Pages Menu
Chitu Okoli chitu.okoli.org

Posted on Oct 21, 2008 in Rivers of Living Water

Gleanings from Exodus

In my reading from Exodus, I noted the following outstanding things:

  • Pharaoh’s concept of what is real work and idleness is in stark contrast with God’s concept. I’ve written about this in a separate blog entry.
  • Ex 13:12 You shall set apart to Jehovah everything that opens the womb and the first offspring of every beast which is yours; the males shall be Jehovah’s.
    13 And every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. And every firstborn male among your sons you shall redeem.
    14 And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? you shall say to him, By strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from the slave house.
    15 And when Pharaoh hardened himself against letting us go, Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I am one who sacrifices to Jehovah all that open the womb that are males; and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

    These verses show that in the typology of the Passover, Christ died to not only redeem those men who take His blood as their covering, but He even died to redeem the animals in God’s created world. (Not that He died that they might be forgiven their sins as men are, but that His death included the restoration of the corrupted creation to its original God-created intention.) This corresponds with:

    Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything.
    Col 1:20  And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross — through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.

    Read More

Posted on Oct 19, 2008 in Rivers of Living Water

The jubilee is only for captives

Here’s an excerpt from the Life-Study of Luke message 12 (page 98):

A person who has not lost anything would not look forward to the year of jubilee. In fact, to such a one, the jubilee might be a suffering. But the one who has lost everything, including his land and himself, would surely look forward to the year of jubilee. When the year of jubilee came, he would rejoice at being released and recovering the right to his portion of the land.

The experience of jubilee is only for those who realize that they are captives of sin, of the world and of Satan:

Every fallen human being has lost the right to enjoy God as the tree of life and the right to enjoy Christ as the good land. Furthermore, every fallen one has sold himself to sin, the world, and Satan. In Romans 7:14 Paul said of himself, “I am fleshly, sold under sin.” Even Paul had become a slave to sin.

Only this realization makes the New Testament jubilee, the age of grace, a real joy and jubilation to us. Lord, make me daily so conscious of the burden of my sin, that I might daily by so thankful and joyful in the release that You have proclaimed over me.

Read More

Posted on Oct 15, 2008 in Rivers of Living Water

Following the Lamb inwardly

This past weekend I attended the 2008 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference in Toronto. One of the messages was titled, “Being Intensified to Be the Overcomers Who Follow the Lamb Wherever He May Go for the Consummation of the New Jerusalem.” I was particularly touched by the following points:

  • “Before the Lord’s crucifixion the disciples followed Him in an outward way; now, after His resurrection, we follow Him in an outward way, because in resurrection Christ has become the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit, and we follow Him in our spirit.”
  • Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
    The cross is the will of God. To do God’s will in this sense is to put aside your own preference and follow the Lamb.
  • Being led by the Spirit in Romans 8:14 depends on the following points from the preceding verses:
    1. The Spirit’s indwelling (8:9,11).
    2. Putting to death the practices of the flesh (8:13).
    3. The Spirit gving life to the mind, the spirit, and the body (8:6,10,11).

Read More