關於 heaven meaning in bible ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Live by the “Present Truth”

“Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth...For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter‬ ‭1:12, 16-18‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The apostle Peter wrote to the church, saying that they were “established in the present truth”.

The existence of a present truth necessitates that there was a former truth.

I believe that he was referring to the change in covenants, from the Old Covenant of the Law (former truth) to the New Covenant of Grace (present truth).

He was probably addressing those who disbelieved that the Law has been replaced by Grace, and who wanted to continue keeping the Ten Commandments.

The New Covenant of Grace is all about God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter then recounted an incident that happened to him many years ago, when he saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain.

“After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light. Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid. Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.” Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”” (Matthew‬ ‭17:1-9‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

The transfiguration was firmly etched in Peter’s mind. He saw Jesus’ majesty—the glory He had before His incarnation.

But right after seeing that, he was starstruck when he saw Moses and Elijah who appeared and spoke with Jesus.

Moses is the mediator of the Old Covenant of the Law, while Elijah is one of the most highly esteemed Old Testament prophets.

He stumbled over these two great men of God, and put Jesus on the same level as them by asking if he should pitch three tents for them to stay in.

God the Father was displeased by this, and He overshadowed Jesus, Moses and Elijah with a bright cloud, and told Peter, James, and John to listen to Jesus only.

Moses and Elijah disappeared, and the apostles only saw Jesus alone.

This is the way God the Father intended—for His Son to receive all the glory, honor, and majesty.

Under the New Covenant of Grace, the “present truth” is that we listen to Jesus alone.

It is not about keeping the Ten Commandments or observing the ominous warnings of the prophets anymore. Don’t be deceived by “cunningly devised fables” invented by the minds of men who seek to use the Law to enforce behavior modification on ignorant believers.

The entire Bible is about Jesus and the revelation of His story.

“Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke‬ ‭24:27‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Notice how Jesus expounded the Scriptures to Cleopas and the other disciples on the road to Emmaus, by explaining to them the things concerning Himself. Moses refers to the first five books of the Old Testament which were written by Moses, and the prophets are represented by Elijah.

Both Moses and Elijah are pointing to Jesus Christ who would be born as a Man to redeem mankind from their sins by dying on the cross, and eventually, Jesus will return to reign on David’s throne as the eternal King of Israel!

Did you ever wonder why Jesus only brought Peter, James and John to the mountain? I believe they were chosen because of their names.

Peter means “stone”, representing the Law which was engraved on stone tablets. James means “to supplant” (to be replaced). John means “grace of God”.

Putting their names together, we derive this meaning: the Law has been replaced by Grace.

The Law is the former truth, while Grace is the present truth which we are to be established in. We need to be constantly reminded of this truth so that we can keep our eyes on Jesus. Like Abba God said from the bright cloud, “Listen to Him.”

“For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” (John‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

No matter what challenges you are facing today, choose to keep your eyes on Jesus, and let His Spirit lead you. Jesus is the full realization of grace and truth. He is God’s righteousness. We must stop mixing the covenants and live by Grace alone!

——

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The Birth of a Serpent Slayer

“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.” (Luke‬ ‭2:7-8‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

This was the backdrop of Jesus’ birth. The King of glory, God’s precious gift to us, was born on a dark, silent night, and there was no room for Him.

He did not come with great fanfare or a welcoming procession like the kings of the world would have received.

Instead, He came humbly like one of no repute.

But Heaven was not willing to let the Son of God be treated like a nobody.

“Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.” Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.”” (Luke‬ ‭2:9-14‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

An angel and the heavenly hosts appeared to shepherds, shining with awesome glory, to announce the good news of the King who was born.

At that point in time, Israel was under Roman rule, and had been ruled by the Gentile kingdoms for many years. The devil had subjugated God’s chosen nation and pressed them hard under his thumb.

However, God’s answer was not loud or dramatic. He sent a baby to be born.

Just as He delivered the children of Israel from Pharaoh using a baby (Moses), He would deliver Israel once more from Satan using another baby (Jesus).

This time, the baby would not be a Lawgiver, but a Law-fulfiller. Jesus fulfilled the demands of the Law through His suffering and death at the cross, and established the New Covenant of Grace for us.

“I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”” (Genesis‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

No matter what its true origins are, today we celebrate Christmas because God made a promise in the Garden of Eden thousands of years ago, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He kept that promise, becoming the prophesied serpent slayer Himself. Christmas is about a promise kept!

Notice that in the prophecy, the one whose head is bruised is the serpent (Satan), but there is another person who is the “offspring” of the serpent. In the original Hebrew, the word “zaraka” is a noun in the singular, masculine tense, meaning one male child.

