When He Sits on the Throne of His Glory 8th May, 2010       “‘Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?’ The speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.”  (1 Kings 3:9-10)       Some Words of the Bible Are very Similar to Aspects of the Human Body     I once saw a science fiction movie when I was on a plane. The story was, of course, not based on any truth. It was set in the distant future, at a time when there was only one Bible left in existence in the whole world, and the main character had kept this Bible safe for thirty years. In order to spread the message of the Bible, he set out on a journey to the last civilized city in the world, but then the antagonists appeared and tried to steal the Bible. They shot the main character and took the Bible, only to find that it was written in Braille and only the main character knew what it said. As he lay dying, the main character asked someone to bring a pen and some paper and he dictated the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation from memory.     The story of the movie was a complete fabrication and not based on the Bible in any way whatsoever, but as I watched that scene in which the main character dictated the Bible from Genesis chapter 1 to Revelation chapter 22 as he lay dying, while someone next to him wrote it all down, I could see that the person who made this movie must have known that the Bible is precious, even if he did not know what it is saying. This brought me to wonder how much value we actually attribute to the Bible.       There’s a dear and precious Book,     Though it’s worn and faded now  (Hymn 234)       We sing this hymn, but have you ever read a Bible until it was worn out? You may say that you love the Bible, but do you think about how precious the Bible is every day of your life?     As I was reading the Bible, it occurred to me that there are many similarities between the body that God has given me and what it says in the Bible. In the Bible it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). It also says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26), and “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). This body that has been given to me will simply turn to dust once I die and am buried in the ground. Yet God has breathed life into this body. In the Bible it says that God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils, and Adam became a living being (see Genesis 2:7). This living being is eternal. As in the case of our physical bodies, if a Bible were burnt the book itself would disappear. The life of God contained in the Bible, however, cannot and will not disappear. The words of the Bible have given eternal life to me.     It also says in the Bible, “From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16). And then in Ezekiel chapter 37, the prophet says that he saw a pile of bones, and as soon as the breath of life was breathed into them, they came together, tendons formed and they rose up to form an “exceedingly great army”. The Bible says that this is “the whole house of Israel.”     If it were not for the Bible, would it be possible for me to understand this being that I call “me,” who feels, sees, and breathes from the time I open my eyes in the morning until I fall asleep at night? If the Bible had not provided the answer, we would not have been able to know the significance of the lives we live within these physical bodies. This also applies to people who are saved. We know that we were born into this world in order to realize the truth in God’s word, and the change that comes about through the experience of being born again through the word of God in the course of our lives. If, however, we gradually come to understand the words of the Bible that are revealed through fellowship, and how these words relate to the Church as a whole, we come to think more about the greatness of God and of Jesus, the Lord of our spirits.     There are many parts of the human body that come in pairs. We have two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, two hands, and even our brains are divided into the left and right hemispheres. We live our lives moving both sides of our bodies. In the Bible, too, we find more than one passage dealing with certain matters.     Let’s turn to Proverbs chapter 26 verses 4 and 5.       “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him.”  (Verse 4) “Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.”  (Verse 5)       If some foolish person comes up to us and starts screaming and shouting, is it God’s will that we should answer them, or not? If we answer them, we are going against verse 4, and if we do not answer them, we are going against verse 5. I was very curious about this when I was younger. Even now I do not understand this exactly, but I have a vague idea.     In Genesis, God said, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:16-17). We may think that things would have been much simpler if God had not made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but was God made mistake to make this tree, or was it part of His plan? The existence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies that what is “evil” in God’s eyes, had already been found in the midst of God’s creation, and this is why God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.     In the book of Isaiah, God said, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!” (14:12), and, “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” (14:13-14). God knew that this was in Satan’s heart and went to battle against him. So, when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, God set about the creation and the work of managing the course of history. Following this principle, He made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and set it before man. It then remained for man to make the decision between eating its fruit or not eating it.     If the Bible only presented one side of an incident, God’s providence and plans would not come across to us so strongly. So we often marvel as we read the Bible. It says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly,” and “Answer a fool according to his folly.” When we come to such a fork in the road, a struggle arises in our hearts as we try to work out which path we should take. For the believers living in the age of the Church, the answer can be found within the process of fellowship. It is difficult for an individual to get such an answer by himself.     