Originally you stated you felt there is only “one” message to take away in Scripture, my point was to present to you that there are several ways you can understand it . . one of more importance than the others, which is spiritually receiving the revelation of it’s truth, but nonetheless, there is more than just one approach to any verse in Scripture. Then in your opening response, you stated that yeah, that’s one way to see it . . .which then totally contradicted your original remark.
While I agree that Jesus “is” spirit and everything he said and did had spiritual significance that was much greater than the natural act or word itself, but then your rendition of what you take away from the story goes into a literal interpretation rather than a spiritual one. For me, to see it spiritually is to see it “inwardly” There is a Lazarus “in” me and a rich man “in” me. one is depicting my spirit man, the other is depicting my carnal man.
Every story can be seen this way. There is an Adam in me, there is an Eve in me . . .and . .there is a serpent nature that can deceive my Eve, I believe "that’ is what Jesus was addressing when he told Peter to get behind him . . .as well as when he was being “tempted” in the garden . . it was all an inward experience and conversation rather than a literal outward event unfolding there… . there is a carnal nature at work in me to deceive my mind and my Eve will always desire after my Adam, My mind will always want to have dominance over my spirit. But my Adam is to rule over my Eve . . .my Spirit is where the authority lies.
That’s why when Eve ate of the fruit . .nothing happened until she fed it to Adam and he ate it. First, it was forbidden fruit, he disobeyed. Second, it was from the tree of knowledge . . .KNOWLEDGE was never to be embraced and consumed. It had it’s purpose and place in the garden, it brought balance, but it was never intended for man’s consumption. Third, he received it from his Eve . . .Spirit is to ALWAYS feed flesh, never the other way around. And thus, the original alignment God established in man became out of order. As a result of choosing knowledge over life, they could no longer live in the garden because the garden was not a natural place . . .they were created from the natural earth then “placed” in the garden. But when they chose knowledge over life and allowed the mind to dominate the spirit, they were then removed from the spirit realm and returned back to the earth from which they were originally made.
When I let my head lead my heart, I confine myself to the influence and dominance of the laws of knowledge. Even though this world is not my home, I’m in bondage in it due to the fact that I allow my mind to make my spiritual decisions for me. That’s what the resurrection of Christ was all about. My Spirit is resurrected from that bondage of my mind and it 's returned to the throne “in” me as I am a temple and there is only one throne . . .only one ruler in me . . .either it’s my mind, or my spirit. Many will claim they are led by the spirit but in reality, it’s the mind that’s doing the leading and there’s never a good ending, which is the evidence as to whether it’s really spiritual or not. If life abounds, it’s spirit. If it’s all about control and confinement it’s flesh.