TEH SECOND COMMANDMENT: PART 1

We are speaking to a group that loves the law of God, so we don’t have any problems.
All reformatory movements have deformed themselves. The word ‘reform’ is in itself a problem, because people want to change the forms. But the Holy Scriptures are not a book of forms.
Culture gives us forms; the Lord gives us principles, and the principles never change. A principle can never change. That’s why the Lord never changes; because He Is.
All human things are manifested through forms and we need to see behind the form what is the principle and we need to live the principle.
We cannot compromise on a principle. We can compromise on a form. But in religion, many have confused form with principle, or principle with form. And in religion we make forms into principles. And we make principles from forms.
Jesus never confused a form, but He had to live in the external forms of the Hebrew culture and forms change from time to time. Jesus’ world was different from Isaiah’s world. Isaiah’s world was a world that had not been penetrated by the Greek culture. But Jesus’ world had been evangelized and penetrated by the Hellenistic culture. And forms are constantly changing and that’s why we have to reform forms. So people reform forms and many times they are unaware of the principles.
So here we have a serious cultural problem and I cannot resolve it. Joshua couldn’t resolve this problem but he arrived at a conclusion: "I and my house, we will serve the Lord."
A serious problem among reformers, when a reformer wants to change somebody, he gets into a problem. John Calvin wanted to change the Swiss people; he wanted to make changes in the people of Geneva. With the best heart; with the best motivation; and he had to flee. He couldn’t reform them.
Who can reform us? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can change our forms—He’s the only One.
When in Germany they wanted to change the worship, it was a cultural tragedy and the enemy used it to try and destroy Luther’s work. The people wanted to take away the idols but the problem is not so much in the idol. The idol is a representation and it’s evil—it’s evil—according to Scriptures it’s evil. But there is something greater than the idol, and that is what is behind it. And what is behind the idol is what makes the idol an idol—it is affection. And when we love something, values are formed. What makes the idol an idol, is not the form, but the principle of love, and the principle of faith. Then to change a form, the first thing you need to change is not the form itself. It’s the value; it’s the love that we need to change, and when we change the affections, the idols will disappear.
Most reformers have failed in this. They have taken away the form—the external form, but the affection and the love remains for that form. And people will always be looking for forms because the affections are still alive.
That’s the problem we have with television. Children watch television, and suddenly the parents are converted. And they’ve been watching television for fifteen years. Mom went to work and the movie was the one that entertained them. And in this cultural process where we are loosing our person, our values of security—our values of belonging, of love, the values of relating one to another, are transferred to the television set, and we loose that from the person.
So fifteen years in this process and the television and the child are not two—they become one. Just like the drunkard and liquor become one. So people are born again, so they know that television is not good for their children, so the natural motivation and the natural reaction, is to take away the television, and we take it away. But we don’t take away the love for the television. We don’t take away the pleasure; we don’t take away the taste and the problem is the taste. What we need to change is their inclination and their taste first. And the only way to change a taste, the only way to change a pleasure, the only way to change a love, is to give a greater love instead.
And the only greater love, the only affection that is greater, the only real love that there is—is God’s love.
But we have failed in giving that love, and when I do not give that love, a void is created, an emptiness is created, and Satan is an expert in filling up these voids. We create a crime when we don’t pour out God’s love to our children; because we are preparing them to be empty. And today there are many gods; that is what we have today, because anything that separates me from the love of God—anything—that will take me apart from the will of God, is a god, and we love that, and it’s a serious problem.
So we come to the conclusion, as we come to understand these things, we come to one conclusion—it’s you and your family.
Joshua lived in Moses’ time. Humanly speaking it seems impossible that the people of Israel should go astray in Moses’ time. But they went astray in Moses’ time. And when Joshua arrived on the scene the people of Israel had gone so astray that Joshua had to make a proclamation. You remember Joshua’s proclamation, Joshua said very clearly, and he said it as a challenge, and he told them: "Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, or the gods of the Hittites, or the gods of the Canaanites, or Jehovah. Because I and my house, we will serve the LORD."
For Joshua, idolatry was a problem, and he wasn’t able to resolve this problem. And the way of solving this problem was; ‘me and my house’. We are living in a time when you and your family should serve the Lord; because if you look around you, you are not going to find faith; you are not going to find purity; you are not going to find sanctification out of our family. And even in our heart there is only sin and who can legislate that?
The Holy Spirit is able to change our idols. The Holy Spirit breaks through culture and breaks my values, but He breaks them unto salvation. He does not break them to destroy me. And at the same time when the Holy Spirit breaks my values, He restores and builds eternal values. And He makes the New Birth possible—that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. He does not force us—He does it through pleadings—He begs us. He does it in love, because that is God’s plan, without forcing, to give His love.
So the answer will be an answer of love, because any answer that is a forced answer, will convert the person into a Pharisee, or a schizophrenic. Righteousness by works; people will clean the bowl outside. And all reforms are full of plates that have been washed on the outside but not internally.
The work of God is from inside out, it is not from outside towards the inside. The Lord works inside first and then outside. But we—we only look at what is external and we fool and deceive ourselves with the external. But the Lord looks at what is in the heart.
That’s the problem and the Lord will give you wisdom to solve this problem.
Let us look now at one of the reasons for the law of God, and let us look at the principle that is underneath. It is very important that we learn the principle that is under God’s law.
The language of God’s law is a very simple language—the most simple. Nobody can misinterpret God’s law. The clearest word that we find in English and the clearest word we can find in Spanish—I don’t know for you which one it is, but for me, the clearest word I can find is ‘NO’. It’s very clear. Do you need some hermeneutics to understand the word ‘no’? Can you interpret the word ‘no’? And if it’s a no that comes from God—but the Divine ‘no’s’ go against human forms. And then we have a problem. Joshua couldn’t solve that problem. We need to solve this problem by faith because each one of us can give an answer to the Lord in our hearts.
One of the things that is difficult to understand today is the biblical principle of separation. The Lord always wanted a separate people. The Lord always worked to have a separate people. One of the most difficult things is to know how to separate ourselves and at the same time, still be in the world. That’s a tremendous job.
Those who will be saved, have to learn this.
Daniel learned this and if Daniel could learn, we can also learn it. He lived in Babylon, and he did not live in one of the suburbs of Babylon, he lived in the house of the King of Babylon. He had to eat from the table of the King of Babylon. He lived in Babylon. He was a citizen of Babylon and he was not a part of Babylon. He never polluted himself with Babylon. Not many human beings have had that experience.
Most of us assimilate, and that’s the danger, that we will be assimilated. The Lord knows that that danger exists, and Deuteronomy 7 is very clear in regards to what the Lord did—He destroyed seven nations—seven nations! To destroy seven nations, my brethren, to separate His people—we can’t imagine that, because today we don’t work with those forms. But in that time, that was the way of doing things. Many people don’t understand these workings of the Lord. But He is Sovereign.
So they destroyed these seven nations and after that destruction, to establish the people, so they wouldn’t be confused with the world, the Lord spoke about marriage. He told them that they could not marry someone that was not of the people of God. ‘Thou shalt not give thy son to their daughter, neither shalt thou give thy daughter to their son,’ because they will be corrupted.
What about us today? Have we followed this commandment? Have we been assimilated? How difficult for the Lord! One of the things that is the most difficult for the Lord, is to form a people that will not be assimilated by the culture. A family is converted and the children, they are not converted. When they are fifteen years old, they are totally assimilated into the culture, and we have to start again.
If this people had conserved its children, since the days of the pioneers, what power would we have! A genetic power—because in the law of God is promised the protection of our genetics. And God knows how to protect that, and He said ‘No’; and ‘No’ is ‘No’. For me, the word ‘No’ is ‘No’.
Let’s look at the problem. What is behind God’s law, when it is spoken in a negative way? The Lord gave His law in negative language. In the Garden of Eden there was a law, because God’s law is as eternal as Himself, because God’s law is not a rule. It is not a Roman law. God’s law is Him—His character. It’s difficult for us to grasp this, because we have learned that God’s law is a set of rules. But we have not learned that the law of God is a Person.
But God’s law is His character; it is what He is, and before sin, the expression of God’s law was something totally positive. But after sin, He had to give a law with the purpose of preventing. Heaven works with us in prevention. He does not work with medicine, the medicine—the remedy is after we sin. But before we sin, He has placed prevention. God does not want us to get sick; He wants us to be without sickness. In the same way He wants us to be without sin.
So in order to be without sickness, He gave us His commandments—natural law and moral law. In order that we might not sin, He gave us His law, so that we can know that the word ‘No’ means ‘No’.
There is something here that is very important; the Lord knew that my capacity for feeling—that my feeling capacity cannot be apart from His will. My capacity to feel was created to be lived in God’s will. My feelings were given to me to remain in God’s will; in God’s image; in His likeness. When God created us, the image of God was everything and our feelings were at the service of the image, at the service of His will. In that way, my feelings were not independent. They depended upon the character and the image of God.
Satan’s work, the specialized work of spiritualism, in the process of disintegration—not only has he disintegrated the body from the soul, when body and soul are separated and they are no longer one, there are many more things—emotions are separated from principle in such a way that emotions and feelings and sensory capacity—all that has to do with my feelings and emotions is separated from the only will—God’s will.
That is what is behind the law in negative language. And heaven knows—heaven knows, and has experienced it very well, because God is the best laboratory that there is. He’s the best scientist and He knows all the research throughout eternity. He knows what would happen in my capacity to see without God’s will—apart from the principle of God’s love.
Divine love independent of my visual capacity, the only thing that it can do is to destroy me. And the Lord placed the commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery, and the Lord Jesus explained it: anyone who beholds; he who looks; independent of the principle of love is committing adultery in his heart.
The Lord anticipates the disintegration of the process of feelings and morality. Everything that has to do with our feelings and that which is moral is one in creation. But the enemy has separated it. And when we become independent, the only thing that can happen is that we degrade.
There is an expression in the Scriptures that explains this very well, Numbers chapter 15; and look how the Lord prevented it. The Lord knows what happens with our eyes and how the Lord has permitted the use of the word, and here we enter into the field of education. The Lord knows that my feelings need to be educated by His Word first. So my feelings can be conditioned, educated, by the Word. And we have failed in this.
Our feelings see the things that are out there, before receiving the Word. And when my feelings perceive the outer world, independent of the Word, that’s Satan’s work.
