June 16^th, 2002

     Dear Friends, 

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)

     In the above passage, the Lord describes, so marvelously, His eternal church, whose “membership” was determined “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). If you are one of His, what a reason to rejoice! Are you, truly, born from above? What a time to examine ourselves by the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17)!

     With our poisonous flesh, the world that is Satan’s dominion around us, and the masses of “false prophets gone out into the world” (1 Jn. 4:1) perverting the truth, we must constantly make sure of the truthfulness, the purity of the doctrines we hold. Without the “anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19), where would we be? Without having been “taught by him” (Eph. 4:21), would we really know anything, would we believe anything with any certainty? Oh, may the “Just One” repair our breaches (Is. 58:12) and be merciful to us.

     In our continuing look into the two “sharp” rocks of 1 Samuel 14, we found the spiritual contrast on display also in 1 Timothy 6, made most evident by the word “But” of vs. 11: “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” Please remember that according to Rev. 19:8, “…the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” and the word Bozez comes from the same root as the Hebrew word from which the Greek bussos comes. Thus, the opposite of that which the “man of God” was exhorted to do – that which came prior to the “But” of I Timothy 6:11 – must be that which spiritually identifies with Seneh. After all, 1 Sam. 14 presents Seneh as the antithesis of Bozez. So, what do the verses immediately prior to I Timothy 6:11 say?

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.                      (I Tim. 6:9, 10)             

The word “rich” is plouteo (#4147). You might wish to investigate how God uses the word elsewhere. Here are some notable examples – Lk. 1:53, 12:21, 1 Tim. 6:9, 18, etc. Also, it is rendered “increased with goods” in Rev. 3:17. [There are four other closely related words we have previously come across, all having to do with the concept of abundance. They are: #4145, plousios, #4146, plousios (the spelling in the Greek is different between 4145 and 4146), #4148, ploutizo, and #4149, ploutos] Please recall that plousios, #4145, is the word used in our parable in Luke 16 – “There was a certain rich man….” This word is also found in I Timothy 6, in verse 17: “Charge them that are rich [4145] in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches [4149], but in the living God, who giveth us richly [4146] all things to enjoy;”

     Even before studying 1 Timothy 6:9 & 10 carefully (if the Lord were to allow, of course, Lam. 3:37), we realized that vs. 17 quoted above was significant to us. Let us remember that in our study of “thorns,” “thistles” and “bramble bush” in relation to Seneh, we came across Mt. 13:22: “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches [4149], choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Thus we can know that #4149 identifies with that by which those belonging to Seneh (thorns/thistles/bush) are blinded; and, in turn, this word’s appearance here in 1 Tim. 6:17 teaches we are to relate the truths of the verse to that which we suspected identified with those belonging to Seneh - as found in vs. 9 & 10 of the same chapter. Interestingly enough, a qualifying word, “uncertain,” was found to be of much import.

     Why “uncertain riches,” indeed? “Uncertain” comes from adelos, which is rendered “appear not” in Luke 11:44:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves [3419] which appear not [adelos], and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

This is very similar to Mt. 23:27:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres [5028], which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Perhaps a sepulcher that appears “whited” and “beautiful outward” is one that appears not to be a sepulcher. [This section was not covered on the 16^th] You may ask, But how can we make the comparison between the passages, when clearly (as noted in brackets for your convenience) God uses one word for “grave” in Luke and another for “sepulchre” in Matthew? The answer comes to us in comparing Mt. 23:29 with Luke 11:47, 48:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs [5028] of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres [3419] of the righteous….

Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres [3419]of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres [3419].

The two passages here appear to be contextually comparable. Yet, notice that in the Matthew verse, it reads, “…ye build the tombs [5028] of the prophets,” whereas in Luke we read, “…ye build the sepulchres [3419] of the prophets….” Surely there is perfect purpose of the Only Wise God in the use of these two distinct words. The infinite differences in shades of meaning between the two words escape my “earthy” mind. However, we can be absolutely certain that here God uses these two words in such a way that at the very least, we know that comparing Mt. 23:27 with Lk. 11:44 above as similar passages is biblically allowed.

     As mentioned, “uncertain” comes from adelos. This word is made up of the negative particle a, and delos, meaning “manifest” (exposed). Literally, thus, the word could be rendered “not manifest (exposed).” To better understand not manifest, let us see how God uses the word delos (manifest/exposed). In Mt. 26, we have the account of Peter’s thrice-denial of the Lord (vv. 69-75). This is a very complex passage. However, we can know a few things. Mark 14:67, Luke 22:55, 56, and John 18:18 clearly demonstrate the fact that there was a “fire of coals…for it was cold” (Jn. 18:18) “in the midst of the hall…and Peter sat down…by the fire” (Lk. 22:55, 56), “warming himself” (Mk. 14:67). It is in this context that we read Mt. 26:73b: “…Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth [delos] thee.” Please note that John 14:10 equates the works of the Father with the words spoken of Christ. Further, Mt. 12:33-37 teach that one’s words are like the fruits of a tree, either good or bad depending on the nature of the tree itself. In other words, as “the tree is known by his fruit” (Mt. 12:33), the words of Peter exposed him for who he truly was – all this before the fire, for the cold. (For further study on this particular picture of the cold and coal, please consult 2 King 4:34, Ps. 147:18, Is. 6:5-8, 47:14, Mt. 24:20/Song 2:11-13)

     What is it that makes manifest, or exposes? The verb form of our word delos gives us the answer: “Every man’s work [gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, vs. 12] shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare [deloo] it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3:13). It is the fire that “declares” the true nature of the “work” (* manifest, declare and revealed are renderings of three different Greek words). Please note that 1 Corinthians 9:1 confirms our understanding that the “work” Ch. 3 refers to is people: “…are not ye my work in the Lord?” Peter, thus, as a picture of all true believers, the eternal church, is here manifested/exposed as “gold, silver, precious stones” congregate. He thus departs from the “hall,” a picture of the corporate church. Peter’s going “out” compares with Mt. 21:39, where the evil husbandmen cast the son of the householder “out of the vineyard,” and slay him. The vineyard being a picture of the church, we can learn that this parable clearly points to the atonement of the Lord Jesus. Where, then, was the Lord killed? According to the law (e.g., Deut. 22:24), He was taken “without the camp,” “without the gate” (Heb. 13:11, 12).

     In contrast, the graves which “appears not” refer to those who have not yet been exposed by the fire. These can only be the unsaved within the corporate midst. Only those who have partaken of the second death of Christ can identify with that which has been exposed, purified, “by fire.” It is true that those under the Old Covenant, those who have heard the law yet remain unrepentant, will be tried, but the sealing of their eternal destiny must await the judgment of the Last Day. Then they, the Mother of Harlots, shall burn (Rev. 17:16, 18:8, 9, 18). For now, these “graves which appear not” only partake of the external cleansing of the water: “…and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water” (Num. 31:23). Only those who can “abide the fire” (cf. Num. 31:22, 23) can come out of the fire successfully (Zech. 13:9), having “risen with Christ.” This means, of course, that those who cannot abide the fire will be in hell forevermore, as the “bush burned with fire, and…not consumed” (Ex. 3:2).

     May God grant us the fine line of the Lord Jesus.

     In Him,

     Zin Yi