1. Whether, after the deluge, from Noah to Abraham, any families can be found who lived according to God

It is difficult to discover from Holy Scripture, whether, after the deluge, traces of the holy city are continuous, or are so interrupted by intervening seasons of godlessness, that not a single worshipper of the one true God was found among men; because from Noah, who, with his wife, three sons, and as many daughters-in-law, achieved deliverance in the ark from the destruction of the deluge, down to Abraham, we do not find in the canonical books that the piety of any one is celebrated by express divine testimony, unless it be in the case of Noah, who commends with a prophetic benediction his two sons Shem and Japheth, while he beheld and foresaw what was long afterwards to happen.

It was also by this prophetic spirit that, when his middle son - that is, the son who was younger than the first and older than the last born - had sinned against him, he cursed him not in his own person, but in his son's (his own grandson's) in the words, "Cursed be the lad Canaan; a servant shall be unto his brethren." - Gen. 9:25 - Now Canaan was born of Ham, who, so far from covering his sleeping father's nakedness, had divulged it. For the same reason also he subjoins the blessing in his two other sons, the oldest and youngest, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall gladden Japheth, and he shall dwell in the houses of Shem." - Gen. 9:26-27 - And so, too, the planting of the vine by Noah, and his intoxication by its fruit, and his nakedness while he slept, and the other things done at that time, and recorded, are all of them pregnant with prophetic meanings, and veiled in mysteries.

2. What was prophetically prefigured in the sons of Noah

The things which then were hidden are now sufficiently revealed by the actual events which have followed. For who can carefully and intelligently consider these things without recognising them accomplished in Christ? Shem, of whom Christ was born in the flesh, means "named". And what is of greater name than Christ, the fragrance of whose name is now everywhere perceived, so that even prophecy sings of it before-hand, comparing it in the Song of Songs 1:3, to ointment poured forth? Is it not also in the houses of Christ, that is, in the churches, that the "enlargement" of the nations dwells? For Japheth means "enlargement." And Ham (i.e. hot) who was the middle son of Noah and, as it were, separated himself from both, and remained between them, neither belonging to the first-fruits of Israel nor the fullness of the Gentiles, what does he signify but the tribe of heretics, hot with the spirit, not of patience, but of impatience, with which the breasts of heretics are wont to blaze, and with which they disturb the peace of the saints?

But even the heretics yield an advantage to those that make proficiency, according to the apostle's saying, "There must also be heresies, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you." - 1Cor. 14:19 - Whence, too, it is elsewhere said, "The son that receives instruction will be wise, and he uses the foolish as his servant." - Prov. 24:5 - For while the hot restlessness of heretics stirs questions about many articles of the Catholic faith, the necessity of defending them forces us both to investigate them more accurately, to understand them more clearly, and to proclaim them more earnestly; and the question mooted by an adversary becomes the occasion of instruction. However, not only those who are openly separated from the Church, but also all who glory in the Christian name, and at the same time lead abandoned lives, may without absurdity seem to be figured by Noah's middle son: for the passion of Christ, which was signified by that man's nakedness, is at once proclaimed by their profession, and dishonoured by their wicked conduct.

Of such, therefore, it has been said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." - Matt. 7:20 - And therefore was Ham cursed his son, he being, as it were, his fruit. So, too, this son of his, Canaan, is fitly interpreted "their movement" which is nothing else than their work. But Shem and Japheth, that is to say, the circumcision and uncircumcision or as the apostle otherwise calls them, the Jews and Greeks, but called and justified, having somehow discovered the nakedness of their father (which signifies the Saviour's passion) took a garment and laid it upon their backs, and entered backwards and covered their father's nakedness, without their seeing what their reverence hid. For we both honour the passion of Christ as accomplished for us, and we hate the crime of the Jews who crucified Him. The garment signifies the sacrament, their backs the memory of things past: for the Church celebrates the passion of Christ as already accomplished, and no longer to be looked forward to, now that Japheth already dwells in the habitations of Shem, and their wicked brother between them.

But the wicked brother is, in the person of his son (i.e. his work) the boy or slave of his good brothers, when good men make a skillful use of bad men, either for the exercise of their patience or for their advancement in wisdom. For the apostle testifies  that there are some who preach Christ from no pure motives; "but" says he, "whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." - Phil. 1:18 - For it is Christ Himself who planted the vine of which the prophet says, "The vine of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel - Is. 5:7 - and He drinks of its wine, whether we thus understand that cup of which He says, "Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" - Matt. 20:22 - and, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" - Matt. 26:39 - by which He obviously means His passion. Or, as wine is the fruit of the vine, we may prefer to understand that from this vine, that is to say, from the race of Israel, He has assumed flesh and blood that He might suffer; "and he was drunken" that is, He suffered; "and was naked" that is, His weakness appeared in His suffering, as the apostle says, "though He was crucified through weakness." - 2Cor. 13:4 -

Wherefore the same apostle says, "The weakness of God is stronger than men; and the foolishness of God is wiser than men." - 1Cor. 1:25 - And when to the expression "he was naked" Scripture adds "in his house" it elegantly intimates that Jesus was to suffer the cross and death at the hands of His own household, His own kith and kin, the Jews. This passion of Christ is only externally and verbally professed by the reprobate, for what they profess they do not understand. But the elect hold in the inner man this so great mystery, and honour inwardly in the heart this weakness and foolishness of God. And of this there is a figure in Ham going out to proclaim his father's nakedness; while Shem and Japheth, to cover or honour it, went in, that is to say, did it inwardly.

These secrets of divine Scripture we investigate as well as we can. All will not accept our interpretation with equal confidence, but all hold it certain that these things were neither done nor recorded without some foreshadowing of future events, and that they are to be referred only to Christ and His church, which is the city of God, proclaimed from the very beginning of human history by figures which we now see everywhere accomplished. From the blessing of the two sons of Noah, and the cursing of the middle son, down to Abraham, or for more than a thousand years, there is, as I have said, no mention of any righteous persons who worshipped God.

I do not therefore conclude that there were none; but it had been tedious to mention every one, and would have displayed historical accuracy rather than prophetic foresight. The object of the writer of these sacred books, or rather of the Spirit of God in him, is not only to record the past, but to depict the future, so far as it regards the city of God; for whatever is said of those who are not its citizens, is given either for her instruction, or as a foil to enhance her glory. Yet we are not to suppose that all that is recorded has some signification; but those things which have no signification of their own are interwoven for the sake of the things which are significant. It is only the ploughshare that cleaves the soil; but to effect this, other parts of the plough are requisite. It is only the strings in harps and other musical instruments which produce melodious sounds; but that they may do so, there are other parts of the instrument which are not indeed struck by those who sing, but are connected with the strings which are struck, and produce musical notes. So in this prophetic history some things are narrated which have no significance, but are, as it were, the framework to which the significant things are attached.

3. Of the generations of the three sons of Noah

We must therefore introduce into this work an explanation of the generations of the three sons of Noah, in so far as that may illustrate the progress in time of the two cities. Sacred Scripture first mentions that of the youngest son, who is called Japheth: he had eight sons, and by two of these sons seven grandchildren, three by one son, four by the other; in all, fifteen descendants. Ham, Noah's middle son, had four sons, and by one of them five grandsons, and by one of these two great-grandsons; in all, eleven.