That’s the way we have been educated—all of us. Mary taught her child the Word as sovereign and the Word informed His senses. The other way around was that his senses would inform himself. And the law of God is given for this, so that our feelings will be informed by His Word; by the character of God; by His reality, before anything else.
That can be done even in pre-natal life and mothers have failed in this. And that’s where we see how deep God’s Word is.
Look at this illustration—Numbers 15: it’s given in a rule, in a form. But behind this form is the principle. But we read the form with our senses, while in the spirit we should have seen the principle. Let’s read verse 37 and onward. "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:"
The Lord had to use as a resource, sensorial things because He is constantly uniting our things with His. He knows how to do this.
Verse 39: "And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it." Look—a sense; you must notice here, the senses. The Lord has taken into account all our capacity to feel and He prevents, because He knows what will come afterwards, when I see.
We can include another element in here; very important. Today it is not important, but for the Lord it has always been important. How were Adam and Eve dressed? I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything. A dress of light? I can’t imagine that, but they were dressed. I don’t know how Adam’s skin was before sin, and if there was some difference between his skin and his dress of light—I don’t know. But something happened when Adam and Eve sinned and it was very important. And what happened when Adam and Eve sinned, happens in us when we disobey. And my feelings are depraved and degenerated more and more, and the Lord wants to prevent that.
Verse 39 "And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:"
Heaven knows what is in my capacity to feel when it is independent of God. And we don’t measure that. We measure money, we count money, we add money, we multiply money, but we don’t measure morality. We don’t measure spiritual things.
We have machines that can measure anything. We measure the earth, we calculate the earth. We weigh the potatoes. What is it that we don’t weigh? What is it that we don’t measure? What is it that we don’t count? All material things, but God counts the feelings, because feelings is what destroys the soul and the spirit and God has taken that in account in God’s law.
And He has restored that with a very simple word, ‘No’. What is the principle that is behind—His love and His mercy, to save us and redeem us from all of this process of depravation.
Some people think that the Catholic Church was the one who changed the commandments. Haven’t we changed the commandments too? What is more damaging, an advertisement on television, a naked woman on television, or the Virgin Mary? Which is more damaging? How do they dress the Virgin Mary? And how do they show the women on television? What is the effect that it has on the feelings?
Thou shalt not make thyself images. Oh, my brethren, what is behind that—we have not measured it. The Holy Spirit has measured it. The Lord has measured it. It’s a very interesting commandment, because this commandment speaks of three spaces—three spaces! Heaven; earth; and under the earth. Is there any other space left? There are not more spaces. Up; here; and under.
It’s difficult for us to understand this, because in Moses’ days the communication industry didn’t exist. How did they communicate? In Moses’ day it was closer to God’s divine plan. What did Moses have to do to communicate with his wife? Take out his cell-phone? You and I—you and I—that’s what God created. I am for you and she is for me. They loved each other, served each other, that’s the Lord’s communication department. Person to person.
It’s very simple. Have we lost that? And today we have a whole world of communications—totally different from Moses’ time. How can we manage the world—how can we manage the world without letting the world affect us? Only the Lord will teach you—only the Lord.
Some people say that cell-phones produce cancer. I don’t know if it’s true. Other people say that television produces cancer; that the rays that it emanates produce cancer. Everything that man makes is out of harmony with God’s plan. Everything that man makes, goes against God’s creation. Everything! Man is unable to make something that is in harmony with God’s creation. The only one who can create harmony is the Lord.
But we live in the world and only the Lord—only the Lord can protect us from the world. Jesus said, "Keep them from evil". Being in the world—it’s the science of God. With you; with me; and the Lord gives us the wisdom to do it in the best way.
There is something very important and in a later presentation we will arrive to that point, but we want to establish God’s principle in regards to our feelings and our morality. I want to leave you a piece of homework for that presentation. Your are going to think about the following, Exodus chapter 20, verses 3, 4 and 5. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
That is the homework: what is the iniquity of the fathers upon the children in relation to images? What is the iniquity?
As parents we say we love our children. And if we are grandparents—grandparents love their grandchildren even more, but here it says that the fathers visit iniquity against their children. Which parents? The Philistines? The Canaanites? Or those of God’s people?
How could there be iniquity between parents and their children, and what is that iniquity? Think on that, and when we determine that, we can easily understand why there shouldn’t be any images. Why there should be no images.
And together with this, there is another verse—very important verse, and we will end with this verse: 2nd Corinthians chapter 4:18. "While we look not at the things which are seen," Paul presents us the prevention that is found in God’s law in Greek terminology, in the Greek culture.
"While we look not at the things which are seen," what is it that we see? What we can see. Have we learned to see that which is not seen? It continues: "But at the things which are not seen." We have to see what is not seen, because in revelation, that which is invisible is the true and what is visible in this world is all temporal.
May the Lord bless you. Let us pray:
Dear Heavenly Father,
In Your wisdom You have revealed to us the way of prevention. You have created Your law, Lord, and You have revealed it to us in Your Word with one purpose—to redeem us; to restore us; and to renew Your image in our lives. Lord, we live in a totally depraved world and we do not know all the things that go on in this world. One day when we will be with You, we will understand what this world really was. But Lord, teach us how to walk in this world, looking at the invisible. Amen.

THE EDUCATION OF JESUS

There are two sentences from the Pen of Inspiration. One of them we mentioned yesterday. God has created the human mind in such a way that every faculty that we have in our mind, responds to God’s mind, this is what God’s inspired counsel tells us in Christ’s Object Lessons Chapter 25; when it considers the parable of the Ten Talents. Then in 1897 Sister White said, "If we fail in understanding the science of true education, we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."
God’s education is through faith. I wasn’t educated in faith. I was educated in this secular world and they taught me scriptures with the secular method. Which is the secular method? Reason; but not through faith.
How difficult it was for me to find something of faith—very difficult. By God’s mercy, the way we must approach God is in faith. He approaches us in faith. He comes to us in faith. He has complete trust and believes that we can be born again, that we can become children once again. He has that faith.
Faith does not condemn. Faith does not accuse. Faith does not point at. Faith is not a yoke and faith is not a dominion. Faith. Trust. Faith sees what cannot be seen.
Reason sees what can be seen. Reason sees sin and reason sees wickedness. Reason sees what is the iniquity inside of the other person. Each time I use my reason that way, what grows within me is my pride and my self-sufficiency, because I learn through my reason. But when I learn through faith I arrive to the conclusion that there is nothing in me, and I become humble. Faith makes us humble, but reason fills us up.
Jesus was taught through faith. Where did Mary learn? Who taught Mary? Mary taught her child in faith. How did Mary learn? If we compare Mary with us, we have PhDs in comparison. Because Mary; what did Mary know? The only thing that she knew was—and she said; "Behold Thy servant". Behold Thy servant. "May God’s will be done in me according to His Word."
She permitted everything; she permitted everything and she walked by faith, and she developed a child who never became an adult—never became an adult. Behold the Child educated by the Lord so that He wouldn’t become an adult. The more He grew; He was more dependent, in greater communion, with greater ties, closer to His Father.
But with us it is opposite. The more we grow, we separate ourselves. We become more independent; we believe more in ourselves and we trust more in ourselves and we trust less in Him. And when we come to His Word, we reason it out, but we don’t trust in it.
But we know a lot. The scribes knew a lot. The Pharisees knew a lot and the Sadducees knew a lot. The Hebrew people knew a lot; they knew a lot of the letter of the Word. But they didn’t have faith. What was it that they didn’t practice? What was it that they didn’t practice? All that liturgy they had; all that system of the sanctuary services. They were very careful with each specific color, they had all the fringes, and they handled all the different robes—but they didn’t know the real Lamb! And when Truth came, and when Truth became incarnated, and when the Word became flesh, they did not recognize it. Their religion was handled through reason, but not through faith.
Mary educated her child by faith. Luke, in a Bible verse that we know by memory and this verse should teach us a lot; in Luke chapter 2, the scriptures say the following, and we should remember what Paul said about Jesus: "but when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, subject unto the law." Subject unto the law—just as we are.
Mary understood something of that without reasoning too much, but with a lot of faith. And we should know the difference there is between reason and faith. Because our reasons are born in our head, but faith is born in Him.
Philosophers reason, theologians reason, all human knowledge is a child of reason. And what does reasoning depend upon? Of our senses. Who informs my senses? The external world that is around me; and every perception I have of the outward world is educating me. But God has made His knowledge in such a way that He reveals it, He reveals everything, and His revelation is born in His mind. And His mind is not sick with what makes my mind sick.
Almost everything that I perceive with my eyes, and almost everything that I hear with my ears, and almost everything I touch with my hands, is infected with sin and wickedness. It’s affected by pride and selfishness. But all that God has made, and all that He has revealed, is born from a pure mind, from a righteous mind, from a clean mind.
What kind of a mind, what class of mind? In Deuteronomy 32 it tells us what kind of God we have and what type of God, what kind of God has revealed Himself in His word. Beginning in verse 2: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:"
Like what? Like the small rain. As showers upon the grass, that is how revelation comes upon us, to everyone who is willing to receive it by faith.
"Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. They have corrupted themselves."
Who is God? He is clean. He is pure. He is the only One. That God was the One that Mary knew and she trusted herself into the arms of that God.
Abraham’s experience was something similar. He didn’t have a child. He asked God for a child. He needed an heir and God promised him that He would give him a child that would be born of him. Scriptures say he said; "Amen", the Hebrew expression for faith. He trusted, but reason was telling him that it was impossible. Science was telling him that it was impossible. His senses were telling him that there was no possibility. But possibility is God. What is impossible for us is possible for Him. And He is able to make us into children once again, even though we are adults.
Our Lord Jesus never was an adult. He was always a child. We read in Luke chapter 2 in verse 40, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom:"
Now we have a problem with the word ‘wisdom’, and in this western culture we even have a coefficient of intelligence. We have even placed on a numbered scale, wisdom; a hundred ten, a hundred twenty, a hundred forty, a hundred sixty IQ. I don’t know how much you would measure Jesus up to. But what is wisdom?
We know the letter; but Mary did not know too much of the letter, but she had the experience. She lived in the presence of the Lord. She didn’t do anything without the presence of the Lord and she did everything according to His Word. She accepted everything according to His will. Who is the Word? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We understand the semantics of the word ‘fear’ in that context; it’s the effect that results from being in the presence of God. That’s an experience of faith.
