Sunday, June 9, 2013

Deliver us from evil - Cost of Discipleship pt 82

Mat 6:13  ... but deliver us from evil

Bonhoeffer: 'The last petition is for deliverance from evil and for the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. It is a prayer for a holy death and for the deliverance of the Church in the day of judgment.

Mat 6:13  ...For thine is the kingdom

Bonhoeffer: 'The disciples are renewed in their assurance that the kingdom is God's by their fellowship in Jesus Christ, on whom depends the fulfillment of all their prayers. In him God's name is hallowed, his kingdom comes and his will is done. For his sake the disciples are preserved in body and receive forgiveness of sin, in his strength they are preserved in all times of temptation, in his power they are delivered and brought to eternal life. His is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever in the unity of the Father. That is the assurance the disciples have.

As a summing up Jesus emphasizes once more that everything depends on forgiveness of sin of which the disciples may only partake within the fellowship of sinners.'

My thoughts-

Deliver us from evil.
The kingdom.

Gen_2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Gen_2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The tree of life was created right after man was created.  Man would have access to the tree of life- giving them the ability to live eternally, hence the name, Tree of Life. Life was found in the tree.

Read this--

Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

This is talking about the NEW JERUSALEM.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

'Was there the TREE OF LIFE'

THE TREE OF LIFE.

In the New Jerusalem  there will be THE TREE OF LIFE. The same TREE of LIFE that was in the garden alongside the TREE of KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL.

That ONE tree mankind was told NOT to eat of, planted next to the tree that offered them LIFE.

A tree containing the knowledge of GOOD and the knowledge of EVIL.  Don't eat it. Don't eat of that tree.  Why? Because GOD the CREATOR said NOT TO. God told them if they DID NOT listen they would DIE. 

When mankind ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they sinned.  It didn't take EATING of the tree to be TEMPTED to eat of the tree. The temptation came before the sin as it always does.

Satan sinned, evil was found in Satan.  Mankind was protected from all the evil and the results of evil; they lived in a perfect world, yet they were allowed to be tempted. Why? Some people say they should never have been allowed to be tempted. Some people say that tree should never have been placed in the garden. Our God had created angels and in those angels sin was found.  Angels had been given freewill, and out of that came pride leading to a third of the angels falling.  God created man, making Him a little LOWER than the angels and He gave them free will.  He told them their life would change should they choose to disobey Him.  They had EVERYTHING but that ONE tree.  Would mankind sin? Would mankind choose to sin?  Yes and no.

I say yes and no because on their own they did NOT touch that tree.

It wasn't until they were put to a TEST that they touched the tree.

Their weakness was exposed.

And that could have been the end of it all, but sin would still remain if that were the end, if mankind were simply done away with.

Evil had to be done away with, and it had to be done away with in such a way that it would NEVER, EVER again exist!

More on all this tomorrow, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  When we pray- Deliver us from EVIL, we truly must mean, DELIVER us from evil.

All in HIS LOVE forever! His righteousness! By His grace and mercy!

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