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impregnated- an heir, not yet an
inheri tor of eterna! LJFE. God's
Spirit "beareth witness with our
spi rit, that we are the children of
God; and if children, then ... heirs
of God" (Romans 8:16-17).
God's Spirit in humans opens the
MJND to comprehend spiritual
knowledge. Until then, "eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard; neither
have entered into the mind of
man," spiri tual knowledge and
comprehension
(l
Corinthians 2:9).
"But God hath revealed [spiritual
knowledge] by his Spirit" (verse
10). For (verse 11), no human
knows human materialistic know1-
edge, save by the spirit of man that
is in him. This human spirit (es–
sence) empowers the human brain
with intellect- MIND! That is how
human brain differs from animal
brain.
But man
ÍS
Still only HALF THERE
mentally, until he receives the sec–
ond Spirit- that of Goo. He is
LJMITED in knowledge to the physi–
cal and the material. That is the
state in which Adam was created!
That is the state in which YOU
were bornl
God's Spirit in man reveats ·spiri–
tual knowledge- the spi ri t ual Law
of God-the wAYOF
u
FE to CAusE
peace, happiness, every good result.
There are, broadly speaking, the
TWO ways of living- exemplified
by the two trees in Eden. The one,
outflowing LOVE (which is the spir–
itual Law of God).
I
term this for
brevity and simplicity, the way of
"GIVE. " The other, the way of
"GET." They are the two divergent
ways of life, leading in opposite
directions, producing opposite ef–
fects!
Now LOVE is the fulfilling of
God's Law ( Romans 13:10) and it
can be fulfilled only by thc divine
"love of God ... shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy [Spirit]" (Ro–
mans 5:5). The Spirit o f God
imparts the faith
of
Christ (Gala–
tians 2: 16) so we may rely on God
for help, guidance, de1iverance
from troubles- for MANY are tbe
affiictions, even of the righteous,
"but the Lord delivers him out of
them all" (Psalm 34:19, RSV) .
God knew that MAN-Adam and
his family, the world-would need
September, 1981
this divine help in times of trouble.
So what was the meaning of the
tree of LJFE?
It
meant God's GIFT
of self-contained immortal Spirit–
composed LJFE precisely as pos–
sessed by God himse1f (the Word
and
God). But that life wou1d have
been given to Adam, precise1y as
offered to those called of God
today, by his Ho1y Spirit. And God
does not impart immortal Spirit–
contained life instantaneously. One
is first merely begotten-impreg–
nated-an heir.
Notice it! This has never been
understood! Justas a mortal human
must be first begotten, then after a
period of gestation, born, so may
we be born of God.
God Reproduclng Himself
UNDERSTAND THJS! God is repro–
ducing birnself through man. God
made human reproduction the very
type, in ana1ogy, of his divine
reproduction.
How were you born? This does
concern
YOU!
First there was a
tiny ovum, released from your
mother's ovary into a fallopian tube
en route to her womb or uterus.
Each ovum has a temporary physi–
cal existence of less than 28 days.
Had the ovum not received a sperm
cell from the very body of your
father in less than that 28 days,
there would have been no you. But
you-then only the size of a pin
point-did have
physica/
life
imparted through your human
father, just as to be born again, you
now must have
Spirit
Jife imparted
to yo u by God the spi ritual
Father.
You are in fact a spiritual ovum.
But, just as, in your mother's
womb, you became a newly begot–
ten embryo, so are those in a spiri–
tual sense when begotten of God.
You had to grow, physically, fed by
and through your mother, pro–
tected from physica1 harm by her.
The spiritually begotten must grow
spirit uall y, in grace and the
KNOWLEDGE of Christ (II Peter
3: 18). After four months you began
to take on physical human form
and were called a fetus. You still
had five more months to grow and
develop physically to be born.
Now compare this physical
reproduction to God's divine repro–
duction. The Church, "Jerusalem
above," is the "mother of us all"
(Galatians 4:26) that are in the
Church. The Church must feed
God's c hildren on the spi ritual
Word of God and protect them
from spiritua1 harm. Those begot–
ten are already the "children of
God"- begotten, not yet born–
heirs, not yet inheritors (see
Romans 8:16-17).
Through the Holy Spirit we
receive from God spiritual KNOWL–
EDGE, the LOVE of God, the faith of
Christ, and the power of God. And
if we grow spiri t ually ( 11 Peter
3: 18) and keep growing until the
end of this physical existence, we
shall be born of God by a resur–
rection (Romans 8: 11 , 1 Corin–
thians 15).
Adam would have received spiri–
tual KNOWLEDGE from God, had
he taken of the tree of LIFE, instead
of the forbidden fruit-knowledge
to solve his problems, and FAJTH to
receive help and deliverance from
trouble.
N ow consider what Adam
needed!
He needed two kinds of KNOWL–
EDGE first of all. He needed ability
to absorb materialistic knowledge,
to make things out of matter- to
deal with material THINGS. This
God endowed him with abi1ity to
acquire, with his created material–
istic MINO.
But he also needed to have con–
tact with God and with people–
and to learn how to deal with other
humans. This required SPIRJTUAL
KNOWLEDGE! Adam was not
created with this knowledge.
YOU
were not born with it. This knowl–
edge could be imparted only
through the Spirit of God.
How the Forbldde n Fruit
ls Affecting Youl
But now what of the other tree in
the garden of Eden?
It
is even
today tremendously affecting YOUR
life!
This tree also represented
KNOWLEDGE! But where the tree of
LIFE represented the kind of knowl–
edge that would have Jed to eterna!
LJFE instead of a temporary exis–
tence, the forbidden tree repre-
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