Our ‘presence’ is of an idea of God—that is all our ‘presence’; an idea of Him, but not reality. For Mary, an experience of faith—He was real for her. And in being real for her, He was a reality for the child—God; because the child’s reality is the reality of what the parents are. If in the parents that is not a reality, then the children don’t know anything.
Sister White says that true education is an influence. Have you read it? True education is not a curriculum of algebra or math. True education is within; is implicit in he who knows God. Mary knew the Lord; in her own sphere, she had the fear of the Lord. Everything she did, and everything she thought, was in the presence of Him. And the child was growing up and was strengthened and His growth was simultaneous, and not only simultaneous it was also encouraged, synchronized in mind, in heart and with His hands, He was synchronized.
The Bible text says, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him." What is the grace of God?
Today children don’t receive from us grace. Do you know what they receive from us? They receive disgrace. In the way we treat them; in the very same way in which we conceived them; in the relationship we have with them. They receive disgrace, instead of receiving grace. And then we ask ourselves, why don’t they love me? Why don’t they obey me?
And while we are wise in this secular world, we do not know the science of true education, because to educate is to redeem. Educating is not informing. Educating is redeeming; to redeem this fallen human nature that I have given by the law of inheritance. I have given to this child my heritage, my fallen condition I give unto them, so I should know how to restore it.
If my relationship with Him—if God has restored me, then an influence—an invisible influence—intangible influence—an influence that you cannot measure with human instruments; the child will receive it. God has made things in such a way that these children, as the child Jesus needed two images—two images that had become just one through faith. And that influence, the influence of Mary and the influence of Joseph, the same influence in two personalities with the same criteria; with the same will and with the same purpose. Without controversy; without dichotomy; without being broken apart in their relationship. They did the work, the work that we should have done and that we still should do if we are born again and we become like children in the kingdom of God.
Oh, but the problem of adults is that we know too much. We know everything. We understand everything and no-one teaches us. And I pretend to teach her, and she pretends to teach me, and while we both teach each other—what we really do is contradict each other. And the influence—the influence we are exerting on them, that influence makes any child a schizophrenic.
Aw, but Jesus was born and He grew up in an environment of grace. My loved ones, each contradiction amongst us is a ton of disgrace upon our children and it is not grace. That’s a principle in God’s education. It’s so simple, so elementary and so deep, because it is truth! And what is so beautiful in this culture, is that it is free. It doesn’t cost anything. How much did Mary have to pay to educate her child in grace?
But today, education is a terrible business. It’s an industry. Who has been more than Jesus? Who has been more than Jesus? No one—and no one will be more than Jesus. How did He become the greatest? By faith. And He was educated by the Word; in the Word. But today, we cannot fathom that. We do not think it possible, because we are sons and daughters of reason, and as we see how everyone is educated, that’s the same way that we are educated. But Mary understood.
Luke chapter 2 verse 52: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour [grace] with God and man." Now notice Jesus’ curriculum, a curriculum that is totally different. Aw, but people are very concerned about the curriculum; math, chemistry, physics, psychology, English and Spanish and grammar, phonetics—oh what is it that we don’t teach? We have a huge curriculum and even expensive.
And then we have different grades, first, second, third, fourth and fifth. And each time that he passes a grade we graduate him and we put on him a hat and we even put a robe on him and now those children even in elementary school they begin to puff up—because they are graduated.
In the school of Mary, no one graduated. In the school of Mary, in this divine education, each day we diminish, and we diminish and we diminish more and we learn how to descend more. And there is no graduation, because it will go on throughout eternity, we will continue learning and we will be filling up in the knowledge of the Lord, just as the waters fill the ocean.
But we don’t understand that, because we are children of reason; because grace and kindness and faith don’t produce. We are educated in what produces and our mentality is formed to produce money and things.
But Jesus was educated to produce faith, to produce grace, to produce redemption. He was educated to redeem. He was educated to restore. He was educated to reconcile. He was educated to forgive and He was educated to justify. And even on Calvary, dying, He forgot about Himself, because He did not think on Himself, not even on Calvary. On Calvary He was emptied of Himself. There was nothing in Him. He was concerned for the thieves, justifying the thieves, seeking for the repentance of the thieves and reconciling the thieves; the eternal purpose of God.
Should it be ours also? Should it also be ours? Or we are of this world of production. I know people who have told me, "When I get so much money, then I will begin doing God’s work." They will never do God’s work.
With what capital did Jesus do God’s work? What type of capital did He have? What budget did Jesus have to do God’s work? What is the budget that we need, so that the Holy Spirit might do His work in us? And He might convert us into children? How much budget does the Holy Spirit need for that?
Oh, but we have our mind geared into accounting and we reason that way, because we are children of reason. But Jesus was a child of faith. Not from bread alone shall man live. To live without bread? To have lunch without bread? Have breakfast without bread? That’s inconceivable. My reasoning is with bread; but Jesus’ reasoning was by faith—God’s Word.
What a difficult thing to experience. For me it was very difficult and for you it might be easy—for these children it is easy—because they are born without—with a clean mind, with a blank mind, so that we can write in them—faith. And if our influence is the influence of God, then they will just receive grace. And in grace and in love they learn to trust. But if they don’t have that influence, then they receive another influence, because every human being, we are in the divine influence or we are in the influence of sin, because there are only two influences and these two cannot be mixed.
Jesus always received Mary’s influence. Can we imagine Jesus, thirty years—thirty years—carrying water to His Mom? Happily? In that time water did not come in like it comes in today. In that time, you had to carry water. But we don’t carry water. The only thing we carry is this little water bottle—that’s easy. To carry water—that’s work—a heavy burden!
Perhaps you haven’t carried water here. We have had to carry water. When we began in Venezuela there was no bathroom, there was no water pipe system—we had to carry the water. And when we took a shower—that’s something different. The child Jesus had to carry water, until He was thirty years—willingly—with love. Without getting tired, without murmuring—it was a pleasure for Him to take water to Mary.
He had learned the first lesson of faith. He had learned to obey. He learned to obey. Oh, but today’s children—today’s children—which is the child today that is obedient? How difficult it is today to find an obedient child. And Ellen White says that obedience should be instantaneous. Instantaneous obedience—can only be developed in an environment of grace and treatment by faith, under the roof of two persons that respire—that when they breathe, they breathe out affection—divine affection; divine trust; and the only thing they breathe and transpire is their knowledge of God.
When Mary breathed out, Jesus breathed that in; and in that breath, what there was, was the breath of God’s image. And Jesus—they didn’t need movies, or theatres, nor comedies—the real comedy and the real theater was the relationship of Joseph and Mary. And twenty-four hours a day, the child was absorbing and was being transformed, beholding what was real, authentic in Mom and Dad. The curriculum was implicit—was implicit in that. Oh, God’s education is something that is implicit. He in us, the hope of glory.
The child Jesus, pay attention to the phenomenon and we’re going to read it here, Jesus is performing His ministry—He is in His full ministry—John 14:10 says: "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" that is something that is very beautiful! I don’t understand it, but we can experience it. While we would expect that the husband would be in the wife and the wife in the husband—but the father in the son, the mother in the child and the child in the father—scriptures present that as a reality.
But for us this has stopped being a reality. At what age does the child become independent? At what time do we separate ourselves from the child? I know mothers that, fifteen days after the child is born, they go to work and where does the child stay? But we don’t want them to be independent and we don’t want them to stop recognizing us. We don’t want them to have insecurity problems when they are teenagers. But we create that disposition, because we do all that was contrary, opposite to what Mary did.
When Mary separated herself from Jesus—she became desperate and she sought out for Him–three days He was lost. And when they found Him, Jesus told her: "I am in my Father’s business." At what age? These children can have a business with the eternal Father. At what age? Joseph and Mary unconsciously had prepared Him in their influence, to be under the influence of the eternal Father.
Oh my beloved, in God’s Word—in His Spirit—in this living Word, there is a mystery that is explicit. How a child matures; how does a human being mature? If he has been exposed to a living experience of God’s Word in us.
Pay attention to what it says here. Verse 10 of chapter 14: the words that I speak unto you—the words that I speak unto you—I speak not of myself: the words. Thirty years, Jesus; thirty one years, Jesus; thirty two years; and at thirty years of age—thirty-three years of age—His self did not speak. His will did not speak. He did not speak of Himself. He was a child. He did not speak of Himself—because truth is not born in us—what is truth is in Him. What is truth never shall be ours; it will always be of Him.
Jesus never spoke of Himself by Himself. He was a child. That was how He was educated. That was as He was born—in faith; in dependence. And as He grew, He grew in grace. He grew in faith. He grew in wisdom.
Oh my brothers, these children today—they grow and they grow physically. They grow biologically. But they also grow in selfishness and in pride and in self sufficiency; but they should grow in grace and in the knowledge of God. But what human beings say is that times have changed. Times have changed. So we blame time. Oh, beloved—mine is the fault and you have an assignment—to learn, which is the wickedness which is visited upon the children.
The Lord taught me education with the second commandment. The Lord told me many years ago—these children were four years old. 1970, 1971, and God told me, "Your children are going to be lost." And I asked the Lord, "Lord, what should I do? What should I do so they won’t be lost?" Second commandment; the second commandment is a treatise of redemptive education.
Through reason it cannot enter—it has to be by faith. Joseph and Mary understood that and at thirty-three years of age Jesus did not speak of Himself. And the question is, when you speak, who speaks? I or He in me? That is the difference.
And let me tell you something, human beings, we speak a lot—a lot. We speak, we know how to use our tongues. We know how to use our tongues. But our Lord Jesus, He learned to not speak of Himself. It wasn’t His self that spoke and the Bible says even more about that in John chapter 5 and in verse 30: "I can of mine own self do nothing:"
In today’s education, in the education we have today, they teach you that you should be you. Be yourself! You can! That was Satan’s education. "I Can! I can arise, I can go up and I will be up. I will ascend and I will be on the throne and I will have dominion. My mental faculties, my beauty, what I have received, that is mine and I’m going up!" That is the foundation of education.
Have we been educated that way?
Jesus was educated in a contrary position to this. "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."
Oh my brethren, Jesus was thirty-three years old and He said, "My Father, my Father." He depended on His Father; He did not depend of Himself. He did not depend on His experience. He did not depend on His education. He did not depend on His knowledge. He did not depend on anything in Himself—completely dependant upon His Father.
