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The Aramaic Bible Web Log is a forum for discussing the origins of the Bible and the value of translating the Scriptures from the Ancient Aramaic Texts of the Ancient Church of the East directly into English. I believe that the Ancient Aramaic language is the true scribal language of Scriptures.
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The Temple Of God
For we know that our earthly dwelling place in this body may be unraveled, except we have a building from God -- a house not built by hands -- in heaven forever.
http://www.v-a.com/bible/letters/1corinthians.html
I have attached a link to Vic Alexander’s translation of 1st Corinthians, as much of what I am bound to reveal here is found in these scriptures. I say bound because when I get certain revelations I am compelled to share them by unction of the Holy Spirit. I am assured from experience that when I get that prompting and clear mandate, that I only see a very little of what will be revealed, and it is like pursuing a seam of gold in that I think that perhaps I learn more than anyone, and this is my reward for being obedient.
Many years ago, I was indoctrinated into the Word of Faith movement. A substantial part of this was the promotion of the “no condemnation” message, yet the preachers and proclaimers would just as quickly tell you that you were under a curse if you did not tithe. I have come to understand, as a part of the process my being set free from the insidious curse of religious tradition, that tithing is nothing more than an institutionalised protection racket, and that those who promote it are seemingly tools of the God Father, rather than the Father God. It sometimes suits us to overlook such things because we still desire the sweet meats of their pretty preaching and hope to somehow gain thereby, but you cannot eat the leavened loaf and separate out the leavening – IT CANNOT BE DONE! You will become, or you will remain, as one leavened.
“Oh, but brother, I learned so much more from them that you would know.”
Yes, but for every “truth” you or I learned, we accumulated and accommodated a pack of lies. If all you desire is to be wooed by winning words and taken in by having your ears tickled, to be pampered by pillow prophets who promise prosperity and peace, to be impressed by anointing wielding magicians and their Pentecostal parlour tricks, then this is not for you. If, however, you want to understand how it is that God can and does harden the hearts of the Pharaohs of Egypt (the Leaders of the World System) and the Pharisees (the Leaders of the Babble-on “Bible-based” Culture) and to understand how it is that God has committed EVERYONE to disobedience so that He may have mercy on ALL, then read on!
There comes a time that you have to grow up and forsake the ways of childhood. I think about how at various times in my life when I have been developing in a profoundly spiritual way, but almost invariably I have been waylaid and found myself in yet another fish experience. I think about the washed up lives of former promise that bought into the lies of their traditions and my heart cries “enough!”
The way of the Pharisee is to burden and limit, to shackle the unwary by the Law and to keep them powering the system – they promise you power and influence and favour, but the truth is that it is only within the auspices of their Old Ways. Don’t forget for an instant that the Jewish people, as an ethnicity, have become the most financially and politically powerful people on earth by the Old Covenant, and they have managed by the inculcation of selective theology to burden the bulk of the so-called New Testament believers into accepting a Judaized gospel of works and Law, putting them on the treadmill of the Protestant Work Ethic that waters the world’s fields. (My thanks to my friend, ‘Archbishop’ Bellaard for the wisdom God willed to him on this wise.)
Paul strenuously warned against this and Jesus implored that we should beware the leavening of the Pharisees. Hypocrisy is more than just saying one thing and doing another, it is the denying or contradicting of Christ. It is the accepting of and agreeing with what He says but then doing something which is in opposition to or denial of the Truth – it is living a lie in contradiction and detriment to the Truth. For example, one may extol the virtues of the freedom of the Spirit and of there being no condemnation for those in Christ, and then turn right around and hold others in bondage to condemnation and accountable for their sin. This is the very nature of religious hypocrisy, and it is a stench in the nostrils of Jesus; He who died once for ALL, not just those of whom you, me or we approve.