After enumerating these, Sacred Scripture returns to the first of the sons, and says, "Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a giant on the earth. he was a giant hunter against the Lord God: wherefore they say, As Nimrod the giant hunter against the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Assur, and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: this was a great city." Now this Cush, father of the giant Ninrod, is the first named among the sons of Ham, to whom five sons and two grandsons are ascribed. But he either begat this giant after his grandsons were born, or, which is more credible, Scripture speaks of him separately on account of his eminence; for mention is also made of his kingdom, which began with that magnificent city Babylon, and the other places, whether cities or districts, mentioned along with it.

But what is recorded of the land of Shinar which belonged to Nimrod's kingdom, to wit, that Assur went forth from it and built Nineveh and the other cities mentioned with it, happened long after; but he takes occasion to spaekof it here on account of the grandeur of the Assyrian kingdom, which was wonderfully extended by Ninus son of Belus, and founder of the great city Nineveh, which was named after him, Nineveh, from Ninus. But Assur, father of Assyrian, was not one of the sons of Ham, Noah's middle son, but is found among the sons of Shem, his eldest son. Whence it appears that among Shem's offspring there arose men who afterwards took possession of that giant's kingdom, and advancing from it, founded other cities, the first of which was called Nineveh, from Ninus. From him Scripture returns to Ham's other son, Mizraim; and his sons are enumerated, not as seven individuals, but as seven nations. And from the sixth, as if from the sixth son, the race called the Philistines are said to have sprung; so that there are in all eight. Then it returns again to Canaan, in whose person Ham was cursed; and his eleven sons are named. Then the territories they occupied, and some of the cities are named. And thus, if we count sons and grandsons, there are thirty-one of Ham's descendants registered.

It remains to mention the sons of Shem, Noah's eldest son; for to him this genealogical narrative gradually ascends from the youngest. But in the commencement of the record of Shem's sons there is an obscurity which calls for explanation, since it is closely connected with the object of our investigation. For we read, "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Heber, the brother of Japheth the elder, were children born." - Gen. 24:21 -

This is the order of the words: And to Shem was born Heber, even to himself, that is, to Shem himself was born Heber, and Shem is the father of all his children. We are intended to understand that Shem is the patriarch of all his posterity who were to be mentioned, whether sons, grandsons, great-grandsons, or descendants at any remove. For Shem did not beget Heber, who was indeed in the fifth generation from him. For Shem begat, among other sons, Arphaxad; Arphaxad begat Cainan, Cainan begat Salah, Salah begat Heber. And it was with good reason that he was named first among Shem's offspring, taking precedence even of his sons, though only a grandchild of the fifth generation; for from him, as tradition says, the Hebrews derived their name, though the other etymology which derives the name from Abraham (as if Abrahews) may possibly be correct. But there can be little doubt that the former is the right etymology, and that they were called after Heber, Heberews, and then, dropping a letter, Hebrews; and so was their language called Hebrew, which was spoken by none but the people of Israel among whom was the city of God, mysteriously prefigured in all the people, and truly present in the saints. Six of Shem's sons then are first named, then four grandsons born to one of these sons; then it mentions another son of Shem, who begat a grandson; and his son, again, or Shem's great-grandson, was Heber. And Heber begat two sons, and called the one Peleg, which means "dividing" and Sacred Scripture subjoins the reason of this name, saying, "for in his days was the earth divided."

What this means will afterwards appear. Heber's other son begat twelve sons' consequently all Shem's descendants are twenty-seven. The total number of the progeny of the three sons of Noah is Shem. Then Sacred Scripture adds, "These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations." And so of the whole number: "These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the isles of the nations dispersed through the earth after the flood." From which we gather that the seventy-three ( or rather, as I shall presently show, seventy-two) were not individuals, but nations. For in a former passage, when the sons of Japheth were enumerated, it is said in conclusion, "By these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his language, in their tribes, and in their nations."

But nations are expressly mentioned among the sons of Ham, as I showed above. "Mizraim begat those who are called Ludim" and so also of the other seven nations. And after enumerating all of them, it concludes, "These are the sons of Ham, in their families, according to their languages, in their territories, and in their nations." The reason, then, why the children of several of them are not mentioned, is that they belonged by birth to other nations, and did not themselves become nations. Why else is it, that though eight sons are reckoned to Japheth, the sons of only two of these are mentioned; and though four are reckoned to Ham, only three are spoken of as having sons; and though six are reckoned to Shem, the descendants of only two of these are traced? Did the rest remain childless? We cannot suppose so; but they did not produce nations so great as to warrant their being mentioned, but were absorbed in the nations to which they belonged by birth.

4. Of the diversity of languages, and of the founding of Babylon

But though these nations are said to have been dispersed according to their languages, yet the narrator recurs to that time when all had but one language, and explains how it came to pass that a diversity of languages was introduced. "The whole earth" he says, "was of one lip, and all had one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there. And they said one to another, Come, and let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone, and slime for mortar.

And they said, Come, and let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top shall reach the sky; and let us make us a name, before we be scattered abroad on the face of all the earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord God said, Behold, the people is one and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Come, and let us go down, and confound there their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. And God scattered them thence on the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city and the tower. Therefore the name of it is called Confusion; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and the Lord God scattered them thence on the face of all the earth." - Gen. 11:1-9 -

This city, which was called Confusion, is the same as Babylon, whose wonderful construction Gentile history also notices. For Babylon means Confusion. Whence we conclude that the giant Nimrod was its founder, as had been hinted a little before, where Sacred Scripture, in speaking of him, says that the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, that is, Babylon had a supremacy over the other cities as the metropolis and royal residence; although it did not rise to the grand dimensions designed by its proud and impious founder. The plan was to make it so high that it should reach the sky, whether this was meant of one tower which they intended to build higher than the others, or of all the towers, which might be signified by the singular number, as we speak of "the soldier" meaning the army, and of the frog or the locusts in the plagues with which Moses smote the Egyptians. - Ex. 10 - But what did these vain and presumptuous men intend? How did they expect to raise this lofty mass against God, when they had built it above all the mountains and the clouds of the earth's atmosphere? What injury could any spiritual or material elevation do to God? The safe and true way to heaven is made by humility, which lifts up the heart to the Lord, not against Him; as this giant is said to have been a "hunter against the Lord."

This has been misunderstood by some through the ambiguity of the Greek word, and they have translated it, not "against the Lord" but "before the Lord" for it means both "before" and "against."  In the Psalm this word is rendered, "Let us weep before the Lord our Maker." - Ps. 95 - The same word occurs in the book of Job, where it is written, "Thou hast broken into fury against the Lord." - Job 15: 13 - And so this giant is to be recognised as a "hunter against the Lord." And what is meant by the term "hunter" but deceiver, oppressor, and destroyer of the animals of the earth? He and his people, therefore, erected this tower against the Lord, and so gave expression to their impious pride; and justly was their wicked intention punished by God, even though it was unsuccessful. But what was the nature of the punishment? As the tongue is the instrument of domination, in it pride was punished; so that man, who would not understand God when He issued His commands, should be misunderstood when he himself gave orders. Thus was that conspiracy disbanded, for each man retired from those he could not understand, and associated with those whose speech was intelligible; and the nations were divided according to their languages, and scattered over the earth as seemed good to God, who accomplished this in ways hidden from and incomprehensible to us.

