know how the Hebrews understand the famous prayer written in Numbers, the three stages of priestly blessing?” She then shared the things that inspired her in these Hebrew texts.

 

Numbers 6 NIV

6:24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

6:25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

6:26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

 

The teaching that we received is that the first stage of blessing is the Father’s blessing to you. The second stage is the grace of Lord Jesus Christ has blessed you; Jesus Christ is the human face of God.  The third stage refers to the Holy Spirit.

I later found out this might refer to the different stages of our relationship with God.  I even tried to explain this by using a camera as an example. I often do videography so I got my inspiration from videotaping. You see a person far away from the lens of a camera and only see the outline of a person. It is like the blessing of the first stage; we know God from a far-away distance. Then when you zoom in the lens to a medium shot, you can see the face of this person; in this stage you know God more. But when you zoom in to a close-up, you will see the wrinkles and expressions of the anchor’s face, which is like the blessing of the third stage. In this stage we know God more personally. This is the feeling of continuous progress with God.

However, what my wife learned from this book is that the first stage seems to be a father standing tall who’s laying his hands and praying for his smaller child for blessings and protection; the second stage is like a relationship between husband and wife. We are the bride of Christ so are on the same level. We can see God’s face and His glory; on the third stage, God lifts us up. That Hebrew textbook is accompanied by a picture of a father lifting up his little son. The father lifted up his countenance at his little son, which is the meaning of the lift up mentioned in the book. When God saved us from our sin and even lifts us up over His head, God will turn His face toward us.

 

My wife continued to share that when this book mentioned the word "marry,” is when a Hebrew groom marries his wife, which is what the phrase "turned one’s face" means in Hebrew. The New American Standard Bible and many other versions translate this as “The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.'”

 

The Jews had also a ritual when they get married. They let the groom lift the wife. This shows that God's will is for the husband to love his wife through lifting her up, and not trampling her under foot. With this said, I feel really ashamed sometimes.

 

This level is like the level of the teachers of the law, elders, priests, and Pharisees; they held themselves aloof from politics and material pursuits and were not willing to reveal their real motives on why they didn’t want to be in touch with the Samaritans and the tax collectors. It’s not necessarily because they want to keep the law of God, their true intention maybe out of selfishness.

 

I talked about how male chauvinism is deeply etched in Chinese men earlier.  In my own life taking an equal or humble position in my marriage is like losing face.  That higher sense of self seems very important but can end up trampling my wife.

 

But as a good Samaritan, the Lord exalted the person who was wounded and robbed; He eats with the tax collectors and prostitutes in order to exalt the humble, and lift his children in the heavenly love of the Father, or letting a Christian groom lift his bride up. When God does this, it does not degrade His identity; it shows more of His exceeding greatness.

 

So returning to the theme of our article, which of the two is more in line with the Lord's will and disposition? Is it the Israelites who strictly abide by the law of not mixing two kinds of human seeds (meaning not to be mixed with Gentiles and sinners), or when Jesus came and He lifted up the sinners and the Gentiles?

 

Which of the following reflects more the essence/true meaning of the law? When Jesus exalted the sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and brings salvation to the Gentiles, the Israelites become jealous and envious? Or the examples mentioned before, the woman who is committed to helping those who were addicted to pornographic videos and the prophet who cares about people with tattoos? Let’s repeat it again. Jesus said that loving the Lord, your God and loving your neighbors as yourself are the two greatest commandments in the law.

 

In addition to discussing this issue, another woman asked, “How can we understand Leviticus 19:5-8 (NIV)?”

19:5 When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 

19:6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up.

19:7 ^If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted.

19:8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord; they must be cut off from their people.

Why is it when you eat the flesh of the peace offerings on the third day, it’s profaning the holy thing of the Lord and that person shall be cut off from his people? Is the Lord too cruel here?

 

My answer is that this is about our wrong mentality. We are too concerned about punishment. God's words are from the perspective of love, but because of Adam's sin, we have been entangled in the orphan spirit and are too worried about punishment. Apostle John said: “Perfect love drives out fear, and there is no fear in love.” (New International Version, 1 John 4:18). If we can live in accordance to our love of God, others and ourselves, then there will be no fear. Because we are so afraid, we focus on the punishments imposed on us when we profane sacred objects.  The core message here is God’s desire for us to offer our sacrifices - our love and devotion to Him and for us to spend time having daily fellowship with Him. All of these are our sacrifices to God, and please Him.

