The Devotional – 1440 – The rock and the hard spot!

The Devotional – 1440 – The rock and the hard spot!

Proverbs 26: 27 – Whoever digs a pit will fall into it and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him. A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it and a flattering mouth works ruin.

Comments and challenges

I took a peek into the book of Ecclesiastes this morning… as a result it could be good to open up my thoughts and see what I am thinking. A part of a verse in Ecclesiastes 5:2 reads this way in the NKJV. “For God is in heaven and you on earth.” The context surrounding these words have to do with making promises; promises to God who seeks “fear” (reverence) over “sacrifice” (ritual) or a promise that we cannot keep.

What I would like to pull from the statement is the thought that Solomon has regarding the dwelling place of God and the dwelling place of you and me. Now it may seem a bit “farfetched” and maybe it is since I seem to lean in that direction from time to time; but here it is. 

Solomon as other writers, both Old and New Testament refer to God, the angels and the saints who are in God’s presence as “In heaven” not “on heaven” and when referring to the ministry (life, or first advent) of the LORD Jesus Christ on earth, or angels and people, the reference to the whereabouts of these is “on earth”, I for one find this most interesting. Just a brief thought on this raises many questions.

For one: To be IN HEAVEN is to be in a place that is permanent and to be ON EARTH is to be on a platform that is temporal. Here is another: Since heaven is a place of permanence, any Word coming from heaven has to be absolute TRUTH in judgment and justice, while words spoken on the earth (except those of the LORD Jesus Christ) are relative (the mixing of truth and false principles) to judgment and justice.

Matthew 6:9-13 when Jesus was teaching His disciples to pray, He used this same “in heaven and on earth” principle. God’s Will is always carried out in heaven and it is God’s desire to see His Will accomplished on earth. Yet this is only two thirds of the thought.

Not only should we see this permanent and temporal “in heaven and on earth” principle, but we should also see the permanent and temporal aspects of being in the world. We refer to this as the “world system” which belongs to Satan and his fallen angels. The apostle John in 1 John 2:15-17 explains this very well.

The world system is a system of good and evil or as I mentioned earlier, a system of (true and false) or as some have called the world system a counterfeit system. Also we can see the strength of these three entities. Heaven is a permanent place; the earth is a temporal abode for all of God’s Creation and the world is a “stronghold” of false judgment and injustice.

Speaking to you and me is the apostle John in 1 John 4:4; he says – You are of God, little children and have overcome them, because He that is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (See the context: 1 John 4:1-4) And you remember in reading 1 John 2:17 – the world is passing away. If you are a believer in Jesus this truth is the justice of God for you. If you are an unbeliever, then this truth is the judgment of God for you. The world is dying, do not be a fool and die with it.

There seems to be a lot that we could do with this if there were the time to devote to it. Maybe as the days go by we could take a deeper look.