5. Of God's coming down to confound the languages of the builders of the city

We read, "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men built:" it was not the sons of God, but that society which lived in a merely human way, and which we call the earthly city. God, who is always wholly everywhere, does not move locally; but He is said to descend when He does anything in the earth out of the usual course, which as it were, makes His presence felt. And in the same way, He does not by "seeing" learn some new thing, for He cannot ever be ignorant of anything; but He is said to see and recognise, in time, that which He causes others to see and recognise. And therefore that city was not previously being seen as God made it be seen when He showed how offensive it was to Him.

We might, indeed, interpret God's descending to the city of the descent of His angels in whom He dwells; so that the following words, "And the Lord God said, Behold, they are all one race and of one language" and also what follows, "Come, and let us go down and confound their speech" are a recapitulation, explaining how the previously intimated "descent of the Lord" was accomplished. For if He had already gone down, why does He say, "Come, and let us go down and confound? " - words which seem to be addressed to the angels, and to intimate that He who was in the angels descended in their descent. And the words most appropriately are, not, "Go ye down and confound" but, "Let us confound their speech" showing that He so works by His servants, that they are themselves also fellow-labourers with God, as the apostle says, "For we are fellow-labourers with God." - 1Cor. 3:9 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

ARK OF THE COVENANT - a sacred portable chest which - along with its two related items, the MERCY SEAT and CHERUBIM - was the most important sacred object of the Israelites during the wilderness period. It was also known as the ark of the Lord - Josh. 6:11 - the ark of God - 1Sam. 3:3 - and the ark of the Testimony. - Ex. 25:22 -

The ark of the covenant was the only article of furniture in the innermost room, or Holy of Holies, of Moses' tabernacle and of Solomon's Temple. From between the two cherubim that were on the ark of the Testimony, God spoke to Moses. Once a year the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, but only with sacrificial blood that he sprinkled on the mercy seat for the atonement of sin.

Ironically, the Hebrew word translated as ark is also translated as coffin. In the last verse of the book of Genesis, this word is used of the coffin in which Joseph's embalmed body was placed after he died in Egypt. - Gen. 50:26 - The ark of the covenant was also a 'coffin' or 'chest' 2.5 cubits long, 1.5 cubits wide, and 1.5 cubits deep. ( about 45" inches by 27" inches by 27" inches ) The builder of the ark was a man named Bezaleel. - Ex. 37:1 -

The ark was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It had four rings of gold through which carrying poles were inserted. - Ex. 37:1-9 - These poles were never removed from the rings, apparently to show that the ark was a portable sanctuary. Even when the ark was placed in Solomon's Temple, the poles stayed in place, and they could be seen from a certain point outside the inner sanctuary. - 1Kin. 8:8 -

The ark had a gold cover known as the "mercy seat" - Ex. 25:17-22 - because the Israelites believed the ark was God's throne. The ark had a gold molding or "crown" surrounding the top edge. The mercy seat was a slab of pure gold which fit exactly within the crown of the ark, so the mercy seat could not slide around during transportation.

Of one piece with the mercy seat were two angelic statues called cherubim. They stood at opposite ends of the mercy seat, facing each other with wings outstretched above and their faces bowed toward the mercy seat. They marked the place where the Lord dwelled as well as the place where the Lord communicated with Moses.

Within the ark were the two stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments - Ex. 25:16-21 - considered to be the basis of the covenant between God and His people Israel. Thus, the ark was often called the ark of the Testimony. The golden pot of MANNA, which God miraculously preserved as a testimony to future generations - Ex. 16:32-34 - was also deposited in the ark. The third item in the ark was Aaron's Rod that budded to prove that Aaron was God's chosen. - Num. 17:1-11 -

While the New Testament states that the ark contained these three items - Heb. 9:4 - the ark must have lost two of them through the years. At the dedication of Solomon's Temple, Aaron's rod and the golden pot of manna were gone: "There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed in it at Horeb, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh had made with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt; they are still there today." - 1Kin. 8:9 -

The Ark of the Covenant was carried by the sons of Levi during the wilderness wanderings. - Deut. 31:9 - Carried into the Jordan River by the priests, the ark caused the waters to part so Israel could cross on dry ground, - Josh. 3:6-4:18 - During the conquest of the land of Canaan, the ark was carried at the fall of Jericho - Josh. 6:4-11 - later it was deposited at Shilol which had become the home of the tabernacle. - Josh. 18:1 -

Trusting the 'magic power' of the ark rather than God, the Israelites took the ark into battle against the Philistines and suffered a crushing defeat. - 1Sam. 4:1-11 - The Philistines captured the ark, only send it back when disaster struck their camp. - 1Sam. chapter 5 to 6 - It remained at Kirjath Jearim until king David brought it to Jerusalem. - 1Chr. 13:3-14, 15:1-28 - King Solomon established it in the Holy of Holies of the Temple which he built.

Nothing is known of what became of the ark. It disappeared when Nebuchadnezzar's armies destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and was not available when the second and third temples were built. In the many synagogues that arose after the Captivity, a chest or ark containing the Torah ( scrolls of the Law ) and other sacred books was placed in an area shut off from the rest of the building, just as the original ark was placed in the Holy of Holies of the Temple.

Apparently, there was "Ark of Moses" and "Ark of Noah's " too. Ark of Moses refers to a small basket-like container in which Moses was hidden by his mother to save him from the slaughter of Hebrew children by the Egyptian Pharaoh. - Ex. 2:3-6 - The basket was made of woven Papyrus reeds and sealed with a tar-like pitch. The lid on the basket kept insects and the sun off the child so he could sleep. The ark was discovered by the daughter of Pharaoh when she came to bathe at the river.

Ark of Noah's refers to a vessel built by Noah to save him, his family, and animals from the Flood. - Gen. 6:14-9:18 - God commanded Noah to make the ark of gopher wood. - Gen. 6:14 - Many scholars believe gopher wood is cypress, which was noted for its lightness and durability and therefore was used extensively in shipbuilding by the Phoenicians.

Noah's ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. ( about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high ) - Gen. 6:15 - The ark was constructed with three 'decks'  - Gen. 6:16 - When Noah and his family and all the animals entered the ark, God himself shut its door to insure their safety against the raging flood. - Gen. 7:16 - In this way, God sealed the judgment against the ungodly who had refused to heed Noah's warnings. When the waters subsided after the Flood, the ark rested on the mountains of ARARAT. - Gen. 8:4 -

In the New Testament, Jesus spoke of the Flood and of Noah and the ark, comparing "the days of Noah" with the time of "the coming of the Son of Man." The ark is a striking illustration of Christ, who preserves us from the flood of divine judgment.

As it was Noah's day, so will it also be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating and drinking, marrying wives and husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and the Flood came and destroyed them all. It will be the same as it was in Lot's day: people were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but the day lot left Sodom, God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and it destroyed them all. It will be the same when the days comes for the Son of Man to be revealed.