Everything on this earth is a shadow or reflection of the reality which is in Christ. What we call “Israel” (the nation) is a shadow of the real Israel of the Spirit, so too with Jerusalem and with our earthly body. There is much to say in 1 Corinthians 15 about the earthly body being sown in corruption and raised in incorruption, and the relationship of the Last Adam to the First Adam. Much of the truth of this is lost if one does not understand that the Last Adam, which is a life giving Spirit, was active and operating in man from the beginning. If you do not believe me, simply go back over your Old Testament and do a search of who is recorded as having been filled with the Spirit. It is an eye-opener. And of course we have 1 Peter 1:11 telling us that it was the Spirit of Christ “in them” which was working in and through the prophets to bring itself to Manifestation. I do not seek to diminish the relevance of the cross, as this was the watershed event which made the reconciliation of Man to God available to all who would believe.
You were created in Christ before time began – you always were. Before you got “Old” you were “New” and then afterward you were renewed and restored to your original estate of righteousness. The First Adam cost you your righteousness, the Last Adam restored it. For if in (the first) Adam all died, so in Christ, all shall live. Death entered by one, and by The One, death was swallowed up in victory. But you were always anchored in Christ! Ask Him to show you how we are attached to the vine. This too is why I can sense or feel the antipathy of those I anger with my words, so before you go to calling fire down from heaven, remember what Spirit you are of and instead love and join with in praying that the will of the Father is done in all our lives, as in heaven, so on earth.
Now here is the central truth of this particular message – that which I am charged to convey. By now the people who are not ready for it will have signed off and hit the delete button – there may be some who are hanging in just to see what I will say next, to see if I hang myself, but I can live with that, as long as you eventually weigh what I say by the Spirit and not by your own understanding.
Part of my indoctrination concerned the human body as being the Temple of God, and that if we messed with it, that God would obliterate us. I always knew that there was something missing from my/our understanding of this and that also the message of 1 Corinthians 6 and the connecting of the temple to a harlot were allegorical of the condition of both the then Corinthian and also the modern westernised (Greek-type) church.
Whether connection with a prostitute is figurative or literal, it forbids or prevents the glorification of God in the soul and body, which are the Lords. For you were bought with tears of blood, therefore, glorify God with your body and soul, these that are of God. We glorify God by putting on Christ – our (true) life is not our own, it has been purchased for us on our behalf. Therein is the core issue of identification, whether we identify with the life that is not our own, that has been provided for us by the Faith of God in Christ, or whether we cling to the old life – he who keeps his life will lose it, he who lays it down for My sake will find it.
“Except we have a building from God -- a house not built by hands -- in heaven forever.” You are no longer your own, a New Life has been bought for you with a price, and His Life, His righteousness, has been IMPUTED (credited) to you, therefore glorify God in YOUR BODY AND SOUL which is THE LORDS. You are now part of the BODY OF CHRIST, you are no longer your own. Get it? It becomes you by acceptance, in that you have been accepted in the beloved, so in accepting that, you become as being holy and acceptable, and you can accept others, but if you do not rightly comprehend your acceptance by grace then you (or I) will marginalise others and make their acceptability conditional on their works. “God freely accepts you, but don’t forget to tithe, otherwise you will be cursed!” Now do you see how unacceptably stupid that is? His favour is according to grace, and the more you accept others, the more you will FIND favour and it will seek you out, as your eyes will be opened to it.
16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17. And whoever shatters God's temple, God will shatter them. For holy is God's temple that is you.
18. Let no human being deceive themselves. Whoever among you hopes to be wise in this world, they must become a fool in order to be wise.
19. For the wisdom of this world is dumb according to (with) God. (To Him it has no voice, cognisance or relevance) For it is written in Scriptures,
"He traps them in their own point of view." (Compare Romans 11:32)
20. And again, the Lord knows their pretensions, that they are wise in [the knowledge] of the trivial.
21. Because of this let no human being exult in themselves, for everything is of your own,
22. Whether Paul or Apollo or Keepa [Peter] or the world, or life everlasting or Death, and whether they arise or are destined -- everything is yours.
