JANUARY 2005

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery. Part 2. The beginning of the secret. .

Thursday, January 6, 2005

ACT 7:56 “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

The mystery doctrine of Church-age which all believers should be initiated into, and the divine assets that God has given to each Church-age believer and His directions for using those assets.

God has magnificently provided everything for us and has thoroughly instructed us so that we can -
EPH 4:1 “Walk in a manner worthy of our calling.”

There were numerous mystery cults which flourished throughout the ancient world, and although the secrets of these groups were closely guarded, everyone knew that these secretive organizations existed.

Ignorance and arrogance become the two worst enemies of the believer, and cause him to make a wrong assessment of life, and to establish wrong priorities.

Today the English word mystery denotes something incomprehensible or puzzling, but in the ancient world a mystery was well-known, although only to the initiated.

In the upper room discourse, on the night before His crucifixion, TLJC prophesied the coming of the Church-age, Joh 14-17.

JOH 14:14 - the intimate union with TLJC, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do {it.}”
JOH 14:16-17 - the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, “He abides with you, and will be “IN” you.”

a. The Church exists to glorify TLJC to the maximum.
EPH 1:22-23 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

b. Israel was to be given every opportunity to accept TLJC as Messiah.

The Jewish kingdom of God on earth had been postponed until the Millennium and a new set of options for believers on earth now became manifest.

c. Soon after prophesying about the coming church, TLJC would win the victory on the cross, and it was only fitting that the VICTOR be the one to announce the dramatic change.

His victory on the cross followed by the fulfillment of the Church-age was one of the most stunning moments in the entire angelic conflict.

d. Mystery doctrine is based upon the life of Christ.

Throughout His incarnation, our Lord utilized the system and the divine assets that God the Father made available to support His humanity.

Church-age doctrine was concealed until the Christian way of life went into effect, first through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the night before the Passover, or Tuesday evening, 13 April, 30 AD.

When we call it the upper room discourse, only Joh 13-14 was given in the upper room.

Then they are going to sing a hymn and go out, and then we will have Joh 15-17, which takes place in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Joh 17 is the prayer that the Lord Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“Jesus knowing” = the humanity of Christ knowing.

Doctrine orients you to the circumstances of life, the situations that exist in life.

His hour = the cross and really His hour of victory in the angelic conflict, JOH 12:23; JOH 17:1,
MAR 14:41.

Depart - metabaino = to go from one place to another.

1. His body went into the grave, LUK 23:53.
2. His soul went to paradise, LUK 23:43.
3. His spirit went into the presence of the Father, LUK 23:46.

“Out of this world” = the departure of Christ includes His resurrection and ascension.

Once Jesus departs from the world, the angelic conflict is going to intensify.
These disciples who are left behind are going to become Satanic targets.

“Out of the world” - prepositional phrase “ek tou kosmou” = His body went into the grave, LUK 23:53, His soul went to Paradise in Hades,
ACT 2:27, His spirit went to the Father, LUK 23:46.

Out of the trichotomus separation of Christ at His physical death, it is the soul and the spirit which are emphasized and definitely not the body.

ISA 53:10 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin.”

Unto the Father = “face to face with the Father” - pros + the accusative noun patera [Father], which has to do definitely with His ascension.

“He loved them to the end” = the Lord Jesus Christ was perfect and in His impeccability, He was always stable even while under pressure.

MAT 26:67 - they would spit upon the face of the Son of God.
MAT 26:67 They beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him,
ISA 52:14 His appearance was disfigured more than any man, And His form more than the sons of men.

ISA 50:6 He gave His back to those who would strike Him And His cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; He did not cover His face from humiliation and spitting.
MAT 26:68 “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

Religion and self-righteousness make people vicious, evil, cruel, corrupt, divisive, spiteful, malicious, and violent.

MAT 26:53 “Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”

His restraint was very significant, for if He had lost His temper, there would be NO SALVATION!

MAT 26:68 “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”
MAT 26:56 - the same ones He loved to the end, His disciples, left Him and fled from Him.