When that day comes, anyone on the housetop, with his possessions in the house, must not come down to collect them, nor must anyone in the fields turn back either. Remember Lot's wife. Anyone who tries to preserve his life will lose it; and anyone who loses it will keep it safe. I tell you, on that night two will be in one bed: one will be taken, the other left; two women will be grinding corn together: one will be taken, the other left. The disciples interrupted. 'Where, Lord? they asked. He said,'Where the body is, there too will be vultures gather.' - Luke 17:26-37 - Matt. 24:37-44 -

                                                                           Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

In the New Testament as in the Old Testament, the 'high priest was appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices' - Heb. 8:3 - and was referred to as "God's high priest" and 'ruler of [the] people.' - Acts 23:4-5 - Caiaphas was the president of the Sanhedrin, the highest ruling body of the Jews. - Matt. 26:3 - But the office ceased to be hereditary, and it was subject to the whim of the political power, Rome. The high priest's religious influence was weakened by the rising power of the scribes and Pharisees, and they became known for their materialism and thirst for power.

By the New Testament period, the position of priests in the nation of Israel had changed considerably. The Temple functions were taken over by the chief priests. The chief priests were the holders of the priestly offices of higher rank in the Temple and along with the high priest, were leaders in the Sanhedrin. That they had administrative authority in the Temple. Ranks and file priests were also overshadowed by the Scribes and Pharisees, two special groups that arose to present the Law and interpret its meaning for the people. But in spite of the diminished role of priests, Jesus respected the office and called upon the priests to witness His healing of lepers in keeping with the Law of Moses.

A leper came to him and pleaded on his knees: "If you want to" he said, "you can cure me." Feeling sorry for him. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. "Of course I want to!" he said. "Be cured!" And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, 'Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.' - Mark - 1:40-44 -

Above all, the high priest and his fellow priests were threatened by the presence of Jesus in His Father's house, for they had changed it from a "house of prayer for all nations" to a place of merchandise, a "den of thieves."

So he reached Jerusalem and he went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling and buying there; he upset the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling pigeons. Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. And he taught them and said, "Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples? But you have turned it into a robbers' den." This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find some way of doing away with him. - Mark 11:15-18 - Matt. 21:12-14 - Luke 19:45-48 - John 2:13-17 -

The New Testament's most important references to the high priest are found profoundly in the Epistle to the Hebrews, referring to Jesus. Qualifying Himself to be a merciful and faithful high priest by becoming a man of the seed of Abraham , Jesus is sympathetic with our weaknesses. He did not assume the office for power or glory, and not of the order of Aaron, but of Melchizedek. - Heb. 5:10 - He had no need, as the sons of Aaron, to offer sacrifices for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people; Jesus Christ had no sin. - Heb. 7:27-28 -

They offered animal blood that could never take sin away, - Heb. 10:1-4 - Jesus Christ offered His own blood, once for all. - Heb. 9:26, 10:10-12 - They were many priests and they died, but Jesus is an eternal priesthood because He lives for ever. - Heb. 7:23-25 - Their priesthood was performed in an earthly model of the real sanctuary. Jesus Christ performs His ministry in heaven itself, and He is seated at the right of God. - Heb. 4:14, 8:5, 9:11, 10:12 -

What is more, this was not done without the taking of an oath. The others indeed, were made priests without any oath; but he with an oath sworn by the one who declared to him: The Lord has sworn an oath which he will never retract: you are a priest, and for ever! And it follows that it is a greater covenant for which Jesus has become our guarantee. Then there used to be a great number of those priests because death put an end to each one of them: but this one, because he remains for ever, can never lose his priesthood. It follows, then, that his power to save is utterly certain, since he is living for ever to intercede for all who come to God through him.

To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices everyday, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then for those of the people, because he has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever. - Heb. 7:20-28 -

The office of priest was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The Son of God became a man - Heb. 2:9-14 - so that He might offer Himself as sacrifice "once to bear the sins of many." Hence, there is no longer a need for priests to offer sacrifice to atone for man's sin. A permanent sacrifice has been made by Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross.

Instead of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him. - Heb. 9:27-28 -

Priesthood and holiness were meant to be inseparable. But the sinful nature of the priests allow corruption to enter the God-ordained office. However, the priesthood to which the nation of Israel was called at Mount Sinai continues today in the Church.

So they reached Jerusalem and Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling and buying there; he upsets the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling pigeons. Nor would he allow anyone to carry anything through the Temple. And Jesus taught then and said, 'Does not scripture say: My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples? But you have turned it into a robbers' den.' This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find way of doing away with him. - Mark 11:15-18 - Matt. 21:12-13; Luke 19:45-46 -

So before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, 'Take all this out of here and stop turning mt Father's house into a market.'

Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, 'What sign can you show us to justify what you have done? Jesus answered, 'Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.' The Jews replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?' But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said. - John 2:13-22 -

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But you', he said 'who do you say I am?' Then Simon Peter spoke up, 'You are the Christ,' he said 'the Son of the living God.' Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. - Matt. 16:13-18 -

And as they were eating Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it' he said 'this is my body.' Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink anymore wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.' - Mark 14:22-25 - Matt. 26:26-29; Luke 22:19-20; John 6:51-58; 1Cor. 11:23-27 -

These remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. - Acts 2:42 -

Saint Peter, Simon is the most prominent of the Lord Jesus Christ twelve apostles. He was a pioneer among the twelve apostles and the early Church, breaking ground that the Church would later follow. According to the early tradition, Peter went to Rome, where he died. In the New Testament, Rome referred to as 'Babylon'  - 1Pet. 5:13 - This early and generally reliable tradition supports the pioneer role played by Saint Peter throughout his life and ministry.

Saint Peter Simon was the first pope of Rome, and also the first God's ordained priest of the Universal Church because the New Testament emphasize Peter's prominent role in the founding of the Church. - Matt. 16:18 -

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Priest is an official minister or worship leader in the nation of Israel who represented the people before God and conducted various rituals to atone for their sins. This function was carried out by the father of a family - Job 1:5 - or the head of a tribe in the days before Moses and his brother Aaron. But with the appointment of Aaron by God as the first chief Priest, the priesthood was formally established. Aaron's descendants were established as the priestly line in Israel. They carried out their important duties from generation to generation as a special class devoted to God's service.

A chief priest of the Hebrew people, especially of the ancient Jewish Levitical priesthood traditionally traced from Aaron. Head/Chief priest, the great one from his brothers, and ruler of the house of God are literal translations of references to this officer. - Lev. 21:10; 2Chr. 19:11 - The chief priest was the supreme civil head of his people.

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible often speaks of priests and Levites as if these two offices were practically the same. - 1Chr. 23:2, 24:6,31 - Indeed, they were closely related, in that both priests and Levites sprang from a common ancestor. They traced the lineage back to Levi, head of one of the original twelve tribes of Israel. But these two offices were different, in that priests (a specific branch of Levites descended through Aaron) and Levites (all descendants of Levi in general) performed different duties.

