bjcollin

The significance is that Christ is seated in the place of honor and of power. He was placed there by God the Father. He is above all else and everything is under His feet. Every spirit being and power is under His feet because they are all false gods whose origins were started through demons and because Jesus conquered them through His death on the cross and His resurrection.

As humans our eyes are always veiled until God opens our eyes and removes the veil. In this case Paul is interceeding for the Ephesians' in this prayer and asking for their veil to be lifted so that they could see His hope, inheritance, and power (1:18-19). This power operates in both the physical and spiritual realms, also in us who believe a.k.a. the church. The miraculous event that Paul uses as an example is Christ's physical body was raised from the dead and His spirit was restored to His body and then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father (1:19-20).

Howdy, My name is Brian Collins. My wife, 4 year old son Noah, and I live in Plano Texas near Dallas. We are currently attending an awsome Assemblies of God church in Carrollton Texas. (http://www.clife.org) This is my fourth on-line Bible study here (Luke, Gideon, and Lamb of God). Take care. In Christ,

Who the Son sets free is free indeed. We are free in that we have the power to choose and the power through the Holy Spirit to permanent the change. We need the Holy Spirit in that if we are following after God we will not be following after sin. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our comforter, our seal, and our link to God.

According to the analogy, we are the slave and we are enslaved by sin who is our master. God offers the ransom in the form of His son Jesus Christ who died for us to pay His own price. The devil satan is involved in the enslaving process, but he doesn't receive the payment because everything he has is stolen from God who owned it in the first place. It isn't spelled out completely in the New Testament because it would be too confusing for us to understand completely, our ways are not His ways. It really isn't value added to know the completed analogy anyway, all we need to know is: God pronounced us guilty in our sin and the sentance was death, but God loves us so much that in while we were yet sinners He sent His only son Jesus to die on the cross to pay that penalty in our place.

When we were saved, we transfered our citizenship from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We were bought with a price which was the blood of Jesus Christ who is God's own son. The principles we should apply as Christians are that we now belong to God who paid our ransom price with His precious Son. We need to trust and act in obedience to our new master and no longer pay any attention to the old master because he has no control over us now. This should affect our living in the most dramatic of ways, because God is essentially taking us through the ultimate lifestyle change. We are to be dead to sin and alive in Christ (Romans 6).

Slaves were the class of humans that could be freed by payment of a redemption price. Jesus, Peter, and Paul used slave analogies because there were a lot of slaves at the time. The verses help explain a lot about the Christian life in that we as humans by our nature are many times knowingly or unknowingly slaves to one or more masters. As a Christian, we have been set free from that by the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 1:17-18 "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." I chose this passage because it shows the resurrected Christ in heaven already having fulfilled Isaiah 53. It shows that Christ went through all of the suffering and agony spelled out in Isaiah 53 and in the New Testament just to remedy our sin situation and He conquered it.

I was only 15 when I accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour. In my mind I didn't think I had that much to be forgiven of. I mean I was basically a good churching going kid who hadn't broken any of the 10 commandments as I knew them at the time. Then I realized that I had stolen a few comic books and I had disobeyed by parents numerous times and etc... the list went on. OK, so I had broken a few of the minor commandments, but I hadn't murdered or did drugs or slept around or anything else major. I wasn't that bad, and I did go to church alot so I figured that I was basically ok with God. Wrong again, God said that I deserved the death penalty for my sins right along with the murders sitting on death row. What a shock. Jesus Christ the Servant paid the price for my sins on the Cross at Calvary. I in turn thanked Him for that and accepted Him as my personal saviour. Several years later in college in committed my life to His service and was baptized in the San Marcos river. It has been a wonderful 19 years with Christ so far, and in faith I look forward to a life time of walking with Christ here on earth and an eternity of being with Him in heaven. Jesus definately beared the punishment due me when He died on the cross.

There is no question that we are guilty, now comes the question of punishment. The punishment handed down for the crime of sin against God is a death sentance and eternal separation from Him in hell. The Servant acts as the substitute to bear our sins in that He accepted our death penalty on the cross in our place. He got the punishment that we rightfully deserve. Jesus the Servant obtained the keys of the kingdom through His death and resurrection and put them into the hands of Peter and the church. Matthew 16:19, Revelation 1:18.

