Enjoy Cobbey Crisler insights on select Bible citations from
the Christian Science Bible Lesson on “Substance” for September 10, 2017
[RickStewart's Met (application ideas) will follow in a few hours.]
Warren’s (W’s) PS#1—Cobbey Crisler on Jesus’ solving all problems, Matt. 4:23 (B10):
“Verse 23. And “healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” Here are human problems that had defied solution, and Jesus solved them all based on his concept of theology, namely the kingdom. Remember a kingdom is not chaos. It’s an ordered government of heaven and harmony at hand.”
Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, B. Cobbey Crisler
W’s PS#2—Cobbey Crisler on Matt. 5.1-3 (B11)—Jesus’ mathematical rules of happiness.
“The beatitudes, the blessings. The word “blessed” in our sermon on the mount is not really the accurate translation of the Greek. The word is “makarios” which means “happy.”
Just think of the search for happiness among humanity. Here are rules laid down by Jesus simply stating that happiness can be obtained in the following ways…
… we should remember that Jesus never uttered anything that he hadn’t practiced.
The Sermon on the Mount is in essence a description of the life of Jesus…
The Sermon begins with the Beatitudes. (Verse 3). “Happy are the poor in spirit.” Doesn’t sound like they should be (happy) does it? But we find out the reason. Because such humility gets what results? And where is the kingdom of heaven? What was Jesus’ first announcement? “Right at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Later he says, “Within” (Luke 17:21).
We’ve talked about mathematics. How would you like to view Jesus as a mathematician par excellence? You can take his beatitudes and make equations out of them. Which shows how much of a mathematical thinker he was. For instance,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Thus, B x PS = KH. When you invest on the left side of the equation, what is the yield on the right side? The “Kingdom of Heaven.” “B” multiplied times “PS” equals “KH,” i.e., B x PS = KH.
You have measurable results. Do you see a difference here in Jesus’ approach to religion? When we stop to examine theology, even in our century, is there that much expectation for results in theological thinking? Yet here is the essence of Jesus’ thinking. And we have results…”
“… As you go down the Beatitude, read them all, scan them as they are in front of you. See if you can find results in every one of them. See if you can analyze them for those results. That becomes a very practical clue for how to lead one’s life.
The Commandments and Beatitudes have often been placed side by side. Many parallels have been used. Is that justified?
For instance, we are told in the Book of Revelation that those who have overcome the beast will stand on the sea of glass with harps. They’re singing two things representative of what has been given them. The victory over the beast, the animal origin of man. How can we overcome that animal connection?
Those who have overcome are said to be singing two things: the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. That sounds like they’re inseparable. They operate together. Do you know why? Because it’s part of the heavenly mathematics.
Why did the Commandments say, “Thu shalt not,” taking care of the minus aspects in human nature? And the Beatitudes, “happy are they” that do certain things, are plus? What do you do with the minus in thought, the chaff? It is dealt with by fire. You deal with the plus in thought through the Holy Ghost.
They operate together for a single purpose and a unique commitment to the totality of One infinite, God, good. The Beatitudes must be considered in conjunction with the Commandments in your study.
These Beatitudes took the same forty days preparation of Jesus in the wilderness as the Commandments took forty days of preparation in the wilderness for Moses. It may take the same wilderness experience for you and me to really appreciate what really is there behind the Commandments and the Beatitudes. They are really the staff on which we lean. If we try to go very far without that staff it must discipline us. [Discipline is] The same root word as disciple. We must come back and learn how to deal with the plus factors and the minus factors in our own thinking. That’s the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire…
Let me make recommendations for your own research. I have previously assigned my high school students to see on their own, through their own Scriptural research, whether there was any Old Testament precedent for each Beatitude. In other words, is this something that Jesus is saying, “Hey, here is a new idea of humanity, why don’t you consider it?” Or was he pointing out stones already in the foundation that had been neglected?
These are interesting things. I’ll give you one as a lead. Verse 5 of chapter 5, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” You’ll see in Psalms 37, Verse 11, that almost word for word, we find that Beatitude there.