Priests officiated at worship by offering various offerings on behalf of the nation and by leading the people to confess their sins. The Levites were assistants to the priests. They took care of the tabernacle and the Temple and performed other menial tasks, such as providing music, serving as door-keepers, and preparing sacrifices for offering by the priests. In their function of offering sacrifices at the altar, the priests acted as mediators between man and God, offering sacrifices so that sin might be forgiven. - Lev. 4:20,26,31 - Each sacrifices was demonstration that the penalty of sin is death - Ezek. 18:4,20 - and that there can be no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of Blood. - Heb. 9:22 -

The first priest mentioned in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible was Melchizedek, 'king of Salem' and 'the priest of God Most High.' - Gen. 14:18 - Next mentioned was Jethro, Moses' father-in-law and the priest of Midian, who joined Moses, Aaron and the elders of Israel for a sacrificial meal. - Ex. 18:1,12 - The true priesthood began many years before their time in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned against God, He made them tunics of skin and clothed them. Thus, the death of animals became a symbol of the removal of man's guilt. - Gen. 3:21 -

After the event, Abel sacrifice that pleased God. - Gen. 4:4 - Still later, Noah - Gen. 8:28 - Abraham - Gen. 12:7-8 - Isaac - Gen. 26:25 - Jacob - Gen. 35:1-7 - and Job - Job 1:5 - all acted as priests, offering sacrifices to God. In fact, each family in Israel killed the "Passover" lamb, offering it as sacrifice to God. But when God established Israel as His Chosen People at Mount Sinai after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt - Ex. 6:7, 19:5-6 - God established a formal priesthood through Aaron and his descendants. As descendants of Levi, they were to represent the nation of Israel in service to God at the tabernacle and altar. - Num. 8:9-18 -

The priesthood was given to Aaron and his descendants 'as a gift for service' - Num. 18:7 - and as 'an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.' - Ex. 40:15 - Since the office was hereditary, the descendants of Aaron were obligated to accept the responsibility and meet the qualifications. No person with a physical defect or disqualifying disease could serve as a priest because bodily perfection was to symbolize the priest's spiritual wholeness and holiness of heart. Priest must not show grief for the dead - even his father or mother - by removing his headdress or letting his hair go unkempt. He must not tear his clothes in grief or go near a dead body. Leaving his duties unperformed because of a death would 'profane the sanctuary.' - Lev. 21:6-21 -

Aaron and his sons were consecrated for the priesthood in an elaborate seven day ceremony. - Ex. 29:30-37 - Their bodies were bathed to symbolize the purifying of their souls from sin. Then they were clothed in their priestly garments and anointed with oil as sacrifices were made on their behalf. The entire dedication procedure was an outward sign of their 'Sanctification' in God's total service. - Ex. 29:9 -

The clothes which the priests wore also carried great significance. Their white linen garments symbolized holiness and glory. They also wore a coat woven in one piece without a seam to indicate their spiritual integrity, wholeness, and righteousness. The four cornered cloth of the coat signified that the priest belonged to the kingdom of God. The cap, resembling an opening flower, symbolized the fresh, vigorous life of the one who wore it. The girdle, or sash, a belt which encircled the priest's body, was the priestly sign of service. It showed that the wearer was an office bearer and administrator in the kingdom of God. - Exodus chapter 39 -

The priests had several responsibilities as mediators between the sinful people and their holy God. They lit the incense and cleaned, trimmed, and lit the lamps. Ministering before God at the altar, the priests had to make sure the offerings of the people were correct and that the sacrificial rituals were carried out correctly. Otherwise, the people could not be cleansed of their sin until the priests had made atonement for the error. - Num. 18:1 -

As 'messengers of the Lord' - Mal. 2:7 - the priests were to teach the Law to the people of Israel. In addition to instructing in the Law year by year, they were also responsible for reading the Law at the Feast of Tabernacles every seventh year. - Deut. 31:9-13 - By their example, the priests also taught the people how to distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean. - Lev.10:10 - Living in cities scattered throughout the nation of Israel, the priests were in a good position to fulfill this function. - Josh. chapter 21 - In addition, the priests served as judges, acting as a kind of supreme court for Israel. - Deut. 17:8-13 - In special cases, the chief or high priests declared the will or judgment of God throughout Urim and Thummin, the medium through which God sometimes communicated His divine will. - Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8; Deut. 33:8 -

A chief priest or high priest was consecrated (installed in office) by an elaborate seven day service at the tabernacle or Temple. - Ex. chapter 29; Lev. chapter 8 - He was cleansed by bathing, then dressed in the garments and symbols he must wear in his ministry and anointed with special oil. Sacrifices of sin offering, burnt offerings, and consecration offering were made for him; and he was anointed again with oil and blood of the sacrifice. Thus, "sanctified" to serve as a high priest and "consecrated" to offer sacrifice, he became the "holy one of the Lord." - Ex. 28:41, 29:9; Ps. 106:16 -

The high priest's special dress represented his function as mediator between God and man. Over the trousers, coat, girdle, and cap, worn by all priests, the high priest wore a special an 'Ephod' a two pieces apron reaching to his hips, made of royal colors (blue, purple/violet, and scarlet) and sewed with gold thread. By the two onyx stones bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel fastened to the shoulders of the ephod, he brought the whole nation before God in all his priestly acts. - Ex. 28:5-14 - The 'breastplate of judgment' made of the same material, was attached to the front of the ephod. - Ex. 28:15-30 - On its front were 12 precious stones engraved with the names of the 12 tribes. In its pocket, directly over his heart, were the Urim and Thummin, the medium through which God could communicate His will. By this the high priest was Israel's advocate before God and God's spokesman to them.

Over the breastplate he wore the blue 'robe of the ephod' - Ex. 28:31 - Around his hem were pomegranates, pointing to the divine law as sweet and delicious spiritual food. - Deut. 8:3 - and bells that would ring as he went "into the holy place before the Lord...that he may not die." - Ex. 28:35 - The bells announced God's gracious salvation for He had accepted the people in the person of their advocate, the high priest. On his forehead the high priest wore "the holy crown" of gold engraved with the words, "Holiness to the Lord." - Ex. 28:36-37 - Thus, he was represented as bearing 'the iniquity of the holy things' - Ex. 28:38 - which Israel offered to God and crowned mediator, making atonement for the nation so God might accept their gifts and show them favor.

All these garments stood for the "glory and beauty" - Ex. 28:40 - which God placed upon his priests, sanctifying them to minister in His name. - Ex. 28:3 -

The high priest held a leadership position in seeing that all responsibilities of the priests were carried out. - 2Chr. 19:11 - He could participate in all priestly ministry, but certain functions were given only to him. As he alone wore the Urim and the Thummim, Israel came to him to learn the will of God. - Deut. 33:8 - For this reason Joshua was to 'ask counsel' of Eleazar regarding the movements of the army in the conquest of the land of Canaan. - Num. 27:21 -

The high priest had to offer a sin offering for his own sins and the sin of the whole congregation. - Lev. 4:3-21 - At the death of the high priest freedom was granted to all who were confined to the Cities of Refuge for accidentally causing the death of another person. - Num. 35:28 - The most important responsibility of the high priest was to conduct the service on the "Day Of Atonement" the tenth day of the seventh month each year. On this day the high priest alone entered the Holy Place inside the veil before God. Having made sacrifice for himself and for the people, he brought the blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, "God's throne." This he did to make atonement for himself and the people for all their sins committed during the year just ended. - Ex. 30;10; Lev. chapter 16 - It is with this particular service that the ministry of Jesus Christ as high priest is compared. - Heb. 9:1-28

When the land of Canaan was conquered and divided among the tribes of Israel, 13 cities with their surrounding land were allotted to the priests as residences for their families and pasture lands for their flocks. - Josh. 21:10-19 - Across the centuries, the priests increased to a numerous body. King David divided them into 24 groups. - 1Chr. 24:1-19 - Except for the great festivals when all the groups served at the tabernacle at the same time, each group of priests officiated for a week at a time on a rotating basis.

