North American Baptist Conference 48th Triennial Awesome God, Amazing Place

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North American Baptist Conference48th
TriennialAwesome God, Amazing Place

• Bible Study Sessions
• Of God and Mountains
• Prepared by Jerry Shepherd
• Associate Professor of Old Testament
• Taylor Seminary
• jerry.shepherd_at_taylor-edu.ca

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Of God and Mountains

• Thursday Session One
• Majesty and Mystery
• Friday Session Two
• Paradise and Paradox
• Saturday Session Three
• Redemption and Relocation

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Of God and Mountains

• Session One
• Majesty and Mystery

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I. Majesty

• 1. God Existed before the Mountains
• Psalm 902
• Before the mountains were born or you brought
  forth the earth and the world, from everlasting
  to everlasting you are God

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2. God Created the Mountains

• Psalm 656
• by your strength you established the
  mountains (NRSV)
• Psalm 954
• the heights of the mountains belong to him
• Amos 413
• the one who forms the mountains

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3. The Mountains Are Immeasurable How Much More
So Is God!

• Isaiah 4012
• Who has measured the waters in the hollow of
  his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked
  off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the
  earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on
  the scales and the hills in a balance?

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4. God Terrifies the Mountains

• Deuteronomy 3222
• sets on fire the foundation of the mountains
  (NRSV)
• Judges 55
• The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One
  of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

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• Job 95
• He moves mountains without their knowing it
  and overturns them in his anger.
• Psalm 187
• The earth trembled and quaked, and the
  foundations of the mountains shook they trembled
  because he was angry

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• Psalm 975
• The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
  before the Lord of all the earth
• Psalm 10432
• The Lord is the one who looks at the earth, and
  it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they
  smoke

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• Micah 13-4
• Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling
  place he comes down and treads the high places
  of the earth.
• The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys
  split apart, like wax before the fire, like
  water rushing down a slope.

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• Nahum 15
• The mountains quake before him        and the
  hills melt away.  The earth trembles at his
  presence,        the world and all who live in
  it.

12

• Habakkuk 36, 10
• He stood, and shook the earth        he
  looked, and made the nations tremble.       
  The ancient mountains crumbled        and the
  age-old hills collapsed.        His ways are
  eternal.
• The mountains saw you, and writhed

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5. The Mountains Stand as Symbols of Gods Power
and Protection

• Psalm 1211-2
• I lift up my eyes to the hillswhere does my
  help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the
  Maker of heaven and earth
• Psalm 1252
• As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the
  LORD surrounds his people both now and
  forevermore

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6. The Mountains Stand as Symbols of Gods
Sovereignty, Awesomeness, Righteousness, and
Judgment

• Mount Sinai and the giving of the Law
• Psalm 366
• Your righteousness is like the mighty
  mountains

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• Jesus
• Temptation on the pinnacle of the Temple and on
  a high mountain
• Sermon on the Mount
• Teaching from the Mount of Olives
• Goes up on a mountain and calls and his twelve
  Apostles to him
• Mount of Transfiguration
• Ascension and Great Commission

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7. The Mountains Join in the Praise of God

• Psalm 988
• Let the mountains sing together for joy
• Psalm 1487-9
• Praise the LORD from the earth . . . you
  mountains and all hills

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• Isaiah 4423
• Burst into song, you mountains
• Isaiah 5512
• You will go out in joy        and be led
  forth in peace        the mountains and hills
         will burst into song before you,       
  and all the trees of the field        will clap
  their hands

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8. The Mountain of the Last Days

• Isaiah 21-3
• In the last days        the mountain of the
  LORD's temple will be established        as
  chief among the mountains   it will be raised
  above the hills,        and all nations will
  stream to it.
•    

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• Many peoples will come and say,        Come,
  let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
         to the house of the God of Jacob.
         He will teach us his ways,        so
  that we may walk in his paths.       The law
  will go out from Zion,        the word of the
  LORD from Jerusalem.

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• Isaiah 256-8
• On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
         a feast of rich food for all peoples,
         a banquet of aged wine        the best
  of meats and the finest of wines. 

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• On this mountain he will destroy        the
  shroud that enfolds all peoples,        the
  sheet that covers all nations
• he will swallow up death forever.
• The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
  from all faces   he will remove the disgrace
  of his people from all the earth.       
  The LORD has spoken.

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II. Mystery

• Alan Hovhaness, composer of Mysterious Mountain
• Mountains are symbols, like pyramids, of mans
  attempt to know God. Mountains are symbolic
  meeting places between the mundane and spiritual
  worlds.