And we are orphans in reality. Our heavenly Father is an idea. Really our father is our own self. He is our father and we depend on him—we depend on our self and of ourselves. We depend on our strength and we depend on our reason.
But Jesus did not depend on anything that was in Him—He was a child, and He never became an adult.
Verse 19 of chapter 5 of John: "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you," and the expression here translated as ‘verily’ is the same expression of faith by Abraham, Amen, Amen. What is sure. What is certain. The only thing that is trustworthy.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself," Nothing!
Have we done a lot of things? Have we done a lot of things? And the more we do, in whom do we trust? In what we have done. Oh, we have created our own Babylon. We are small Nebuchadnezzars. But in the same essence, Nebuchadnezzar said when he saw his house, and he saw his palace, and he beheld his gardens, and his columns and pillars, "Isn’t this the house that I have built for my own glory?"
Isn’t that our same experience? We find something in the computer; we learn something in the computer—Oh, we did it! We make a house, its better than our neighbors—Oh, I have a house! Even in our ministry we can feel that way.
But our Lord Jesus; "The Son can do nothing of himself"—Nothing!
Nothing? What is nothing?
"But what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he (the Father) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." What a child—What a child! What a child was Jesus, He never became an adult. In Him was power. In Him was strength, because He was a child—just born—who needed the milk of the Father; the Spirit of the Father; the breath of the Father; the knowledge of the Father; the will of the Father; the righteousness of the Father; everything that was of His Father. And They were One; the Father was in Him.
No wonder He said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God. Knowing Him; and the Hebrew word for knowing is a word that indicates an intimate communion—and intimate communion. Not of things, not with things, because we have intimate communion with our money; with our budget; with things, physical—with our car; with our house; intimate communion. But Jesus’ communion was with His Father. That was His communion. Nothing in Him; nothing in His head except His Father; that is how Jesus remained, and He was a child and He shall be a child forever—depending from His Father.
The most serious thing in this world is to be an orphan—the hardest experience; the most difficult life—to be orphans. And the majority of Christians, we are orphans of our heavenly Father. We live by our own selves. We obtain our bread by our own selves. We obtain our own house by our selves, and we find our wisdom by our own selves. We are orphans and the life of an orphan is a very hard life.
And in the same way, these children, we teach them to be orphans. That they can handle themselves independent, that they might live by themselves—that they might depend upon their ego and their own strength. And when they are fifteen years old, they want to have their own apartment; they want to have their own car; and they want to have their own woman. And they leave home at fifteen, sixteen years of age; and at fifty years of age they have been orphans, no one receives them, no one loves them—not even Mom or Dad—and where do they finish? In a nursing home; the government will take care of them.
No one lives with anyone; the family values are finished, have broken apart. I can’t live with anyone—only myself. Only—and I put a sign on the door—‘don’t disturb me’. Private Property.
Oh beloved, Heaven—Heaven is plural! Heaven is collective. It’s family. Heaven is relationship; community; an experience without selfishness. Ones living for others, as Heaven has become nothing, has surrendered itself; has given itself; and incarnated itself to become Immanuel—God with us. May heaven permit us that experience—to live with Him.

MAKING AN IMAGE

Let us open the scriptures in Exodus Chapter 20:4-6 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
The knowledge of God in the context of sin, is given in the most simple and easy way, and God’s Law is an example of this. The Lord has always told us what is it that we have to do. He tells us WHAT we have to do, and our only answer is obedience. He says ‘What’. He says "Thou shalt not kill." ‘What’. "Thou shalt not fornicate:" another ‘What’. "Thou shalt not bear false witness;" another ‘What’.
The Lord reveals His will in what we should not do. The education we receive in this world is not given like this. What we like to know is ‘why’ not ‘what’ and the Lord has spared us the ‘why’. He has given us something simple; ‘what’.
Here it says, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image" or anything like it; that is a ‘what’. Before there were any advertisements—we should know what the principle is. But there is a reason here and it is very important that we know this reason. Why did the Lord say, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"? It is a very simple reason—because the only One who makes real and true images is the Lord.
What is truth? In the last analysis, truth is the Lord. Truth is not a concept. Truth is a Person and that Person is He who made the heavens and the earth. And the only One who can make an image in truth, of truth, is Him. We cannot do it.
And He made the image alive, because Truth and Life are one thing. So it can be His image, it has to participate in God’s Life, and it has to participate of His character and then it is true. And Heaven knows that that which is not true—is harmful--destroys.
He is a true God and when He created the family; we know the verse—"Let Us make man in Our image according to Our likeness". So the only One who makes a True Image, is the Lord.
Now, He gave us a faculty—He didn’t give it to the angels, He gave it to the human race—we can reproduce that image. It’s our job, and when there was no sin, there was only one image that we could copy—the image of God. But when sin entered, then we have another image, but it is a false image, it’s not real, it is distorted; and now we have the option of two images.
In prophecy we speak a lot about images, because there are beasts, and there is an image of the beast, and we know what the Image of the Beast is. The Image of the Beast is a copy of the character of the Beast; is a copy of the principles of the Beast.
After sin another image appeared, and we have the option—the True or the false. It is very important to us to be able to discern something about what is God’s image. Four-thousand years later, the Jewish people and humanity had forgotten God’s image, and the Lord needed to reveal Himself and He revealed Himself. He didn’t send a book; He didn’t send a philosopher; He didn’t send a prophet; He Himself incarnated.
The apostle Paul tells us it is the same Image of God. Jesus, the Image of God; and we should be able to perceive what that is. The other day we shared with you how we have lost that. It is such a serious thing, to accept—at least to accept in faith—even though in my intellectual mind, I cannot conceive it—but by faith, I should accept my fellow man that he is the Image of God. And the only One who made it was Him.
How can we copy that? How can we copy it? The Lord has promised to reproduce Himself in us. And Heaven knows that the only One who can reproduce the Image of God, is Himself. He knows that we can’t make copies. He knows it.
The enemy has tried to destroy this principle. And the effects—it is impossible to conceive the degenerative effects of this! In Romans 1, Paul explains this. Where does man end up when he looses the Image of God? Paul says it in Romans 1. In very clear language he defines it, and he did it two thousand years ago.
And here we are, two-thousand years after Paul, and what is the Image of God now? Destroyed! Man has changed the natural use according to nature, when man started making other images and lost the authentic image—that is the Lord.
Scriptures tell us in Genesis 9:5, 6; the Lord demands—"And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man."
For the Lord, you and I are His image and His likeness, and the essence of that is not physical, it is moral, it is spiritual. And we don’t manage moral values; we manage material values. We are children of material values. For us the most important is what we have. In our fallen and destroyed image, what is important is what we have.
In the Lord it is not important what we have. What is important to the Lord is what we are; because He is. But in order to be in this culture, to ‘be’ does not produce money in this culture. But if we have—that produces money. For us it is very difficult to discern the far-reaching effects of the second commandment.
The Lord gave us a work—Genesis chapter 1:27.28: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
The Lord gave us the ability to multiply His image and His likeness—the body and the spirit—just like He did it. And we don’t understand the moral responsibility that is therein.
In Genesis 5:1 it is even more clear: "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;"
When the Lord made us, He made us in His own likeness; Verse 2 "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."
And in verse 3: "And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son"
And how did he beget this son?
"In his own likeness."
And the work, only in life, only in human beings, can this be done; Not on paper; not on wax; not on stone; not in iron—in people. Truth; real truth—not the appearance of truth—if it is an appearance—it’s not true; if it’s impure—it’s not true; if it’s unjust—it’s not true; because the essence of truth is moral. You don’t do that on paper—you do that in people.
"Thou shalt not make any graven image."
"Thou shalt not make any graven image," because God has made it, and He has given you the ability to do it, in the plurality of God’s Image.
God is plural. He said, "Let US make." He didn’t say, "I am going to do. ." He said, "Let US make." The original name of Elohiym, is plural. "Let us make."
When He made the family, He did something plural and sin has destroyed that plurality in us. In what does that consist? The son does not live for himself. The Image of God in its moral essence is totally unselfish. Selfishness is something strange to God’s Image. The only thing that pertains to God’s image is Love. Love is an experience that is totally alterocentric (other centered).
The son—all the head of the son; all the chest of the son; all of the son’s stomach; the legs of the son; the faculties of the son—are not for the son—they are for the father. They are a gift; and that’s the principle of Love.
In Love, nothing is for the subject; everything is for another. All that pertains to the son was for the father; and everything that is in the father, is for the son. The father is a gift to the son—a total gift. We cannot conceive that in our imagination—it should be our experience, because there will be no stain or blemish of selfishness in the Kingdom of God.
The bond between the father and the son; the relationship that there is between the Father and the Eternal Son, is the foundation of the family.
The male—Adam—was a gift for Eve. The head of the male; the chest of the male; the resources of the male; all that the male had—was a gift for Eve; and in the same way, Eve for Adam; without any type of reclaiming. No reclaims; no demands; only a gift. It’s the moral Image of God. Who can reproduce that?
The Lord wants to do that in us, and that’s why He said, "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image."
Now: Let’s go further. The principle of a plural life, in which I am not mine, I do not belong to myself; Paul said it—have you read it in the writings of Paul? 1 Corinthians 7:4: "The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife."
In the Image of God, I am not mine and she is not hers, and we cannot imagine that. Our relationship in the Image of God is a relationship of depth and that depth is a depth of love. That is how God’s image is based. That is the base and the essence of the Plan of Redemption and that is why the Lord cannot conceive that His Image be destroyed—that His Image be destroyed.
And much less can He conceive that I as a father and that I as a mother will lend myself to destroy the image of God in a child; because the Lord says in the Commandments, Exodus 20:5: "for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting."
Are we conscious that the Lord visits us? Are we conscious of that? Are we conscious that God visits the parents? Or do we think that this is just an idea—a concept? The Law of God teaches that He who made the heavens and the earth visits families and we don’t understand that much in this culture.
In this culture we like to have our privacy, so we visit on the phone. And when they call on the phone, we invented the answering machine and we hear the person and we let the machine register their voice. We are totally possessed by things.
But God is not like that—He visits us. He visits us, and when you visit someone, what do you perceive? What can we perceive? What can we see? What can we feel? What do we learn? What do we receive? We should be able to receive the Image of God. We should be able to receive the influence of the Divine character. We should be able to receive the redemptive treatment of God.
