Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: tree

  • A Temporary Throne – 15

    A Temporary Throne – 15

    Previously:

    “Should the LORD plant the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” I asked myself.
    I had never thought of the connection of my sins to this (really) or of any alternative.

    CHAPTER 15

    I knew that sin had its beginning from the very beginnings of man and there was nothing that I could do about it.

    The lies would begin. Satan’s influence would spread throughout God’s Creation and eventually draw in my own loved ones. (Of course I had been drawn into sin as well, except the Lord Himself came down and saved me.)

    Oh no!

    I just realized that had I NOT allowed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to be placed in the middle of the garden, Christ would not have had to die on the Cross!

    Did I mess up already?

    I DID NOT WANT YOU TO LOVE ME, UNLESS YOU WANTED TO BE CLOSE IN LOVE WITH ME.

    THOSE WHO CHOOSE MY LOVE TRULY LOVE ME, AS I TRULY LOVE YOU – FREELY.

    1 John 4:8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

    I LOVE this MAN!

    “Why do we disobey HIM?” I thought.

    GOOD AND EVIL ARE CLEAR CHOICES.

    “But because we do not have knowledge of everything,” I continued, “we sometimes choose evil.”

    YOU CHOOSE EVIL, BECAUSE THE FRUIT IS PLEASANT TO YOUR FLESH.

    “… AND I ignore your command and your will,” I thought.

    (But I knew the LORD knew my every thought.)  And I looked away in shame…

    To be continued…

    A Temporary Throne is an original work of Roger Harned,

    © Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved by the author.

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  • A Temporary Throne – 14

    A Temporary Throne – 14

    CHAPTER 14

    Paradise? Eden? (Even before ‘adam?)

    Genesis 2:8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

     

    “Should the LORD plant the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” I asked myself.

    I had never thought of the connection of my sins to this (really) or of any alternative.

    What if man never knew sin?

    (Of course God and I knew what Adam and Eve would do IF the LORD planted this tree.)

    What would I advise?

    Should the LORD GOD set this one tree in the midst of the garden – a tree to be used by the tempter, that serpent whose name is Satan?

    What IF the LORD did not give Satan this chance at original sin?

    “LORD,” I asked, “If you withhold temptation of man to know good and evil would it not be better for Your Kingdom on earth?

    Yet as I asked the LORD my foolish question, I knew the answer:

    THEN THE MAN IS NOT FREE TO LOVE ME.

    THE MAN WOULD SERVE ME BECAUSE HE MUST.

    I understood God’s dilemma: One tree; then One Command.

    Obedience to God’s Command is love given freely to God. Disobedience to God’s One Command would be putting our own will ahead the loving ALL-KNOWING will of God.

    I nodded, and THE LORD commanded the tree to grow. The tempting fruit of knowledge blossomed from its branches before my knowing eyes.

    To be continued…

    A Temporary Throne is an original work of Roger Harned,

    © Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved by the author.

  • Samekh

    Samekh

    Depart from me…

    Picture the stoic traditionalist teachers of the Bible venturing out from the mega-cathedral to a far from urban valley of the Jordan and encountering a crowd that should be in church.  They are listening to an unkempt man with uncut hair and rags of animal skins and leather. As they descend the dirty hillside toward the river in their custom-made finery, he acknowledges their addition to the crowds.

    “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance…  – Matthew 3:

    Pretty bold talk from a Nazarite to esteemed teachers of the Law from the Temple. Could John have had Psalm 119 in mind?

     Psalm 119 – English Standard Version (ESV)

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    Samekh

    113 I hate the double-minded,
    but I love your law.
    114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
    115 Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.

    Although the EST statement ‘I hate the double-minded,’ brings hated hypocrites like the Pharisees, Sadducees, certain preachers and christians to mind, the KJV stated: ‘I hate vain thoughts.’

    Indeed, the Psalmist is not condemning (yet) those with double-minded thoughts.  John, as he baptized and cleansed into repentance those in the crowds with ears to hear was not hiding in the Jordan valley; rather his hiding place was in the Lord and in the hope of God’s word.

    All of us must take heed to vain thoughts and ideas of our own (not of God). Vain thoughts are ambivalent, divided and half-hearted. Of course we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind (not just some of it). Hypocrisy, like that frequently demonstrated by the Pharisees is the intentional action of a double-minded believer.

    John continues his warnings to his audience:

    10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    This same double-minded, half-hearted faith comes to mind in Jesus parable in Matthew 7:

    17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

    Christ Jesus was also most critical of this half-attitude of belief. In these last days, the axe is at the root of the tree of the church.

    The Psalmist continues his plea to God:

    116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
    117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!
    118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
    for their cunning is in vain.

    119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
    therefore I love your testimonies.
    120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
    and I am afraid of your judgments.

    Again, we did not receive the baptism of repentance and the cleansing of the Cross of Christ to appear as dross to a world that looks to the church and christians for every defect and impurity.

    “Be holy, as I am holy,” says the Lord.