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In the Ancient Near East, gods were thought to
live on mountains

• Several passages in the Old Testament suggest
  that both Israelites and foreigners believed this
  was also the case with Israels God

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• Exodus 31 the mountain of God
• Deuteronomy 332 the LORD came from Sinai
• Judges 55 the LORD, the One of Sinai
• 1 Kings 2028 Israels God was believed to be
  a god of the hills

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Sacrifices typically offered on mountains

• Noah Genesis 9
• Abraham Genesis 22
• Elijah 1 Kings 18
• Numerous references to high places

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Plans for Tabernacle/Temple Given on Mountains

• Moses Exodus 2540 2630 278 Hebrews 85
• Ezekiel Ezekiel 402
• John Revelation 2110

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Death/Suffering Ordeals on the Mountain

• Aaron Numbers 2027-28
• Moses Numbers 2712 Deuteronomy 34
• Jephthahs Daughter Judges 11
• Saul 1 Samuel 31
• David on the Mount of Olives 2 Samuel 15
• Jesus on the Mount of Olives
• Jesus on Calvary

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Mountains Are Places to Meet God

• Moses
• Elijah
• Jesus

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Exodus 3318348

• 18Then Moses said, Now show me your glory.
•  19And the LORD said, I will cause all my
  goodness to pass in front of you, and I will
  proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I
  will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I
  will have compassion on whom I will have
  compassion. 20But, he said, you cannot see my
  face, for no one may see me and live.

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• 21Then the LORD said, There is a place near me
  where you may stand on a rock. 22When my glory
  passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock
  and cover you with my hand until I have passed
  by. 23Then I will remove my hand and you will see
  my back but my face must not be seen.

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• 1The LORD said to Moses, Chisel out two stone
  tablets like the first ones, and I will write on
  them the words that were on the first tablets,
  which you broke. 2Be ready in the morning, and
  then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to
  me there on top of the mountain. 3No one is to
  come with you or be seen anywhere on the
  mountain not even the flocks and herds may graze
  in front of the mountain.

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• 4So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the
  first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the
  morning, as the LORD had commanded him and he
  carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5Then
  the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there
  with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. 6And
  he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,

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• The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and
  gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love
  and faithfulness, 7maintaining love to thousands,
  and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet
  he does not leave the guilty unpunished he
  punishes the children and their children for the
  sin of the fathers to the third and fourth
  generation.
• 8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and
  worshiped.

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Exodus 204-6

• 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the
  form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
  beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not
  bow down to them or worship them for I, the LORD
  your God, am a jealous God, punishing the
  children for the sin of the fathers to the third
  and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but
  showing love to a thousand generations of those
  who love me and keep my commandments.

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Of God and Mountains

• Session Two
• Paradise and Paradox

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I. Paradise

• There is a very interesting Garden of Eden/Mount
  Zion connection established by several Old
  Testament texts

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Ezekiel 2813-14

• 13You were in Eden,        the garden of God
         every precious stone adorned you       
  ruby, topaz and emerald,        chrysolite, onyx
  and jasper,        sapphire, turquoise and
  beryl.        Your settings and mountings were
  made of gold        on the day you were
  created they were prepared.

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• 14You were anointed as (or with) a guardian
  cherub,        for so I ordained you.       
  You were on the holy mount of God        you
  walked among the fiery stones.
• Note the two location references
• Eden, the garden of God
• the holy Mount of God

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Genesis 210-14

• 10A river watering the garden flowed from Eden
  from there it was separated into four headwaters.
  11The name of the first is the Pishon it winds
  through the entire land of Havilah, where there
  is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good
  aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13The
  name of the second river is the Gihon it winds
  through the entire land of Cush. 14The name of
  the third river is the Tigris it runs along the
  east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the
  Euphrates.

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The Gihon

• 1 Kings 133, 38, 45
• 2 Chronicles 3230
• 2 Chronicles 3314

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A River Runs Through It

• Psalm 464
• Ezekiel 471-12
• Zechariah 148
• Joel 318

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The Center of the Whole Earth

• Ezekiel 3812
• I will plunder and loot and turn my hand
  against the resettled ruins and the people
  gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and
  goods, living at the center tabbur of the
  land.
• Judges 937
• But Gaal spoke up again Look, people are
  coming down from the center tabbur of the land,
  and a company is coming from the direction of the
  soothsayers tree.

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What does tabbur mean?

• tabbur navel of the earth
• In other words, if any people have ever had the
  right to be a society of navel-gazers,
  belly-button inspectors, it was the inhabitants
  of Jerusalem, Mount Zion.

