Some things are often glossed over when reading the Bible like an ordinary book. Every word was breathed by the breath of God. His Holy Breath breathes life unto the Bible just as it did with Adam that makes the Bible the “Living Word” of Himself. In other words, Jesus remains alive in Heaven and His Spirit alive on Earth through the Bible. He still speaks with another inaudible sixth or seventh sense.
Because it is metaphorical the following passage is often glossed over. Sure, you have heard it said, but do you know its significance:
(KEY VERSE) Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Mat 5:13)
Jesus is speaking of Christians —
the blessed. He identified the blessings as the “reward” that they would obtain
in heaven (verse 12). Get that; heaven is the reward! Why is that? It is
in the realm in which Christians are saved. Salvation is the reward.
Heaven is not a physical place but
another realm wherein the soul never dies. The Book of Enoch reveals
that Heaven is divided into two realms: Hell and Paradise with a “great gulf”
between them as Luke 16 validates. So, the reward in Heaven is Paradise and the
punishment in Heaven is Hell. In either place, the soul never consummates death,
but in one it is “gladness” and the other sadness and torments.
Heaven is for real but of a different substance. It is the place of souls. My own hypothesis is that the creation of Genesis chapter one is making of the souls in Paradise, and chapter two the physical bodies in the Garden of Eden. They are the same place, if I am right, but different realms. The “door” to heaven is the portal from here to there:
Behold, I (Jesus) stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to Him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (Rev 3:20)
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Rev 2:7)
Overcome what? The elements of the world that dilute the salt.
There is a point to this; The
Tree of Life is the reward in Heaven and Jesus is the “true vine” (John 15:1)
of that Tree (alethinos ampelos). “Alethinos is the “nature” of whom?
The Husbandman, Jehovah. Ampelos is most often translated “vine” but it
has two parts: (1) “both of two, both the one from the other,” hence vine, and
(2) “a threshing floor”
Jesus is compared to the “Vine”
because He Himself was the “Good Grain” that remained after the tares and offal
were discarded on the threshing floor. The tares were those of the Wicked One
and the offal were those who were to be sent to Hell in the realm of Heaven.
As such Christians will be judged
as well. Jesus will thresh them out; “The Judge is standing right at the door”
(Jas 5:9).
The pieces are all coming together.
The “Judge” is Jesus, and it is Him that is standing to the portal between this
world and the other world, but what about the key verse, Matthew 5:13?
The “salt” as translated from “halas”
in the Greek. The significance of that is, “For every one shall be salted with
fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt” (Mark 9:49).
Thus, the salt of the Earth is
for the sacrifice. What does salt do? It preserves the flesh of the sacrifice. All
the offerings of the Israelites would be offered by salt (Lev 2:13) for
preservation to remain good. Speaking of all the heave offerings God said, “By
a statute forever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee
and to thy seed with thee” (Num 8:19). That Covenant remained with Jesus.
Of course, Christians offer themselves;
Paul wrote, “Ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God” (Rom 12:1). Your bodies — your flesh — must be seasoned with salt. Not the
salt of the earth but sprinkled with salt in a spiritual sense. Salt is a base
word in the Greek, and it means “prudence” in a figurative sense (Ibid) — “caution
or circumspection as to danger or risk”
If that definition applies, then “the
salt of the earth” is prudence in the world (ge). The world is not the
planet Earth but the cosmos (kosmos), meaning this realm. Those “salted”
must beware of spoilage.
With salted meat of any type
there is a risk. Is it ample for the preservation and is it applied all over?
Does the salt lose its savor? No, but it can be diluted and even washed off by other
elements of the world.
As such, Jesus salts the
Christian to last forever, but care must be taken with prudence to ensure that
the salt remains where Jesus placed it and all over.
Savor is a sixth sense. It
is a distinctive quality that can be sensed. It may still be there but
is diluted a little bit at a time until the salty taste is gone.
What does a chef do when there is
too much salt? Wipes off what is not absorbed and/or dilutes it with water from
the faucet. Losing the savor of the salt is from things you do to make
it of less quality, and with enough of your doings the savor is depleted, and
the cured meat (you) is exposed to the world to end the preservation process.
It loses it savor “wherewith it
is salted.” Who did the salting? Jesus. He provided the Covenant of Salt and those
salted tamper with the preservative until it loses its effectiveness with
imprudence.
Not the salt, but the flesh that
was salted “is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out.” That is the “threshing
floor,” and to validate that, Jesus added, “to be trodden under foot of men.”
Mankind still does the treading
to separate the tares and chaff from the good things, but Jesus judges. He
winnows the offal from the good grain. But offerings are not only grain but
meat offerings. He threshes out the preserved flesh from the flesh that loses
its savor.
Previously the heave offering was
mentioned. It was salted, then raised up and down to sacrifice it to the Lord.
After that, it was acceptable as food for the officiating priest to use. He
need not resalt it to eat of it because its savor remained. It was preserved
meat that would be good for the priest to eat. Likewise, Christians who sacrifice
themselves have the savor to be offered to the LORD GOD and must retain its
savor for Jesus — the High Priest on the order of Melchizedek — to partake.
The lesson learned is that you
are preserved as a Christian but must “Be sober, be vigilant; because
your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour” (1 Pet 5:8). You are safe but not saved until the reward.
Therefore, before Jesus gets His
supper — the salted meat — before losing its strong savor, is can be eaten by
the Devil before the meat gets to its place in front of Jesus. Prudence
is being sober and vigilant that you do not lose your “salt” because the “salt”
that Jesus preserves with would never lose its savor without you being the
unwary one.
Yes, Jesus preserves the
Christian and they are safe unless they themselves despoil the sacrifice.
If the savor remains and the flesh remains unspoiled, then the reward — preserved
flesh — is the reward. However, the meat is not for the Devil but in the end,
it is preserved for Jesus. Christians must remain cautious continually, or our
flesh will gradually have its “salt” reduced to nothing by the world.
Jesus salts it; and we must
retain the salt that He used. But fortunately, we are blessed, “Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). That “salt” is the “heart” or
our nature in synchrony with Jesus. That nature must remain pure for the
blessing to come.
(picture credit: Dickey Bub)
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