 

It’s wrong to think that you can skip your morning prayer and fellowship with God because you attended Bible study the previous evening.  Fellowship and prayer need to be done daily, we can’t store it up for the next day.  God won’t cut us off but He delights in our daily sacrifice of prayer and fellowship which is similar to the peace offerings that were dedicated to God.  They offered food and we offer the sacrifice of praise, prayer and fellowship. God is our spiritual food and the sacrifices we offer him can be likened to our food to Him. The peace offerings were dedicated to God but the priests could also enjoy them.  Jesus is the bread that comes from heaven, and God Himself is our food.  When Abraham and Noah offered sacrifices to the Lord, the aroma pleased Him.  This satisfaction is the joy of the Lord.  You can eat leftovers, but God isn’t as happy with leftovers.  That is why He is saying he doesn’t like your left over foods or yesterday’s love and sacrifice.  He is simply saying, “get up early every day and talk with me, I really love it.  If you don’t do that, I won’t be happy.”  This is God’s way to woo us but not punish us.

 

God created everyone differently, just as every snowflake is unique. Although there are countless people who praise Him, your praise is irreplaceable by others. The unique happiness you bring to God is irreplaceable by others. Imagine a father who has ten sons, nine sons gave him gifts, and one didn’t. This doesn’t mean when his nine sons gave him gifts, he won’t want the gift from his tenth son. The joy that this tenth son brings is something that the other nine sons can never do. So, you can understand now why Jesus can leave the ninety-nine sheep and search for the lost one until he finds it.

We must break free from our fears and our orphan mindset in order to avoid cognitive bias when we look at the Bible from the perspective of God's love. Once we know the love of God perfectly, we will no longer bound by the letter of the law. We can grow up in everything unto the Lordship of Jesus Christ, so we can be His true manifestation on earth. We cannot afford to have today’s Pharisees and we cannot afford to misinterpret the law by missing His love.

 

Bible Study with Jairus - Leviticus 18

Bible Study with Jairus – Leviticus 18

 

Leviticus 18 talks about the 17 situations on the prohibition of fornication that God told Moses about. Have you ever wondered why there are a lot of details listed here?

Some people say that God the Father is a man of few words in the New Testament. He didn’t say much but in the Old Testament, He spoke to Moses about the unlawful sexual relations in detail. Isn’t this a bit overboard in detail?  For example, check out the following references: do not have sexual relations with your mother, your father's wife, sister, son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, father’s sister, mother’s sister, aunt, daughter-in-law, brother’s wife, both a woman and her daughter, with many women of different generations; you could not marry the older sister and younger sister at the same time; homosexuality is not allowed; do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during her monthly period, do not have sexual relations with an animal, do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek. When we counted them, there were about 17 different references.

Let me ask you a question.  Don’t these verses seem somewhat repetitive, wordy or even unnecessary?  We don’t often hear our Father speak in the New Testament.  One preacher said that God had barely talked, yet here, God (our Father) and the Israelites (represented by Moses) engaged in a long-winded discussion about the unlawful cases of sexual relations.  It’s a bit confusing isn’t it?

I realized a few things after reading the Old Testament.  If you don’t get anything spiritually beneficial from what you’ve read, then you might not understand what it’s saying. There are a lot of chapters in the Bible that you may think are very simple but often these are the easiest ones for Christians to ignore.  What I mean is, you may take the words in their most basic sense but you don’t fully understand the deeper spiritual meaning. When you think about it, this is really the case. You know that the Bible is inspired by the revelation from the Holy Spirit, and John 21:25 NIV said, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them was written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written”. According to this principle, all that is written in the Bible whether the Old Testament or the New Testament can be said to have no-nonsense writing and everything written was on point.

The second thing I realized is that if you’re done reading a chapter of the Bible and it did not give you any inspiration for your present life or give you answers to the problems that you are currently facing; it   might be that you have’nt understood or fully grasped the spiritual meaning contained in this part of the Bible.