As long as the king and the people of Israel remained loyal to God and His Law, the priests were highly respected and exercised a healthy influence in the land. But the priests eventually sank to immorality, departed from God, and worshiped idols, along with the rest of the people. - Ezek. 22:26 -

In the final book of the Old testament, the prophet Malachi pointed to the neglect, corruption and false teaching of the priests. According to prophet Malachi, this was the reason why the people began to neglect the offerings and festivals of the Temple. They lost their respect for the persons who held the office, and finally the office itself. - Mal. 1:6, 2:7-9 - Thus, the Old Testament closes with the announcement that God in His judgment "will suddenly come to His temple...like a refiner's fire" to purify the priests. - Mal. 3:1-3 - God was determined to preserve His human priests until the appearance of His true Priest, Jesus Christ.

In the context of historical development, Eleazar succeeded Aaron - Num. 20:28 - and served at Shiloh where the tabernacle was erected after the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites. He was followed by his son Phinehas. - Num. :25:11-12; Josh. 24:33 - Eli, a descendant of Ithamar, the younger brother of Eleazar, held the office by the Lord's choice - 1Sam. 2:28 - at the end of the period of the judges, the change being explained and because of the sins of Eli's sons, Samuel appears to have succeeded Eli - 1Sam. 2:12-36, 7:5, 9-10, 17 -although he is not called a high priest, and did not regularly function at the tabernacle. Eli's sons cared for the tabernacle at Nob after the destruction of Shiloh. - 1Sam. chapter 21-22 - Abiathar, a descendant of Eli, escaped Saul's slaughter of the priests at Nob - 1Sam. 22:19-21 - taking the ephod with him and serving with David. - 1Sam. 23:9, 30:7 -

King David appointed Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, to serve at the tabernacle at Gibeon - 1Chr. 16:39 - at the same time that he took the ark to Jerusalem. Zadok and Abimelech, the son of Abiathar, are listed as priests among David's officers. Zadok crowned Solomon - 1King 1:39 - and was appointed by him as high priest in the place of Abiathar when the latter was bannished for supporting Adonijah's claim to the throne. - 1King 2:26-27, 35 - This made him the high priest to minister in the Temple. His line of high priests served there until Babylonian Captivity. - 1Chr. 6:3-15 -

Mutual support and encouragement characterized the Davidic kings and high priests. David organized 24 groups of priests to serve by turn at the Temple, supervised by both Zadok and Abiathar. - 1Chr. 24:6, 31 - Solomon confirmed the appointments of his father. - 2Chr. 8:14-15 - Jehoshaphal organized priests , Levites, and chief men of Israel under the leadership of the high priest to go through the land teaching the people the law, encouraging them to faithful, reverent service. - 2Chr. chapter 19 - The high priest Jehoiada protected Joash from Athaliah's murder of the king's sons and organized his coronation and the destruction of Athaliah. - 2Chr. 22:10-23:21 -

King Hezekiah and king Josiah assisted the high priests in reform and restoration of the Temple and its worship after its desecration by Ahaz and Manasseh. - 2Chr. chapter 30,31,34,35 - Ezekiel announced that the sons of Zadok would be priests in the new Temple - Ezek. 44:15-16 - because they had not rejected God when Israel went astray. - 1King 12:31; 2Chr. 11:13-15, 13:9 -

After the Captivity, Joshua the high priest, of the sons of Zadok - Hag. 1:1 - and Zerubbabel of the house of David - the governor appointed by Cyrus - led the rebuilding of the Temple. As no further governors were appointed, the high priest became sole political and religious leader. Great care was taken by Ezra and Nehemiah to restore the Mosaic order in purity, but interference by unprincipled civil rulers took a sad toll on the purity and influence of the high priest. The Syrian, Antiochus IV, removed the Zadokite high priest and replaced him with a man from a non-priestly family.

In the revolt that followed and the consequent independence, the Hasmoneans, a family of ordinary priests, took political control. In 153 B.C. one of them, Jonathan, assumed the high priest's office, and later the royal title.

When Herod came to power under Rome in 37 B.C. he arbitrarily deposed and appointed high priests as he pleased, and did away with anointing them. During this period until the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., five prominent families of high priests held power. Annas was the leader of one of these. His son-in-law Caiaphas, five of his sons, and a grandson held the office. Although Annas had been replaced by Caiaphas before the time of Jesus' ministry, his influence continued. - Luke 3;2; John 18:13,24 -

                                                                   Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Self-preservation is one of the first laws of nature, and it implies a legitimate self-love; for if we did not love ourselves, we could not continue to live. Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ reminded us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Self-love, knowing it cannot exist by itself anymore than the stomach can exist without food, extends itself in one direction by the acquiring of knowledge; and the more we know of the truth, the more of our personality is developed. The quest for perfection of the self reaches to the infinite. No one has ever said, "I know enough." That is why we hate to have secrets kept from us (men hate this just as much as women) We are incurably curious; we were made to know.

We escape the limitations of the body in another direction by the expansion of our flesh in the procreation of other personalities. Love always tends to an incarnation. In order that human life might be preserved and continued, God implanted of two great appetites and pleasures in man. One is the pleasure of eating to preserve the corporal life of the individual, the other is the pleasure of marriage to preserve the life of race.

The third way of perfecting ourselves is through the ownership of things. Just as we are free on the inside because we can call our soul our own, so we want to be free on the outside by calling possessions our own. Personal or private ownership is natural to man; it is the economic guarantee of freedom, as the soul is its spiritual guarantee.

The Church teaches that the human person is constantly striving for perfection and is restless until it perfects its mind in knowledge, or generates its kind in marriage, or assures its economic security through things. Each of these urges and instincts and cravings is right and God-given. In each instance, the "I" is attempting to find another "I". Because the "I" loves itself, it also loves wisdom, it loves the flesh, and it loves property.

Where then does abnormality arise, if these pursuits are natural? How could they cause a psychosis or anxiety or a complex, any more than the eye does in seeing or the ear in hearing? If we were animals, these pursuits toward perfection would, indeed, never cause disturbance, for an animal's desire can be fully satisfied; but human being cannot. No animal is curious about chlorophyll when it sees a plant, not does a squirrel have an anxiety complex about whether there will be a shortage of nuts ten years hence. But man's impulses and passions are subject to his will. Not being mechanically ordered as means to the salvation of his soul, he can misuse his passions, make them ends in themselves, try to find the absolute in their relative.

Self-love which is good, can be preserved into self-adoration, in which one says, "I am my own law, my own truth, my own standard. Nobody can tell me anything. Whatever I call right is right; what I call wrong is wrong. Therefore, I am God." This is the sin of pride, the perversion of self-love into egotism. Such undue self-inflation is one of the principal causes of unhappiness; the more a balloon is inflated, the easier it is to puncture it. The egotist walks warily, in constant danger of having his false values destroyed.

