Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB1995

 

Dear Reader, ask yourself these questions:  Why did thousands and thousands of Jews and other residents of Judah and the surrounding area (surely some of the most religious people in the world) follow Jesus out to remote areas without food or water for days on end?  Why were they enamored of his teachings that from a human standpoint were even more difficult to live up to than the original 613 commandments of the books of Moses? Do you really believe they were hearing the same things that can be heard on the religious programming that today goes out over the airwaves 24/7?

 

If you are a religious “outsider” and have given up all hope that you will ever make peace with God, much less be actually pleasing to Him or ever be able to call Him “Father”, we are elated to tell you the good news that Jesus was proclaiming to those people (and still is proclaiming to all people) that such a radical and complete transformation is not only possible, it is inevitable!  You see, dear Reader, those people went to listen to Jesus because they, like you, had despaired of ever being pleasing to Father, and Yeshua/Jesus gave them hope!  How did he do that?

 

At the outset it should be noted that his very name, Yeshua, in Hebrew means salvation, as they were well aware.  Jesus first demonstrated by healing miracles that Father loves all of the people of His creation, and simultaneously laid down Father’s requirements for righteousness, which exceeded that of the religious insiders of his day.  (We pause to note in passing that the failure to understand the reason and purpose for explaining Father’s standards of righteousness has led to much mis-understanding in the organized church.)  Gradually over time, building teaching upon teaching, the Lord explained that he had the authority to state the requirements and to fulfill them, and that this authority came directly from Father!

 

Next, he repeatedly said that Father desired mercy, not sacrifice!  In fact, he instructed everyone to go and learn what that means!  (Again we note in passing, this instruction has never been rescinded.) In addition to healing all of their diseases and afflictions, he also taught that he had come to call sinners and not the righteous.  For the religious outsiders, it was all good news.  But from a certain point of view (like that of the religious insiders), it looked impossible to achieve, for as yet no one understood that he himself would pay the ultimate sacrifice by his own death on the cross, much less that his own sacrifice would pay for all sins of all people for all time.

 

This problem immediately loomed up and seemed to block all understanding:  left to our own efforts, we cannot fulfill even the laws of Moses, and we certainly cannot fulfill the higher standards of righteousness stated by Yeshua/Jesus.  How was this problem to be resolved, not only then, but also NOW?

 

On more than one occasion, Jesus warned his followers not to be like the religious insiders, so that eliminated in a fell swoop all of their man-made, oral traditions of what was considered correct behavior. In situation after situation, he made clear that he himself was the way, the truth and the life.  “Follow me”, he said.  “Ask me for living water and it will become in you a fountain welling up to eternal life.  Come to me, take up my yoke and learn of me, and you will find rest for your souls. I am the light of the world, anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life. My ‘sheep’ follow me, they hear my voice, I know them, and I give them eternal life.”

 

Finally, on the eve of his arrest, torture and execution, he explained the how, how would he be able to make everyone who ever lived righteous in God’s sight.  At that point, even the disciples couldn’t understand the process, mainly because it was so revolutionary.  By going back to Father, from whom he had come, it would then be possible for the Christ, the Anointed One, to actually live in us! Read it for yourself:

 

19After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  The one who has my commands and keeps (Gr. tereo–to watch, to guard, like you would your car keys) them is the one who loves me.  And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father.  I also will love him and will reveal myself to him. John 14:19-21 NASB1995 (emphasis added)

 

The indwelling Lord Jesus Christ is the one who makes it all possible!  Apart from him, no righteousness is possible, simply because righteousness is not indigenous to our species and is found only in Him.  As Isaiah the prophet said:  For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;… Isaiah 64:6 NASB1995  But dear Reader, you already know that, and that is why you (like all of us who are trusting him) have given up hope of ever being righteous enough to please Father.  All who are willing to throw their unrighteousness on Jesus, and ask him to fix what is broken, clean what is filthy, and mend what can never be mended by our own efforts, and can believe his promises–they can be, and are, loved by Jesus and Father!

 

(We simply have to pause here and thank and praise our wonderful lord and savior!  Who is like you, O Lord, so wise and wonderful, so full of love, so merciful and willing to forgive, and not only forgive but also restore?  Our wonderful Father, there is no one else!  Dear Reader, can you not see why we who follow him love him so much?)

 

In simple terms, here is how it works out.  By simply trusting that Jesus will do what he promised to do, and of course, asking him to do so, he miraculously gives you a part of his divine nature.  In religious terms, he is called the Holy Spirit.  Like a new-born baby, a new believer begins to grow up, taking each day one at a time, with some successes and some failures–not many babies grow up without skinned knees and elbows. As we noted in the opening scripture above, he is literally a new creature!  The old things of shame, failure, condemnation and hopelessness have given way to a new life of joy, love, acceptance and hope.

 

From the point that a new believer receives the Holy Spirit, and from then on, Father does not “see” (or condemn) your old nature.  What he instead “sees” is the divine nature of Jesus; in fact, he “sees” the finished product, the end result, the final outcome of what the Jesus-nature produces: a mature and righteous son (or daughter)! And he is very pleased with that.  What he “sees” is his child who has now been “made righteous“. For now, we simply state that the legal basis for this result is beyond the scope of this post.

 

But, back to our analogy:  Soon the baby learns to talk to his daddy, and we already know instinctively that if that is not learned, it’s not a good situation.  Then he learns to obey what his daddy tells him, again with successes and failures, but always with the love of his parent who will never leave him as an orphan.  All during this time, the divine nature of the Lord is growing and becoming more dominant.  Finally, after years of growth, the mature son looks and sounds and thinks like his father–isn’t that what we see in the natural realm?  That’s exactly why we see it in the natural realm, as a picture of the spiritual realm, a picture of Jesus raising up a mature son or daughter to Father, who is in agreement with Him and is pleasing to Him.

 

Nowhere in the natural process, to which we have just made a comparison, do we find it helpful for the child to “try” to grow up, to “try” to be mature, to “try” to be an adult–in fact, don’t we laugh when we see a child trying to do so?  And here is precisely where so many religious insiders go off the rails: the one responsible for completing what he started is the one who started it; Jesus.  He is the author, finisher and perfecter of your faith.  Dear Reader, it is not up to you, and it never has been.  Having begun by the Holy Spirit, you will not be completed by your fleshly efforts.

 

Take it from us, he is very good at what he does.  And be advised, if you want a radical and complete transformation, he is the one to do it.  He can re-make you into what you have always wanted to be but lacked any power whatsoever to make it happen.  His success at radically transforming every life is inevitable; in fact, it was planned before the beginning of the world.  Read it for yourself:

 

God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun. Romans 8:29 The Message (emphasis added)

 

Dear Reader, is Father calling your name?  Do you feel a heart-tug, even now, that it’s past time to try a different direction with your life?  We recommend that you give in quickly, and don’t be afraid.  You will be glad you did!  A new life is waiting, one that will be completely different from the one you are leaving behind.  We want to be the first to welcome you to Father’s family–you are an outsider no longer!  Shabbat Shalom!

 

Blessed are you O Lord!  For you have planned for, purposed, and provided for the transformation of every single child of yours, promising that you will make us in your very own image.  Hallelujah! We want to, oh we need to, be more like Jesus. Let it be so, Father.

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