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WE EXPERIENCE TWO PURIFICATIONS AND MANY BLESSINGS

04-17-11

(1 Cor 6:19,20)  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify [Gk: honor, magnify] God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

(2 Cor 1:22)  [God] Who hath also sealed us [“set His seal of ownership on us” NIV], and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts [“as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” NIV] [2 Cor 5:5; Eph 1:14]

1.      sealed = Gk: to stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation; by impl. to keep secret, to attest:--(set a, set to) seal up.

2.      earnest = Gk: a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest.

THE FIRST PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE AT THE BEGINNING OF JESUS’ MINISTRY.

A TYPE OF JESUS FIRST ENTERING INTO YOU (relating to your born again experience)

WHEN YOU RECEIVE “THE EARNEST” (deposit, part payment) OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

(John 2:13-17)  And the Jews' passover [Easter] was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, And found in the temple [a type of you] those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge [Gk: a whip] of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves [a biblical symbol of the Holy Spirit], Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise [“a marketplace, a sales shop” Amplified Bible]. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal [Gk: jealousy] of thine [God’s] house hath eaten me up [i.e., hath consumed me].

1.      (Mat 3:16)  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he [John the Baptist] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

2.      (Mark 1:10)  And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:

3.      (Luke 3:22)  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

4.      (John 1:32)  And John [the Baptist] bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

(John 2:18-22)  Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign [Gk: miracle] showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

(John 2:23-25)  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit [Gk: to have faith in, entrust: believe, put in trust] himself unto them, because he knew [understood thoroughly] all men, And needed not that any should testify [Gk: bear record, witness] of man: for he knew what was in man.

1.      Commentary: What exactly was it that Jesus knew “was in man”?

(John 3:1-7)  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews [a member of the Sanhedrin]: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily [truth], verily [truth], I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see [Gk: consider, perceive, understand] the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [natural human birth] and of the Spirit [supernatural human birth], he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. [Rom 10:9,10]

1.      Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary: Nicodemus was a wealthy, educated, and powerful man – well respected by his people and a descendant of the patriarch Abraham. Yet Jesus said to him, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). The Greek adverb translated “again” can also mean “from the beginning” (suggesting a new creation) and “from above” (that is, from God). In other words, Jesus told Nicodemus that physical generation was not enough, nor could his descent from the line of Abraham enable him to be saved. Only as a person has a spiritual generation – a birth from above – will he be able to see [John 3:3] the kingdom of God.

2.      (Gen 2:7)  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [the Holy Spirit]; and man became a living soul [Heb: a breathing creature].

3.      (Eccl 12:7)  Then [upon our death] shall the dust [our body] return to the earth as it was: and the [transformed] spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

THE SECOND PURIFICATION OF THE TEMPLE AT THE END OF JESUS’ MINISTRY.

A TYPE OF THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST (from within you, as a well of living water)

FILLING YOU UP WITH THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, i.e., the full mind of Christ

(Mat 21:12-14)  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

1.      (Rom 8:18,19)  For I reckon that the sufferings [Gk: hardships, pain, affliction] of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed [Gk: to take the cover off, disclosed] in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation [Gk: appearance] of the sons [Gk: huios; the mature sons] of God.

2.      (2 Th 1:10-12)  When he [Jesus Christ] shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen