45th International Bible ConferenceJuly 30, 2013Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be those who bless you!  Genesis 27:29Jesus Was Baptized in the Jordan RiverFirst we examined the content of John chapter 6. Jesus asked His disciples, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” and Philip, who was quick at calculating, answered that two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for every one of them to have even just a little. Then, Andrew brought to Jesus a lad who had five barley loaves and two fish. There was only this small amount of food, but Jesus took it in His hands and distributed it to the people. The Bible says that when Jesus asked, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” He already had the answer and knew what He would do, but was testing His disciples. (see verses 5-11)In John chapter 6, we can see that a clear distinction is made between the Person giving the food and the people who were in the position of receiving it. It is not that a table was set and everyone gathered and ate together; there is a precise distinction between those who gave and the One who received. There is a similar passage in Luke’s Gospel where it says that Jesus tested His disciples with the words, “you give them something to eat.” (9:13) Ultimately, however, the food went out from the hands of Jesus. This food was received by people who were sitting down and did not need to do anything. (see Luke 9:12-17) The position of giving out the food is clearly different from that of carrying out the transaction and paying money in order to buy the food. Also, the acts of buying and selling are clearly distinguished from one another, as are the acts of giving and receiving.We find something similar to this in the Old Testament. There are matters that start out on a very small scale and there are matters that appear within the life of an individual. There are also many matters that the Israelites had to go through as a nation. When we read through Genesis chapters 12 to 14, we find that Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and went to Haran. Abraham’s father, Terah, died in Haran, and Abraham, as if departing from his “old man” (see Romans 6:6), departed from his father and entered the land of Canaan. There was, however, someone who went with Abraham and that was his nephew, Lot. After entering the land of Canaan, Abraham went down to Egypt and then came back to Canaan. This was because there was a great famine in the land. When Abraham went to Egypt, he brought great riches with him when he returned. Later, Jacob’s family all went down to Egypt through Joseph, because of a severe famine, and later still, they came back to Canaan. When Jacob’s family went down to Egypt, they were just seventy in number, but when they left Egypt 430 years later, they were an army numbering 600,000 counting only the men on foot, and they also brought great riches.After Abraham came back to the land of Canaan in this way, he was faced with another incident. He had a great number of livestock and herdsmen in Canaan, but Lot’s wealth had also increased significantly, so it became difficult for the two of them to dwell together. As a result, they departed from one another. There was a place that appeared at that time to be very good in Lot’s eyes. That was the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. The Dead Sea is located between Sodom and the land of Canaan, but it seems it did not exist at the time when Lot went to Sodom. The Sea of Galilee lies in the northern region of Israel and the River Jordan flows from there down to the Dead Sea. We need to think deeply about the significance of the River Jordan. Several incidents in the Bible center on the River Jordan. In the course of His ministry, Jesus cried out saying, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48) and “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63), but before Jesus began His ministry, He was first baptized in the River Jordan. There is also a hymn that includes the lines, “We shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem! … Away over Jordan!” (Bugle calls are ringing out BY. H. Waters)So, what kind of place is the River Jordan? Why was Jesus baptized there?Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:13-17On a map, you will find the land of Canaan is located in the western region of Israel and the River Jordan flows down the middle. And to the east is the region of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was at the River Jordan that Jesus was baptized and it was here that He said, “for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus appeared in this place before He began His ministry. Yet, the events at the River Jordan do not stop here. In John’s Gospel there are several meaningful expression in regard to the River Jordan.Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,”’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.  John 1:19-28Here it says, “beyond the Jordan.” This is where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!” John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”  John 3:22-30Let’s read one more passage. In this passage we find Jesus defending Himself against the attacks of the Jews. “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” And many believed in Him there.  John 10:28-42During this altercation between Jesus and the Jews, the people tried to stone Him, whereupon Jesus departed and went to a place “beyond the Jordan”. He was not running away out of fear; He left because He had to die nailed to the cross as was recorded in the Old Testament, not by being stoned. The expression “beyond the Jordan” appears in this passage. At this time, Jesus “went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first” and stayed there to avoid the wickedness of these people. Many people there also met Jesus and believed in Him.And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”  John 3:26“They” here refers to the disciples of John the Baptist. When they came to John, what did they say Jesus was? They said, “He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified.” We do not know what John’s disciples were thinking when they said this to him but it was a peculiar thing to say. It is almost as if they were saying, “that person who lives around the corner” or, “that person we ran into crossing over the single-log bridge.” Jesus is referred to in various different ways in the Bible, and here He is described as “He who was beyond the Jordan.” When the disciples said this, John gave them a precise answer.He must increase, but I must decrease.  John 3:30As the last of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist had the role of passing the baton from the Old Testament on to the New Testament. He baptized Jesus in the River Jordan and when a certain incident occurred, Jesus went beyond the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing. Also, John’s disciples referred to Jesus as, “He who was beyond the Jordan.” In this way, Jesus and John thought of each other in connection with the River Jordan. John also said clearly that he had to decrease. This is directly related to the verse that says, “But new wine must be put into new wineskins” (Luke 5:38). You will probably find the book of Genesis a little easier to understand if you keep these points in mind as you are reading it. If You Take the Left, then I Will Go to the Right; or, if You Go to the Right, then I Will Go to the LeftLet’s read Genesis chapter 13 from verse 1.Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar.  Genesis 13:1-10This incident occurred to the west of the River Jordan. Abram and Lot returned to the land of Canaan from Egypt intending to dwell there, but they were faced with conflicts because they each had so many possessions. So Abram told Lot to chose which way he wanted to go. He said to him, “If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” This is an image of the conflict between our desire to follow our old selves that belong to the flesh, and our spirits that strive to live by the words of the Bible. These two cannot get on together, but neither can they be apart since they both exist within us.This is why we as individuals experience tremendous conflicts within us, involving choices: “If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” Within these conflicts, at times we agonise, at times we feel sorrow and at times we find joy. You may have thought that once you were saved everything would be wonderful and you would always be happy, but then you found there was more suffering than joy. This is because there are constant battles going on inside of you. There are two separate entities inside of you, fighting with each other. This corresponds precisely to God’s principle of creation when, in the beginning, He divided the light from the darkness. This is evidence that there is life within us and, in certain respects, it is something for which we should be thankful. At that time, Lot looked toward the east. When Jesus was crucified, the sun became dark even though it was the middle of the day. The Most Holy Place in the tabernacle where the Israelites offered up their sacrifices was located in the west where the sun sets, but Lot went toward the east across the River Jordan. When Lot looked over the plain of Jordan, he could see that it was well watered and resembled the garden of the Lord and the land of Egypt. It looked like he would be comfortable there. This image of Lot shows him being led by his “old man” and, in certain respects, it can also be an image of our flesh. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed eas

정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.