Putting to Test the Recovery Version

[aron]

Originally Posted by testallthings

“They therefore, being come together, asked him saying, Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?” (Darby) The word therefore (in Darby, Asv, and other translations) has the meaning of because of that or for that reason. Because the Lord spoke to them for 40 days about the kingdom of God therefore the apostles asked Him about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. It was a simple logical question prompted by the things they heard during those 40 days.

The other thing to consider is this: look at the Lord's response to the question. They were asking about time. "At this time?", they asked. The Lord replied, "It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has fixed by His authority". (v.7)

He didn't say, "What are you talking about, the kingdom restored to Israel? Are you nuts?! I'm here for the church! Drop your concepts and read Ephesians 3!"

No, He was, and is, the King of Israel, and the mysterious "Divine purpose and wisdom revealed through the church" in Ephesians 3:9,10 didn't erase it, but rather (so I believe) declared it as gospel. "Where is He who is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star at its rising, and have come to worship Him." (Matt 2:2) Concepts? No, truth: Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews, and came to restore the kingdom [of God] to Israel. But the provenance of times and seasons was not for the disciples to know.

You know, we all have concepts; you have them, so do I. But our concepts are relatively innocuous, compared to those of Witness Lee, because chief among his concepts was the idea that only he didn't have any! Peter, James and John had concepts; all the Christian teachers and preachers had concepts, but Nee and Lee had none! What a gift to the Body of Christ, to have such ministers of the word, raised up in these last days! "Houston, the Oracle has landed. . ." Cheers, loud hurrahs, hats tossed in the air. . . as RG put it, "We got the fresh bread!" Manna from heaven, and all for sale, for just a dollar or three.

Even the authors of the Bible, and the compilers who decided on the canon, had "fallen" and "natural human concepts" of "right and wrong". Only the chosen few, the apostle Paul, John Nelson Darby, Margaret Barber and then Nee and Lee, cared solely for life. Everyone else, apparently, wasn't so clear, beshrouded by their concepts as they were. Yet there was an invisible 'lineage of life' running through the aeons, coursing through the space/time ether, and Nee and Lee had somehow tapped into it, and if we the poor, pathetic mooing cows wanted to participate in the blessing then we'd let them tell us what the Bible said, even if the words in front of us were plainly indicating otherwise.

It was the old, "Who you gonna believe, me or your eyes" trick. Witness Lee convinced us that only he had the sight. We were blind, as had been the disciples, the authors of the NT, and almost all of Christianity through the ages. What a con. . . what an embarrassing ride to have been taken on. Oh well; "Fool me once..."