I am about to head into, so far as I am concerned, uncharted grounds in this portion of this blog. I am going to dig into the Promised Spiritual Gifts (which run parallel to the titles of Office that were revealed to the Hebrew children during their dispensation of the LORD under such titles a Jehovah-Nissi and Yehovah-Sidkenu) and given to those who become One within the risen Lord Christ Jesus. Who are in the New Now Covenant of Grace our LORD. As He was Israel's during her many years under His watchful eye in their Dispensation which ended at its appointed time with His death, burial and resurrection and ascension. At which time He carried those old Testament saint's from Abraham's bosom into the heavens and took His place at the Fathers right hand side from where His Now rules by faith in the renewed hearts of the Redeemed and more especially those who have become One Body with Him as a Bride. This is seen in Genesis 2:21-24 as the reverse of women being taken from Adams side, this is the secret or mystery of marriage and the LORD's Last Supper that He had awaited while doing the works of the Father in preparation for the New Church, His Body / Bride. Now for Pastor Hoekstra and his writing on Grace and then I will begin to look into the Spiritual Gifts given to spiritual men, with the LORD's Help and leadership my source of Life and Light while I remain on this earth awaiting His calling for His Body, the Spiritual Bride, that man was in the beginning.
"The Power within Redeemed Earthen Vessels"
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." (2Corinthians 4:7)
"In our previous meditation on this same verse, we saw among other things that GOD has placed extraordinary heavenly treasures in ordinary earthen vessels. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." This is true of every person who has been Redeemed by the blood of Christ. The LORD has arranged it this way so that the vessels (you and me) must rely upon the treasure ( of Christ Jesus), not upon ourselves: "that the excellence of the power may be of GOD and not of us." Also, this arrangement is to bring attention and Glory to the Lord Who was and is LORD, not to the vessels. As He is not yet the King of the Promised Heavenly Kingdom which comes after the Bride has been withdrawn at the end of the time of the Gentiles and their troding under foot, Israel.
The LORD or at least His Spiritual essence is the treasure in the "clay pot" of our redeemed humanity. He is to be the "excellent power" in our lives. He is the One we are to trust in as our strength for daily living. When the battles grow fierce, trust in the LORD. "You have armed me with strength for the battle" (Psalm 18:39). When we need patience or endurance, trust in the LORD: "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering" (Colossians 1:11). When we need strength for our latter years, trust in the LORD. "The LORD has kept me alive . . . here I am this day, eighty-five years old . . . yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day that Moses sent me" (Joshua 14:10-11). Even in times of extreme personal weakness, His strength can be especially apparent. "I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon (and in) me . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2Corinthians 12:9-10).
The temptation is to trust in our "sturdy structure" (or in those who claim to be able to strengthen or reinforce weak vessels). Our personal resources will fail, but the LORD Who dwells in our hearts will not fail. "My flesh and my heart fail; But GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:26). The world systems with all of its impressive riches and imagined powers calls us to place our confidence in their resources. The LORD warns us time and again that such misplaced trust becomes our downfall. "Woe to the rebellious children . . who . . . go down to Egypt . . . to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh . . . the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame." (Isaiah 30:1-3)
We are to trust the LORD with all of our heart and soul in spiritual worship as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-3) to be our strength. "The LORD is my strength and my shield" (Psalm 28:7). Then, we are to give the LORD Glory for the strength He supplies. "My heart trusted (trusts') in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him (Psalm 28:7). Yes, with great exhalation show my deep and abiding love and appreciation for Him.
Divine Diversity of Gifts,
Matthew 25:14-18 (Jesus is speaking) "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money."
Romans 12:1-2, 3-8 "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of GOD, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to GOD, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the (good and perfect) Will of GOD, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the Grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that GOD has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are One Body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the Grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy (as pastors and teachers), in proportion to our faith; if service (as stewards of His secrets and mysteries), in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."
1Corinthians 4:6-7 "I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"
1Corinthians 12:4-11 "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same LORD; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same GOD Who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy (the ability to reveal the hidden things of GOD), to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by One and the same Holy Spirit, Who apportions to each one individually as he wills (He Wills)."
Ephesians 4:7-16 "Grace is given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's Gift (this is the qualifier). Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave Gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He Who descended is the one Who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the Unity of the Faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of GOD, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (of mans many religious forms under law). Rather, speaking the Truth in Love, we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the Head, into Christ, from whom the whole Body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the Body grow so that it builds itself up in Love."
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