What has the Lord perceived in the visits in our home? Can He perceive? The Lord does not make a mistake when He perceives, and He has perceived my iniquity as a parent. He has perceived it and it hurts Him in His heart, because the Lord expects that each time that I look unto a child, in my eyes I will reflect the Image of God. In my words I will reflect the tone of God’s Image. In my behavior, in what I do, in my breath, the Lord expects that the influence of His character will be transmitted to the child.
And if that doesn’t happen, it’s another image. What other image? The image of the beast—there are only two images; God’s Image—the image of the Lamb; or the image of the beast.
Heaven says, "six things does the Lord abhor and seven are an abomination to His soul". And the first one—you know which one it is—haughty eyes; haughty eyes. Do we speak with our eyes? Do we preach with our eyes? Do we love with our eyes? Can we hate with our eyes? Can we kill someone with our eyes?
And He visits us; and we destroy God’s Image and I destroy it in myself, but in me it is not so dangerous, but I destroy it in my children. I destroy it in my family. I destroy it with my wife. And on Sabbath I sing, "Hallelujah, Glory to God. Everything I have left", and that’s Satan’s schizophrenic plan to destroy God’s image.
And we say, "Catholics—those who changed the law;" and what about us? Have we changed the Law? When will we restore the Image of God in our lives? Every instant, we need to reflect God’s image. That’s what we were created for, and according to Ellen White, what is education? The restoring of God’s image.
To educate is to redeem. What should your children be able to see in you? The Lord; the Lord. There was a song that you used to sing when you were Adventist children; I sang it. I was taught this song, and I suppose that you learned it before I did because all Adventist songs of fifty, sixty years ago, they were composed here in America.
"Oh be careful little eyes what you see. Oh be careful little ears what you hear. Oh be careful little mouth what you say. Oh be careful little hands what you do. For the Father up above, is looking down in love—Oh be careful little hands what you do!"
What a beautiful song! A beautiful song—it has a lot of meaning, but in reality, in practice—look what happens. We arrive to worship, and we do family worship. We talk to the child about Jesus, and we tell him Jesus is love. Jesus is forgiveness. Jesus loves the meek. Jesus is humble. And that our children cannot get angry—they cannot get angry, they cannot be disobedient, because Jesus was not disobedient. Jesus is our example.
And we sing the song, "Oh be careful little eyes what you see. For the Father up above, is looking down in love—Oh be careful little eyes what you see! Oh be careful little mouth what you say, For the Father up above, is looking down in love—Oh be careful little mouth what you say!"
We finish worship and the father goes to the restroom, and he doesn’t find a towel in the restroom, and he doesn’t find soap in the restroom and so he gives out a cry, "Woman! What happened! There’s no towel in here! There’s no soap in here!" and our eyes are exalted and our voice is lifted—O be careful little mouth what you say!
Because what I say in worship—the image is different—what I do is different. What I do is different to the concept I am teaching, to the song I am teaching. The wickedness, the iniquity of the parents, over the children, is to show an image that is different from what I believe, from what I think, from what I feel, to what I live.
What is the result? A schizophrenic! And that’s the devil’s plan, to form schizophrenic children; because what we say, is different from what we are. What we believe and what we are—there is an abyss, and that abyss—the author of that pit—that distance—is Satan.
Have we broken the Second Commandment? We need to restore it! How can we restore it? In our character; in our life; in our being. Not with books. Not with figures.
I have perceived that there is one thing that is deadly with children, and even with old people. But before that, let me tell you something: In the child’s nature, in the nature of every child that is born, there is a superlative faculty and the Lord gave us this faculty and woe unto him that destroys it! The Lord will not hold him innocent that destroys this!
Every child is born with the faculty of copying; the faculty of imitating. Why do your children speak English? Because Daddy speaks English. The Lord gave us the faculty of speech, but the language we learn by imitation. That’s the way the Lord made us. The child, every child, is a sponge and he takes in, he absorbs and perceives, he imitates and he copies instantly—we were created like this. We were created to be transformed as we behold an image.
In education, my beloved, there is a principle that is fundamental—basic. What the child most needs, is an image; a model. And if the model is imperfect, the copy will be imperfect. Can we understand this? If we educate in this way, it’s easy. The father copies the Lord, and the other is implicit and the child will copy it.
Where does a child learn to fight? Where does the child learn to contradict his Dad and his Mom? From hearing Mom and Dad contradict each other—it’s the image. It’s the image! We are transformed as we behold.
Who has destroyed God’s Law? Who? Only the Catholic Church? Or we also have done it? And in the level of the home, and pretending to be Christian; my beloved, I have believed that what I have to do is to repent. Repent before the Lord, and repent before my family, and repent before my children, and say like the prodigal son, but not any more like a son, as a father, "Son, I have sinned against thee. I have sinned against God’s Image. I haven’t given you the example, I have not reflected what Jesus is at all and you have copied another image. Forgive me my son! Let us help each other and let us pray for each other, that we might be able to reflect God’s image in the home.
If we do not reflect this, brethren, we are breaking the Law; we are doing away with the Law, in the same commandment. And I believe, my brethren, that all of us need to repent, because the Lord says that He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. To show that we are something different from God’s Image—destroys children!
Many times we punish in our children what we have taught them with our example; with our influence; with our character; and that is terrible. And I have perceived, brethren, that children are born authentic. They want the truth. But we destroy that capacity to be authentic that the child brings when he is born.
In spite of our fallen condition, there is something of God’s image still in us. The element of trust and the element of truth is an element that is implicit and we destroy it when we show another image and another spirit. It is very important for us to be able to discern in the distance what is this of the Image of God? This is a subject that we will never end, and the more you allow the Lord to show you this, you will be transformed because we are transformed as we behold.
Ellen White says that at least one hour everyday we should behold and contemplate the life of Christ. Our imagination—use our imagination, and she recommends that we should place ourselves in the last scenes of Christ’s life. How did Jesus treat Herod? How did Jesus treat Pilate? How did Jesus treat Caiaphas? How did He treat Annas? How did He treat the centurion? How did He treat the soldiers? How Jesus treated people in His last two weeks of life here on earth. How did He treat Peter? How did He treat Judas? How did He forgive? How did He understand? What did He live—the image of God in reality, here on earth, in flesh and bone.
That is what we have to copy. That is what we have to imitate and that is what is going to transform us from glory to glory. When our children will see that experience in us, Ellen White says our children will be converted. That is the job we have. What a job!
My beloved, God is Love and He gave as a new commandment, "that ye love one another even as I have loved you." Was it a new commandment? It was new—they knew the theory; they knew the meaning of the concept of love, but the experience of God’s Love—they did not know it. Some of them were ‘sons of thunder’, and Peter wanted to be the first, he was selfish and the other one was greedy and a lover of money. They needed the New Commandment.
"Love one another as I have loved you."
And Jesus said; "Follow My example."
"Follow My example." And by faith we can follow that example. And we conclude, brethren, we can redeem our families, if we come down like Jesus. He didn’t sin.
We have sinned; we have not shown our children His image. But if we descend, we come down and we go to the bed of our children, and we place our hand on their head, and we tell them, "My son, forgive me! Forgive me! I treated you with anger. I treated you with harshness. I was indifferent with you. I destroyed your trust. I did not receive you, I did not give you the communion that you needed. Oh, my son, forgive me, because I didn’t treat you in God’s image.
Oh my beloved, the Lord will forgive our iniquity, and He will justify our iniquity, and the Holy Spirit will do a work in these children, He will work in our wife and He will do a work that we cannot measure, if we descend—if we go down, and we recognize that we have not shown God’s image.
May the Lord help us. May He permit us to experience the image of God in our lives. That is the Plan of Redemption. That is what Heaven is doing, and that work does not cost us any money. It’s a work of Grace; of Grace. And in Grace He gives us His image and His likeness. And in Grace we should give it to our fellow men.
Let us pray: Our Father which art in Heaven, as we look into Thy Law, we can only see Thy character, because Thou art the Law. Thou art the Torah. Thou art the Revelation. Thou hast revealed Thyself in Thy Word. Oh Lord, permit us to receive it in faith. May we be transformed into Thy image and Thy likeness. Lord forgive the transgression we have made of the Second Commandment. Only Thou canst give us Thy Grace. Only Thou canst give us Thy righteousness. Only Thou canst give us Thy Spirit, so we can reflect Thee here on earth.
Oh Lord, thank Thee for Thy Word! And thank Thee for the Lamb of God, because Thou hast faith that we can come to reflect Thy Image. In Jesus’ name we beg Thee. In Jesus name—Amen!

INDEPENDENCE OR DEPENDENCE?

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength" Psalm 8:2. The strength is in the mouth of babes; and then it explains of the sucklings.
It is very interesting to notice what Paul teaches about how God’s knowledge is. Paul spoke from a Greek background because he was educated by the Greeks. Notice this very clear expression that we find in Romans 1:20. "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead;"
The invisible qualities of God become ours, according to Paul, not by the concepts; not by ideas; not by theology; but by the things that He made—by His works, by His acts. That is how He reveals Himself. And Paul was the one who said this.
Which is the most tangible act of God for us as human beings? Which is God’s most tangible work for us human beings? A Child; an infant. We see how he is born; we see how he is formed; and is the power ours? It is in us, but it is not ours. It is He; and He has given it to us and it’s a reality—it’s an act.
With the birth of a child; with the growth of a child, we should perceive Who is the invisible One. But we have lost that. And the Lord says that the strength, the power is in the child, as a child is born in faith, and we destroy faith, and the wickedness of the parents upon the children is to destroy their faith.
How does a child do to trust in us? And notice how he is born; how is a child fed before he is born? Who feeds him? The mother; and mothers until not so long ago, they did not know hardly anything about how a child was born or how he was fed in their womb. But now we know some of that.
What did Mary know about life while the child was forming within the womb? What did they know? Not even the word for ‘brain’ appears in the Old Testament; because all what has to do with the brain and mind, Old Testament scriptures just place it in the word, ‘heart’.
But a child is born, and he develops in total dependence; complete dependence. Nothing is of the child, nothing pertains to the fetus. It comes to be his, but it is not really his, it’s of the mother. He is formed in the mother, and the mother is formed with him, and the two of them are one.
