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Heavenly Horticulture
I suppose that everyone over 35
years old remembers the Apollo 11 moon landing mission of July 1969.
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon for the
first time in history while Michael Collins circled above in the command module.
Television anchormen were using the word "glorious" with every
breath. Walter Cronkite, the
hyper-evolutionist went even further when he uttered those profound words,
"This is the greatest day since man crept out of the ooze!"
No kidding, he really said that on national T.V.
But he was excited because it was indeed a spectacular event.
I still marvel at the fact that man has actually walked on the surface of
the moon repeatedly and returned to
tell about it. It was indeed a
"glorious" day for mankind generally, for the American space program
and for the United States as a nation. Many civilizations in history
have experienced periods that must be described as glorious.
We marvel at the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Especially popular in this age of fascination with the esoteric and
mysterious are the pyramids of Egypt.
There are also individual achievements that we would classify as
"glorious". There are men
with minds that rival computers, perhaps even outsmarting them on occasion. There are men with physical abilities that make us stand in
awe as they do feats of strength and endurance that shatter records time and
time again. Yes, men have reached glorious
heights, and they are reaching ever higher in every field as time winds down
towards the end. Just how glorious it will be only God knows.
But at the end of the day, all of man's achievements have a very serious
problem to face, they all have one thing in common ... they are temporal! they
are not able to overcome the element of time.
The Bible puts it this way in I Peter 1:24; (alluding to Isaiah 40:6-8)
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: It is important to see this
statement in context, and to notice that it represents the temporary nature of
everything earthly and that it is placed between two verses that declare the
eternal nature of the Word of God. Digging deeper, we will find that Peter goes
beyond a comparison between mankind as lost earthlings and Jesus as the Son of
God from above. He wants us to also
recognize the internal change that takes place when one is born again. ...
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever. There is another contrast
between verse 23 and 25 that is extremely important, and which is not always
evident to the student limited to the English Bible.
If you consult Strong's Greek dictionary (at the back of his exhaustive
concordance), you will find that two different Greek words are translated with a
single English word. In verse 23,
"word" in Greek is LOGOS, Strong's #3056, and in 25 it is Rhema (bis),
Strong's #4487. LOGOS is
usually understood as "the idea or concept of something as it is in its
completeness". Perhaps we
could say it is the "matter itself", regardless what the subject is,
while RHEMA is usually understood as some spoken segment of that same
"matter" or "subject" i.e.
"an utterance". In a general way we could say that RHEMA is the
LOGOS in its spoken form. To illustrate LOGOS: In John 1:1 the Word
(LOGOS) was in the beginning, the LOGOS was with God
and the (LOGOS) was God. John
1:14 explains what this means when "The word (LOGOS) became
flesh and tabernacled among us."
So that the LOGOS here is Jesus in the totality of His being. It
is Jesus as the pre-existing One. It
is Jesus “The Word” being revealed as all that God has ever said, is
saying, and ever will say! Glory
to His matchless name! In John
6:63, however, our Lord is speaking and he says "It is the Spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words (RHEMA) that
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
Here, the verbal expression of the words of life spoken by Jesus may be
described as the "Substance of the LOGOS as it is being spoken in a RHEMA."
Jesus very words ARE Spirit, and they ARE
life. This helps us understand what
Peter wants us to know. Back to I Peter 1:23.
We are born again (lit. born from above), not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the LOGOS of God, which is personified in Jesus. Now we
go on to verse 24 where a similitude is used to demonstrate the fragile reality
of human life on earth. The Prophet
Isaiah boldly declares in chapter 2, and verse 22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is
he to be accounted of? This
agrees with the Apostle Peter's view. Man,
like the flower of the field, regardless of his relative glory, is temporary and
earthly, only delayed from falling to the ground by the next breath he takes, and
even that breath comes from God. Man
is biodegradable, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
He has no hope of leaving earth except by a Spiritual Rebirth. Now we are ready for I Peter
1:25 which says; But the RHEMA of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the
RHEMA which by the gospel is preached unto you.
If you miss this, you miss it all. Please
notice that the RHEMA also endures forever.
It is the utterance of the Spirit. It
is the Word that quickeneth and gives life. It is the RHEMA, which by the
Gospel, is preached unto you. Those
who preach the true Gospel may be rightly said to be doing exactly what Jesus
did in John 6:63, by the Gospel they are offering eternal life to those who have
an ear to hear. Who can fathom such grace and
love, that God would allow us to be a part of His glorious plan of redemption: For
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Cor. 4:5-7)
Who can comprehend that by God's gift of the Holy Spirit, sent by the
Father and the Son at Pentecost, every true Christian has beating within his
breast the necessary Word for a lost and dying world, a Word that is able, by
the power of that same Spirit of God, to make the miserable sinner into a new
creature in Christ Jesus? Jesus said: And now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. (John 17:5). And He inspired Paul to write in Rom 8:30 Moreover whom
he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also
justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Glorified? Yes, Glorified!
Now some folks take this as a present possession, and some as a future
certainty. But all who believe Gods Word acknowledge that it is something
wholly different than any glory originating from earth.
This glorification comes only from God, and only for those described in
the beginning of the verse. Those
alone whom He has predestinated, called and justified! Finally my friend be aware that
you may accept honor when it is due you. You
may even boast about your achievements in the Lord with a humble spirit, giving
the glory to God. But above all and foremost, you must remember that Eternal
Word of the Gospel that has been entrusted to you, that you share it without
shame, snatching sinners form the fire, making the Devil mad as ... the lake of
fire ... and giving the Angels in Heaven cause to rejoice because another soul
is saved, and another soul winner is crowned. Only one life will soon be past; Hayden |