“He loved” - aor-act-part - agapesas = His impersonal unconditional love.

“His own” - His disciples - accusative masculine plural - idios = describes His disciples.

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery: part 4. The Mystery behind the washing of the disciples' feet.

Wednesday, January 9, 2005

Pres-pass-ind - egeiro = to be aroused, to rise up, to take a stand; to stand up for that which is true.

MAT 2:13 - used for arising up and fulfilling the word of God in spite of the opposition.
MAT 8:26 - used for standing up against the winds and the storms of life and bringing peace into a situation.
LUK 22:24 And there arose also a dispute among them {as to} which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
MAT 12:42 - egeiro is used for those believers with PVTD rising up with their character and integrity condemning those with NVTD by their actions.
MAT 17:23 - used for our Lord being raised from the dead.

The laying aside of the garments is analogous to our Lord laying aside His deity and becoming true humanity. To lay aside - pres-act-ind - tithemi - dramatic present tense = a dramatic moment when Christ is about to become their servant; becoming the servant of all is a picture of going to the cross.

He laid aside His garments, His mantle, His outer garments - himation = His outer garment, His robe, or His mantle - analogous to the true doctrine of kenosis.

Kenosis = during the incarnation, our Lord voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes.

The plan for the incarnation not only called for the judgment of our sins, the provision of eternal salvation for all members of the human race, but simultaneously for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took on Himself true humanity in order to redeem mankind from sin, in order to propitiate God the Father, and to reconcile mankind to God.

Just as Jesus at this point laid aside His outer garments to take the place of a servant, so He surrendered the independent use of His divine attributes, to fulfill the Father’s plan.

Christ became our servant at the cross, and now He is the greatest of all, seated at the right hand of the Father.

Towel - lention - levntion - like a beach towel; an article belonging to a servant in which he uses one end of the towel to wash the feet and the other end of the towel to dry and he strings it around his neck - He did not wear anything because He gets dirty in the process.

Water is analogous to the word of God, EPH 5:26, PSA 119:9.
Water = the word - 1JO 1:7, 1JO 1:9.
Nipto = to wash the hands or the feet as a ceremonial function.

He began to wash His disciples feet - pres-act-inf = He kept on doing it, going from one to the other; active voice - Jesus produces the action; the infinitive - it was His purpose to wash every disciple’s feet.

Jesus Christ becomes a servant to make servants of God out of us.

TLJC is not teaching humility as most of your commentators, who really do not know the original language, say that He is.

Our Lord is showing eleven disciples, who are all going to have the gift of communication, that in order to be a communicator you have to study and teach, study and teach.

MAT 16:22-23 - Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Peter is saying in effect, “Lord you’re greater than me but I’m greater than them.”
GAL 6:12 “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh.”

1. The disciples had bathed before coming to the last supper - all of them had taken a bath, that was a part of the custom of the Passover meal.
2. The taking of a bath is analogous to salvation - one bath but many washings.

TIT 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
1CO 11:31 But if we judge ourselves correctly, we should not be judged.

HEB 12:1-2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us Therefore, strengthen the hands that hang down and the knees that are feeble.

HEB 12:9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
HEB 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint [divine discipline], but rather be healed.

EPH 4:22 that, with reference to your former lifestyle [post-salvation sinning], you yourselves lay aside your old man, you who are becoming corrupted [apostasy and degeneracy] on the basis of the lusts of deceit [strong pressures from the sin nature in your area of weakness].

“Arise from the dead,” EPH 5:14.
This is temporal death or control of the sin nature during your Christian life.

ROM 6:13 And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

One bath - the cross. Many foot washings - the rebound technique.

3. From walking through the streets, the disciples have accumulated filth on their feet which is analogous to the believer being out of fellowship.

4. The custom of foot-washing is analogous to rebound. If you come with dirty feet, what should you do before you sit down to dine with the Lord, REV 3:20 “and dine with Him”?

