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The Cornerstone
This is the Stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the Chief Conerstone." Acts 4:11
Pulbished to Support the Work of the West End Church of Christ, Richmond, Virginia
Volume 9 * Number 23* June 10, 2007
Spiritual Sacrifices
You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I Peter 2:5
Christians are as living stones which are placed together to form a spiritual house. Within this house we all serve as holy priests which make up a “holy priesthood”. Our work is to offer up “spiritual sacrifices” which are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
There is nothing physical about Peter’s teaching. There is no call to build a glorious edifice in dedication to God. There is no call to wear a robe or collar to officiate within God’s house. There are no instruction for Christians to offer any physical sacrifice. This house is spiritual and the people who dwell there in are living and breathing beings who live in various parts of the earth. And, what they offer are spiritual sacrifices.
Spiritual Sacrifices:
Our Lives - “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1
Stacy Crim
What the Bible says about: The Deluge
The period before the flood or the antediluvian period is described as one of wickedness. A wickedness which the full impact may be difficult for us to grasp. The scriptures identify a time "when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose…and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them" (Genesis 6:1-4). The scriptures are not identifying a distinction of species, i. e., angel/human, but one of character. The distinction is made between the daughters of men (the ungodly) and the sons of God (the godly). What the scriptures introduce is a time when the sons of God failed to make a distinction of character and chose that which was pleasing to the eye. The result was the spiraling decline in the moral fiber of mankind. Thus, "Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for that he also is flesh: yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years" (Genesis 6:3). The antediluvian world was rapidly approaching a spiraling decline to destruction. The decline was so great that "Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). The decline was such that "it repented Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" (Genesis 6:6). The term repented is defined as "to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted" (Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions). The resulting conclusion was that "Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repenteth me that I have made them" (Genesis 6:7). This destruction was to come because "the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and, behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:11-12).
All was not lost, however, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah…Noah was a righteous man, and perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God" (Genesis 6:8,9). In the midst of all the evil, one man shone forth like a beacon. The righteousness of one man resulted in the preservation of the earth.
Throughout the scriptures Noah is depicted in a very positive context. He is identified as one who "being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Hebrews 11:7). It is also said of Noah that he was "a preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5). There are many things that the mind would have a difficult time grasping. I believe that the destruction of the earth and preservation of Noah and his family rank among the top. The question always comes to this: If God determined to destroy the world today, and preserve mankind in the being of one man and his family, who would God choose?
Jehovah "said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me…Make thee an ark of gopher wood" (Genesis 6:13-14). Jehovah gave Noah specific instructions concerning the construction of the ark and its occupants, i.e., "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and female…Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female: of the birds of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth" (Genesis 6:19; 7:2-3). After Noah completed the task before him, Jehovah said, "yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground. And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him" (Genesis 7:4-5). Thus, "In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. And every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days" (Genesis 7:13-24). Taken from the Sparks, NV congregation
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