The principle of unity; how difficult it is for us to understand unity! How difficult it is for us to be one. The easiest thing for us is to break apart. The easiest thing for us is to tear apart; but God created us in unity. And the mother is one with her child. Physiologically speaking, that is a fact. And even though they did not understand and they did not have concepts about that, they lived the experience; they lived the act, because it is the act of God.
Paul says that the invisible One—the power of the invisible One; the greatness of the invisible, the knowledge of the invisible One, become ours through His works—His created works.
Here we have one of His created works—a child. A child not only is a child, he is a son, and we have even lost that reality. A child is a son—he needs to depend. He needs to be educated in faith. He needs to be formed in faith. But in order for a child to be formed in faith, Mom and Dad need to be in faith!
A mother and father who are not in faith, in what are we then? We are in our self! We are not in Him—we are in our self. And we believe in our self not in Him. So we make them independent unconsciously, and the more we teach them concepts and I as a mother am more in my self instead of in Him—thus I destroy the child’s faith.
The child is born and we cut the umbilical cord, but he is yet not independent. He is not independent—because in the works of creation God has put faith in children. And He has put in their lips—in their lips—all a complete nervous process. More than a hundred years ago we didn’t understand any of that. During about six thousand years we hardly understood anything about that. But the psalmist says ‘the strength is in the sucklings’.
Therein lies the power, because the lips—that beautiful phenomenon of the lips—what do the lips of the baby do? What do the lips of the baby seek for? What do the lips of the baby desire? Milk; and he doesn’t know that it is milk. He doesn’t know that his mother is a mammal. He doesn’t know that the mother is the mother. He doesn’t have concepts of a mother. He doesn’t have ideas of a mother, much less, ideas of a father. But it is implicit—the dependence and the faith. And the child comes near and he looks for the breast and he depends from his mother.
But we, instead of giving him the breast and cultivating it—we invented the bottle. And we give him another milk and something different. But because the child depends, because the child believes, even though he doesn’t know what that means, and he is going to take a long time to be able to conceptualize that, because children are sons of acts and of realities, not of abstractions.
So the child receives the bottle and if it is water—he receives water; if it is cow milk—he receives cow milk; if it is soy—he receives soy. He receives it. He doesn’t reject it. He has faith. He is born in faith. He is born dependant.
The umbilical cord—God has extended it. Physiologically and psychologically God has extended it in a marvelous way. And Paul with a Greek mind, Paul with a Greek education, Paul in a Greek culture, he says that the knowledge of the invisible God is clearly seen and becomes ours by the works and acts of God.
Our Lord Jesus said the same, and how did He express it? We find it in John 14:10. And we have lost that knowledge. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works."
In the western mind, with our western theologians, here they would have put faith—but the Lord put works; and then He explains it in the next verse: "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:" Believe me! Trust! And what is the evidence? "or else believe me for the very works' sake."
Here in a child, we have the work. God’s work—a child—just born. He is born in faith. And the wickedness of the parents is to not bring him up in faith—we bring him up in his self, and we do not develop him in faith.
And in this culture, the first thing it has done—is to deny the breast to the child; deny breastfeeding to the child. And today—pediatricians—they are saying that the best milk is maternal milk. Do we need to learn that? It’s implicit! It was made like that! But we don’t believe that that is the best way. We believe in the other milk. And we don’t believe in the implicit work of God’s creation.
Oh, if we would analyze it from a biochemical point of view—what marvelous things are there, speaking from a biochemical point of view. But we have to analyze it and consider it from the point of view of faith, because that is even more beautiful.
And the scriptures say that a child is a son, and that every child should be a son or a daughter. Are we children of God? Are we children of God? Are we His children? Do we understand why we have to become again as children?
I have seen children whose parents deny them breastfeeding, and instead of that, they give them beer. I have seen it! What a crime! But the child who is born in faith—he receives it. He believes. He doesn’t know what believing is; he doesn’t know what faith is; he is far from discerning the concept of faith—but he receives it. He accepts it—because not knowing who is father, as a concept; without knowing who is mother, as a concept; without having the values of father or mother, he has faith! And whatever mom or dad gives him, he accepts it, and he receives it.
Oh, my beloved brethren, if we were children of faith, depending on our God like that! We would receive everything that is His, and we would deny everything that is of ourselves. We would reject everything that is ours and all what is independent of Him in us and we would only receive what is His—implicitly, because that is how God reveals Himself—from faith and unto faith.
But we have lost that knowledge—we are adults. We believe in our selves. We trust in our selves. And we believe in our self, and we trust in our pride. We have confidence in our self-sufficiency. We are children of independence—and independents are lost from God.
What is necessary in order to be a child? For us—two things—but for God it is only one thing—because in Him, nothing is divided. When He conceives life, He gives biological life, but in biological life, His life is present. His character; His being; what He is. But for us, those are two different things. But for God, it is just one thing.
Zacharias and Elisabeth were able to achieve that very same thing, and that’s why John the Baptist was born in the Spirit of God. Because the two of them were offering one to another; Zacharias’ will was the gift—was she—for Elizabeth; and the will, or the self of Elizabeth was the ‘you’ for Zacharias, just as it is in God. He is not self—He is ours. And that’s why He is love; and that’s why He is a gift; and that’s why He is grace; and He has wanted, because He made us in His image, that we might have that very same type of relationship.
Oh, brethren, in the marriage relationship, Zacharias and Elisabeth were able to restore that by faith. Elisabeth was an offering, was a servant—a servant of Zacharias. And Zacharias was a servant—an offering—a gift—a helpmeet, completely for Elisabeth. And both of them were righteous. Zacharias did not live for himself. Elisabeth did not live for herself. One was the counterpart of the other—the image of God. And when they breathed, what did they breathe upon those cells? What did they breathe within that ovary? What was breathed in that male cell? The Image of God!
And when that is not breathed—then what is breathed? Our selfishness—selfishness! And brethren, when you breathe selfishness upon a child; when you breathe your pride upon a child; that is the wickedness of parents that is visited upon their children.
And Holy Scriptures say—what is contained within the breath? For us, in our breath, the only thing that we find is carbon-dioxide; oxygen; hydrogen; gasses—chemistry, and we call that chemistry, inorganic chemistry. But in God, respiration is not only chemistry; respiration has a spiritual element. Follow what He says in Acts chapter 9:1, "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter. . ."
What did Saul breathe? Only hydrogen? Only oxygen? Only carbon-dioxide? He breathed what he was—hatred; selfishness; violence; death; it is within our breath! It is in our spirit. And beloved—our character transpires; our character—smells; and children, while you are asleep, they receive that; they absorb it. All character is of a transcendent nature.
What did our Lord breathe out when He formed man? His being; what He was; He breathed it in. What do we breathe upon the fetus? And once he is born—what do we breathe—in order for us to form him by the grace of God, in His image and likeness.
"I visit the iniquities of the parents upon the children."
But we read so many books on psychology, and the more we read about psychology, and the more we study pediatrics, and the more we study on education, to us, it happens like in medicine—the more we study medicine and the more labs we have—the only thing we have more, is more diseases! We invent drugs and different types of technological apparatus just for business. We do not understand that health is simply harmony with the Word and Will of God!
And we do the same thing with these children—we study psychology; we study pediatrics; and we study all the sciences—and the more we study concepts and ideas—our children are even more destroyed.
But in God’s word is the revelation of how to educate a child in faith. Ellen White says that the most important thing of a child, and the most important thing in an adult, and through concepts we know what it is—but by works we are totally unable to do it. A child is a son or daughter—when he gives his will. If we do not give our will—then we are orphans. We are not children.
And Ellen White teaches that in higher education that should be performed in the first years of life, what we need to educate, what we need to win, is their will. And all of us have failed in that! Humanity continues failing there. Satan’s plan, he knows that what he has to win in us—is our will.
Satan has counterfeited God’s divine plan. He knows he has to win our will. That’s why we read yesterday that the child Jesus—was always a child—Mary taught Jesus to surrender His will and by faith we should also learn that. John 5:19. "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do:"
And then listen to what He says: "for what things soever He doeth,"
Not whatever He thinks. Not all what He feels. It’s not referring to His concepts, because in God, concepts do not exist. There are not ideas separated, because concepts and ideas are Plato’s ideas—Aristotle; but in God it is what He is! And what He is—is what He is! And that’s why Jesus said: "I AM". "I AM"!
What are we? What are we? We are not what we think. What we think many times is beautiful. And that is why Jesus said, "Do as they say—but not as they do!" They had the correct concept, but their works were evil. Correct ideas—and evil works.
How is that possible? Does it also happen in us? Correct ideas—but selfish works? A selfish spirit? Selfish motivations? But with right concepts and good ideas?
And my brethren; these children perceive—they breathe—the nature of the works, and they do not handle concepts. A child is not born handling concepts; a child is born perceiving works, and what he sees—is what he does. Jesus said it here:
"For what things soever He (the Father) doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." Whom did the child behold? His Father. And what the Father did—he would do it also. And He said, "It is not me—it is He in me." And that’s how we should educate these children. We don’t need books for that—just the Holy Scriptures; the Holy Scriptures.
That was all that Mary needed. And in Mary’s time, I don’t know if Mary had a scroll, because back then, mostly only the Sanhedrin had those scrolls of the law; only the scribes had them.
In the middle ages, where was the Bible? In [some of] the monasteries. The common people did not have access to them; but today we are blest, we have the Holy Scriptures.
Brethren; what Mary had was simply the oral word, but it had become part of her—it was her works—the Word of God. The Word of God was in her and if the Word of the Father is in me, where is my self? Where is my self?
If His Word is really in me—Beloved—the sovereignty of God’s Word is what should posses us. And Mary had that experience. The Father in Him and she was in the Father. That’s a mystery; the mystery of faith and the mystery of the redemptive experience.
John 14:11; "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:" and if we cannot receive that; if we cannot understand that—then, "believe me for the very works' sake."
"What I do!" Because the invisible One—the knowledge of the invisible One is not of a sensorial nature, it’s through faith. And the evidence of faith are heavens and earth and this—a child,—is the crown of His creation, a human being, the image of God. He needs to develop in faith, but in order for him to grow in faith, Mom and Dad should be in faith.
And the first thing that affects faith is the will. That is why we are children—because we surrender our will. We surrender our will. Ellen White says in ‘Child Guidance’, pg. 178 in Spanish, The mother should be the mind, the appetite, the desire, of the child up to three years of age.