5. Before you eat the Lord’s food, Bible doctrine, you wash your feet, rebound.
6. This dinner was fellowship with the Lord in which food was involved, our greatest fellowship with the Lord is when we meet to dine upon Bible doctrine.

7. The feet also represent service - it is impossible to serve the Lord with dirty feet.
8. In the last chapter, JOH 12:3, the feet of Jesus had been anointed with oil, while at the beginning of this chapter, the feet of the disciples are washed.

Jesus washed their feet - this is a picture of Christ providing rebound
1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1JO 1:9 If we acknowledge [name and cite] our sins, He is faithful and righteous, with the result that He forgives us our sins [known sins] and purifies us from all unrighteousness [unknown sins].

9. Oil on the feet of the Savior indicates the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit while water on the feet of the disciples indicates the cleansing of the rebound technique.
10. TLJC will wash their feet - a picture of Christ providing the basis of rebound on the cross.

ISA 52:7 quoted in ROM 10:15 How beautiful are the feet of those who communicate glad tidings of good things!
All communicators of doctrine have to keep their feet clean or be cleansed to communicate.

Peter’s statement would be commended by many because it is a statement of sincerity, but he was sincerely wrong.

Sincerity is no substitute for a knowledge of doctrine or for perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
Sincerity can become a distraction to the Christian life and it will make a phoney out of you every time.

LUK 11:1 And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

No, He said, “When you pray address the Father,” and then He taught them to pray in a specific way, LUK 11:2.

Rebound precedes the correct function of perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery: part 5. The Mystery behind the washing of the disciples' feet.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Pres-pass-ind - egeiro = to be aroused, to rise up, to take a stand; to stand up for that which is true.

MAT 2:13 - used for arising up and fulfilling the word of God in spite of the opposition.
MAT 8:26 - used for standing up against the winds and the storms of life and bringing peace into a situation.
LUK 22:24 And there arose also a dispute among them {as to} which one of them was regarded to be greatest.
MAT 12:42 - egeiro is used for those believers with PVTD rising up with their character and integrity condemning those with NVTD by their actions.
MAT 17:23 - used for our Lord being raised from the dead.

The laying aside of the garments is analogous to our Lord laying aside His deity and becoming true humanity. To lay aside - pres-act-ind - tithemi - dramatic present tense = a dramatic moment when Christ is about to become their servant; becoming the servant of all is a picture of going to the cross.

He laid aside His garments, His mantle, His outer garments - himation = His outer garment, His robe, or His mantle - analogous to the true doctrine of kenosis.

Kenosis = during the incarnation, our Lord voluntarily restricted the independent use of His divine attributes.

The plan for the incarnation not only called for the judgment of our sins, the provision of eternal salvation for all members of the human race, but simultaneously for the strategic victory of the angelic conflict. The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took on Himself true humanity in order to redeem mankind from sin, in order to propitiate God the Father, and to reconcile mankind to God.

Just as Jesus at this point laid aside His outer garments to take the place of a servant, so He surrendered the independent use of His divine attributes, to fulfill the Father’s plan.

Christ became our servant at the cross, and now He is the greatest of all, seated at the right hand of the Father.

Towel - lention - levntion - like a beach towel; an article belonging to a servant in which he uses one end of the towel to wash the feet and the other end of the towel to dry and he strings it around his neck - He did not wear anything because He gets dirty in the process.

Water is analogous to the word of God, EPH 5:26, PSA 119:9.
Water = the word - 1JO 1:7, 1JO 1:9.
Nipto = to wash the hands or the feet as a ceremonial function.

He began to wash His disciples feet - pres-act-inf = He kept on doing it, going from one to the other; active voice - Jesus produces the action; the infinitive - it was His purpose to wash every disciple’s feet.

Jesus Christ becomes a servant to make servants of God out of us.

TLJC is not teaching humility as most of your commentators, who really do not know the original language, say that He is.

Our Lord is showing eleven disciples, who are all going to have the gift of communication, that in order to be a communicator you have to study and teach, study and teach.

