Category: The Indwelling Christ


A Radical and Complete Transformation

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December 3, 2021

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  (Again we note in passing, this instruction has never been rescinded.)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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The Sad Situation of Ivy the Plant

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September 25, 2020

He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature… 2 Peter 1:4

As a life form, our friend Ivy is a plant–a grape ivy to be exact, growing for many years near our back door.  Through circumstances that are not important for purposes of our post, Ivy has memorized all the words and the tune to the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah.  From the bottom of her roots to the tips of her white flowers, Ivy desires to sing the chorus and really, to sing it better than it has ever been sung before.

However, Ivy has a problem that is immediately apparent–Ivy has no mouth and no vocal cords.  You see, the capacity to sing is not indigenous to her species, Cissus Rhombifolia.  In fact, you must go up the biological chart two whole levels to get to a life form where the capacity to sing IS indigenous to the species.  That is, you must move from plant life, past animal life and come to human life to find the capacity to actually sing.

Isn’t it sad that Ivy’s great desire cannot somehow be fulfilled?  Imagine for a moment that you, dear reader, had the ability to give Ivy some of your capacity to sing but in such a way that Ivy would still be Ivy the plant, only now Ivy would be able to do something that was simply impossible before.  You may be thinking, why go to all the trouble?  It’s only a plant! And think of how many plants there are in the world; why do it for just one plant?  Might as well do it for all of them.  Now it is beginning to sound like a job it would take God to accomplish–and indeed it would!

Would it make a difference to your opinion if you had planted Ivy; had pruned Ivy’s dead branches after a bad frost; had noticed and sprayed when there was a bug infestation; or had added fertilizer to help Ivy grow and blossom? Would it make a difference to your opinion if you actually knew Ivy, even though Ivy might not be aware of you? Who would give of themselves to re-arrange the “natural” order of things?

Let’s turn to the great desire in your heart, dear reader.  You know the one to which I am referring–the desire to change your life from what you feel is an ugly train wreck to something, anything, less ugly and more beautiful.  Everything you have tried to accomplish that transformation has failed, and you have grown weary of the wake of destruction you leave behind everywhere you go. What you are lacking is called “holiness“, and here is where your situation becomes as sad as Ivy’s.

Here is the parallel:  “holiness” is not indigenous to the human species!  Oh, you may know the “words” and the “tune” and may desire it with all your heart but no amount of human effort is going to produce holiness in any of us.  Dear reader, you are not the only one who has tried and failed–all of us have also tried and also failed.  In this regard, there is no difference at all between the religious insiders and those of us who are religious “outsiders”.  Remember this:  no amount of human effort or religiosity can gin up holiness, because it simply doesn’t originate in this realm. If your holiness depends upon you, you’re in trouble–but you already know that.

Holiness comes from one source and one source only.  Just like in Ivy’s case, you have to go up the biological chart two life forms to get to the capacity of holiness–from human life, past angelic life (lumping all the angels together, they are all created beings) to come to divine life.  Holiness is the essence of the divine nature of God himself.  The holiness that Jesus has originated from his, and your, Father.  Father is the one and only source of all holiness.

Divine life is usually referred to in the Bible as “eternal life”, and sometimes as “abundant life” and “everlasting life”. These descriptions are not wrong, but they tend to focus the attention more to the duration of the life rather than to the species of the life.  Jesus was emphatic that his principal message was about the original source of this divine life, and not its duration. “I live because of the Father.” (John 6:57)  For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;…(John 5:26).

Becoming a Christian is not about giving mental assent to a list of beliefs and creeds, and then trying your best to gin up holiness through religiosity for the rest of your life.  Instead, it is about the transfer of the divine nature of your heavenly Father into the core of your being, or to use our previous example, changing the natural order by giving Ivy a mouth and a voice to begin singing!  Thus Peter said, He (Father) has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature.  If you are determined to give mental assent to a belief, this would be a great place to start–you can start by believing Father’s precious and magnificent promises.

Jesus’ conception and birth by Mary are a prophetic illustration of the way this process begins.  Mary was informed by the angel that she would conceive and give birth–talk about going against the “natural” order of things!  How can this be, she logically asked, since she was sexually a virgin?  The answer:  the Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and the seed of God will be deposited into you.  In Mary’s case, it was a natural birth; but because of the resurrection of Jesus, for you it is a spiritual birth, what Jesus called being born again.  In each case, it is Jesus who is living inside of you, “growing” and bringing about the change in our lives each of us so desperately desires.