No convincing needed here. I fully believe that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of Isa 53. Here are a few clearly linked NT verse references: 1. Matthew 8:17 - The healing of Peter's Mother-In-Law which is a clear reference back to Isaiah 53:4. 2. John 12:38 - Jesus Fortells His Death to his disciples at the last supper which is a clear reference back to Isaiah 53:1. 3. Romans 10:16 - Paul makes another clear reference back to Isaiah 53:1. These are all clearly linked references, and the other verses that the others have produced here all point back to Isaiah 53. This is all scholarly and good, but the real proof for me comes in a verse by verse look at Isaiah 53: v1 - John 12:38, Romans 10:16. v3 - Luke 18:33, John 1:10-11 v4 - Matthew 8:17 v5 - 1 Peter 2:24-25 v7 - Jesus' trial, Matthew 26:63, Matthew 27:14 v9 - Jesus died with common thieves, but was laid in a rich man's tomb, Matthew 27:57-60, 1 Peter 2:22 Jesus Christ was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 53.

Juanita, Don't believe for an instant that you are not articulate and don't let that keep you from answering the questions the best that you know how. You have done just fine in what you have posted thus far. This is a lie from the enemy that you are believing. Moses had believed the same lie, but God still sent him to deliver over 1 million of His people out of the bondage of Egypt. Just rely on God's power through the Holy Spirit in your life to direct you in all that you do. Keep up the great work. In Christ,

It is my understanding that Isa 52-53 refers to many nations and to all people. All means all and that's all all means. (Isa 53:6). The sacrifice is universal in that it was not for the Jews only as the temple sacrifices were, but it was also for the Gentiles and the whole world. Jesus' sacrifice was not wasted on anybody, to say that is akin to saying that the sacrifice wasn't perfect and that the blood of Jesus couldn't atone for some sin. Of course this is not the truth, the truth is that the sacrifice was perfect and that the blood of Jesus has atoned for all sin. Jesus' sacrifice is only wasted in our own human perspective in that the majority of the world doesn't see it and doesn't reach out to accept it.

Micah 6:6-8 "With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." The ultimate goal in all of this is a relationship with God. God created us to be in fellowship with Him. As Christians we need to be men and women that are led by the Spirit and that are able to hear the Lord's voice and be in constant communion / fellowship with Him. We are made to walk in the garden with Him as Adam and Eve did before the fall. Sin is the action that breaks up that relationship and ultimately separates us from God. Hebrews 10:1-4 shows us that the sacrifical system was set up in the pre-Christ days to remind the people of their sins and to point them forward to the coming Messiah. For us today we have the Holy Spirit as our guide who helps convict us of our sin and remind us that we have both a risen saviour and a second-coming Messiah. Christ was our once for all perfect Passover lamb sacrifice. Leviticus 19:2b "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy." God's nature is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is Holy, Righteous, and Love. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner in that He sent His only son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us. We need to accept that sacrifice for our sins, because God already has accepted it as payment in full. We need to trust in Faith that God's nature is to fellowship with us as full sons / daughters and that the Grace provided by Jesus Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for us to enter into His kingdom both now and when we get to heaven. In Christ,

God has every right to demand our death for the sin that we committed, but instead in His mercy He allowed the animal sacrifice to substitute for us. Animal sacrifices were not actually adequate to atone for human sin because the animal being killed wasn't of as much value as a human.

All of the passages in Leviticus 1-7 discuss attonement for individual sin and the different types of sacrifice offerings that were in place for the tabernacle. There is no mention of the attonement for sin for the nation of Israel in these passages. This was only taken care of at Passover (Ex 12:1-27, Lev 23:4-8) and the qualifications for the sacrifice are different that what is spelled out in these verses and in the exposition. For example, for the sin offering you could sacrifice a female animal, but for the Passover sacrifice it had to be a male of the first year without blemish. There are so many different sacrifices spelled out in the Old Testament that it is hard to keep track of them all. There had to be some commonality to all of them. So the basic elements involved in a sin sacrifice are: 1. Confession - The person who committed the sin must fess up and accept the consequences for his actions. 2. Penalty - payment for sin requires a life to be taken and the life of a creature is in the blood (Lv 17:11). 3. Sacrifice - The sacrifice offered must be the first, the best, and of yourself. If the penalty is stiff you will remember it before you do it the next time, also if it isn't personally tied to you it doesn't mean that much to you. 4. Transferance - payment for sin requires transfering your sin through the symbolic act of laying on of hands to the sinless animal who gets the death you deserved. All of the elements of the sacrifice are still in place today, they just take a much different form. 1. We still must confess our sins (Rom 10:9-13). 2. The penalty for sin is still death (Rom 6:23). 3. The sacrifice was Jesus Christ, and we all must daily present our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him and our relationship with Him makes it personal (Heb 10:10, Rom 12:1). 4. We transfered our sin to Jesus Christ and he got the death at the cross that we deserved, we need to lay our hands on Him and accept His payment for that sin by faith (Jn 6:53, Heb 10:14-23, 1 Jn 1:7).

