Kingdom Truth - What is the Kingdom of Heaven in the Bible?
Chapter 4, Part 2 (continued)
The Church Follows the Steps of the
"Congregation" of the Old Testament
(3) The Result of Sinning
Aristotle believed that all things can be understood as unities of form and matter. He synthesized the process of how basic matter is transformed into real form itself in four principles or causes. They are the material cause, form cause, efficient cause and the final cause. For example, to produce the sculpture of a man, first there must be sculpturing material such as wood or stone. There must be the sculptor who possesses a concept to turn the material into a sculpture, such as a design or an image. Moreover, there must be the driving force to tum the concept into reality, such as his skill, chisels and axes. Finally, the wood or stone would become the reality of the concept of the sculpture, and the sculptor could achieve his end. In like manner, Satan appears to use these "Four Causes" to destroy the molding and sculpturing of Kingdom personnel in the church in the last days. The material cause here is the people (of that time)! People are the one who do things. As long as you are willing to be used, he will give you power, money, prestige, shamelessness, beastly desires... As for the form cause or his concept, he wants the one being sculptured to care only for himself. It is directly opposite to the Scriptural teaching: "That they who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." This is because his name is "Satan"-- the adversary (to God)! His efficient cause is through his cunning or other tools to cause the "self" to commit a variety of sins. Lastly, the final cause is to make people always learning but being never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. So the complete complement of Kingdom personnel cannot be made ready early. Thus, all the policies pursued by evil kings throughout the ages to create an illiterate populace that has no discernment were all initiated and directed by Satan!
Even so, these four causes can still be seen in terms of "cause and effect". The form cause should be the effect of the material cause. The final cause should be the effect of the efficient cause. "Cause and effect" really refers to the relationship between "causes and the results or fruit'. Everything and all the events in this world must have such relationships. The sea is calm because the gale is not blowing. When the stars are scarce in the night, the moon is usualy bright. In like manner, "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" is also the fruit of the twenty sins in the previous paragraphs. This fruit is discussed as follows.
(i) "Always learning". In the Great Commission of Christ, there are four verbs: "Go", "make disciples", "baptizing" and "teaching". Of these four verbs, only "make disciples'' is in the imperative mood while the other three are participles. (The correct translation should be: "Going therefore, you must make all nations my students.") In this way, He clearly tells us in the Great Commission that the church or the Kingdom of Preparation is God's school. The church is the organization for making all nations students of the Lord and it is the center for training Kingdom personnel!
Since the church is God's school established for the personnel of the Kingdom of Preparation, then the only responsibility of the church is to teach the students there. The goal is to train them to be useful vessels so that the gracious Lord will not be disappointed! What is the church to teach? The Scriptures tell us that the church is "the foundation and pillars of truth"--to support and build up truth. The church should teach believers to know the truth, proclaim the truth and establish the truth and to build them up so that they become worthy personnel who will be honored and glorified with Christ in the Eternal Kingdom. In this way, everyone in Christ or every student who enters into this school of God should have a basic responsibility to fulfill and it is ''to learn well"!
The importance of learning has been repeatedly emphasized by the Scriptures. But unfortunately, we often enjoy leisure and shun work. Most of us behave as if we have never heard of it before! Before the lsraelites entered the land of Canaan, God repeatedly wanted them to learn. He pointed out to them that the first requirement to learn is to "hear". This is what He spoke through Moses to the Israelites: "I am speaking to you in your hearing that you may learn and observe them carefully." (Deut. 5:1, 31:12 13) The gracious Lord has also said, ''Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." (John 6:45) In fact, the reason God gave us the Scriptures is for ''training in righteousness" (2Tim.3:16).
Did the Israelites hear? Truly, they have heard and they hear quite often. Just as the Scriptures say: "Hearing you often hear but do not understand; and seeing you often see but do not know!" (lsa. 6:9 in the original) why did they not understand when they have heard it? Because they did not learn. They did not learn because they do not have spiritual understanding. No wonder the Psalmist begged God and said, "Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments" and "give me understanding, that I may know Thy testimonies" (Pss. 119:73, 125). This is the same situation of the Kingdom of Preparation in the last days. Just in the days of the prophet Amos, "Man shall be hungry not because there is no bread, thirst not because there is no water. but because they cannot hear the word of the Lord!" (translated from the original) Why can't they hear? Not only was the word of the Lord scarce at that time (because Judah and Israel had only one true prophet). but also because the people in both kingdoms repeatedly transgressed ("For three transgressions...and for four...") and "rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept His statues" (Amos 2:4, 6). They betray the Lord and their friends, doing whatever they desire, are boastful, and love pleasure rather than God. How can they hear God's voice? Jesus Christ has revealed a principle on hearing. He said, "... By your standard of measure, it shall be measured to you..." If our measure is filled with filth and unrighteousness, what is the purpose of always learning? Finally, other than causing grief and wasting money, this kind of "always'' yields no benefits!
Chapter 4, Part 2
Shepherd His Sheep
