Breathingbook

Archive for March, 2010

Hello. This post started out as a pop-up to another post I’ve been working on, but I felt it had so much to offer that I decided to post it instead. I hope it blesses you as much as it has me.

Jesus, being the rightful heir to the covenant of Abraham and the promises of Israel, is the Good Olive Tree (Rom 11:24).

Speaking metaphorically of Jesus as the olive tree, Paul writes…

Rom 11:17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree.

if some of the branches be broken off The people of Israel who did not receive Jesus Christ as Messiah are spoken of here as the ”branches” which were “broken off” because they failed to recognize Jesus and, instead, crucified Him. The “good olive tree” of Rom 11:24 from which Israel was ”broken off” from is Jesus Christ.

thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them This refers to Gentile believers in Jesus being originally from the wild olive tree of Gentiles all over the world who do not know God and have not received Jesus as their Savior. Those who have received Jesus are grafted into the good olive tree (of God) and have become heirs by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus redeems us from our “wild” nature and takes us unto Himself. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi all. I just wanted to quickly put up another post illustrating how God sometimes uses Symbolism to communicate to believers. Shadows, Parables and Representations offers a few examples, but here’s another: God also has been known to use symbolism through the use of allegories.

Allegories make use of actual events that have taken place (real people in real places) to illustrate what God’s doing on a larger scale.

The best example of this allegorical type of symbolism can be found in Gal 4:22-31 where the historical written record of the relationship concerning Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Ishmael, and Hagar is used to illustrate the two different covenants – one which leads into bondage and the other into freedom.

Gal 4:22-31 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Please take note that although Abraham and Sarah had their own free will, they chose to bring the bondwoman Hagar into play wherein Ishmael was born. God, knowing the ends from the beginnings, utilized the story of their lives as an allegory representing the two covenants of bondage and freedom.

I apologize that allegories got left out of the Shadows, Parables and Representations posting. I hope this will suffice for further reference. Thanks!

Peace out!

Loris James

When we talk about shadows or symbolism, we’re talking about the mysterious ways God uses symbolism in scripture. Similar to Key Phrases, symbolism is utilized to communicate in such a fashion as to meet each person according to wherever they are at with God.

Some of the most common forms of  symbolism used in the Bible are parables, shadows, dreams and visions.

The type of symbolism most familiar to believers is the parable.  Jesus used the parable of the Sower (Mat 13:3-9) to teach how the Word of God would reach some and not others, and the way in which the world would react to the Word of God being sown.

Jesus taught in this way (Mat 13:10-16) to, basically, fulfill prophecy (Isa 6:9-10). The gist of it being God hides the true meanings of things from those who have come to take the things God provides for granted. Jesus briefly explained the symbolism of the parable of the Sower in Mat 13:18-3. (If you would like a more detailed explanation of the parable of the Sower, please click here). 

Mat 13:3-8 …a Sower went forth to sow …some seeds fell by the way side & the fowls came & devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; …because they had no root, they withered away and some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit..

The basic symbolism for the Sower parable is thus: the Sower is Jesus (or a believer He is working through). The seed is God’s Word being taught in the world. In this particular instance, the fowls symbolize the devil and his minions. The stony places are the hardened hearts of those who should be able to hear. The sun is a heated, difficult trial or situation. The root represents having a firm foundation in the gospel. The thorns represent non-believers or those who sin willfully. The good ground is an open, willing heart and the fruit is the kind which Jesus alone can produce through true believers. Read the rest of this entry »

Hiya all! Here’s a little post on what a Covenant is. To put it plainly,

a “covenant” is a contract, testament or disposition of one’s mental outlook.

Covenants were first made between God and man, then man to man on down through the ages. Today, we just call them contracts or agreements.

First let’s look at the Hebrew word for covenant in the Old Testament which is beriyth (see below). This means the making of a compact. In the OT this word means to be in confederate with, in league, covenanted with, and so on (please note, the pop-ups will show scripture examples).

H1285. beriyth, ber-eeth’; from H1262 (in the sense of cutting [like H1254]); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):–confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.

In the New Testament, we can get a little bit more information about the meaning since the Greek reveals more. The Gk. word for covenant is diatheke and it’s the word used every time you see the words “covenant” or “testament” used. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi. Greetings! I just wanted to cover something Brian Williams reported on NBC Nightly News last night. 

Speaking of the 8.8 Chile Earthquake on Feb. 27, 2010, Williams said, “…it moved so much mass on the planet that government scientists estimate it moved the earth off it axis by about three inches and as a result shortened the day by a few millionths of a second.”

I knew the 2004 9.1 earthquake that hit Indonesia had also shortened the day, so I began looking around for more information and found it on www.nydailynews.com  article written by Michael Sheridan entitled, Chilean earthquake may have shortened earth day by microsecond: NASA. Here’s a short excerpt:  

The Chile quake may have moved the Earth’s axis by about 3 inches, (NASA scientist Richard) Gross said.
The quake also shortened the day by 1.26 microseconds, the scientist determined, using a complex model he and others developed.
The Earth’s rotation was likely affected by the shift in the planet’s mass, which could cause it to spin faster.
Scientists believe other quakes, such as the 2004 9.1-magnitude earthquake in Sumatra (Indonesia), have also decreased the Earth’s day. That quake is believed to have shortened it by 6.8 microseconds, and altered the axis by nearly 7 inches.

Read the rest of this entry »