Third, if you’re done reading a chapter of the Bible and you have not experienced God's love in a deeper way this is also an indicator that you have missed the deeper and spiritual meaning of this chapter.

For example, after reading this chapter, what kind of inspiration will a person  get in order to be counted as understanding the deeper meaning? The Bible is inexhaustible. Everywhere you go, the Holy Spirit gives spiritual illumination, so there is not just one conclusion. The key is that the Holy Spirit speaks to you through the Bible and illuminates scripture to you. In addition, the deeper we understand the passage, the more real God’s love will be to us.

We have already read this week's readings and have specific experiences on these two points that we will share here. Not only this week but in previous times as well, every time we read the Bible, the Holy Spirit gives us fresh illumination. It also helps us understand the exhaustive and profound meaning of the Bible. In addition to this, it moved us, helped us to know more about God's love, ourselves, God’s calling and His glorious expectation of us, and the enemy's tricks. It helps us triumph over the spiritual and practical difficulties we face in our lives today. I also mentioned this point specifically in our meeting. I will talk about this in further detail later.

First, let’s discuss how this chapter will help us feel God's love in a more tangible way.

One man said that the first impression he had after seeing these 17 points was the difference between the civil law and the common law. The civil law is a general principle and it does not necessarily have many details. But in the common law, all cases are clearly written and are clearly laid out. The 17 specific rules here are more like common law. Each case was laid out one by one.  A lady in our study mentioned that the United States has many laws but behind every single law is a mountain of detail which could drive a person crazy.  Each detail of the law could be an case in itself.

To help you understand what we mean, we will give a few examples. One example is I grew up in a rural area and I’ve heard my family tell a story about a young man named Xiao Zhang (pronounced: SEE-yo Jong) in our village. He was my classmate during elementary school. I heard people say that his father committed incest and thus, he had become very angry. Another childhood friend told me how he got angry and crazy. This friend further told me that Xiao Zhang often wields a knife and doesn’t pay for his bus ticket. Others asked him to buy a ticket but instead of buying one, he said, "You’re playing with fire aren’t you?" which is in line with the Chinese proverb saying someone who doesn’t think of the consequences of his/her actions. This person may not want to live anymore, therefore, nobody dares to offend or mess with him. After some time, I heard from my family that Xiao Zhang died on the street on a snowy day. What kind of pain was Xiao Zhang in? For example, he may have thought of killing his father. However, although his father had committed incest, he loves his son. His son had been well-treated by his father since childhood. If he killed his father, it would be going against his morals and conscience. How much pain did these things bring to his inner heart?

The New Testament tells us that there is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (NIV, Ephesians 4:6). Jesus also mentioned that“Not one of the sparrows will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.” (NIV, Matthew 10:29).In layman’s terms, God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. God surely knows Xiao Zhang’s pain.

Another reason why we may have a hard time understanding the Bible when reading it is that we are looking at it from the wrong angle. We often look at it  as though God is a judge and punisher.  . We may feel like a criminal who attempts to commit crimes but is afraid of being caught, or we may feel that it’s like the relationship between a mouse and a cat. We are too heavily influenced by the law and the concept of right and wrong. We often think that God has made these rules in order to restrain us from doing certain things. But if you change the way you think and put yourself in other’s shoes and view  God as a loving Father, which means what He said and do is all because He wants to care and help people, then it will be easier for us to understand the Bible because the Bible is God’s love letter. If you don't understand God's love, then you’ll have a hard time understanding this letter.

 

God's main goal is not to keep a close eye on you, but rather, to care for others. Before the Lord talked about these 17 cases, Leviticus 18:5 NIV said, "Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them, will live by them. I am the Lord.”We’ll be able “to live” by obeying the laws and rules set by God.

Using the example I mentioned earlier, Xiao Zhang’s father violated the law here. But it seemed that he did not receive any punishment. He is still alive, but his son died. Many people don't understand this. They often say, "God does not exist or is unfair. Why didn’t God strike the evil man with lightning and kill him for hurting me?   ?" Those who say things like this do not understand God. God loves you, so when you are hurt, God feels anger and pain because of His love for us. Thus, He doesn’t allow us to do bad things. God also loves the bad guy and He wants him to have life, so laws were also put into effect to keep us from doing such bad things. The Bible says, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” (NIV, Ezekiel 18:23).