He said this repeatedly to us:  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. This is the hope we have, that Jesus Christ lives in you–he is the indwelling Christ, and it is his responsibility to cause the divine nature within you to grow and flourish, and not only you but everyone who has ever lived, even if that life was only in the womb.  Because his very nature is holiness, it is that divine nature that will eventually produce the holiness that results in a beautiful life!  If you were raised to believe that you should contribute to this effort in some kind of a way, here is what you may do:  believe in him who Father sent. John 6:29

Dear reader, remember when we asked why go to all that trouble just for Ivy, and why not every plant in the world? Why would Father go to all the trouble he has just for a few people?  The logical answer is, he didn’t.  The truthful answer is, he created each one of us for this purpose.  It was his plan from the beginning to bring about the salvation of every human being he ever created, not just a few.  We apologize if we have offended those of our friends who believe that Father is only able to save a few and the rest of mankind ends up in hell.  No, Father actually knows Ivy and he knows you, too, dear reader.  Sooner or later, he intends to bestow his divine nature upon you.  Why wait? Ask him to do so now, and join Ivy in the Hallelujah Chorus!

Blessed are you O Lord our wonderful Father!  Your magnificent promises give us hope for living.  Thank you that you have the power and the plan and the provisions to pull it off.  Only you can change us. Baruch ‘ata!

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The Double Portion

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October 29, 2011

          Speaking very personally again, dear reader, we have longed for and desired with all of our heart, the “double portion”.  Its revelation began in the wilderness with Moses and the children of Israel, and its prophetic fulfillment is coming very soon (we hope and pray!).

 Then the LORD (YHWH) said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”  Exodus 16: 4-5 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 

          The “bread” referred to here is what we have all heard called manna, which is the Greek pronunciation, but which in Hebrew is simply called man, pronounced mahn.  Jesus made it clear that the “bread” had much more significance than simply filling one’s stomach.  He equated it with the very words from God’s mouth.  He also made it clear that these words had NOT stopped, that they were still proceeding from His mouth.  (For reasons that are unclear to us, the fact that Father is still speaking is offensive to some.  We apologize if pointing it out is offensive to you.  Hearing God’s voice is a part of mature sonship and one of the most blessed of experiences available to every believer everywhere.  See Hear, O Israel!)

          Each night, we ask Father for our portion of the daily “bread” for the coming day, just as the Lord Jesus instructed.  Everyone, nearly, knows this passage by heart, but how few understand it or pray it on a daily basis!  We are not asking for food for our pantry, or even for money to buy food–we are asking for the very words of God to fall into our heart, for these words are spirit and life to us.  But on the day before the sabbath, we ask for a double portion, so that we will not be required to gather on the sabbath.  Do you understand that the prohibition is not about “not working”?  It is instead about remembering that on God’s sabbath, He intends to pour out of His spirit a double portion of Himself!  It is instead to bear in mind that Father will fulfill that which He has promised for His sons.

          In the later stages of the wilderness journey, YHWH/Jesus made it clear that certain ones would not receive an inheritance of land; instead, they would receive an inheritance of Himself.  In other words, YHWH/Jesus would be their “portion”.  In particular the entire tribe of Levi, consisting of priests and Levites (their priestly assistants/relatives), would have no portion of the land–in their special case, YHWH would be all they needed throughout their generations.

Then the LORD (YHWH) said to Aaron, “ You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.  Numbers 18:20

Therefore, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance with his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, just as the LORD your God spoke to him.  Deuteronomy 10:9

           In later passages, it can be seen that the double portion was a part of the birthright given to “the firstborn son”.  This should begin to be a clear tip-off that Father’s firstborn Son would receive a double portion, and that all who are in Jesus will have a part in the double portion.  The passage is referring, in context, to the Law of the Unloved Wife, but clearly references the “right of the firstborn” to receive more the material possessions of the father than later children were to receive.

(B)ut he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.  Deuteronomy 21:17 English Standard Version (ESV Online)

         Nevertheless, commencing with the period of time that Stephen called the “church in the wilderness” which others have called the “Passover Age” of the Church, and continuing through the times of the kings of Israel and Judah, the connection between the portion promised by YHWH to the Levites and the double portion right of the firstborn was not made until Elisha was selected to follow in the steps of the prophet Elijah.