The strength is in the babes. Oh, how many years it took me to start understanding these things, because they taught me that strength and power was in the adults; especially if we had a PhD. But God says that the strength and power is in these children, because they can be taught in faith. They can surrender their will in faith and they can learn to obey instantaneously, before three years of age.
The key for obtaining that is that I, as a father, should be the mind; should be the will; should be the criteria; should be the desire; of the child. Because, when the child is born, he doesn’t know anything, he doesn’t have anything, he can’t do anything. In him there is nothing. He has been created; he has been formed to depend.
When do we make our children independent? When do parents retire from their children in this culture? The Eternal Father has not retired himself from us. Not even though we are enemies of Him. He has not retired. He remains. He continues being a Father, even though we have gone away from Him.
In this culture, when do parents retire from their parental duty?
"Be yourself!" "Be yourself!"
But as parents, we say, "This is not my business—this is your business."
The business of God—is you! And He is an ‘I’ only for you; He is not an ‘I’ for Himself. He is an ‘I’ for you. You are His ‘I’. And we have lost that trust. That’s why we handle concepts; but our will is our self. And in that way—how can we educate children? How can we show them the path of redemption?
Ellen White teaches, that when I am the will of the child; and I am the appetite of the child; and I am the mind of the child; up to his third year of age, in the fourth year, that child is sealed in what you are; if you were really a parent; if you were really a mother according to God’s order.
Experience it! Try it out! Don’t see it as a concept—experiment it. Hannah was able to achieve this. Hannah achieved it. Mary was able to achieve this. Zacharias and Elisabeth achieved it. But we do all what is contrary to that.
Do you know how we educate? We have it here in Proverbs. Listen, how we educate. Proverbs 29:15; "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."
Today in the Satanic education, you have to leave the child do what he wants. That’s what Lucifer did in heaven; he did what he wanted to do. The child, until his third year of age, according to the knowledge that comes through revelation—through revealed knowledge—cannot do what he wants to do. And that is our assignment. That is the foundation of higher education.
And Mom and Dad; if we have learned to submit to God’s divine will, and in the right spirit, then God will teach us how to be the mind; how to be the will; how to be the desire; how to be the appetite; of these children unto their third year of life. Because, their strength and the power of them, is, that they know nothing. They don’t understand; they don’t know anything. They don’t posses anything.
And the father should give him the taste; the desire; the values; of truth and what it is—in the first three years. And that implies a communion; an intimacy; a close relationship of father and son. The umbilical cord still continues there, through the will, in the knowledge, and in the desire and appetite; in the mind. And what is in the lips in suctioning from his mother’s breast, continues through the umbilical cord of the will and the desire. In such a way that the child’s taste, and the child’s pleasure, becomes my pleasure; and my pleasure, and my joy, and my taste, is God’s. That’s how we were created. That’s why we were created, and that’s how we are redeemed, and that’s how we are educated.
But we have accepted Lucifer’s plan. What do we do? We please the desire of the child independently. We satisfy his desire. But he doesn’t know how to desire. He doesn’t know how to desire. He doesn’t know what is good for him to eat. He doesn’t know anything. And there is the strength—that since he doesn’t know, then we teach him. But we have to teach him—not concepts—reality! Acts! What God has revealed.
If that is in you, if you are that, if you remain in the word—then the child by faith will also remain in the word, because the child trusts in us.
Could it be more simple Brethren? More simple? It can’t be. And Ellen White adds; "Don’t give anything to your child when he asks for it crying." It says what—God always tells us what.
Oh, when the child asks crying—we run to please him. And we destroy his will. What do we make him into? A little monster in selfishness. And he learns very early to be pleased—to be pampered. And he learns early in life to be the center. But for the child, the center should be the father; the center should be the mother. The center should not be another image. But very soon we make that his center be the television; his own desires; his pleasure; the movie; any other thing except God—because, the most certain thing is that our center as parents—is our own self, and not God.
Do we understand? Why Jesus said, why Jesus told me, "If you do not become as a child, and become a child, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven".
Emptied of myself; denying myself; in order to receive Him by faith. And my will surrendered—surrendered only to the Lord. "Give me, Oh son, your heart!" That is God’s supplication. "Give me your heart."
God cannot step upon our will; He cannot. If you destroy the will, then you destroy God’s image; the little we still have of God’s image is destroyed.
Ellen White says that in the first three years of life, is when you can conquer the will of the child. And you know what she says, when the human will, unites with God’s will, these children can become omnipotent. Every child; Nicodemus; Peter; Saul; when they surrendered their will, and they surrendered fully to God and God’s will was in them in their sphere.
Daniel was omnipotent and he went down to the lion’s den, omnipotent. His will was in God’s will. His nature was submitted. He became lord of the lions. He became lord of the beasts. And the same Nebuchadnezzar, and the same Belshazzar, trembled before the experience of Daniel, because his will was in God’s will. He was a child; he was a son, because he did not do his own will, only the will of the Father. Oh, my beloved brethren, that’s the experience that you and I have been called to.
Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, Your works, oh Lord, Your works speak to us, but Lord, we are so blind, that we think that Your works are our works and we believe that the way we have conceived—that is ours. But Lord, teach us to see Your works, and through Your works Oh, Lord, give us the faith of Jesus. We need the faith of Jesus. We need the faith of Jesus so that we will not trust in ourselves, so that we won’t trust in what we know; so that we won’t trust in what we have; but we will only trust in what You are.
And just as these children, they take hold of the breast, they assume the breast, they depend on the breast. Oh, Lord, teach us to depend on you in the same way, that we might depend on Your Word; that we might depend on Your Revelation, and Your counsel, that our feelings might disappear and only You may be sovereign in us.
Thank You Lord, for Your Word. May we live in Thee, because You have wanted to live in us. We pray in the Name of Jesus:
Amen.

ANSWERING THE COMMANDMENTS

There is something that I need to experience. Yesterday we read a verse that referred to the ‘shama’ of the Hebrew people. The most important expression for them in their rabbinical tradition, "The Lord our God, He is One". "Hear O Israel, the Lord thy God is One Lord."
Hebrew people never had a problem with atheism. The Old Testament begins saying, "In the beginning—God." The sense that is transmitted in the original language is, "At the head of all things—God."


The Lord—only Him.
Nothing in me—only He; and ONLY Him—that should be our experience.
He says, "All the heart"; "All the head"; "All our mind"; "All our strength"; everything! What remains for me? What for me? The only thing that remains for me—is Him—that’s the only thing. And that’s the experience that I most need.

But it is difficult to understand because the enemy has changed this order. I am the sovereign one. I am the only one—and only I. UP and higher and no one above me! We are atheists—worse than atheists.

And the Lord says, that in our brain; in our head; in all this—only He. It’s difficult to understand this—for us in this Western culture—because what do we have on our minds? What is in our mind? At least we have thoughts of money. Is that what we have on our minds? We have that in our minds—or only He is in our minds?
Therein lies all of our problems! Therein lies all of our problems; because the head, the Lord did not create it for adding; for multiplying; but we do not conceive that! All our head; all our brain; all our frontal lobes; all our capacities; the millions and millions of neurons; only for Him—so that He might be all in all.
It is very difficult to imagine this, but that’s how we were created! We were created for Him, for His glory, for His honor, not for ourselves and the work of the enemy is that I am for myself. And even my wife is for me. So we become lords—we become lords, and human beings are below us. But that is not God’s order. These are not God’s values.
Which are our values? All our values are egocentric—self centered, but all of God’s values are alterocentric—other centered. He has never had things on His head. Never in His mind! In God’s mind, never has He had things. In the mind of God, in the brain of God—only you; only us—that’s what is on His mind. We are His treasure—His only treasure—in His mind.
And He created us in His image and likeness, so that in our heart, in our mind, in every impulse from neuron to neuron, HE should be the impulse; HE should be the motive; HE should be the reason; and HE should be everything. Have we changed that order? And we have problems everyday.
Every day we are more sick and more destroyed, because in our mind, in our neurons, in our brain, in our strength and in all our being, He is absent. He is not real. He is only an idea. That’s why we even have ulcers, and we are sick and our colon is destroyed, because our mind—He is absent from it. My self and my things and all that is a death process.
How were we created? Notice the order of God and God’s values. God’s values should be ours. Psalm 8: and we’re going to read it slowly, this Psalm contains great truths.
"O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; [then I ask myself] What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"
What is man? What is his son? That Thou visitest him?
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion. . ."
He made him lord—but lord of what? Of the things, but not over human beings. He made him lord over all the creatures that don’t have the image of God in them. So follow the order of God: "over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:"
Everything! All Things! Where do we put all things? Where did God put all things in terms of man’s dominion? Where did He put the things? In his head? In his heart? Things? Where did God place them? Under his feet!
Under his feet—under his feet—cars; the airplanes; our bank account; money; under our feet! Not in the head. He knows if we have them in our head, they will destroy us. Things in our head destroy us. Things should be under our feet and that will make us according to His Image and likeness.
For whom do we live? For things? Do we live for things? Thus we destroy God’s image in us. Who doesn’t live for things? Jesus did not live for things. This is difficult to understand in our Western culture—this fact. But God in His mercy placed under the feet, money and things, because under the foot, in this space, there are no nerve endings. Under our foot; on the bottom of our foot, we have lost sensibility.
Under our shoes we have no feeling. We are not supposed to feel ‘things’. ‘Things’ are not for being loved. We are not to desire things. Things are to serve. They are ways and these means should not have a connection with our mind. Strange! What should be in our mind? What should be in our head? Only one thing—HE! Only God.
Are we atheists? We are atheists and at the same time, theologians—what a contradiction! That’s schizophrenia! And the Lord says: Psalm 8: "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;"
In which way? How did He do it? All things! Every thing!
"Thou hast put all things under his feet:"
All things—nothing in his head; nothing in his heart; nothing in his being—everything under his feet. Was God wise? Is He wise? Is He intelligent? Does He know what He has created?
The image of God: and scripture says that Jesus lived the very same experience. He was the image of God. 1 Corinthians 15:27-28; "For he hath put all things under his feet." And He says; "But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
He! The only ALL; and I—He should be my all! I was created so that He might be my all, and I should not be my all in me. That is God’s creation. And redemption—the purpose of redemption—is to restore this.
But we have changed the order. Follow with what happens when we are in sin. In sin that scale of values is overturned and things are in our head and on our mind; and my neighbor is under my feet. We don’t feel—we don’t feel them. We cannot love them. We cannot comprehend him and we cannot receive him. He is a stranger and we separate him and we break apart, because in our values, our values have become just material.