23. Yet, you belong to Christ, and Christ is God.
The point is that it is not your earth body per se which is the eternal temple of God, though it is after a temporal fashion. There is a body which comes from the earth and there is a heavenly body, and they co-exist. It is the separating of the two which is so vital to the process of the transformation of our vision from being earthly, sensual and devilish, to being heavenly. The heavenly body (Christ) must consume or swallow up the earthly body, this corruption puts on incorruption, which happens when we put on Christ and walk in the Power of the resurrection, which is Christ, which is the kingdom of God. The earthly body is simply the vehicle for transporting the heavenly body while in the earth, and it will return to the dust from whence it came.
To better explain – simply turn around the statement “Do you not know that you are the temple of God” to “Do you not know that the temple of God is you”.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Don’t you know that YOU MUST BE BORN FROM ABOVE!”
Don’t you know that YOU ARE THE TEMPLE (dwelling place) OF GOD, and that THE TEMPLE OF GOD IS YOU! When the light comes on, when we are RECONNECTED with the POWER SOURCE of ETERNAL TRUTH, we become “SAVED” FROM THE POWER OF SIN! When we prefer the darkness, we become cut off and we “lose” our salvation experience, though our true identity remains sacrosanct.
The key to being freed from the enforced condemnation of the misapprehension and misappropriation of 1 Corinthians 3 is in the very text itself.
1. And I, brethren, do not find it advisable that we should converse as spirits, except as people in the flesh and as children in Christ.
2. You were given milk to drink, and you were not given food to eat. For neither were you ready then, nor are you now.
3. For you are still in the flesh, wherefore there is strife, destructive practices and divisions among you, are you not bodies walking in the flesh?
4. For why is it that some of you say to the other, "I am Paul's," and another says, "I am Apollo’s," are you not in the flesh?
(Earthly affiliations and affections are often anti-Christ)
5. For who is Paul, or who is Apollo, except servants through whose hands you have believed, and every human being as the Lord has given them the ministry?
6. I plant and Apollo irrigates, except it is God who nurtures.
7. Thus, neither that which is planted amounts to anything, nor that which is irrigated, except that which God nurtures.
8. However, the one who plants and the one who irrigates are one, and a human being receives compensation according to his (His?) rate.
9. For we are working with God, and you are God's labor and His laborers: (We are His workmanship, created in Christ)
10. And according to the grace of God, given to me, I consecrated a foundation like a wise architect, upon which others would build. Every human being then should see where upon to build.
11. For no other foundation can be derived from that which is already set, no human being can erect it, that which is [already set by] Jesus Christ.
(Lit Aramaic idiomatic construction retained: Christianity's foundation is a spiritual edifice.)
12. And if a human being builds upon this foundation in gold, silver or precious stones, or wood, brick or bamboo,
13. Every human being's deeds shall be revealed. (Judged) For daylight shall reveal it, because by the fire it will be revealed, (Whose enemies He will destroy by the brightness of His appearing) and the deeds of each human being shall be separated by the fire.
14. And the one whose deeds remain shall receive his wages (Just recompense of reward).
15. And the one whose deeds burn off, shall lose out. They (the deeds or wicked workings) shall be consumed like the fire itself.
16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17. And whoever shatters (works against) God's temple, God will shatter (work against) them. For holy is God's temple that is you.
Again I draw your attention to 2 Timothy 2:11-13 – in that God works against us, He shatters us and our pretensions, by continuing to SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE! For, HE CANNOT DENY HIMSELF, and if YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, then how can, or why would He destroy His own temple?
If you deny ME before men, I will deny you before God – Jesus, as the High Priest of your confession, is not going to say or agree with what you say in contradiction to Him and to the will of the Father. You are looking for a breakthrough? Can you see why you are not getting it already? Do you see why you are bound by your own words, by your own sin, instead of being freed by the Truth? Because you are not speaking the TRUTH IN LOVE! You are TRAPPED IN YOUR OWN POINT OF VIEW – your own perspective – your own judgment! No matter how pretty or horrific your prison is, IT IS STILL A PRISON. You are captured by your own pretensions, and in order to walk in the Spirit, you must forsake the flesh and all its judgments.
