Date: Tue, 2 May 1995 09:02:07 +0100
Reply-To: t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl
Sender: Christian explanation of the Scriptures to Israel
From: Teus Benschop
Subject: The Scriptures opened, 29
Contents
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1. Weekly reading, Leviticus 19:2
2. Hosea 3:1
3. New Testament, Mark 4:3-8, The parable of the Sower
1. Weekly reading, Leviticus 19:2
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Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.
Our text is short, but it contains much. The commandment is: You shall be
holy. And the reason is added: because the LORD is holy, and He is your
God. The command "be holy" is repeated in both Old and New Testament. In
the same book Leviticus, it is repeated: "I am the LORD your God: ye
shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am
holy." (Leviticus 11:44) Also the New Testament is full of the call to be
holy. One instance will be written out: "As he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written,
Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15,16) The entire Scripture calls
us up to be holy.
What does that mean, to be holy? It means to be separated from the
world, and to be devoted unto God. "Ye shall be holy unto me: for I the
LORD am holy, and have severed you from [other] people, that ye should be
mine." (Leviticus 20:26) In this text, both elements are mentioned:
separation from the other people, and devotion unto God. To be holy, you
shall therefore live according all God's laws and commandments, both in
your daily life and in the worshipping of God.
You shall be holy. What does this mean? It involves, that we be holy
in our works, in our talkings, but also in our thoughts. It is sure that
we all transgress in our works. Who is there, who acts according to God's
will? There is nobody, who does so. Still worse is it in our words.
Concerning our thoughts, there we commit much, very much sins. Everybody
is his own witness herein. What a thoughts do we sometimes have!
Fortunately for us, that the other people cannot see what we think. When
they knew our thoughts, they would not dare to come close to us. But now,
let we return to our text: You shall be holy. Is it enough, when we are
holy in our works, words, and thoughts? No, for when this was the case,
the Scripture had not said: "be you holy", but "act you holy", or "speak
holy", or "think holy". But now, Scripture said: "Be you holy". We must
*be* holy. That is, we must be holy in our essence. Being holy in our
acts, words, and thoughts is not enough. We must be thoroughly holy, in
our essence. We, being sinners from our birth, are unable, therefore, to
be holy. How can defiled sinners, as we are, ever be holy? To *be* holy,
we have need of being cleansed. Our unholy nature must be converted to a
holy nature. A renewal is necessary. We need a new heart and a new
spirit, to be holy. We see now, that God's grace is necessary, to take
away our old nature, and to give us a new, holy nature, born of God.
Ye shall be holy. That is, you shall be void of all pollution, of all
idolatry, and of all superstition. Not only in deeds, words and thoughts,
but our entire person must be holy; that is, be holy both in your soul
and body.
This call "be you holy, for I the LORD your God am holy", admonishes
us to obedience. Let we not worship God according to our own thoughts,
but let we listen to God's will. Own imagination in the worship are
pollutions of it; they are rejected by God. Let we, therefore, starting
now, begin with a holy way of life. How difficult is this! How difficult
is it, to deny the lusts and wills of our own flesh, and to follow God.
Our own flesh likes rest, peace, and the like. But now, to follow God, on
this earth, is like a battle. We love it, instead of being holy, to cover
our sins with a so-called holy cloth. Instead of being holy, we cover
ourselves with a mock-pious, outward appearance. That is our doing. When
we not confess our sins before God, He will judge us on His time, and
show our sins to all the world. Then all our self-made covers fall away,
and we stand openly in our spiritual nakedness. Shame will cover our
faces then. Therefore, reader, begin now! Be holy, for the LORD, your
God, is holy.
A child often looks like his father. Also God's children look like
their Father, that is, they have the spiritual image of God. That is what
our text says. I, the LORD, am your Father, and therefore, My children
shall look like Me. The Father is holy, therefore the children also are
holy. So, when you claim to be a child of God, it will be seen in your
holy conduct. But when you sin, that means that you are not holy.
Sinners, therefore, are not children of God, but of the devil. The devil
was a liar of the beginning, and all his children look like him.
Therefore, reader, when you are a sinner, you have the devil as your
father, not God. When this is the case, I call you up to repent, and
change your life. Call upon the Name of God, in order that He may give
you grace through Jesus Christ, His eternal Son.
To the unholy, I say: You will soon be with your father, the devil,
namely in hell, when you not repent.
Concerning the holy, they will be with their Father, namely in heaven.