          Elisha succeeded Elijah as the prophet to Israel by the instructions God gave to Elijah.  As he was preparing to be taken up to God, Elijah asked Elisha what final gift or deed that might be given or done for Elisha.  His request:  a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.”  2 Kings 2:9-10 ESV

           In the remarkable story that follows, Elisha did indeed see Elijah taken up, and went on to perform 16 miracle/attestation-signs, compared to the 8 performed by Elijah.  The spirit of Elijah was promised to be sent again as the forerunner to Messiah, and Jesus himself confirmed that it had been fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist.  But what has become of the double-portion spirit, which we may refer to as the spirit of Elisha?  In order to understand the comparison of the spirit of Elijah to the spirit of Elisha, we must first see the comparison of the priesthood of Levi’s son, Aaron, to the priesthood of Melchizedek (Malki-Zadok) which has been equated to the new priesthood of Jesus.

          An in-depth comparison is beyond the scope of this post.  But in brief, Aaron’s priesthood was based upon geneological qualifications for priests that have terminating lives; but Melchizedek’s priesthood is “without father or mother”, and lasts forever.  The main difference is that Christ Jesus’ priesthood is based upon the power of an indestructible life–the divine-nature life, zoe,of which we wrote earlier.

          The main point is this:  the Melchizedek priesthood, which is the priesthood of Jesus Christ and the mature sons (offspring) of God, who are sometimes called “overcomers”, who rule with Christ for 1,000 years, operate by the spirit of Elisha, the double-portion spirit that fulfills the promise of Father:  I am your double-portion, promised to the firstborn of creation–Jesus.

          In the well-known and loved–even famous–passage of Isaiah 61, the prophet Isaiah prophesied of the messianic 1000 year reign of Jesus, quoted in part by the Lord Jesus Himself to the extent it was applicable at that time, and speaks of the fulfillment of the double portion in those who aspire to the Melchizedek priesthood with Jesus:

But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God.  You will eat the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast.  Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion.  Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs.  For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering;
And I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.  Then their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples.   All who see them will recognize them because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.  Isaiah 61:6-9 NASB

Blessed are You, Lord of Hosts, the king of forever, for You have promised to give satisfaction to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and purity of heart for the sons of God.  Bless Your offspring by a double portion of Yourself as an everlasting covenant.  Satisfy all those who desire to enter in where our High Priest goes–first, make them one with Him, even as You and He are one, and second, let them shout for joy over their portion, whose name is Jesus!

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CHESED–The Prophetic Mercy of God

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October 17, 2011

“Writing”–n.  a group of letters or symbols written or marked on a surface as a means of communicating ideas by making each symbol stand for an idea, concept, or thing, by using each symbol to represent a set of sounds grouped into syllables…  World English Dictionary

          Notice how  the above definition includes the aspect of each letter or symbol representing a separate idea or concept, in addition to being grouped together as syllables for vocalization.  Think “acronym”, and you’re getting the idea.  In our English language, each letter has no separate meaning, no concept or idea particularly associated with it; normally, it is used solely to represent a sound.  But in Hebrew, this is NOT the case. 

          In Hebrew, each letter standing alone has one or more underlying meanings, as we shall discuss in this post.  And when these letters are combined to discuss the character and attributes of Father, their separate meanings as individual symbols of ideas or concepts, taken together, further illuminate and reveal important information about our heavenly Father.   We believe the Providentially-preserved words of the scriptures, especially in those words describing the character and attributes of God such as chesed, are not communicating static ideas, concepts and symbols, but instead are a part of the unrolling revelation of Jesus.  Certain aspects of the Old Testament Hebrew word chesed did not appear until revealed by the Lord Jesus himself about himself.

          One way words are defined is by the context in which they are customarily used.  Even using this approach, it is difficult to give a one-word equivalent of chesed in English.  Typical words used in different places in Scripture include mercy, lovingkindness, and love.  We assert that a reasonable one-word equivalent is “Christlikeness” and that it will eventually replace “mercy” and “lovingkindness” in the fullness of time.  By examining the frequency of occurrence, the gematria, and the constituent letters and their meanings, it can be seen that the divine intention was to preserve a temporal and prophetic meaning for chesed, which is pronounced “hess-SAID”.