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Zion, Gods Holy Hill, the Place WhereGod Dwells

• Psalm 26 Zion, my holy hill
• Psalm 34 his holy hill
• Psalm 911 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned
  in Zion
• Psalm 433 your holy mountain . . . the place
  where you dwell
• Psalm 481 the city of our God, his holy
  mountain

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• Ezekiel 2040 my holy mountain
• Joel 21 my holy mountain
• Psalm 742 Mount Zion where you came to dwell
• Isaiah 818 the LORD who dwells on Mount Zion
• Joel 317 I, the LORD your God, dwell in Zion,
  my holy mountain
• Psalm 7854 And he brought them to his holy
  hill, to the mountain that his right hand had won

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• Psalm 7868 Mount Zion which he loves
• Psalm 872 The LORD loves the gates of Zion
  more than all the dwellings of Jacob
• Psalm 1251 Mount Zion which cannot be moved,
  but abides forever
• Exodus 1517 the mountain of his inheritance
• Jeremiah 3123 The LORD bless you, O righteous
  dwelling, O sacred mountain

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• Psalm 6816 Why gaze in envy, O rugged
  mountains, at the place where God chooses to
  reign, where the LORD will dwell forever?
• Psalm 13213 For the LORD has chosen Zion, he
  has desired it for his dwelling
• Psalm 482 It is beautiful in its loftiness,
  the joy of the whole earth
• Psalm 502 Zion, perfect in beauty

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Aliyah

• Psalms 120-134 The Songs of Ascents
• Mossad LeAliyah Bet

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II. Paradox

• Why does Isaiah say in Isaiah 22 that the
  mountain of the LORDs house will be established
  as chief among the mountains, and that it will
  be raised above the hills?

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• At barely 2400 feet above sea level, Mount Zion
  hardly qualifies as a mountain. Its more like a
  glorified hill.
• There are many mountains in Israel that are
  taller than Mount Zion -- remember again Psalm
  1252
• As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the
  LORD surrounds his people both now and
  forevermore

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Ancient Empires (area in sq. miles)

• Hittites 260,000
• Egyptians 360,000?
• Assyrians 400,000?
• Babylonians 750,000?
• Persians 2,400,000
• Greeks 1,000,000
• Romans 2,400,000
• Israelites 9,500

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Psalm 87

• 1He has set his foundation on the holy mountain
• 2the LORD loves the gates of Zion        more
  than all the dwellings of Jacob.
• 3Glorious things are said of you,        O city
  of God

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• 4I will record Rahab and Babylon        among
  those who acknowledge me       Philistia too,
  and Tyre, along with Cush       and will say,
  This one was born in Zion.
• 5Indeed, of Zion it will be said,        This
  one and that one were born in her,        and
  the Most High himself will establish her.

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• 6The LORD will write in the register of the
  peoples
•        This one was born in Zion
• 7As they make music they will sing,
•        All my fountains are in you.

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Of God and Mountains

• Session Three
• Redemption and Relocation

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Matthew 21-6

• 1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,
  during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east
  came to Jerusalem 2and asked, Where is the one
  who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his
  star in the east and have come to worship him.
• 3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and
  all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called
  together all the peoples chief priests and
  teachers of the law, he asked them where the
  Christ was to be born.

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• In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this
  is what the prophet has written
• 6 But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the rulers of
  Judah     for out of you will come a ruler
        who will be the shepherd of my people
  Israel.

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Question

• Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem?
• Answer
• Because he wasnt born in Jerusalem

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Micah 39-12

• 9Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob,
         you rulers of the house of Israel,
         who despise justice        and distort
  all that is right
• 10who build Zion with bloodshed,        and
  Jerusalem with wickedness.

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• 11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,        her
  priests teach for a price,        and her
  prophets tell fortunes for money.        Yet
  they lean upon the LORD and say,        Is not
  the LORD among us?        No disaster will come
  upon us.
• 12Therefore because of you,        Zion will be
  plowed like a field,        Jerusalem will
  become a heap of rubble,        the temple hill
  a mound overgrown with thickets.

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Correspondences betweenExodus 1-2 and Matthew 1-2

• Pharaoh attempts to kill all the Hebrew boy
  babies in Egypt. But Moses, the one who will
  lead the Israelites out of Egypt, is rescued
• Herod attempts to kill all the boy babies in
  Bethlehem. But Jesus, the one who will redeem
  his people from their sins, is rescued

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• As an adult, Moses flees from Egypt in order to
  escape the wrath of Pharaoh
• Jesus escapes the wrath of King Herod when his
  family flees and takes Jesus down to Egypt
• Of course, the irony in all this is that Moses
  flees away from Egypt Jesus flees to Egypt
• Furthermore, Moses flees from an Egyptian king
  Jesus flees from an Israelite king

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Galatians 421-26

• 21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are
  you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is
  written that Abraham had two sons, one by the
  slave woman and the other by the free woman.
  23His son by the slave woman was born in the
  ordinary way but his son by the free woman was
  born as the result of a promise.

