Reading Quotes: Jesus Begins to Reveal Himself
The rules and regulations, rites and rituals of their religion blinded them to what God was doing.
The voice of God declared, "This is My beloved Son (Ps. 2:7), in Whom I am well-pleased." God is well-pleased only when His own Being and character are actively expressed, and "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6).
In response to the temptation to presume on God's power to achieve success, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God," indicating that presuming on God is not trusting in God.
Jesus supernaturally make wine out of water. In this, His first miracle, He confronts and exposes Jewish religion. He took the old clay water-pots of legalistic cleansing and purification in the Jewish religion, and puts into them the celebratory "bubbly" wine that represents the dynamic, living and active life of God in Himself. The symbolism is that the new covenant wine of His own life, full of joy and blessing, replaces the old dirty water of the purification vats of religion. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (II Cor. 4:7), writes Paul. The wine provided is superior to that which was before, and is provided in abundance (John 10:10). John calls this "the beginning of Jesus' signs," or actions which signify spiritual realities.
Religion is always concerned with authority structures and supernatural attestation, desiring sensational demonstrations rather than waiting for God to work out His activity in His way.
Jesus' perspective of the "kingdom" is a confrontation to all religious concepts of the "kingdom" involving physicality, geographical location and place, a material capital, throne, temple and tangible sacrifices, organizational structure, and the extent and duration of space/time measurement. The kingdom of God brought into being in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with such, contrary to all religious thinking down through the centuries.
Revelation is caught, not taught! As no man has ascended into heaven to figure out spiritual realities, they can only be revealed by the One who as descended from heaven, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
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The voice of God declared, "This is My beloved Son (Ps. 2:7), in Whom I am well-pleased." God is well-pleased only when His own Being and character are actively expressed, and "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6).
------------
In response to the temptation to presume on God's power to achieve success, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God," indicating that presuming on God is not trusting in God.
------------
Jesus supernaturally make wine out of water. In this, His first miracle, He confronts and exposes Jewish religion. He took the old clay water-pots of legalistic cleansing and purification in the Jewish religion, and puts into them the celebratory "bubbly" wine that represents the dynamic, living and active life of God in Himself. The symbolism is that the new covenant wine of His own life, full of joy and blessing, replaces the old dirty water of the purification vats of religion. "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (II Cor. 4:7), writes Paul. The wine provided is superior to that which was before, and is provided in abundance (John 10:10). John calls this "the beginning of Jesus' signs," or actions which signify spiritual realities.
------------
Religion is always concerned with authority structures and supernatural attestation, desiring sensational demonstrations rather than waiting for God to work out His activity in His way.
------------
Jesus' perspective of the "kingdom" is a confrontation to all religious concepts of the "kingdom" involving physicality, geographical location and place, a material capital, throne, temple and tangible sacrifices, organizational structure, and the extent and duration of space/time measurement. The kingdom of God brought into being in Jesus Christ has nothing to do with such, contrary to all religious thinking down through the centuries.
------------
Revelation is caught, not taught! As no man has ascended into heaven to figure out spiritual realities, they can only be revealed by the One who as descended from heaven, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
posted by GBT at
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