          Let’s begin by looking at the three Hebrew letters that form the word chesed.  The first letter is chet, which literally means a fence, hedge or inner chamber, and indeed, looks like a fence.  Symbolically, it means a private, or separate place, such as the heart.  The second letter, samech, literally refers to a prop or support.  The symbolic meaning refers to turning or twisting an object.  The final letter, dalet, means a door, sybolizing a pathway to enter.  Aggregating the meanings of the letters, we have chet  +  samech  +  dalet, or

an inner chamber (the heart)  +  turning to a particular position  +  a pathway to enter = chesed.

          We believe the letter-symbols from which the word chesed is formed convey the concept that God will give new birth and a new beginning to all men by turning each man’s heart to create a pathway for Yeshua/Jesus to enter.  The ultimate result of such entry according to the plan, purpose and power of God is Christ-likeness.

          We can also discern a fuller revelation of chesed by looking at pattern usages of the word in the Old Testament.  Here is the first pattern use:  Chesed is paired with `emet (“truth”) a total of thirty-one times in the Hebrew Old Testament.  As Dr. Stephen Jones has pointed out, thirty-one is the number signifying “offspring”–in this case, the offspring of God–another hint that the essence of God’s purpose is “many sons like Christ.”   Although chesed is not “grace”, it is closely related to it.  Yeshua appeared full of grace and truth , and grace and truth are realized in Him.  We can see in retrospect that when mercy/chesed and truth/’emet “met together“, as stated in Psalm 85:10, it was prophetic, foretelling at least some of the most important aspects of His character.  Remember, Jesus identified Himself as “the Truth.”

          In other words, the Holy Spirit wants us to see that something about chesed is illuminated by `emet, and vice-versa, and together both foretell something very important about the Messiah.  `Emet (truth) is the element, when combined with chesed (mercy), that brings change, new life and a new beginning.  To be blunt, Father is currently slandered as an angry and vengeful God, just waiting to pull the trigger on all kinds of horrific judgment upon most of mankind (if you don’t believe such an accusation exists, rent a copy of the “Left Behind” series, and see for yourself).  Thus, when the truth is known about Father’s mercy that endures forever, men will be drawn to Christ.  The pattern use of chesed with `emet is of principal importance relating to Christ-likeness.

          Indeed, the phrase “mercy endureth forever” is the second pattern use.  The phrase appears 40 times in the Hebrew Old Testament.  Transliterated, it is in Hebrew, leolam chasdo.  The literal translation is:  for a long duration, antiquity and futurity, (is) His chesed.  This refers in every case to YHWH/Jesus.  The first time it appears is 1 Chonicles 16:34, where David is thanking YHWH in the Tabernacle Tent (the inner chamber) in Gibeon. 

         The second, and more important, occasion of the usage of the phrase vis-à-vis an inner chamber as a dwelling place for God was the dedication of the temple by Solomon in 2 Chronicles 5:13.  YHWH dwelled in the tent at Shiloh, Gibeon and then in the City of David.  Therefore, the significance of His dwelling in the temple built by Solomon is His manner of entry and the accompanying splendor in which no one could stand erect to minister or even enter.  No sooner than the phrase “leolam chasdo” is lifted up with one voice, emphatically the house is named as YHWH’s and His glory-cloud occupies it.  Thus the prophetic type, often attributed to Solomon, is set:  the spiritual (the temple) is not first, but the natural (the tent)—then the spiritual.  1 Corinthians 15:46. 

            The second pattern usage is often immediately preceded by “YHWH is good”, which is precisely the point.  God has chosen to place His name in the inner chamber of the spiritual man, not the natural man.  The purpose of His enduring chesed is Christ in you, the hope of glory—the indwelling Lord Yeshua—because God has caused a turning to make a pathway for Yeshua to enter.  Ultimately, 2 Chronicles 5:13 foreshadows His coming into the living temple of glorified believers, perfecting Christ-likeness. Isn’t God good to do that? 