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• 24These things may be taken figuratively, for the
  women represent two covenants. One covenant is
  from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be
  slaves This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for
  Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the
  present city of Jerusalem, because she is in
  slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem
  that is above is free, and she is our mother.

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Revelation 118

• Their bodies will lie in the street of the
  great city, which is figuratively called Sodom
  and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

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Two Jerusalems

• The present city of Jerusalem
• In slavery
• Mt. Sinai in Arabia
• A different Jerusalem
• Above
• Is free

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John 419-24

• 19Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are
  a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this
  mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
  we must worship is in Jerusalem.
• 21Jesus declared, Believe me, woman, a time is
  coming when you will worship the Father neither
  on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You
  Samaritans worship what you do not know we
  worship what we do know, for salvation is from
  the Jews.

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• 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the
  true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
  and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers
  the Father seeks.
• 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship
  in spirit and in truth.

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Hebrews 1218-24

• 18You have not come to a mountain that can be
  touched and that is burning with fire to
  darkness, gloom and storm 19to a trumpet blast
  or to such a voice speaking words that those who
  heard it begged that no further word be spoken to
  them, 20because they could not bear what was
  commanded If even an animal touches the
  mountain, it must be stoned. 21The sight was so
  terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with
  fear.

70

• 22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the
  heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
  You have come to thousands upon thousands of
  angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the
  firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You
  have come to God, the judge of all men, to the
  spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus
  the mediator of a new covenant, and to the
  sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than
  the blood of Abel.

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• God has rejected the old Jerusalem
• He is building a new Jerusalem
• This new Jerusalem has no other designated
  location except that it is from above
• There is no longer any such place as the holy
  land

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• We are building the new Jerusalem
• It is located every place in which the people of
  God meet together and do his will
• We do, however, still live in a world that would
  prefer that the new Jerusalem not be built
• We still live in the already, but not yet
• The task set before us is not an easy one

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2 Corinthians 312-18

• 12Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are
  very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put
  a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from
  gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.

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• 14But their minds were made dull, for to this day
  the same veil remains when the old covenant is
  read. It has not been removed, because only in
  Christ is it taken away. 15Even to this day when
  Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16But
  whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
  taken away.

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• 17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
  Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And
  we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the
  Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
  likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
  from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

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John 1415-18

• 15If you love me, you will obey what I command.
  16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
  another Counselor to be with you forever 17the
  Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
  because it neither sees him nor knows him. But
  you know him, for he lives with you and will be
  in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans I
  will come to you.

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The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ

• Acts 167 the Spirit of Jesus
• Romans 82 the law of the Spirit of life in
  Christ Jesus (NRSV)
• Romans 89 the Spirit of Christ
• 2 Corinthians 317 the Spirit of the Lord
• Galatians 46 the Spirit of his Son
• Philippians 119 the Spirit of Jesus Christ
• 1 Peter 111 the Spirit of Christ

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Lewis B. Smedes, Union with Christ (Grand Rapids
Eerdmans, 1983), pp. 44-45.

• 1. We are sealed in Christ (Ephesians 113)
• We are sealed in the Spirit (Ephesians 430)
• 2. We are consecrated in Christ Jesus (1
  Corinthians 12)
• We are consecrated in the Spirit (Romans
  1516)

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• 3. We are righteous in Christ (Philippians 38-9)
• We are righteous in the Holy Spirit (Romans
  1417)
• We are righteous in both (1 Corinthians 611)
• 4. We have life through Christ (Ephesians 25
  Colossians 34)
• We have life through the Holy Spirit (Romans
  811)

80

• 5. We have hope grounded in Christ (1
  Corinthians 1519)
• We have hope grounded in the power of the
  Spirit (Romans 55 Galatians 55 68)
• 6. Christ is the alternative to the law of sin
  and death (Romans 104)
• The Spirit is the alternative to the law of sin
  and death (Romans 82)

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• 7. We are commanded to stand fast in the Lord
  (Philippians 41)
• We are commanded to stand fast in one Spirit
  (Philippians 127)
• 8. We are told to rejoice in the Lord
  (Philippians 44)
• We are told to have joy in the Holy Spirit
  (Romans 1417)

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• 9. We are told to live in Christ (Colossians 26)
• We are told to walk in the Spirit (Ephesians
  43 Galatians 525)
• 10. Paul speaks the truth in Christ (Romans 91
  2 Corinthians 217)
• Paul speaks the truth in the Spirit (1
  Corinthians 123)

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• 11. We are called into the fellowship of Christ
  (1 Corinthians 19)
• We are blessed with the fellowship of the Holy
  Spirit (2 Corinthians 1314)
• The role of the Holy Spirit is to unite us to
  Christ and to reproduce the life of Christ in us.
• The Spirit-filled Christian, or the Spirit-filled
  Church, is the person or Church that reproduces
  the life of Christ.