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Chapter 3
Human Strengths and Spiritual Weaknesses
Genesis Through Isaiah
The divinely inspired words find life through the fulfillment of human life.
Man—created in an order below the angelic, and always subject to evil
forces—rises and falls, attempting to fulfill the Divine Will. Strength is
recognized in the person who challenges life with a fervent spiritual desire
to do what is seemingly impossible. However, weakness is also recognized
when pride, an evil tool within a person, attempts to overcome evil without
the grace from God. This weakness manifests in the limitations of
knowledge, and pride is ineffective in the application. So, even with good
intentions a person can be motivated by the wrong spiritual source. Early
Hebrew teachers—whose words and lives are preserved as scriptural
records—strove for consistencies in the ancient laws and human events that
became Judaism, but their weakness did not become obvious.
Their steadfast beliefs [weaknesses] assured the denial of a Divine person
—
both
His purpose and mission
−
even though they thought they were
intimately aware of the truth in their belief that a mere man was destined
and foretold to be the deliverer [king of the Jews]; their weakness was used
against them. The rejection or notion that the Virgin’s Son was the Son of
God did not fit their limited understandings. After all, they thought Jesus
was a mere man, whose father’s name was Joseph. They considered
themselves superior, thinking they were perfectly schooled in the laws of
Moses. During that time the only debate about the Messiah was a cursory
question as to whether this person was or was not the expected Messiah.
The old records recorded in the Old Testament were their only basis for
understanding, but in their weakness they thought they were strong. The
New Testament, therefore, was the necessary documentation to confirm the
Old Testament. But, it recorded the revelation of a deeper truth, spoken to
provide clarity for fulfillment of the Old and to provide the basis for the
new covenant. Hence, the inspired word of God given to the prophets
became the revealed word of God.
Over these many years, scholarly minds have delved deep into the words
continuing to interpret the precise meanings. The Dead Sea Scrolls have