Our interests are in things. Our interest is not He. He is an interest that is just an idea. But the materialized and concrete interests are things. Have we changed the order? Have we changed the values? And Jesus said, "Wherever your treasure is, there also will be your heart."
Which is our treasure? And it should be something very concrete, not a text, not a poem, not a Bible verse, it should be a reality. In Jesus it was a reality. Jesus’ treasure—you are His treasure. Human beings are the treasure of Jesus. "For him I descend. For him I humble Myself. For him I empty Myself." For him He took upon Himself human nature—fallen human nature. "And for him," He said, "I accept the cross. For him I die. My blood, I give for him."
The values of Jesus are not things. Things were under His feet. In the order of redemption, values are changed. And that is the work of the gospel. It is the work of God—to change our values. And if we permit that to Him, He can do it! That is His work. That is why He came to redeem us, in order to change our values.
Back to Psalm 8:7; "All sheep and oxen."
All! In the days of Abraham, in the days of antiquity, how did they estimate richness? Oxen; cattle; sheep; camels; all that was equivalent to richness and wealth. In that time, the verb ‘to have’, ‘having’, still did not exist. In linguistic study, values in terms of ‘having’ come in later. The verb, ‘to have’, was non-existent, because in the beginning of man’s history, people did not ‘have’. Adam did not ‘have’. Eve did not ‘have’. The values of ‘having’ things, I have; I acquire; I possess; this is mine; and then I put a fence—that was non-existent. It was absent and studies on linguistics resister that fact.
But in the measure that we degraded ourselves; the more we made ourselves selfish; the values of having things were incorporated even in our language patterns and grammar. And grammar began to place adjectives that were possessive, and pronouns that were possessive and then ‘Mine’ appeared. But in the beginning, that was nonexistent.
That’s what linguistics studies show, because things—how were they manifested? ‘This’—for the service of; ‘this’—to help someone. ‘Things’ were for service; they were means of service and help. The verb ‘having’, ‘possessing’, was something abstract. It was not something concrete. But for us with our Western mind, it is difficult to fathom this. It’s difficult to imagine, and to be it—impossible.
In Genesis chapter 1, there is no competition. In creation there is no competition. In creation, you don’t acquire; you don’t posses. In creation, you only serve; you only serve.
And God made His first work in the first day and He did not make it for Himself. He didn’t create it for Himself. For whom did He create His first work? For the crown of His creation. And then He created on the second day, and He didn’t make those things for Himself either. He made it for man. And in the third day He created more, and what was the purpose of the things created on the third day? For mankind.
How many bananas from earth has God eaten? How many fruits has He begun to import from earth to heaven? Nothing! All He made it for us—for us. Fourth day, fifth day and sixth day—and then He called man and He told him, "all these things; all these things; all what I have created, is under your feet. Handle it. Take care of it. Use it. But don’t love it."
Without loving it; without wanting it; can we imagine that? Handling things; without loving them? Taking care of things without loving them. Why?
Fathers and children are distanced, parents and their children—why? Do you know why? Because parents—very soon we have things on our head. We don’t have time to have communion with a son. We don’t have time.
I have time to get things. I have a lot of time—for things; but I don’t have time for human beings. I don’t have time; not even to hear them on the phone, I don’t have time. We don’t have time, not even to greet each other and encounter each other, we don’t have time. For what is time? For things.
God did not great time for things. He created time in order that we might become; time is for being, just as He is. It is within time that we love; it is within time that we comprehend; it is within time that we forgive; and it is within time that we humble ourselves. In time, we dispossess ourselves, and in time we surrender. Time is to become as He is. Time is the matter of the spirit; so that we might come to be in His image and likeness.
But in this Western culture—no one has time; and much less for Him. We don’t have time for Him. For what is time? And we say that time is gold, why do we say that? Because, time for us, is in order to obtain spaces; time for us, is for acquiring things; and for us, time is to possess things. And we, we transform time into a slave; we have enslaved time, in order to acquire and possess.
And if we don’t acquire and posses, then, we are worried; we are burdened with anxiety. We get stressed out. None of us here should have that kind of stress. What is the cause of stress? Things in our head. Things in our head.
God in me does not produce stress. What is it that produces stress? What produces anxiety? What produces ulcers? What damages the colon? When I have things in my head and not God in my head! If He were in my head then I would have life and health and peace, harmony and reconciliation. But the more things I have—the less I am.
The more I have, the less I am. The more anxious I am of having things, the less capacity I have of being. And in that way, man degrades himself—he degrades himself—more; and he corrupts himself; because God’s scale of values is different.
The Lord, knowing these things from creation, even when He created us, He placed things under our feet and He, He was in our mind! That’s God’s order and He is not going to change it. He is not going to change it. Redemption—what redemption achieves, is restoring that order.
Why can’t people sleep? Why do we have insomnia? Why do we run around all day long—up and down—and the great concern of people is working twenty years, thirty years, and then they are so anxious for their retirement. They are worried about their retirement—with how much will I retire? With social security; with a company; with how much? And then we add it up and we figure out how much is it that we are going to receive.
And the enemy has invented the rental plan. People like to like off rents. Oh my friends, this Western culture, contrary to God’s plan—in God’s economy, within the sphere and context of sin, God did not create the plan of rents.
What is God’s plan? The plan of sweating; that is God’s plan. But we don’t understand that and in this culture the enemy has invented some jobs where we don’t have to sweat. Not even in agriculture do you sweat nowadays. That’s the enemy’s plan. The tractor has a tremendous cabin with air-conditioning, and who works? The machine, but not man. And we don’t understand where we are.
God said, "With the sweat of thy face." Within the context of sin, heaven knows that I need sacrifice—self sacrifice—every day! Every day. Until when? Until this body becomes dust again; until that moment. And when is that moment? Until death. But we don’t understand that economy. People want to live off just rents; sitting down; eating; without any pains; without sweating; just sitting down.
In the Old Testament, God said every seven years, we’ll have a sabbatical year; and you will not plant, you will not plant anything. The land will rest. And at the same time that the land is resting, you are going to forgive your brother. And what you have leant to your brother, on the seventh year, will be forgiven, pardoned.
People, do we understand that type of economy? Do we understand that economy? Because God’s economy, the divine economy, is not on the foundation—is not based on making wealth—taking advantage of the need of my neighbor.
All Satan’s economy, a man becomes wealthy based on taking advantage of some one else’s need. That is satanic economy, earthly and diabolic. When you do marketing, in the science of marketing, and in the science of administration, what do they teach you? We have to create a need. And they have created in us millions of needs.
And after you create a need, then, make a crisis of shortage. So the people that produce, put away the things, and they create a shortage, so that you will develop more anxiety.
Some years ago there was a strike in Venezuela. There was no ice. And the people were willing to kill in order to have ice. Did they create that need in us? We need the refrigerator? We need the freezer? We need the cold water? And we depend on that and we depend on those needs, and those needs materialize in our mind, and when we don’t have them—we stress ourselves. We become anguished. We can’t live.
What happens in our stomach? What happens in our stomach and in our colon? We destroy ourselves. An economy of needs. When God created, He did not create needs. What He created was abundance; completely bountiful.
How much oxygen did God create? How much water did God create? How much land did God create? How much atmosphere did God create? No shortage of anything! And for whom? In an experience completely other centered. So that humanity would never loose His values; so that in our head, in our mind, in our being, only He should reign. Because when He is the only one present, the manifestation, the reality that He is in me is that my self is you and not myself am I. And my relationship, my relationship—my basic relationship is to love my neighbor as myself. That’s the Law of God. That’s the principle of the Law.
And we have come to the moment in which our neighbor—human being—is a thing also, is also a thing. We possess him and we are lords over him. And we place him under our feet and we treat him under our feet—even our wives or our husbands in this Western culture—wives; children; mother in law; human beings under our feet. We have become materialized.
And when people approach marriage, human constitutions say—I don’t know what the American constitution says on this—but the Columbian constitution says that the marriage is a contract. It’s a business, between two. Oh, my beloved, marriage is God’s image. Marriage is I, a gift, a complete gift—totally—my mind; my heart; my brain; all my faculties; my pocket; my money; all what is mine—an offering for him or her.
That is God. And the Lord finishes shedding His blood because in Him, things are not on His head. What is in His head is you and me. And when He lost me, and when I went astray and when I became His enemy—then He shed His blood for me, in order to restore me.
Which are Jesus’ values? Those are the values of the Kingdom of God. And my beloved brethren, under the latter rain; the experience of the latter rain, is a change of values. God in the head, and if God is in the head, the next thing in me is my neighbor and I disappear.
Haven’t you seen God’s Law? Have you seen God’s law—have you seen it? We divide it and in the first section, in the first, second, third, and fourth commandment, Who is present? Him. He—is in the fourth commandment, in the third, in the second, in the first commandment too. And in the sixth commandment, and in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth commandment—my neighbor—the other one.
Where am I? Where am I? Where I am I?? Even in the family we have destroyed the Law of God. And my beloved, let us think on these things, let us meditate on these things. It’s my need—it’s my need—that He might be in me; only He in me; nothing else than He in us—the hope of glory.
In the primitive church, see what happened, in the primitive church under the outpouring of the Holy Spirit—the reality of the Spirit—what does the reality of the Holy Spirit do? Acts chapter 4—we can read two verses—first we will read in chapter 2:44, Ac 2:44-47 "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
Acts 4:32, "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common."
What type of economy? What type of economy? The economy of the new creation.
Acts 4:33-35, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked:"
What was the result of the power of the resurrection—neither was there any among them that lacked.
"for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."
The early rain; how are the 144,000 going to live? Only with a concept? Or with a reality. God is the only One who should be in us. Let us pray:
Heavenly Father;
We thank Thee for Thy word and we ask forgiveness for our up-side-down values, and we pray that you might always be on our head and our neighbor as our self—and that we might learn to handle things according to Thy creation. We ask that these things might not be hard for us, because if we love Thee with all our heart, our mind and strength, then these things will not be difficult for us to grasp and understand that if we make the kingdom of heaven our treasure and the first thing, then all things whatsoever are needed shall be added to us. May we by faith understand the principle of God’s economy and God’s plan of redemption; God’s plan of health and living and eternal life. We pray in the Name of Jesus: Amen.