MAT 16:22-23 - Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Peter is saying in effect, “Lord you’re greater than me but I’m greater than them.”
GAL 6:12 “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh.”

1. The disciples had bathed before coming to the last supper - all of them had taken a bath, that was a part of the custom of the Passover meal.
2. The taking of a bath is analogous to salvation - one bath but many washings.

TIT 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
1CO 11:31 But if we judge ourselves correctly, we should not be judged.

HEB 12:1-2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles us Therefore, strengthen the hands that hang down and the knees that are feeble.

HEB 12:9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?
HEB 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint [divine discipline], but rather be healed.

EPH 4:22 that, with reference to your former lifestyle [post-salvation sinning], you yourselves lay aside your old man, you who are becoming corrupted [apostasy and degeneracy] on the basis of the lusts of deceit [strong pressures from the sin nature in your area of weakness].

“Arise from the dead,” EPH 5:14.
This is temporal death or control of the sin nature during your Christian life.

ROM 6:13 And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
ROM 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

One bath - the cross. Many foot washings - the rebound technique.

3. From walking through the streets, the disciples have accumulated filth on their feet which is analogous to the believer being out of fellowship.

4. The custom of foot-washing is analogous to rebound. If you come with dirty feet, what should you do before you sit down to dine with the Lord, REV 3:20 “and dine with Him”?

5. Before you eat the Lord’s food, Bible doctrine, you wash your feet, rebound.
6. This dinner was fellowship with the Lord in which food was involved, our greatest fellowship with the Lord is when we meet to dine upon Bible doctrine.

7. The feet also represent service - it is impossible to serve the Lord with dirty feet.
8. In the last chapter, JOH 12:3, the feet of Jesus had been anointed with oil, while at the beginning of this chapter, the feet of the disciples are washed.

Jesus washed their feet - this is a picture of Christ providing rebound
1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1JO 1:9 If we acknowledge [name and cite] our sins, He is faithful and righteous, with the result that He forgives us our sins [known sins] and purifies us from all unrighteousness [unknown sins].

9. Oil on the feet of the Savior indicates the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit while water on the feet of the disciples indicates the cleansing of the rebound technique.
10. TLJC will wash their feet - a picture of Christ providing the basis of rebound on the cross.

ISA 52:7 quoted in ROM 10:15 How beautiful are the feet of those who communicate glad tidings of good things!
All communicators of doctrine have to keep their feet clean or be cleansed to communicate.

Peter’s statement would be commended by many because it is a statement of sincerity, but he was sincerely wrong.

Sincerity is no substitute for a knowledge of doctrine or for perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.
Sincerity can become a distraction to the Christian life and it will make a phoney out of you every time.

LUK 11:1 And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

No, He said, “When you pray address the Father,” and then He taught them to pray in a specific way, LUK 11:2.

Rebound precedes the correct function of perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine.

Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

What it means to be initiated into the secret of the mystery, Part 10. The mystery of divine happiness within the believer.

Friday, January 28, 2005

Occasionally spiritual service is accomplished in a very humble way but it does not rob the one who has the authority from God of His authority.
No matter how humiliating, no matter how degrading it may be, service as rendered by our Lord, indicated His relaxed mental attitude and His wonderful sense of humor.

1. You lose your common sense.
2. You lose your sense of humor.
3. You lose your balance of resident doctrine in the soul so that you become psychopathic, neurotic, or psychotic.
4. You lose your discernment.

a. Self-justification
b. Self-deception
c. Self-absorption

“Know” - perf-act-ind - oidate - oi!date = doctrine in the frame of reference, the memory center, the entire stream of consciousness.

Nominative masculine plural noun - makaroi - makavrioi = to be happy; in the plural = “happinesses.”

Happiness is related to knowing doctrine not having your dreams and goals fulfilled.

We must never confuse happiness, as taught in the Word of God, with the various stimuli of life which are enjoyable for the moment, but have no ability to sustain us in day-by-day living.

