Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of April

Apr 20, 2015 by

Verse:

Mark 1:14-15 “And after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel.”

Excerpts:

Exodus 18 presents a type, a portrait, of the kingdom of God, in which the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place, was built. The fact that this portrait is presented after the war against Amalek signifies that when the flesh as God’s enemy is dealt with, the kingdom with the kingship immediately comes in (cf. Gal. 5:17-25), and the church as the Body of Christ is built up (cf. 1 Kings 1-8). In order to realize the kingdom with the building of the church, we must utterly repudiate the flesh in both its good and evil aspects (cf. Phil. 3:3-10). Saul lost the kingship because he did not utterly destroy Amalek but spared the best of what was to be destroyed (1 Sam. 15 and notes). (Recovery Version, Exo. 18:1 footnote 1)

We may apply the picture of Exodus 18 to our situation as Christians today. We know from our experience that when our flesh is defeated, the unbelievers will turn to us. It is good that all the churches are actively preaching the gospel. However, if we live in the flesh and fail to defeat Amalek, we may labor a great deal in preaching the gospel, but not many unbelievers will turn. But if we first defeat and subdue our flesh and then go forth to contact people and preach the gospel to them, Jethro will come to us. This means that the unbelievers will turn this way. When we preach the gospel by the living Spirit through the operating cross, killing the flesh, people will turn to us wherever we go. Furthermore, the church, signified by Zipporah, will become prevailing. Thus, the proper gospel preaching must be the kingdom. In the words of Matthew 24:14, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to the whole inhabited earth. (Life-study of Exodus, msg. 49)

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