For thousands of years, human beings were guilty of committing incest. How many instances are there total? We know that there were rumors that the legendary Emperor Gaozong of Tang（https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozong_of_Tang） and Su Shi（https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Shi） had committed incest. We often take the side of the perpetrator and ignore the victim's side. How many people were in pain because of this sin? We know that the Old Testament has repeatedly mentioned that the complaints or sins of the Israelites have reached the Lord, and the Lord has heard them. The Lord also heard the crimes of people during the time of Noah.

There is a place you could call the Courts of Heaven. The Lord is the judge, Satan is the accuser and Lord Jesus is the defender. But, what’s the use of the defender when there is no court? When the crimes of people have been passed and laid out to the Courts of Heaven, there may be a lot. Perhaps in terms of morals and ethics, people’s sins are too numerous to count. For a moment, I need you to open up your imagination in the spirit. Imagine the crimes committed by people in this area which are laid out to the Courts of Heaven. It may be countless. But perhaps after God had taken this into consideration, the cases or crimes in these 17 situations are the biggest, so He has especially written them down. In other words, the 17 rules here are probably the most notorious cases. And behind every case, there’s countless blood, sweat, and tears. Not only does Jesus often weep on earth but He also weeps in heaven. The Bible says that God will wipe every tear from their eyes, but it does not say that Jesus will not shed tears in heaven. On the contrary, many people who have the gift of prophecy have seen that Jesus still sheds tears for people’s sins and for people who refuse to repent.

Heavenly Father loves us so much. Every person, whether he is hurtful to others or he is the victim, is made by God. He loves them. Every time there’s a criminal case, it is like the mother mentioned in the Bible. One of her sons kills his brother; which makes her suffer. Every time you commit a crime, the pain that God feels will be doubled. He is deeply distressed for the victims and he’s also saddened by the perpetrators. As a result, many people complain that God is unfair and He seems to be inactive. Actually, you don’t know how difficult this is and how long-suffering God is in His love.  In Jesus Christ, God offered salvation to both victims and perpretrators.

I told another story during our meeting. One person prayed, asking God to let him feel what He feels even if it’s only for a day. He prayed very fervently. One day God answered his prayers, allowing him to have the supernatural gift of prophecy which enables him to know what God knows. On this day, he arrived in a parking lot and saw a woman, and immediately saw in the spirit how the woman’s father raped her and how much pain she was in. He was overcome and felt every heart-wrenching pain that the woman was feeling. It was so painful that he couldn’t stand it any longer. He quickly prayed to God to remove this gift. He didn’t want it anymore. He couldn’t bear this gift.

After I told this story, a lady sighed and said “It seems like only God and Lord Jesus can identify with the pain of others.” We can't sense or deeply feel the suffering of others.  We are God’s children and the body of Christ so God feels our pain just as we feel the stab of a thorn in our fingertip.  Another sister also sighed saying, “It seems that God has a very strong heart." Yes, unlike humans, God is not only love but powerful enough to handle our pain.  Many times, we don't understand why God  makes certain laws or regulations, mainly because we don’t have God's divine love and we don’t feel the pain that God is feeling.

After I believed in the Lord, I gradually experienced God’s love. This experience reminds me that I used to intentionally or unintentionally hurt people.  In the past, when I was a sinner, I was indifferent, even to the point of being complacent of the fact that I had taken advantage of other people. But I repented of my sins, especially after receiving the love of the Lord. Thinking about it now, I feel terribly ashamed. The reason why people sin is mainly that they do not know or understand God's love. Once a person knows and experiences God's love, will he or she still intentionally sin? No, this person will do their best to avoid sin.  As Christians, if we can’t help others or overcome our own weaknesses, there is a good chance we don’t understand God’s love.

Going back to my unfinished thought from earlier, this is what I have to say now. I mentioned in the meeting that the secret of a Christian's victory or the secret to winning battles is not to fight, nor to be spiritual warfare advocates who are always on the search for spiritual enemies. A victorious Christian is someone who really knows God, who wants to know more about God and His original calling and His glorious expectation towards us, that is, what we truly are in Christ. The more you know who God is and the more you know who you are to God, the more you can overcome sin and the enemy's attacks. Your authority over the enemy is not how high your voice is, but how much you know about God and how much you know about your worth to God. It increases your understanding and you will naturally overcome the enemy's deception and attacks.