So you see, it’s not always being original, but recalling human attention to something that has been already revealed, already discovered, but essential to our progress and growth.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master” by B. Cobbey Crisler
W’s PS#3—Cobbey on Matt. 13.2, 44-46 (B16)—amphitheater for total priority parables
“Chapter 13 begins eight parables.
Verse 1) starts out where Jesus is preaching on the side of the Sea of Galilee…
[Verse 2, “He went into a ship and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.”]
First of all, when you’re standing in a ship without a public address system, can you be heard? This is one of the things that I questioned, and received grants from two foundations to explore… We took an acoustical expert to Israel from… an acoustical firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts… We had a hundred pounds of equipment. We tested every area where it said in both Old and New Testaments a single individual addressed hundreds, if not thousands of people without the aid of public address systems. We came back with very definite evidence that there seemed to be acoustical phenomena at these places which permitted such sound to carry. Of course, none of the gospels tell you where it is exactly.
But outside of Capernaum there is this little cove, and in the middle I stood holding seven red balloons. I had to pop one balloon at a time while my acoustical-colleague was on the slope of this natural amphitheater measuring it with his electronic instrument…
Interestingly enough, we measured how many people could have been in that area. Five to seven thousand people could have stood or sat there and seen and heard anyone in the vicinity of the rock where I was standing. My suggestion is that these four parables, where Matthew records as having been said here, have an unusual emphasis on the acoustical element.
Listening and being receptive…
Parable number one…Verse 3. Here is the great parable of the sower. What is it all about, but listening?…
…count up the number of times ears or hearing, or anything acoustical, is mentioned there, as well as the visual. Because it was an audio-visual environment. Right there in that very spot today you can see the sower parable come to life. You will see the tares and wheat right there. The thorns. The stones. The rock. The fowls that come and eat the seed. We’ve seen them all right there at that spot.
What a classroom it must have been, for a Master to teach his prime students in, and those who would listen! They could look around to see the lessons. […like at CedarS Bible Lands Park] They could hear every word he said. But then he tried to uplift that vision up and uplift that sense of listening to a higher spiritual category.
Parable number two is the tares and the wheat beginning in Verse 24. When I had our high school students over there, we actually experimented with details of the parable where the tares are very difficult to pull up. They bring the wheat right up with them because the wheat has a softer root, and this fits in exactly with the details of the parable as Jesus gave it.”…
… Parable number five is the treasure in the field (Verse 44).
Parable number six is the hunt for pearls (Verse 45).
There are two different points in these parables. First, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field.” The man doesn’t know it’s there, but he discovers it, stumbles on it, knows its value, and “sells everything for it.” That shows that the kingdom of heaven can be discovered even when one isn’t looking for it.
Those who discover it in that way, nevertheless, can appreciate its value. This man in the parable gives it total priority.
(Verse 46). There was also the merchant looking for goodly pearls. And when he found it, while searching, he did what the other man did. He “sold all he had” because again, prioritizing, he recognizes the value.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master” by B. Cobbey Crisler
PS#4—Cobbey on Acts 13.52 (B19) and the joy of sharing with receptive Gentiles
[Prequel context] “Acts 13:46. Now because the Jews were rejecting Paul and Barnabas, look what the last five words in Acts 13, verse 46, says. “We turn to the Gentiles.”…
…But, you will notice he would back this up with scriptural authority in Acts 13, verse 47, he says “the Lord commanded us, saying…” ; and that quote, you might write it in the margin of your Bible, is from Isaiah 49, verse 6.
Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
… And then when that happens, salvation will begin to reach the ends of the earth. And look at what has happened in history as Christianity moved out of Judaic definition of it and moved around the world… Message speaks to those who are receptive. Receptivity is really ordination in a way, because receptivity is the prepared ground into which the seed can fall. And, eventually, all must become receptive.
In this case, these are the ones who were at that point. And it’s pretty clear that you did not have universal receptivity then anymore than you do now.
[So while the rejecting] Jews stirred up everybody, in Acts 13, verse 50, “the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost; they come to Iconium” (in verse 52) still known as Iconia in modern Turkey.”