Keep on fighting in this earthly life, until you reach the end of it. Are
you still tempted by your flesh, to commit sins? Resist that temptation,
in the power of God. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for
when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him." (James 1:12)
2. Hosea 3:1
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Then said the LORD unto me,
Go yet, love a woman beloved of [her] friend,
yet an adulteress,
according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel,
who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
In this text, God says to the prophet Hosea, that he must go out, love a
women, marry her, although she is an adulteress. The prophet must do this
to show forth the relation between Israel and the LORD. Also God loved
Israel, married her; but they looked to other gods and loved their own
flesh; they were adulterers.
"Then said the LORD unto me". God commands the prophet to depict, in
his own life, the relation between Israel and Him. The prophet had for a
long time preached unto Israel, saying, that the must return to God, and
leave the idols. But they did not repent. They let the prophet preach,
but they listened not. Therefore, God will do it otherwise. He now must
not only preach, but also depict. The natural relation between a man and
his wife was well known to the people. Also, they abhorred adultery. When
they then saw that the woman of the prophet was an adulteress, they
abhorred also her. The task of the prophet was now, to show, that they
were like that adulterous woman. Perhaps, they could, with their
spiritual blind heart, perceive something of their own sins.
"Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress." When
of this woman is said that she was beloved of "her friend", that does not
say that she was but engaged with him. She was married with her man, who
was her friend, loving her. In the book of Jeremiah, we read the same.
There we see a wife, treacherously departing from her friend; that means,
from her husband. "Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her
husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith
the LORD." (Jeremiah 3:20) Her husband, that is, her friend, had married
her, but she left him. Likewise did Israel, who treacherously left the
LORD. Concerning Hosea, this was not the first time that he had to depict
the relation between Israel and the LORD, through marriage. Also a
previous time, he had to do so. It was even the first thing he had to do:
"The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to
Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms:
for the land hath committed great whoredom, [departing] from the LORD."
(Hosea 1:2) The beginning of his ministry was, to warn the Israelites
against their adulterous behaviour, in leaving the LORD. His sermons did
not better the situation, therefore, a second time was necessary. In this
way, God dealt mercifully with Israel. He still sent his prophets, to
bring them back unto Him. Yet, there will be an end of God's mercy, and
then, He will reject his people.
"According to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel." In
commanding the prophet to love an adulterous woman, God shows how He
Himself dealt with His church. He was the first, to love the adulterous
church. He went forth, to love her. Israel, that is, the church of the
Old Testament, was still sinning, but God went out to love them. His love
was the first; He went out to call Israel, to become His wife. Even, when
Israel was God's nation, and they began to serve the idols, God did not
withdraw His love in the beginning. Though He destroyed His people for a
time, yet, His love did not cease forever.
"Who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine." Israel looked to
other gods, even while they had their own God, the one God, their
Protector and Husband. To look to other gods, while we have our own God,
is a sign of great ingratitude, is an infamy, is very wicked. Yet, they
did it. We know that they had their images, which is rightly abhorred by
the present Israelites. Also in our times, some have images, like the
Roman Catholic Church. They despise the one God, and look to other gods,
having images. Though God forbade the images, in the Ten Commandments,
yet, they have them. This church is rejected by God, and have chosen
themselves other gods, namely of wood and stone and gold. However, when
we have not such visible gods, it is possible that we have other kinds of
idols. Some make an idol of their own body. They serve it, to keep it in
the best condition, to be strong, healthy, beautiful, etc. They, to speak
so, worship their own body. Much of their time and money is spent
thereon, and thus, much of their time and money is withdrawn from God.
God said, that we should love him with our whole heart, soul and body;
that we shall spend our time in serving Him and our neighbours. But who
spends his time to other things, is in fact an idolater.
It is said of Israel, that they look to other gods, and "love flagons
of wine". Loving much wine is also like adultery. Having carnal minds,
indulging in lusts of the flesh, is adultery. So, having nice meals,
drinking and eating much, "loving flagons of wine" is against the love of
God. The rabbis say that you must make appetising meals to make the
Sabbath-day a delight, but they greatly err. Listen, reader, not to your
erring teachers, but listen to the Word of God. They loved flagons of
wine, and were therefore punished by God. Therefore, who love the nice
meals on the Sabbath, will receive his punishment. Lovers of flagons of
wine are adulterers. They give themselves wholly to pleasures, and cannot
stop, like those who are drunken of the wine.