               The final pattern use we want to point out is the story of David and Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth–who was king Saul’s grandson.   During David’s reign, God moved him to seek out the descendants of Jonathan, to fulfill the covenant he had made with Jonathan pertaining to when he, David, would become king.  (1 Samuel 18:3, 1 Samuel 23:18).  In this beautiful story, we see a foreshadowing and type of how the Son of David will treat the missing 100th sheep in the parable of Luke 15:1-7.  Beginning in 2 Samuel 9,

The king (David) said, “Is there not yet anyone of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness (chesed) of God?”  And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is crippled in both feet.”  So the king said to him, “Where is he?”  And Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel in Lo-Debar.”  Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-Debar.  2 Samuel 9:3-5, New American Standard Bible

             David, the shepherd/king sets the prophetic pattern of Christlikeness.  He seeks to show the kindness of God to the house of his enemy.  Although King David would be justified in bringing judgment upon the descendants of his enemy, that is NOT the kindness of God!  God treats His enemies in precisely the same way Yeshua taught us to treat our enemies in Matthew 5:44:  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven….  For this fulfills the entire law of God, in one statement:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

          In fact, it is the expectation that the king will exact retribution and judgment upon Saul’s house that caused all of Saul’s servants to flee in terror.  Mephibosheth, who was just five years old at the time, was dropped on his head in their haste to flee, resulting in paralysis in both feet.  All his life since then, he has lived in fear of the wrath of the king whom he has been told to fear.  Mephibosheth, as a missing “sheep”, is separated from the shepherd/king who desires to show him the chesed of God. 

          Already aware that Mephibosheth is crippled and unable (and unwilling) to come on his own volition, the shepherd/king takes the initiative to locate him and says, “Where is he?”  Mephibosheth is in Lo-Debar, which being translated means “no pasture” or “without pasture”.  Mephibosheth is not in the open pasture; instead, he is lost in “no pasture”, living out his days under the mistaken understanding, given to him by others, that the king desires only to condemn him to death.  Furthermore, Mephibosheth believes that his inheritance is gone forever.  The shepherd/king brings Mephibosheth into his presence, gives him food from the king’s own table, and restores his inheritance.  All of these actions spring from God’s chesed.  Now let’s turn to the fulfillment of the  prophetic type set by David, or the “son” of David, Jesus.         

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him.  Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  So He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which was lost until he finds it?  When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!”  I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  Luke 15:1-7 New American Standard Bible

            Yeshua/Jesus who is the Good Shepherd, is the man who leaves the ninety-nine sheep in open pasture and seeks out and brings back from “no pasture” the one-hundredth sheep of whom Mephibosheth is the prophetic type.  Do you notice, dear reader, that Jesus did not say “IF“, but instead said, “WHEN“, indicating the certainty of His successful mission.  The Lord completes the prophetic picture of chesed by indirectly commenting on the certainty of the success of His endeavors, and the joy in heaven about the turned (repentant) heart of the sinner.  His love never fails.  These aspects of chesed did not appear until revealed by the Lord Himself about Himself.  Finally, dear reader, please notice how little the will of man has to do with the chesed of God!

         God has desired chesed, not sacrifice, as Jesus plainly stated in Matthew 9:13.  If in fact judgment triumphed over mercy (see, James 2:13), God would have said, “I desire sacrifice, NOT mercy.” However, the entire point Paul makes in chapter 9 of Romans is that the overarching purpose of God is to show mercy and compassion to those who do not deserve it. 

          In the fullness of time, men will finally go and learn that God desires chesed and delights in it.  All men, from the greatest to the least, will personally experience the chesed of God.  (Romans 11:32).  It is precisely for this reason that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Yeshua is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11)  No less than the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.  (Isaiah 45:23)  At the future time of prophetic fulfillment, all men will know that Yeshua is the precise image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), who Himself personifies chesed.  Like Yeshua, all whom He indwells will personify it also.  For they will, as He did, say what they hear their Father saying, and they will do what they see their Father doing.

Blessed are You, O Lord our wonderful God, for from antiquity and into futurity is Your coming Christlikeness for all men.  Who is like You, O Lord, and who can pull this wonderful and marvelous thing off but You?  Blessed are you forever.

 


 
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Say Goodbye to Desperate Loneliness

Filed Under: The Indwelling Christ, Worshiping Heart by admin — Comments Off on Say Goodbye to Desperate Loneliness
August 21, 2011

Do not be afraid–you will not be disgraced again; you will not be humiliated.   You will forget your unfaithfulness as a young wife, and your desperate loneliness as a widow.  Your Creator will be like a husband to you–the Lord Almighty is his name.  The holy God of Israel will save you–he is the ruler of all the world.  Isaiah 54:4-5 Good News Translation

          If you consider yourself a religious “outsider”, or one who has no background (or an unhappy background) in religion, we would like to give you some good news.  What you have heard about God being angry with you and wanting to condemn you forever to some fiery place of unending torture–it’s no longer true, if it ever was true (and we don’t believe it ever was).