The sex instinct, which is good, can also be perverted. In the days of pagan Rome some corrupt individuals attended banquets, gorged themselves with food, tickled their throats, disgorged the food, and then went back and ate more. This was wrong because, as reason told them, one eats to live and the pleasure must not be separated from its function. In like manner, when the fires of life are aroused deliberately, not to light new torches of life, but to scorch the flesh, there is the sin of lust. This is a perversion animals cannot commit because they cannot defunctionalize and artificially centralize their instincts.

Third, humankind's legitimate desire for self-expansion through ownership can be perverted into an inordinate passion for wealth, without regard for either its social use or the needs of the neighbor. This is the sin of avarice, in which a person does not possess a fortune, but a fortune possesses him.

Because the human will can pervert the good passions, instincts, cravings, and aspirations into pride, lust and avarice, the Church enjoins mortification - through prayer, which humbles the proud soul, through fasting, which harnesses the errant impulses of the body, and through alms, which detach us from inordinate love of things. In the higher realm, the Church allows some chosen souls to take the vow of obedience to atone for the proud, the vow of chastity to redeem the licentious, and the vow of poverty to compensate for the greedy. These vows are taken, not because enjoyment of the mind, the flesh, or property is wrong, but because some members of society abuse them and pervert them. These holy souls make up for other's excesses by bending backward, as it were, in their own use. Thus is the right order of goods preserved in God's universe.

In the light of the above, there is no more towering nonsense than to say that the Church is opposed to sex. She is no more opposed to sex as such than she is opposed to eating a dinner, to going to school, or to owning a house. Nature is not corrupt. As Aristotle said, "Nature never tells a lie." It is humanity's false use of nature that darkens the face of the world. Nor does the Church, like a monomaniac, believe that sex is the only instinct a human has or that all other instincts are to be interpreted in terms of sex. Rather, with a deeper understanding of human nature, she says that the craving for perfection is basic and that sex is only one of the three ways in which a relative perfection is achieved in this life.

Where, then, did the sex fanatics get the idea that the Church is the enemy of sex? They got it from their inability to make a distinction - a distinction between use and abuse. Because the Church condemns the abuse of nature, sex fanatics think that the Church condemns nature itself. This is untrue. Far from slighting the value of the human body, the Church dignifies it. It is surely nobler to say, with the Christian, that the body is a Temple of God than to say, with some modern minds, that man is merely a beast. As Saint Clement of Alexandria said, "He ought not to be ashamed to create."

There is no sin in the right use of the flesh; even without the Fall of Man, the human race would have been continued through procreation. And Saint Thomas tells us that there was more pleasure in marriage before the Fall than now, because of the greater harmony and peace in man's soul. Saint Augustine has said, "We should, therefore, wrong our Creator in imputing our voices to our flesh; the flesh is good but to leave the Creator and to live according to this created good is mischief."

The Church does, of course, speak of sin in the domain of sex, as it speaks of sin in the domain of property or of sin in the area of self-love. But the sin does not lie in the instinct or the passion itself. Our instincts and our passions are God-given; the sin lies in their perversion. Sin is not in hunger, but in gluttony. Sin is not in the seeking of economic security, but in avarice. Sin is not in drink, but in drunkenness. Sin is not in recreation, but in laziness. Sin is not in the love or the use of the flesh, but in lust, which is its perversion. Just as dirt is matter in the wrong place, so sex can be flesh in the wrong place.

An undue concentration upon a single one life's activities tends to make a person abnormal through lopsided interest. This is especially true of an excessive preoccupation with the carnal. It tends to make what is physical psychic, by tracing back everything to a single instinct. Sex in other ages was physical; it resulted in new life. Today, because it often thwarts life, it is also psychic. Sex is thought about as a medium of pleasure to such a degree that it has become an obsession. Just as a singer could go crazy by concentrating on his thorax instead of his song and an orchestra conductor could become a neurotic by concentrating on his baton instead of his score, so humans today can go crazy thinking about sex instead of about life.

For it is the isolation of the sex factor from the totality of human life, the habit of regarding it as identical to the passion an elephant might feel, the ignoring of the body-soul tension in the human, which causes so many abnormalities and mental disorders. False isolation of the part from its whole is a common trait in contemporary thought. A person's life nowadays is divided into many compartments that remain not united and not integrated.

A businessman's business has no connection with his life in the family - so little in fact that his wife (his "little wife") is kept ignorant of her husband's income. As there is no connection between a man's profession and the rest of his daily existence, neither is there a connection between his daily life and his religion. This chopping up of life into watertight compartments becomes more disastrous as occupation and work are related, less and less, to a strictly human ideal; mechanization plays a catastrophic role.

Serious effects result from this mechanization and the whole tendency to overspecialization in modern life. These two phenomena of our times are both related to the analytic habit of mind, imposed by the fashion of a predominantly scientific approach in the intellectual world. Everything is viewed in isolation by modern man, because this method is the legitimate procedure of science. But there are fields where a study of the unit torn from its context ceases to be adequate. The study of life itself has begun to suffer by an excessive use of analysis - hence the reaction of "holism" in psychology and biology.

The human sex drive is at no moment an instinct alone. Desire from its beginning is informed with spirit, and never is one experienced apart from the other. The psychic and the physical interplay. Just as the idealists, who deny the existence matter, sin against the flesh, so the sensualists and carnalists sin against the spirit. But to betray either aspect is to invite revenge. "Our body is a part of the universal order created and preserved by God. Rightly viewed, it is itself a self-contained universe entrusted to us as a limited but sacred property. The most substantial sin is that which we commit against ourselves and especially against our own body. The offense against our own body includes a sin against the Creator.

Sex instinct in a pig and love in a person are not the same, precisely because love is found in the will, not in the glands - and will does not exist in a pig. Sexual desire in a person is different from sex in a snake because in the human being, it promises something it cannot completely supply. For the spirit in a man anticipates, which a snake does not: man always wants something more than he has. The very fact that none of man's passions for knowledge, love, and security can be completely satisfied here below suggests that he might have been made for something else.

The existence of shame (which exists nowhere except in humans) again shows how this one instinct, above all others, involves soul. Shame draws a veil over the deepest mystery of life and preserves it from impatient use, holding it in check until it can serve life as a whole and can thus satisfy both body and soul. There would be no such disgust in man were it not that everyone of us feels the body to have a peculiar sanctity, not only because of its potency to continue the creative act of God, but also because of its possibility of becoming a veritable Temple of God.

The person is in search of the absolute, for example, perfect happiness. To use sex as a substitute for the absolute is a vain attempt to turn the copy into the original, to make the shadow become the substance, and the conditioned, the absolute. The infinite cravings of a soul cannot be satisfied by the flesh alone. Love, remember, is not in the instinct; it is in the will. If love were purely organic, no more significant than any other physical act, such as breathing or digesting, it would not sometimes be surrounded by feelings of disgust. But grown-up love is much more than these - it is not an echo of a child's forbidden fantasy, as some would tell us. Each soul feels a restlessness, a longing, an emptiness, a desire, which is a remembrance of something that has been lost - our Paradise.

