神的异象
因喜乐而惊讶!
经文
以弗所书二1-22
1你们死在过犯罪恶之中,他叫你们活过来。
2那时,你们在其中行事为人,随从今世的风俗,顺服空中掌权者的首领,就是现今在悖逆之子心中运行的邪灵。
3我们从前也都在他们中间,放纵肉体的私欲,随着肉体和心中所喜好的去行,本为可怒之子,和别人一样。
4然而,神既有丰富的怜悯,因他爱我们的大爱,
5当我们死在过犯中的时候,便叫我们与基督一同活过来。你们得救是本乎恩。
6他又叫我们与基督耶稣一同复活,一同坐在天上,
7要将他极丰富的恩典,就是他在基督耶稣里向我们所施的恩慈,显明给后来的世代看。
8你们得救是本乎恩,也因着信;这并不是出于自己,乃是神所赐的;
9也不是出于行为,免得有人自夸。
10我们原是他的工作,在基督耶稣里造成的,为要叫我们行善,就是神所预备叫我们行的。
11所以你们应当记念:你们从前按肉体是外邦人,是称为没受割礼的;这名原是那些凭人手在肉身上称为受割礼之人所起的。
12那时,你们与基督无关,在以色列国民以外,在所应许的诸约上是局外人,并且活在世上没有指望,没有神。
13你们从前远离神的人,如今却在基督耶稣里,靠着他的血,已经得亲近了。
14因他使我们和睦(原文作:因他是我们的和睦),将两下合而为一,拆毁了中间隔断的墙;
15而且以自己的身体废掉冤仇,就是那记在律法上的规条,为要将两下借着自己造成一个新人,如此便成就了和睦。
16既在十字架上灭了冤仇,便藉这十字架使两下归为一体,与神和好了,
17并且来传和平的福音给你们远处的人,也给那近处的人。
18因为我们两下借着他被一个圣灵所感,得以进到父面前。
19这样,你们不再作外人和客旅,是与圣徒同国,是神家里的人了;
20并且被建造在使徒和先知的根基上,有基督耶稣自己为房角石,
21各(或作:全)房靠他联络得合式,渐渐成为主的圣殿。
22你们也靠他同被建造,成为神借着圣灵居住的所在。
信息分享
我们现在应该很清楚一件事,那就是:我们越认识神、越发现神的圣洁,就会越感到自己的不洁。明白这点对我们没有不好,相反的会帮助我们,因为这对比让我们能够向神的恩典更多的敞开自己。请听陶恕(A.W. Tozer)怎样说:「没有人能够不先认识神的可畏,就能够真正认识神的恩典。神的同在总是令有罪的人感到惧怕。神的任何显现总会以超自然的震慑令人感到战惊。我们除非能够经历到不洁的被造物与那位最圣洁的神相遇而产生的畏惧和震撼,然后才能真正的被神的爱和恩典所触动。」
这些话多么具有启发性。神并非喜欢借着显示自己的圣洁令我们心里感到惧怕,而是由于祂是神,祂不能向我们显示自己而不令我们惧怕。但祂的怜悯和恩典总给我们帮助,支持我们,洁净我们。请留意现在神靠近以赛亚,不是带着审判,而是带着恩典。在异象中,祂感动其中一位撒拉弗从坛上带一块烧红的炭,将它放在先知的唇上,然后宣告:「你的罪孽便除掉,你的罪恶就赦免了。」以赛亚没有告诉我们撒拉弗的行动对他有甚么影响,要是它有点像我蒙神洁净时的经验,那么以赛亚必会像鲁益思(C.S. Lewis)所说的,「因喜乐而惊讶」。
「祂的怜悯和恩典总给我们帮助」
进深研究
多三1-8;哀三22-23;弥七18
1. 我们救恩的基础是甚么?
2. 神喜欢做甚么?
祈祷
我的天父,感谢您因为我也「因喜乐而惊讶」。我以为我会被送到地狱去,您却让我看见天堂的路。如此厚恩,我该如何向您表达充分的感谢?愿一切尊贵和荣耀永远归于您。阿们。
The Vision of God
"Surprised by joy!"
Bible reading:
Ephesians 2:1-22
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands)—
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Message
One thing ought to be clear by now - the more we know of God the more we will discover that He is holy, and that we are unholy. It doesn't hurt us to know that, it helps us. Something occurs in the contrast that prepares us to open ourselves more fully to His grace. Listen to how Tozer put it: "No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God. The presence of the Divine has always brought fear to the hearts of sinful men. Always there was something about any manifestation of God that...struck them with a terror more than natural. Until we have been gripped by that nameless terror which results when an unholy creature is suddenly confronted by that One who is the holiest of all, we are not likely to be much affected by the doctrine of love and grace."
How illuminating are those words. It isn't that God delights in striking fear into our hearts by the revelation of His holiness, it is just that being who He is, He cannot reveal Himself to us without this happening. But always His mercy and grace come to our aid to sustain us and cleanse us. Watch now as God moves toward Isaiah, not in judgment, but in grace. In the vision He inspires one of the seraphs to take a live coal from the altar, place it on the prophet's lips and declare: "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Isaiah does not tell us what effect the seraph's action had on him. But if it was anything like the experience I had when He cleansed me then Isaiah would have been, as C.S. Lewis expressed it, "surprised by joy".
"Always His mercy and grace come to our aid"
Prayer
Thank You, my Father, that I too have been "surprised by joy". When I expected to be consigned to hell You showed me the way to heaven. How can I ever sufficiently thank You for Your grace? All honour and glory be to You for ever. Amen.
Further study
Titus 3:1-8
Lamentations 3:22-23
Micah 7:18
1. What is the basis of our salvation?
2. What does God delight to do?
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