This understanding should be applied when reading the Bible. Every chapter of the Bible should be read for this purpose – it should allow us to know God better and to know our worth to God and Christ. Every time we lead the Bible study, we should help our brothers and sisters to improve in these two aspects. Of course, there is a third aspect, which helps us to see through more of the schemes of the enemy. We will talk about this next. After reading a chapter of the Bible, many of us have the feeling that it fails to get to the heart of a matter. Why is that so? Mainly because we are only understanding the words in their literal sense; without the help of the Holy Spirit, you’ll not be able to get the deeper meaning behind these words. The Holy Spirit has come as our helper, but the extent of His help is the same as the gift of prophecies. It varies according to the degree of your faith. The more confidence you have in the Holy Spirit, the more you will rely on him to help you. God is not biased.

 

We’re almost at the end but to recap, we have just discussed an example of a case of incest and gaining a better understanding of God’s love and pain. We don't have time to analyze each situation one by one, but I hope you have understood this subject better. Let's talk about another aspect. Every time we read the Bible, it should help us understand the enemy's tricks and schemes in order for us to have a greater chance of defeating him.

Many times, Christians don't need evil spirits to personally attack them. As long as the evil spirits arouse the fleshy desire of the brothers and sisters, they will stir you up to fight with each other. The evil spirits and Satan don't need to show up at all. But if Christians can recognize the evil spirits behind them, will they still be easily fooled? Of course not. Although God made us a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5), we were appointed by God to judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). The basic principle of the Bible is that God never calls us to do something and He’ll not personally equip us with the ability to accomplish it.

In addition to revealing God Himself and explaining how we communicate with God, the theme of the Bible is to reveal the workings and tactics of Satan, the enemy, and the evil spirits. These three are the basic pillars of the Bible. God, Himself is the center, but how we communicate with Him is also important how the enemy works and how we deal with them is also important.

These 17 points can also offer an explanation of God and his 17 ways of the dealing with the workings of the evil spirits in this area. When I learned deliverance in a Charismatic church, I learned this truth:  the enemy often gets a foothold through your sin or weakness and then takes root in you. A teacher named Rodney Houge, who is good at deliverance and who has a background of being in an American Baptist Church, gave a good example. The teacher said that the mountain climber has a basic tool called Piton. What is a Piton and how does it work? When climbing there are often rocky places where the footing is not good, but there are many cracks. Once the Piton is hammered into a crack it will expand. With this expanding force, you can hold on to rocks and let the climbers hang ropes as they climb. The teacher explained that evil spirits also work that way. Once you’ve committed a sinful act, the evil spirit will immediately be on the fly or piton’s radar, and then it stays and lives in your house, which will bring you a lot of trouble later. If you know that the sinful act  is a foothold for evil spirits, you will consider the consequences of not committing sins. But many people are ignorant about this, so they’ve continued to commit sins. The key to deliverance is to let this person repent of the sin that he/she has done and remove the legal means of which the evil spirits have entered in order to cast out the demons.

For example, we talked about the sin of fornication committed by David. This is not just David's weakness, but when his great grandmother Rahab was a prostitute, she gave opportunities to the evil spirits. This evil spirit is very powerful. Although Boaz, the son of Rahab, is a pious person and he prevails over fornication, this generational trait has become one of the roots of David's weakness.

We often cannot see the work of evil spirits in the spiritual realm, but God knows everything because He has specifically given us these rules for our own good. He doesn’t want us to be fooled by the enem. Of course, it will be more beneficial to obey God's word even if we are not aware of the work of evil spirits around us.  However, in terms of actual experience, it is important to be aware of how evil spirits work, which in turn will help us apply God’s word to the situation and subvert the tricks and schemes of the enemy.   

In this way, when we read the Bible, we will not only have more understanding about God's love, but we’ll also understand more about our calling to God and His glory and the enemy's tricks. We’ll be able to receive these practical benefits every time we read the bible. We can also help our brothers and sisters to advance in the kingdom. May the Lord bless you. May the Lord also bless more brothers and sisters who lead others to read the Bible, and know more about these three things in the spirit.