Think, reader, about the pain, which God will have in His heart,
because his people err. He loved Israel, but they love their flesh, and
therefore trampled on His love. Of course, when I say, that God has pain
in His heart, it is a human expression, to show in human terms, what we
do against God with our great sins. He loved Israel, but they behaved
themselves as an adulteress. They loved the flagons of wine, the meals on
Sabbath, but they forgot their Benefactor, Who had saved them out of
Egypt. The time will come, reader, when you not repent, that His soul
will loathe of you. Choose between the lusts of your flesh, and between
the service of God. You cannot serve both your belly and God. Make then,
I pray you, the good choice.
3. New Testament, Mark 4:3-8, The parable of the Sower
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Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side,
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
But when the sun was up, it was scorched;
and because it had no root, it withered away.
And some fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
And other fell on good ground,
and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased;
and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Jesus was teaching the people by the sea side; a great multitude was
gathered around Him. They crowded round Him, so that He had to enter into
a ship. While He was in the ship, and the multitude stood by the sea
side, He was teaching them. He taught them many things, also using
parables. He used the natural things around them, which they understood.
Using these parables, He hoped that they could understand something of
its spiritual meaning.
One of Jesus' parables was thus: Hear to Me, He said. Behold, there
went out a sower to sow seed on His land. He went over the land, and
sowed with generous sways of his arm. Th sower is he, who preaches the
Word of God to the multitude.
And it came to pass, when he was sowing, that some seed fell by the
way side. The fowls of the air came down, after the sower, and devoured
it up. That seed is lost, and will never bring forth corn. The Word is
also sown by the way side. These are the people, while hearing the
sermon, they understand it not. Not understanding what they have heard,
the things quickly vanish from their memories. While listening to the
Word, Satan comes immediately, and blinds their minds. When you sit among
such people, you easily can see it. Many sleep, others sit there with a
meaningless face. The Word, that was sown in their hearts, is immediately
taken away. Already before the sermon is ready, they have forgotten all
what they have heard.
There was also other seed, which fell on the stony ground. This ground
had a stony subsoil, but was covered with a thin bed of ground. When you
walked along, it seemed good ground. The seed grew up, but it had no
depth of earth. When the sun was up, and it became hot, it was scorched.
And because it had no root, it withered away. With whom must we compare
the Word sown on the stony ground? These are the people, who, after
having heard the Word, immediately receive it with gladness. They think
they believe, and are like the seed, which quickly grows up in the
shallow earth. They do, however, but an outward profession; their heart
is not changed. Therefore, they have no root in themselves, like the seed
on the stony ground had not. So, when the sun rises up, that is, when
affliction or persecution arises for the Word's sake, immediately they
are offended. They cannot endure the heath of the real Christian battle,
for they have no root in themselves. The pleasantness of the Gospel-
promises attracted them, but their heart remained stony. They had lack of
what Ezekiel said, that their stony hard also must be taken away by God,
and a heart of flesh given them. The majority of the people, hearing the
Gospel, are to be compared with this seed. They have joy in the Word, but
have no root. They shrink from even the least persecution.
There was also a third place, wherein some seed fell. It fell among
thorns. The thorns, more quickly growing up, choked the tender corn. Also
this seed yielded no fruit. This seed is to be compared with the people,
who, after having heard the Word, choke it by the worldly cares. When
they have heard the sermon, they begin to talk about the things of the
world, and forget all what they have heard. They start drinking coffee
after the sermon, speak about the vain things, and forget God's Word.
They involve themselves in several things, which ask their attention.
Also the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things enter in,
and choke the Word. All these things are compared with the thorns of the
world, which choke the Word just sown. These people become unfruitful,
and will, together with the thorns, be devoured through the fire in the
harvest, that is, on the day of judgement.
But, there was also some other seed. This fell on the good ground, and
did yield fruit that sprang up and increased. This seed brought forth
more or less fruit. Some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some
hundredfold. These are the people who receive the Word in their heart,
and bring forth the blessed fruit of belief and repentance, each in his
own measure. Their heart was like good ground, well ploughed through the
working of the Spirit. Their heart was like good ground, well cleansed
from the pollution of sin, through the working of God.
The believing people belong to the minority. Though the Word is
preached many times, yet the majority will not believe it, in order that
the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Who
hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?"
(Isaiah 53:1)
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Chr-Exp, a Christian explanation of the Tanach and the New Testament
Editor: Teus Benschop - t.benschop@pobox.ruu.nl
No copyrights on this publication
Institution Practical Bible-education, the Netherlands
End of The Scriptures opened, 29
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file: /pub/resources/text/ipb-e: s-open-029.txt
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