Exodus (Program #46) – The Defeat of Amalek

To be sure, the Old Testament book of Exodus gives us a complete picture of God’s full salvation, from the Passover, a full type of our redemption in Christ to the feeding of God’s people with the heavenly manna and satisfying them from the flowing water from the smitten rock.  All of our genuine experiences of our Christian life are marvelously depicted.  But the picture will not be complete without the experience of the victory of Christ against the enemy of God’s people.  The battle is engaged on today’s program.

We have come to a point in Exodus that is very meaningful.  We are about to see God’s people, the nation of Israel engage in battle for the first time since their exodus out of Egypt.  Here are some excerpts of a few verses in chapter 17:8, 9, 10, 13 “Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us, and go out; fight with Amalek…. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek…. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.”  Some who has been following this life study closely may take issue with us in saying that this portion depict the first account of Israel fighting against the enemy.  Because they surely had an encounter with the army of Pharaoh on the occasion of their exit out of Egypt.  Why do we say that this is really their first battle?

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Matthew (Program #73) – Man’s Unrighteousness and God’s Righteousness

The Crucifixion of Christ – probably no other deed in human history manifested so completely the depths of unrighteousness that mankind is capable of. Yet at the same time, no other event afforded God such an opportunity to manifest His Righteousness so perfectly.

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Exodus (Program #45) – Flowing the Water of Life

Exodus 17 is a chapter of the Old Testament that contains a seed of one of the great truths of the New Testament Christian experience. Listen to verse 3, “So the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses…” but the Lord said to Moses in verse 6, “I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it so that the people may drink…” The Apostle Paul in the New Testament tells us that this rock and this drink are Christ. Drinking the living water is our focus today in this life study of the Bible.

Today we have a marvelous topic – Drinking the living water! We want to look again at this matter of drinking and flowing of the living water. We have some tremendous topic this week on drinking, today, we really want to see the counterpart of drinking which is the flowing out. There’s a wonderful verse in the gospel of John that brings both of these matters together. more…

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Matthew (Program #72) – Judged, Crucified and Buried

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 15, tells us that Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the Jewish day, or nine o’clock in the morning. He hung there for six full hours before yielding His final breath – six hours, unlike any other in human history. For in that day, both the wickedness and unrighteousness of man were displayed as never before or since; as well as the absolute righteousness of our Holy and Just God.  The account of these 6 hours in the gospel of Matthew is surely something that no one should miss.

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Exodus (Program #44) – Drinking the Water of Life (2)

Not all divine secrets in the Bible are revealed in a clear and evident way.  Sometimes God reveals His secrets in a hidden way.  The Bible contains many such hidden secrets that require the Lord’s shining to see clearly.  For example, the Bible commands man to believe in order to be saved, but where does it tell us how to believe?  The Bible also tells us to eat and drink of Christ, but how do we eat and how do we drink?  Don’t miss this classic presentation on this life study.

Yesterday, we saw very strikingly that eating and drinking in the Bible are not simply metaphors for us to contemplate.  They are genuine, crucial matters revealed in Scripture.  The Lord clearly said in John that if we don’t know how to eat and drink, we will not have the eternal life in us in a practical way.  It seems that all of us as Christians need to pay our full attention to these matters.

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Matthew (Program #71) – Pressed in Gethsemane, Judged by the Sanhedrin, and Denied by Peter

Most Christians are familiar with Peter’s denial of Christ on the night before His crucifixion.  Many have likely wondered how such an apostle, who had been so close to the Lord Jesus for more than three years, could have so utterly failed Him at this critical moment.  But actually, what this account reveals is not just a defect in our brother Peter, but the absolute inability of all of us to meet the demand of God’s kingdom with our natural life.

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Exodus (Program #43) – Drinking the Water of Life (1)

Sometimes the most obvious things in life are the easiest to overlook.  This is often also the case with the Bible.  Have you ever noticed it begins with man’s food and water and it ends the same way in Revelation.  Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible shows us a river of water of life and on this side and on that side of the river is the tree of life.  If we miss the matter of eating and drinking in the Bible, we miss a major portion of what God desires to reveal to man.

In a sense the Bible ends the way it began; a flowing river and the tree of life.  In fact what man takes in has a lot of implications.

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Matthew (Program #70) – A Test to All the People and the Establishing of the Kingdom

Of all the Old Testament practices and rituals, perhaps the most important was the Passover feast. The Lord Jesus, in chapter 26 of Matthew, enjoyed the last Passover feast with His disciples. And He also instituted the first Lord’s Table with His disciples.

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Exodus (Program #42) – The Water of Life in Resurrection

Every record in the Bible has a spiritual significance.  We shouldn’t try to understand any portion of the biblical record simply according to the black and white letter.  Let’s take Exodus 16 as an example.  This is a chapter revealing the giving of manna to the children of Israel.  Surely manna is something mysterious and spiritual.  Chapter 17 shows us how God provided water for the children of Israel as Moses struck or smote the rock in the wilderness and the water flow from the clefts.  Surely this also bears tremendous spiritual significance.  The spiritual reality of the water flowing from the smitten rock is our story today of this life study of the Bible.

We are going to pick up Witness Lee’s own speaking for our introduction today.  He make a very striking point about interpreting the Bible.  Of course, we do believe it literally word for word.  But we also don’t want to be blind to its spiritual and mysterious implication.

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Matthew (Program #69) – Prophecy of the Kingdom (8)

In Matthew 25, the Lord Jesus reveals that when He comes back to earth, He will sit on the throne of His glory in judgement of the unbelievers who are alive at His Coming. How will He judge them?  Well, not as we might think. For as unbelievers, they cannot be judged according to the gospel of grace. Yet the righteous ones in this judgement are able to enter into eternal life.  The mystery of the eternal gospel is our focus today.

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