0. Manna issue 88 - Editorial: Our Walk With God 與神同行
Vincent Yeung—Cambridge, UK
“Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The LORD of hosts.” (Isa 6:5)
5禍哉!我滅亡了!因為我是嘴唇不潔的人,又住在嘴唇不潔的民中,又因我眼見大君王─萬軍之耶和華。
(賽 6:5)
The expression mysterium tremendum describes
the numinous experience of awe and dread in the presence of the almighty and transcendent God.
The question is, why had Isaiah not felt this fear and wonder in God’s temple before?
The answer is that this theophany
—or manifestation of God
—and the seraphim’s proclamation of God’s holiness (Isa 6:3)
made Isaiah aware of God’s holy presence in the temple.
He realized his utter sinfulness in the light of God’s presence, bringing fear of judgment and condemnation.
以賽亞用令人敬畏的表達方式,描寫了
在那全能又超然的神面前,讓人有無盡敬嘆和恐懼的體驗。
而問題是,為何以賽亞,以前沒有在神的聖殿中,感受到這般的恐懼和驚奇呢?
答案就是,神這次出現,
-或是神的顯現
-還有天使宣告神的聖潔(賽 6:3)
才使以賽亞意識到,在聖殿中有神的神聖存在。
他才意識到,在神臨在的聖光中,自己完全是罪惡的,會接著帶來了受審判和被譴責的恐懼。
Today, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit,
and the church is the church of the living God
(1 Cor 6:19; 1 Tim 3:15).
But have we, in the same way, forgotten that He is the holy God?
Is God’s presence in our lives merely an abstract concept, easily forgotten,
as our worship becomes more sterile?
The danger of God becoming irrelevant in our life,
either consciously or subconsciously,
is that we will depart and go our separate way.
今天,我們是聖靈的神殿,
教會是永生神的教會
(林前 6:19;提前 3:15)
但是我們是否有同樣的情況,忘記了祂是聖潔的神呢?
神在我們生活中的存在,僅僅只是一個抽象的概念,容易被人們遺忘,
就好像我們的崇拜聚會,日漸變得更加枯燥乏味?
產生神與我們生活無關的危險,
不論是有意識的或無意識的,
就是我們,將會離開,並走自己分開的道路。
Isaiah’s experience prompts us to re-evaluate our relationship with God,
and reflect on what He requires of us.
In this issue of Manna, we are reminded to keep ourselves in the love of God.
If we fall from His grace by not persisting in our faith,
how can we find our way back?
We need to honor God as the Lord of our life and submit to His sovereignty by fearing Him again.
以賽亞的體驗,促使我們重新評估自已與神的關係,
並反省祂對我們有什麼要求。
在本期的嗎哪期刊中,我們被提醒,要保守在神的愛中。
如果我們不堅持自己的信仰,而脫離了祂的恩典,
我們要怎麼找到回家的路呢?
我們要榮耀神,讓神成為我們生命的主宰,並經由再次敬畏神,來臣服從於神的主權。
We may ask, if God calls us His friend,
and perfect love casts our fear (Jn 15:15; Jas 2:23; 1 Jn 4:18),
why should we fear Him?
Why do we need to work out our salvation in fear and trembling
(Phil 2:12)?
If there “is no fear in love” (1 Jn 4:18a),
how can we love and fear God at the same time?
我們可能會問,如果神稱呼我們,是祂的朋友,
神完全的慈愛,能驅散我們的恐懼(約 15:15;雅 2:23;約壹 4:18),
我們為什麼要敬畏神呢?
為什麼我們要在恐懼和戰栗之中,努力尋求得救呢?
(腓 2:12)
如果“愛中沒有恐懼”(約壹 4:18a),
我們怎樣才能同時又愛神又敬畏神呢?
The “fear” that we should have
is an attitude of reverence towards God in our lifelong journey towards salvation,
rather than the irrational, emotional fear discussed in 1 John.
This is godly fear (Heb 12:28).
When we serve God with fear, we can rejoice with trembling
(Ps 2:11).
This is the progressive relationship we should have with God,
rooted not only in love, but also fear of Him, leading to heavenly joy.
我們應該有的“敬畏”
是我們在生命救贖旅程中,保有對神敬重的態度,
而不是約翰壹書中,所討論,沒有理性,情感上的恐懼。
這是屬神的敬畏(來 12:28)。
當我們敬畏事奉神的時候,就可以即戰驚又歡喜
(詩 2:11)。
這就是我們與神,應該建立的漸進關係,
不僅根植於愛中,也根植於對示的敬畏,從而帶來天上的喜樂。
So, we see how fear plays a key role in our faith journey and in our relationship with God.
Many of us start from the position of indifference
—ignorant and unaware of God’s presence.
We progress to the point of awareness but remain terrified in His presence.
Isaiah was afraid of the majesty and mystery of God
when God appeared because he did not truly know God.
Since the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge
(Prov 1:7),
we must move on in our faith journey to become God’s servant and trusted friend.
As we draw closer to Him, we also continue to honor and respect Him, with love and fear.
Let us continue to serve Him in truth, with all our heart
(1 Sam 12:24a).
因此,我們可以看到,在我們的信仰之旅,以及與神的關係中,敬畏如何擔負關鍵的作用。
我們許多人一開始立場很冷漠,
-不只無知,而且沒有察覺神的同在。
我們往前進到了認識神的地步,但在神的面前仍然感到恐懼。
以賽亞害怕神的威嚴和奧秘,
因為神出現的時候,他並沒有真正認識神。
既然敬畏神是知識的開端
(箴 1:7)
我們的信仰之旅必須繼續前進,成為神的僕人,以及可信賴的朋友。
當我們更加靠近祂的時候,我們也持續以愛和恐懼,來榮耀祂和敬畏祂。
讓我們繼續全心全意在真理上事奉祂。
(撒上 12:24a)。
小頁 markvmax@hotmail.com
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