This wicked male child was destined to have hostility against the offspring (also singular and masculine tense) of the woman, who is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Who is the offspring of the serpent? If you are curious to find out his name as revealed in the Bible, and also the details about his eventual destruction and Jesus’ victory, you can read all the exciting details in “Sandcastles Don’t Last Forever”: https://www.ko-fi.com/s/7b9e3783ae

Malignant unrestrained power | Lee Yee

The Hong Kong police issued a statement the night before yesterday quoting the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department’s response to the arrest of the 12 Hongkongers. The short communication was full of loopholes. If these 12 people are still under investigation, how can the authorities be sure that they will be approved by the procuratorate for arrest later? One of the 12 people was the skipper, is he a member of the smuggling organization? If he is indeed part of a smuggling group, why was he escaping to Taiwan? Why was there no mention of the arrest of the skipper? What happened to the speedboat? Did the 12 people buy the boat hence it was confiscated?

It has been more than a month and they still could not spin a better story. The power has become so domineering to the point where they say what they want without regard for whether it is believable or not anymore.

Chinese state media reported that, at the recent Third Central Symposium on Xinjiang Work held in Beijing, Xi Jinping emphasized the need to “uphold efforts to sinicize religion, sinicize Islam and forge the collective consciousness of a common Chinese identity.” Following Xi’s “sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism,” this is another one of his latest sinicization campaigns with requirements explicitly put forward.

Both Tibetan Buddhism and Xinjiang Islam are religions based on beliefs in God or divine inspirations, while in other parts of China, most religious believers just pray to gods and buddhas for blessings. Very few people truly believe in gods, reincarnation, or life after death. If “One China” means China under the dictatorship of the atheist Communist Party, then the “sinicization of religion” denotes a false and bogus religion. A leader who can come up with the idea of sinicization of religion under atheism is enough to show that there is nothing believable about this regime, including the woven tale for the 12 arrested Hongkongers.

In the era of ancient China’s absolute monarchy, although there was no real religious belief, ancient Chinese emperors at least paid respect to ancestors and held ceremonies to worship heaven. Dictatorship began from as early as the Qin dynasty to the Han Dynasty during which Dong Zhongshu proposed the rule to respect the emperor. However, he also proposed to restrict the emperor and respect heaven; the emperor would be called the son of heaven, meaning the heavenly father was watching over. The occurrence of a catastrophic natural disaster would be the wrath of heaven; the emperor would often issue a rescript for penitence, and reflect and review to improve governance.

The atheistic CCP not only does not believe in gods but also disbelieves in heaven. Mao Zedong claimed to be a “monk holding an umbrella,” meaning that he was above the law and above heaven. He also said, “Battling with heaven is endless joy.” Therefore, under the guidance of the idea of “Humans will triumph over the sky,” the Great Leap Forward brought about a situation of “endless suffering” for the Chinese people.

However, the CCP regime before Mao the second at least would not, on the one hand, claim to believe in Marxism-Leninism, and on the other hand, bludgeon itself with such absurd theories as the “sinicization of religion.” Perhaps Mao 2.0 now possesses absolute power such that no one dares to tell the truth, resulting in comments of all illogical nonsense.

Recently, the Chinese education department was so preposterous that it blatantly falsified the Bible. The story of Jesus and the Adulteress from the New Testament was cited in textbooks but the ending of the story was distorted. In the original passage of the Bible, Jesus said to the adulteress, “I, too, do not condemn you; Go and sin no more!” The Chinese textbook, however, presents the story as: “When the crowd disappeared, Jesus stoned the sinner to death saying, ‘I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.’” Forcing words to justify the Chinese leaders into the mouth of Jesus.

Of course, anyone who enforces the law in any society will not be a flawless person, but in a normal society, at least the law enforcers know that they are either guilty, or that regardless of religion or even non-religion, they believe that “there is a deity watching over them.” In addition to believing that “a deity is watching,” law enforcers are also restrictive in their power by the separation of powers with mutual checks and balances, as well as the supervision of the Fourth Estate. Nearly 300 years ago, the French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu said, “Every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go. Power is naturally expansive and has a tendency to turn malignant. As long as there are insufficient restraint and supervision, any power will give rise to corruption. To prevent this abuse, it is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.”

The power we face and its extension in Hong Kong may be the most extreme power in human history. It has no restraints nor any checks and balances, and without the constraints of “heaven” from the dark ages of ancient China and the Western Middle Ages. Its “expansion and malignancy” can exceed all human imagination. Therefore, normal people can only completely and absolutely distrust this absolute power.