We are all kings in exile. This emptiness can be filled only with Divine Love - nothing else! Having lost God (or having been robbed of Him by false teachers and sex charlatans) the person tries to fill up the void by promiscuous "love affairs." But love, both human and Divine, will fly from him who thinks it is merely physiological: Only he can love nobly who lives a noble life.

It is wrong to say that the deep spiritual love of the saints for God is a sublimation of the sex instinct - as some perverse minds have actually suggested. This is like saying that love of country is derived from the elephant's love of the herd. The idea that religion had its origin in the sex instinct is almost too silly to be refuted, for the greatest religious influences in history have been the most detached from sex. The more a person lives in the presence of God, the more he or she develops a reflex against the wrong use of sex, as automatic as the way an eye blinks when the dust blows.

On the other hand, the sex fanatics are not only non-religious persons, but usually anti-religious persons. It is curious to hear such people urge that we ought to repudiate Christian morality and develop a new ethics to suit the unethical lives of a few thousand individuals they have polled. Because statisticians can find 5,000 living carnal lives, it is suggested that their ideal shall be made the universal ideal. An equal number of cases of lockjaw could be found in the United States; one wonders if lockjaw should therefore be made a physical standard of health? Sins do not become virtues by being widely practiced. Right is still right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. Some have contended that sex aberrations are as common as the common cold; but nobody has so far asked us to consider the cold normal and desirable.

On the possible side, it is the Christian position that the sex instinct is the reflection of love in the spiritual order. The sun comes first, then its reflection in the pool. The voice is a sublimation of the echo, and neither is the belief in God a sublimation of a carnal instinct. All love and all perfection and all happiness are first in God, then in things. The closer creatures, such as angels and saints, come to God, the happier they are; the farther away they stay, the less they can reveal the works of Divinity.

There are five aspects of love by which the nature of man is uplifted and fulfilled: The love of man or woman for God; the love of man and woman for each other; the love of parents for children and of children for parents; the love of men and women for country or community; and the love of men and women for excellence in some creative activity, in art, in literature or philosophy. These are not five kinds or species of love which are given to ennoble men, but five aspects of love which is one, even when we think of it as flowing between God and man. In every little child lying in his mother's bosom, there is something of the Incarnation; the mystery of humanity becomes the revelation of Heaven; and in such incarnation of the Divine Love we can behold, born in every aspect of human love, the Word become Incarnate of Him in whose will is our peace.

Since the stress on sex is due to a forgetfulness of the true nature of man as body and spirit, it follows that the release from anxieties, tensions, and unhappiness (created by identifying man with a beast) is dependent upon a restoration of the meaning of love. Love includes the flesh; but sex, understood as animal instinct, does not include love. Human love always implies Perfect Love.

There is a double love in each of us - a love that is self-realizing and looks to our own good, and a love that is self-effacing and looks to the good of another. Both loves are included in the Divine Command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." - Matt. 22:39 - The one love is self-assertive and possessive - it makes us eat, drink, and work to sustain our life. The other love is sacrificial or possessed and seeks not to be owned, not to have but to be had. The first takes water that it may live. The other shares or even gives up the water that the neighbor may live.

Each love is right and good and is meant to act as a brake on the other. If self were entirely neglected, one would not only lose all self-respect, but one would be consumed, as a moth in the flame. No one of us wants this; we do not long see our personalities extinguished or dissolved in some great Nirvana of unconsciousness. But selfless love is essential, too. If it is neglected, we have egotism, selfishness, conceit, snobbishness, and carnality.

To put this tension between the two loves into other words, there is in each heart a pull between the romance and the marriage, between the courtship and the union, the chase and the capture. Earthly love that is only the quest is incomplete; love that is only attainment is inert. If love is limited to possession, the beloved is absorbed and destroyed; if love is limited only to desire, it is a useless force that burns itself out. This failure of either search or satisfaction to satisfy causes the mystery and sometimes the pain of love.

As pursuit alone, love is death by hunger; as satisfaction alone, love is death by satiety and its own "too much." If love could reach no higher than earth, it would be like the pendulum of a clock alternating and ticking away between chase to capture, capture to chase, endlessly. But our hearts crave something more. We long for an escape from this weary iteration of pursuit to capture; we do not wish in love to emulate the hunter who starts for new prey only because he has already killed the old.

And there is an escape. It lies in the eternal moment that combines both search and finding. In Heaven we shall capture Eternal Love, but an infinity of chase will not be enough to sound its depths. This is the Love in which you at last may have yourself and lose yourself in one and the same eternal now. Here the tension of romance and marriage is reconciled in an eternal instant of joy, an instant that would break the heart were it not that Love is life.

Never to thirst would be inhuman, ever to thirst would be hell; but to drink and thirst in the same eternal now is to rise to the highest bliss of Love. This is the Love we "fall just short of in all love, the Beauty that leaves all other beauty pain, the unpossessed that makes possession vain." The closest we can come to such experience in our earthly imagination is to think of the most ecstatically happy moment of our lives - and then to live that moment eternally. This kind of love would be speechless and ineffable; there could be no adequate expression of its ecstasies. That is why the Love of God is called the Holy Spirit, the Holy Breath - something that is too deep for words.

It takes not two, but three to make perfect Love, whether it be in the flesh (husband, wife, and child) or in the spirit (lover, beloved, and love) or in Divine Nature (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) Sex is duality; Love is always triune.

It is this fullness of Love that every heart in the universe wants. Some suspect it not, because they have never lifted the blind of their dark hearts to let in the light of God; others have been robbed of the hope by those who cannot think of love in any other terms than the concourse of two monkeys; others draw back from it in foolish fear lest, having the Flames of Love Divine, they may lose the dying embers of their present perverted desires. But others see that, as the golden streaks across the waters of the lake are reflections of the moon above, so human love is but the crushed-out reflection of the Heart Divine. In God Alone is the consummation of all desires.

To the woman at the well who had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband, Our Lord Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of this water, shall thirst again" - John 4:13 - There are no human wells deep enough to quench the insatiable thirst of the human soul. But this desire can be satisfied: "He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst forever; but the water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting." - John 4:13-14 - Religion ennobles love, and those who rob man of God spoil his nature. Only a Divine religion can protect the spiritual against the physical or prevent the animal in us from conquering the mind, making man more brutal than the brute.

How life changes its meaning when we see the love of the flesh as the reflection of the Eternal Light shot through the prism of time! They who would separate the earthly sound from the heavenly harp can have no music; they who believe that love is only the body's breath soon find love breathes its last and they made a covenant with death. But they who see in all earthly beauty the faint copy of Divine loveliness, they who see in fidelity to every vow, even when the other is untrue, a proof that God loves us who are so unlovable, they who, in the face of their trials, see that God's love ended in a cross, they who allow the river of their rapture to broaden out the blended channels of prayer and worship - these will, even on earth, learn that Love was made flesh and dwelled among us. Thus, Love becomes an ascension toward that blessed day when the limitless depths of our souls will be filled with the boundless giving, in one eternal now, where love is life's eternity and God is Love.

BY  ARCHBISHOP  FULTON  J.  SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )


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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -