Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that the Love of God (essence) cannot be understood and comprehended in the human mind unless it becomes a physical manifestation and then is demonstrated by some deed of behavior or attitude.
This is why it was expedient that the Lord Jesus Christ make a physical manifestation of Himself on the earth to make known The Love of God (Himself) in a visible form and to illustrate to human understanding the realization of it. For in Himself are all things in which the LOVE of GOD is contained. We will attempt to illustrate this from Revelation 21:16 and corresponding Bible Scriptures.
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“May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! (Ephesians 3:17-19 AMP)
We believe these concepts are the cornerstone and the key to everything the Lord is building in His New Emerging Church on earth.
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Key to text;
Bold highlighting = Important terms and concepts. Blue highlighting = Words, terms, and concepts containing primarily a spiritual sense or TRUTH. Red Bold highlighting = Words, terms, and concepts containing a sense directly related to The Lord Himself or LOVE. Gray Bold highlighting = Words, terms, and concepts relating to Evil and Hell. Italic letters in (parentheses) = My emphasis.
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“The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadia in length and width and height” (Revelation 21:16)
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“That all things of heaven and of the church are from the good of love, and the good of love (which) is from the Lord, cannot be seen, and therefore it cannot be known, unless it be demonstrated“.
(Swedenborg Bible Commentary, “Apocalypse Revealed” Revelation 21:16)
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We can see that Revelation 21:16 and Ephesians 3:18 use the same language. One describes the city coming down from heaven, and one describes in the same terms the LOVE of GOD. In essence, they are the same thing.
1. They both originate from heaven which in form is the LOVE of GOD. 2. The Apostle Paul describes it (LOVE of GOD) in Ephesians 3:18. The Apostle John describes it (LOVE of GOD) in Revelation 21:16 in the form of the New Emerging Church coming down from heaven and making its home upon the earth. This is what Bible Scripture refers to as “the Body of Christ” (LOVE of GOD).
The LOVE of GOD is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ
“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19)
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7)
So we can comprehend from these two Scriptures the “the good (and mercy) of love” is beyond all knowledge and understanding of the human mind from these two Scriptures. It is too mind-boggling and holy for our finite human minds.
“But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
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The LOVE of GOD has to be demonstrated
“Demonstrate” = 1. Establish the validity of something, as by an example. 2. Provide evidence for, stand as proof of, or show by one’s behavior, attitude, or external attributes. (Sage Dictionary)
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The TRUTH of GOD can be understood by the human mind because He gave us His WORD (The Bible). We can read the Bible and we can see that TRUTH because it is given LIGHT (illumination) from heaven. We can comprehend that spiritual TRUTH and understand that it is true.
“And this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:5-6)
This is why LOVE is the highest and supreme attribute of the risen Lord Jesus. He demonstrated that LOVE in His life and His selfless service.
“However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28) also (Mark 10:45, John 13:1-17)
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As mentioned before, these concepts of LOVE are the cornerstone and the key to everything the Lord is building in His New Emerging Church on earth
He Rejects the Sacrifices of the Disobedient, they are not demonstrating LOVE
“This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! For when I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not merely command them about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you” (Jeremiah 7:21-23)
“Yet they did not listen or pay attention, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers.’ When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore you must say to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath” (Jeremiah 7:24,26-29)
The LOVE of GOD has to be demonstrated
The New Emerging Church on earth will not contain the doctrine of grace plus faith plus nothing. The old institutional churches of Catholicism and Protestantism will be discarded unless reform takes place. Unless the Church of Jesus Christ is demonstrating the LOVE of GOD, there is no true Christian religion in the earth.
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TRUST and OBEY then everything WILL BE OK!
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet, we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
John H. Sammis, 1887
lclioncross - The New Emerging Church Coming Down From Heaven 