“AFTER THE MASTER, WHAT?” by B. Cobbey Crisler
PS#5—Cobbey on Acts 14.8-10 (B20) and the prophesy fulfillment of a leaping lame man
“Acts, Chapter 14 begins with [the prequel of] “the unbelieving Jews” in Acts 14, verse 2, “stirring up the Gentiles.” … And we find now that this is close on the heels of all the success the church makes – a step forward and then a counter step trying to resist and destroy what has been achieved. Church has never been probably such pressure up to this moment since the general persecution in Jerusalem… So, the “stirring up occurs.” Acts 14, verse 4, shows you a “division in the city, an actual assault is made” in Acts 14, verse 5, “to stone them.”
“And they leave the city going to Lystra and Derbe, and to the surrounding region to preach the gospel.” (Acts 14:6, 7) …
In the midst of all this persecution and conflict, “there is a man at Lytra, a cripple, and born that way. He never had walked.”
Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
Now you remember what we said when Jesus looked at someone? “And Peter beheld someone.” … Here it says, “Paul, stedfastly beholding him.” The author means much more that staring at him, doesn’t he? “Stedfastly beholding him, perceiving” – you see it’s an inner sight – “perceiving he had faith to be healed.” (Acts 14:9)
Now, if he hadn’t [perceived that he had faith], the implication is what? They were many that needed healing there, but receptivity – the patient has to be part of it apparently. Just as Jesus did not physically lift people to their feet so much as he said, “Pick up your bed and walk…stretch forth your hand” and so forth here.
Paul, perceiving that he had faith to be healed “Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. (Acts 14:10)
You notice that the first thing this man does also is what? He leaps before he walks. He never had walked, and “the first thing he did was leap.” …
And Isaiah, if you will recall the prophecy, it indicated “the lame man shall leap as an hart.” (Isa 35:6) … It is a fulfillment of prophecy. Therefore, it’s God’s idea, you see, not man’s healing.”
[Chapter 14 ends with the exciting sequel of Paul being worshipped and then being stoned and raised by prayer and returning to where he was stoned….] … That shows you the extremes of human nature. You’re a god one moment, and they stone you the next. And that’s exactly what happened to Jesus if you recall the triumphant entry into Jerusalem – and one week later. So avoid triumphal entries if you can at all help it.
So, “Paul is stoned.” (Acts 14:19) … Now, remember later in a list of the things that he gives that he’s been through; he says he was stoned once, and this is the only record that we have of it. “They drag him out insensible, looking as if he is dead.” (Acts 14:19)
“The disciples, instead of running, stand around about him.” (Acts 14:20) “Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.”
Now, I don’t know whether anybody in this room would have had the courage Paul did. Even if we rose up from the dead, would you have run back into the city? Didn’t you get the idea that you weren’t wanted?
“He comes back into the city. He would not be thrown out. He then leaves with Barnabas the next day,” normally, “to Derbe to preach there.” (Acts 14:20)
Acts 14:21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch
And Acts 14, verse 22, the last three lines, he indicates that “we must through great tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
… But he’s establishing churches as he goes. And think of the influence of his example in stamping the example to follow Christ in that early church. So, as he creates churches as he goes along, he comes back through. He retraces his steps and returns to Antioch in Syria, not the Antioch of Pisidia. He’s back home again
Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
If you want to know how the church responded to the results of this first mission; they hold a special corporate meeting and “rehearsed” in Acts 14, verse 27, “all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.” Look at that news, “the door of faith has been opened to the Gentiles.” …
That says something about the corporate body, especially if the New Testament remark “that the church is the body of Christ is correct. You can’t divide that body. If you try, you’re trying to break the body of Christ in that sense. This was tried on the cross.
And collectively man is at one under one God if the Biblical theme is accurate. And that must include the Gentiles; it must even include those we may count among our enemies. And Paul’s approach here is a pioneering one.”
“AFTER THE MASTER, WHAT?” by B. Cobbey Crisler
You can buy your own transcripts of most of Cobbey’s 28 talks at a new website: www.crislerlibrary.co.uk Please email your order or inquiry to office@crislerlibrary.co.uk, or directly to Janet Crisler, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com]
