Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 19

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FOUR WALKS

                                                                 

                                   

                                    FOUR WALKS

It has been implied that our journey through this life is akin to a walk not a run. Nowhere does it state that we should hurry through our existence on this sphere, but rather that we should proceed at a more disciplined pace, Thus, we are told to walk but in a manner encompassing four virtues.

We are to walk in the unity of oneness. Even if we do have differences in types of worship, of singing, of dress, manners, etc., we should all recognize that we all have:

…one body, one Spirit,

…one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

one God and Father of all…

(Ephesians 4:4-6)

We should, therefore, in spite of any difference we might have, proceed knowing as well the oneness we also have in the belief we share. As a result, the desire of Christ is that…

…You, Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You 

have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You;

that they also may be one in Us,

that the world may believe that You sent Me.

(John 17: 11,21)

We are to walk in love as imitators of the love that Christ has given to us and as He has given Himself for us. He has said that:

 

Greater love has no one than this

than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

(John 15:13)

He then went onto say:

You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

No longer do I call you servants…

but I have called you friends, 

for all things that I heard from My Father 

I have made known to you. 

(John 15:14-15)

We are to walk in the light of God. In Psalms it states that:

Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,

Bound in affliction and irons-

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death.

and broke their chains in pieces. 

(Psalm 107: 10,14)

[And] you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 

[So] have no fellowship with the works of darkness… 

(Ephesians 5:8,11)

[For] you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,

His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him 

who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light… 

(1 Peter 2:9)

We are to walk in wisdom, and that implies that we are to know that there is a God and that we are to obey and be accountable to Him. After all, it is only…

The fool [who] has said in his heart

“There is no God” 

(Psalm 53:1)

Because really… 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… 

(Psalm 111:10)

[And] to know wisdom and instruction

[Is to] perceive the words of understanding… 

…justice, judgement and equity…

(Proverbs 1:2,3)

…But fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

(Proverbs 1:7)

[So ] if any…lacks wisdom…let him ask of God… 

(James 1:5) 

 

[and] let him [then] show by good conduct 

that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 

(James 3:13)

One can walk in love and light without truly appreciating the need to know God, but if one is walking in wisdom, then light, love, and unity of Spirit should soon follow.

It can give one a lot to think about.     

   

Our May Calendar

 

Dr. Spencer Barclay April 27, 2025

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 18

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - FOUR CUPS

FOUR CUPS

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks… 

(Matthew 26:27)

Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks

He gave it to them… 

(Mark 14:23)

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks… 

(Luke 22:17)

Likewise He also took the cup after supper… 

(Luke 22:20)

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper… 

(1 Corinthians 11:25)

In at least one gospel, there is indication that Jesus “took" one cup twice or “took” from two different cups at the Last Supper. This, in itself, would not be unusual considering that at the Seder meal before Passover there were apparently four cups of wine given to symbolize a number of celebrations.*

First to remember the four terms of redemption as in Exodus 6:6-7:

“I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians,”

Cup of Sanctification

“I will rescue you from their bondage,”

Cup of Deliverance

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements.”

Cup of Redemption

“I will take you as My people…” 

Cup of Praise

Second, to remember the four stages of redemption:

The salvation from harsh labour

The salvation from servitude

The splitting of the sea, after which the Jewish felt redeemed

Becoming a nation at Sinai

Thirdly, the cups apparently symbolize freedom from the four exiles:

The Egyptian

The Babylonian

The Greek

The Current Exile 

The last exile to be ended by the coming of the Jewish Messiah and the return of the Jews to the land of Israel, where they are to rebuild the Holy Temple and to usher in the utopian Messianic Era.

Perhaps the most significant meaning was the remembrance of the four terms of redemption and perhaps that’s also why Christ only drank from one cup because He fulfilled all the terms of redemption:

He brings us out from our burdens 

He rescued us from bondage. 

He redeems us with His blood

He takes us with Him as joint heirs of God.

There have also, at times, been a fifth cup because God also said the He would…

…bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Issac and Jacob; 

and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord. 

(Exodus 6:8)

Thus, Christ fulfills all of these because He promises to bring us with Him into eternity. All with the one cup representative of His blood sacrificed on the cross.

Certainly it gives one a lot to think about.