Animal sacrifice is repulsive to most modern people because of the killing and the blood. While this might have to do with a city -vs- farming life style for the squeemish now days, there is a deeper root for most people. The thought is not for food, but for transferance. Why do I have to kill and sacrifice an innocent animal for what I did against God's laws? In the OT it was because God commanded it. Now that Jesus has paid the price for our sins, animal sacrifice is no longer required by God. We are to walk in the Forgiveness and Grace that is offered by our Lord Jesus.

Every type of sin seems to be responded to by the Lord in anger. Type in "Lord" "Anger" in the Bible search engine and it will turn up 134+ responses which are all Old Testament references. The laws we are breaking are the Lord's laws, so he has a right to be angry with us for breaking His laws. It is just the same when we have household rules and our kids break the household rules any which way they can. We end up getting angry at our kids for disobeying us. Numbers 14:18 says 'The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' Nahum 1:3 says "The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished." Jeremiah 23:20a "The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart." May I put forth that the Lord has already accomplished the purposes of His heart in the sending/death/resurrection/assention of His Son Jesus. The age of God's anger burning directly against us has past, and now we are in the age of Grace. Grace is not getting what we rightfully deserve. For our sins we deserve death, but by Grace and Faith in Jesus Christ as the payment for that sin we become sons of God and inherit a place in heaven. Capricious means governed by or characterized by impulsive or unpredictable behavior. God's anger was always on target and always exacting on justice. God's anger is always under control by Him and not out of control to bring about His justice.

Howdy, My name is Brian Collins. My wife, 4 year old son Noah, 6 year old nephew James and I live in Plano Texas near Dallas. We are currently attending a great Assemblies of God church in Carrollton Texas. (http://www.clife.org) This is my third on-line Bible study here, with Luke & Gideon being the first two. Take care. In Christ,

How can it not refer to sacrifice? John the Baptist was Zacharias the priests' son so he would have been raised in the sacrifical system. John the Baptist was sent by God as a witness to testify about the coming Messiah (John 1:6-8). John the Baptist was a fulfillment of the one in Isaiah who was called to be "the voice of the one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord'". (John 1:23, Isaiah 40:3) In the same verses in Isaiah it was also to be proclaimed to Jerusalem that her sin has been paid for and was paid for double. The sin had to be attoned for with sacrifical blood and that meant a lamb. John the Baptist knew that Jesus was that lamb. Paul also proclaimed this in 1 Corinthians 5:7, Peter proclaims this in 1 Peter 1:19-20, and John proclaims this in Revelation 5:12. The individual sin was taken care of individually with sacrifice, the sins of the nation of Israel were taken care of during Passover by the High Priest with sacrifice. To stretch for "sins of the world" was indeed a radical concept at the time. Jesus was God's answer for the sins of the world.

The Lord then gives Gideon another sign already on top of the two fleece requests. God really wants to show Gideon that this victory will indeed be His. I think it is interesting that when we first come upon Gideon he is threashing wheat in secret to keep it from the Midianites (v6:11), and now in the Midianites dream the barley which has been made into a bread wheel and is rolling through their camp. The dream in (v7:13) is directly interpretated in (v7:14). The rolling barley loaf represents Gideon. God shows Gideon this dream to encourage him (v7:15) and to help him not be afraid (v7:10).

The lappers did seem to be more alert than the kneelers. We always need to be on our guard for our adversary is prowling around like a lion. (1 Peter 5:8). They were upward looking even while drinking, while the others in the majority were kneeling and putting their mouths directly to the water. I think it was for the same reason that God paired down the army from 32,000 to 10,000 and now even further to 300. It was to show them that God was still in control and that they needed Faith in Him to deliver the Midianites into their hand.

Because we are lacking in Faith. The spiritual danger is that we will remain weak in our Faith and not grow as God would have us grow. I believe we each have to individually as Christians be able to hear and discern the voice of God for ourselves. Currently today there are very few who can actively hear God's voice, so we have to have confirmation from a group of trusted sources. This is where the church comes in and helps us through Christian fellowhship. It has been my experience that not everybody who calls themselves Christian's actually are, and not everybody who actually is a Christian can give good discernment. I for one would like to have a little more blind obedience to the actual voice of God regardless of how I am perceived by others.

God felt that Gideon's army was too large because He did not want for them to boast against Him that they did it in their own strength. It was essential to restore Israel's faith and allegiance to God in that if they could see that God did it and not they themselves, then they could see that God was still for them and not against them. Gideon would be facing massive peer pressure from the other warriors in Israel's ranks once their numbers were less than the Midianites numbers. Gideon was able to fully obey God in that his faith was strengthened by his relationship with God.

We should not ask God to perform a sign to justify Himself, or to prove Himself, or for any other selfish reason. We should ask God for a sign to clarify our communication with Him, and to increase our faith relationship with Him. The danger of demanding a sign is that we will ask for a sign with wrong motives and be punished for it.