It is only in the body to the extent that the soul is in the body, for happiness is related to the soul and spirit, to the immaterial parts of man, and is not related to the body at all.

Satan’s propaganda is that money, success, pleasure, social life, sexual life, public approbation, fame, material things, travel, health, and pleasant circumstances in life can make you happy.

By way of contrast, what God has provided for us with His happiness is a permanent factor and a problem-solving device.

Anything that is worthwhile is worthwhile in adversity as well as in prosperity.

To the extent that you are dependent on people, circumstances, prosperity, success, or any accouterments of life for happiness, you are weak.

It is not dependent on environment, associations, or circumstances of prosperity or adversity; it depends on none of these things.

Having divine happiness is very simple because all that it requires is dedication and devotion to the intake of Bible doctrine.

LUK 11:28 “Happy are those who hear the word of God, and observe it.”

God’s happiness and the relationship with doctrine -
1JO 1:4 “In fact, we write these things that our happiness [+H] might be completed.”

The relationship between our Lord’s happiness and the Church-age believer’s happiness will also be given by our Lord in JOH 15:11.

Spiritual self-esteem is only the beginning of divine happiness.

By advancing through providential preventative suffering to spiritual autonomy, divine happiness becomes stronger.

By advancing through momentum testing to spiritual maturity, divine happiness reaches its peak.

If and when you pass evidence testing, then you have the +H that will exist forever and ever; in living, in dying, and in the eternal state forever.

PRO 3:13 “Happiness belongs to the person who finds wisdom, even to the person who gains understanding.”

PSA 31:7 “I will rejoice and be happy in the provision of Your grace.”

Happiness is a form of energy.
This is energy beyond human imagination or understanding.

God in His omniscience found a way to design a plan to make us happy.

In eternity past, God made the sovereign decision to share His happiness with the new spiritual species, the Church-age believer as Royal Family of God.

Neither the failure of angels nor members of the human race has ever given God even a second of unhappiness.

“Do” - pres-act-subj - poiete - poih'te = to keep on doing the same things.

“If you understand what’s important in life you will be happy and you will never be humiliated from doing anything in life, including what I’ve just done to you.”

Eat - pres-act-part - trogon - trwvgwn = the traitor is crunching his food; to crunch food, or to munch on food.

Trogon = “to gnaw,” “to bite.”

“Has lifted up” - aor-act-ind - eperen - e*ph'ren = to reject the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The raising up of the heel means to overthrow or to seek one’s destruction, or to reject authority.

Judas has pretended to love the Lord but ignorance of doctrine and a desire for approbation means that it has always been pseudo-love.

MAR 12:30 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”

If a believer really loves God, it will be manifested by his desire to hear God’s doctrines, JOH 8:47.

Hearing doctrine is not enough, not only will you hear doctrine but “if you love the Lord,” you will keep His doctrines, JOH 14:15.

“Keep” - aor-act-imp - tereo = to guard something that belongs to you as precious; to watch over carefully, to keep, to hold, to preserve and to pay attention to; to retain.

AMO 8:11-12 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord. And people will stagger from sea to sea, And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, But they will not find it.”

If you guard or keep God’s Word in you, God’s love will be in you, JOH 15:10.

Keeping with doctrine is the only way to love with God’s love -
1JO 2:5 “But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”

This loving for God is revealed by your impersonal love toward one another, 1JO 4:7.

1JO 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Receives - pres-act-part - lambano = to receive, to take hold of, to grasp, to seize, and it sets up the authority for Bible teachers.

Whomever - indefinite pronoun “tina” = anyone, or a certain one, or someone; those whom the Lord sends to represent Him on earth through the communication of doctrine.

In the first generation, He sent apostles and prophets and pastor-teachers.

TLJC is represented today by the prepared pastor-teacher and when a congregation receives the authority of their right pastor-teacher, they are receiving the authority of Jesus Christ.

When a congregation receives their right pastor-teacher they receive TLJC who sent Him and God the Father who gave all authority to the Son.