*Adapted from Jesus the Messiah in the Four Cups of the Passover chosenpeople.com

Why four cups of wine by the Seder? Naftali Silberberg found at www.chabad.org

   

Pastor Matthew Trott Easter Sunday April 20, 2025

Pastor Matthew Trott Good Friday April 18, 2025

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 17

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - BITTER HERBS

 BITTER HERBS

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve.

…He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.

…He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me.”

Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said,

“Rabbi, is it I?…”

(Matt 26:20-25)

Not being of the Jewish faith, we really don’t understand the significance of the “dish.” The Last Supper, as we know it, was really The Passover Seder, a meal traditionally eaten before Passover. The Sabbath, referred to in the Bible at this time of year, was the Passover Sabbath and not the weekly Saturday Sabbath; and the meal eaten at this time consisted of specific items including matzah, an unleavened bread, and charoset, a mixture containing bitter herbs among other things. There was also eggs and greens to represent spring and new birth and a shank bone representing the Peschal Sacrifice - the lamb sacrificed at the first Passover. 

Matzah bread, as mentioned above, was a type of unleavened bread. Leaven, or yeast, came from Egypt and was considered representative of sin and of the bondage suffered by the Hebrews in Egypt. Therefore to leave Egypt, they were to leave their bondage and sin behind as well. So God told them:

…every man shall take for himself a lamb…

…without blemish…

Then they shall eat the flesh on that night;

roasted in fire, with unleavened bread

and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

(Exo 12:3,5,8)

So, the Seder meal has items representing the sacrificial lamb - the sin and bondage of their time in Egypt. Their freedom, from sin and bondage, is represented in the matzah bread. Thus, when Jesus took the bread and dipped it into the dish, it was as if the Passover lamb was taking in His sinless hand, the bread [of life] and dipping it into the sin of the world [bitter herbs] and so as well into our cup of judgement, bitterness, and suffering.

It’s the little details of the Bible that we often miss when we don’t know the full story behind the message.

This Easter, just something else to think about.

Adapted from The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn, p.g. 238

Pastor Jasmine Trott April 13, 2024

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 16

Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - HIS PLANS

HIS PLANS

There are a number of places in Scripture where it states or infers that God had plans set down for us before we were born. In Psalms is says:

For You formed my inward parts; 

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

…I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

…My frame was not hidden from You, 

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

…The days were fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them. 

(Psalm 139:13-16)

In Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; 

Before you were born I sanctified you… 

(Jeremiah 1:5)

Again in Isaiah:

…The Lord has called Me from the womb;

From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name. 

(Isaiah 49:1)

Also in Galatians:

when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb

and called me by His grace… 

(Galatians 1:15 NIV)

Additionally, there are many other places in the Bible indicating that God was aware of us before we were born.

So, if God had this knowledge of us, then it is evident that many of us do not fulfil His ambitions for us. But in addition to this, how about those who die in the womb before birth or those whose mother have their pregnancy terminated for whatever reason? One source has stated that such a number is greater than 60 million* in the US alone. What about the plans God had for these individuals? We’ll never know.

But today we do know about at least a few who probably would not have gone through with their pregnancy if what is acceptable now was available in their day.** 

Consider:

1. A very poor couple with 14 children and now expecting another.
2. A sick husband and a pregnant wife with TB but also with 4 children: one blind, a second deceased, a third deaf, and a fourth also with TB.
3. A 13 year old coloured girl raped by a white male and now pregnant.
4. A teenage girl pregnant and not by her fiancé who is angry and upset.

Most, if not all these situations would be considered for termination of pregnancy under today’s system and perhaps justification could be well made. But if such had been done in these cases, then:

1. We would not have had John Wesley one of the world’s greatest evangelists in the 19th century.
2. We would never have had Beethoven.
3. We would have terminated the life of Ethel Waters a great black gospel singer.
4. We would have stopped the life of Christ.

If God truly does know the plans He has for each of us, then consider what He must feel when He sees what is happening in today’s world.

It is something to seriously think about.

* The Return of the Gods by Jonathan Cahn, p.g. 112

**Examples taken from The  Evidence Bible, p.g. 804

Dr. Barclays Bible Study - The Book of Ephesians Part 15