We are HIS WORKMANSIP, He will not destroy His own handy work, but He will destroy your works. The works of faith/righteousness are what we do, having already seen the Father first do them – it is what we do in obedience to the head and in conformity to the foundation – it is how we show our faith by our corresponding works. We respond to Him as His co-labourers – we collaborate with Him.
There is only ONE FOUNDATION given whereby men may build. This foundation is deep within you, it is your Christ Consciousness – it is the very foundation stone, and the chief cornerstone of your existence. But we have this contradiction of construction called antichrist, which the Lord shall destroy by the brightness of His appearing. He will cast out all that offends from His kingdom, for He is not only the foundation but He is also the HEAD (source and determinator) of ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER, both in this world and that which is to come, both in the present Good and Evil, Old Testament paradigm, which is the kingdom of darkness, and in the Kingdom of Light. The veil of the flesh, which is the human consciousness, bars us from the kingdom as long as we prefer and promote it – you cannot enter in while still bound to and carrying your burden of judgment, but the veil has been rent in two. It is we who deny it by choosing the darkness lest we turn and face the light.
We are so used to being ourselves that we are not really aware of it anymore. Such should it be when we put on Christ – which is our True identity. We become whatever we focus upon; we are conformed to the image(s) we behold. What fellowship has light with darkness, and a believer with an unbeliever? As we are developed in our growth as the Mustard Trees of the Lord, we become a host of His community – we can support more and more of what God is doing through us. If we are still journeymen on a journey, then are we not prodigal and still in search of the Truth? If we are planted by rivers of Living Water which flow from beneath the throne of God, then we are at rest within ourselves as to our purpose and our election. He who is at rest looks out from the throne, he sees from the perspective the Truth and not from his own darkened perspective – He sees through God’s eyes and he shall speak, as it were, the Oracles of God.
So now do you see that YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, and that THE TEMPLE OF GOD IS YOU! He builds His own temple, which is the resurrection Life of Christ while Man still labours in futility to build a home of stone as a supposedly free mason, which is but the prison of his own disobedience. We may labour and beaver to build a life which is failing and fading, a home which will eventually return to the dust from which it came, while He diligently and purposefully fashions a house in the heavens, not made with hands, so that where He is, we nay be also, and that He and His Father may come to dwell with(in) us. Hallelujah!
Broad is the way that leads to the destruction of all human pretensions and presumptions, of all futile labouring, and many there are that ENTER IN BY IT, but narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be which find it. They still get to enter in, but it is by the destruction of the flesh and whatever is sown in the flesh is reaped in the flesh, whereas they who serve their God in all diligence will have eternal rewards that we know not of, nor should we seek them as they are assured already if we are willing and obedient. It is not about seeking blessing or favour, that which is already ours in Christ if we but knew it, it is rather about seeking to be obedient to Love, the higher and more perfect Way.
We do not have to negotiate with God over the pay scale, the dental and medical, or get tetchy when we see someone come in at the end of the day and be treated as if they have worked just as long and diligently as we. There is the commonality of reward which is to all, and that is redemption, for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their sins to them; but there is also the glory that is accumulated, the treasures laid up in heaven for those who become co-workers, ambassadors for God – but we do not do it for the reward – the blessing of touching the lives of others with the gospel of the kingdom is reward enough.
And I heard a great voice from heaven, saying,
"Behold, the home of God ... with human beings,
And his dwelling ... with them!
They shall be his people ... and The God with them,
Shall be their God.
4. "And he shall wipe every tear ... from their eyes,
And death will no longer exist ... no mourning or crying.
And there will no longer be ... any wounds,
For the first [order of things] ... will have passed."
Your friend in Christ, Ian.
posted at: 19:20 | path: | permanent link to this entry
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