Then, let’s now think about our physical bodies that God has made. Which is better, the blood that flows through our arteries or the blood that flows through our veins? Or, are they both good? There are two types of blood that flow through our bodies. When we breathe in oxygen, it goes into the lungs. The blood that is then passed from the lungs into the right ventricle of the heart carries the oxygen with it. This oxygenated blood then moves to the left ventricle from which it is passed on, through the arteries, to the whole body. It flows through the aorta, the arterioles, and then the capillaries. The blood supplies oxygen to the cells from these capillaries, and then it flows back to the heart through the veins. The blood in the veins is referred to as the venous blood. So, is the arterial blood the same as the venous blood? Or are they different? It is difficult to give a simple answer to this question.     We live in this world with the wisdom that the “life of the flesh is in the blood,” and it is the Bible that has taught us this wisdom. When we read the Bible, we can see that there are many passages that very closely resemble what occurs in our bodies. People who are not aware of this may say, “The Bible says one thing in one passage and something different in another passage, so there is no way that I can believe what it says.” But this is definitely not the way it is. That is like saying, “Since the blood in the veins has no oxygen, it is no good; it is dirty. So, I cannot accept it as my blood.” All our blood is precious, whether it is in the arteries or in the veins. It is all given to us as a gift from God. God has breathed His life into it; it is the precious place.     The heart pumps the blood, which travels to the ends of the blood vessels. In the capillaries the oxygen in the blood is exchanged for carbon dioxide in the cells, and then it returns to the heart through the veins, as it says in the Bible, “I have finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7). In the veins there are valves, which prevent the blood from flowing back. Because of these valves, the venous blood continues to flow towards the heart. When the venous blood arrives back at the heart, it is pumped back to the blood vessels in the lungs, and the lungs supply more oxygen to the blood. Thus the blood that had been worn out and flows out through the entire body once more. Such is the law of the blood.     We know these medical facts, and we know and believe the words that say that our bodies were created in the image of God, but we tend to put our trust in the Bible a little less because we do not think deeply about it. This is because we are lacking in the ability to see the Bible in its entirety, not because there is anything wrong with the Bible. Before the advancement of medical knowledge, people were not able to distinguish between arterial blood and venous blood. It is when we are able to discern God’s will, and make a clear distinction between good and evil through the Bible that we can sense the way in which God is managing the course of history and the life of the flesh that is so similar to the image of history.     This is why every time I open the Bible, I am moved by what I read. Truly, if it had not been for God’s word, would it have been possible for history to have unfolded as it has? Such thoughts come to mind especially when I read the history of Israel as it is recorded in the books of Kings and Chronicles. Even within the historic line of the kings of Israel, so full of wickedness as they worshipped the queen of heaven and other such idols, God was gradually preparing the setting for Jesus Christ to be born in that land. When I read all this, I truly acknowledge in my heart that the Lord is Lord of history and Lord of my flesh and my spirit. These days, I have become very interested in the human body and in history. History may not seem to be totally unrelated to blood, but in the Bible it says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men” (Acts 17:26). When we talk about history we cannot help but talk about blood as well.     People of this world, however, are not aware of this because they do not believe the Bible. The doctors who do not know the Bible do not even know this simple principle that the life of the flesh is in the blood. When I read the Bible, I am sometimes astonished at what I find there. I do not even have the words to explain such passages as “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16) and “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”     We live with Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives. Jesus is our head?the One who brings into captivity our stubborn thoughts that are so hard to break down, as it says in the Bible, “Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). As we live in this way with Jesus as our head, the Bible tells us precisely, “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”     When I read these words, I come to think about the entire history of the gospel, beginning with Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven, following which the Holy Spirit came down on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit worked through the twelve apostles and the apostle Paul and countless other disciples continuing on until the present day. This work of the gospel is still running its course even now, and our lives, too, are part of one joint connected to the whole body. Isn’t it an amazing miracle that we, too, are part of this whole, “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies”?     It is the same when it comes to the history of Israel. All the joints of the history of Israel are carefully recorded in the Bible, beginning at the time of Abraham. The history to be found in the Old Testament provides an account of exactly what happened. The book of Ezekiel uses an image of broken, shattered bones to depict what happened to the Israelites when they violated God’s law and worshipped idols. Then, as the bones came together, sinews and flesh formed on them, but Ezekiel describes how they were only able to stand on their feet because God granted them breath. As I was reading this passage, I thought, “These tremendous words of God are connected all the way through the Bible from the Old Testament to the end of the New Testament, providing a precise record,” because the Wo

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