          Oh yes, you probably have good reason to be afraid, disgraced, humiliated and lonely.  But you see, dear reader, it is not up to you, and it never has been.  The religious “insiders” are quite adamant about man’s free will (they are right, man does have free will and so do you) and they are also quite adamant about consequences for wrong-doing (what they call “sin”, and they are right, there are consequences).  But you probably already know all too well about those consequences–you didn’t become afraid, disgraced, humiliated and lonely because it was in some water that you drank.

          But here is what the “insiders” tend to forget–Father has a will also, and it was His will to give all authority in heaven and on earth to Jesus the Messiah.  You will never guess how Jesus chose to use that authority–He took all of the punishment for all wrong-doing of all people for all  time upon Himself!  As a result of that, God is no longer counting the wrong-doing against you (or anyone else either, for that matter)!  If that seems incredible, click on the above link, and read it for yourself.

          When God concilated the world to Himself through the blood which Jesus gave on the cross, He made possible something even more wonderful (if that is possible) than removing all of your wrong-doing.  It is now Jesus’ will to pursue you like a young man pursues a maiden that he wants to marry.  Thus we come to the wonderful prophecy from Isaiah which began this post.   Do you see, dear reader, that even though you were “unfaithful” once upon a time, Jesus promises that you will “forget” it.  And not only that, but your “desperate loneliness” will be forgotten as well.  It is exactly the loneliness felt by a widow, which is of course the reason Isaiah said so.

          In legal terms, you once belonged to Jesus because He created you.  But He gave you the freedom to use your will, which separated you from Him.  (Most of us will agree that we left His ways and His paths, not the other way around.)  Having now died and raised out from the dead, Jesus is free under God’s law to marry you.  That is to say, He wants to enter into a loving relationship and one-ness that is the reason He created the husband/wife relationship in the first place, as a picture of what He intends for you, dear reader!  It is a simile, and one that is used often in scripture, to depict the loving one-ness of Jesus and those foolish enough to cast their all upon Him–all your fear, all your disgrace, all your humiliation and all your loneliness.  You see, He cares for you.

          You may be saying:  What is my part?  What am I supposed to do?  Here is the simple answer, and it is no more difficult or simple than this:  Believe it!

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”   Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  John 6:28-29 English Standard Version (ESV)

          This amazing passage has a number of marvelous truths within it.  Do you see that even during Jesus’ time, men wanted to DO SOMETHING to be right with God?  But Jesus pointed out it is not DOING but BELIEVING, and even the believing is not of yourselves–it is the work of God.  But if you can cooperate with Father in this work, the promise of a new life is for you.

          Nevertheless, we can confidently say that if you are even an occasional reader of this blog, Father is working to prepare your heart to be wooed by Jesus.  Our advice:  Give in!  Fall in love with Him and forget your unfaithfulness and say “goodbye” to your desperate loneliness.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  You are alone no more. 

Blessed are You, O Lord.  Our wonderful God, You are the King of Forever!  Pour out Your Spirit upon all mankind as You have promised, and end the terrible emptiness of lives being lived as You never intended.  May Your kingdom come, and with it the marriage of Messiah, the lover of our souls.  For a brief, brief moment did You turn away, but now with great chesed (lovingkindness) will You come and gather us.  Baruch ata!

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The Law of The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus

Filed Under: God's Laws/Teachings, The Indwelling Christ by admin — Comments Off on The Law of The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
August 13, 2011

Jesus, your lovingkindness is life that’s changing my heart, drawing me near….to you.  Your love is better than life, I know it well.  And I’ll find all that I need in you.  Hillsong United, Your Love, 1997 Copyright

         It is a most unfortunate practice prevalent in almost all English translations and paraphrases of the New Testament that different words in the original Greek text are translated using only one English word.  Probably the most well-known example is “love” which is used in place of three different Greek words.   Such practice renders the texts confusing at best, and misleading at worst.  A lesser known example of such a word is “life.”  The above popular Hillsong song is an illustration of our point.

         Take a look at what has been done with “life”–click on the “LexiConc” tab next to “Primary Results”.  In short, there are at least six different root nouns each translated “life.”  We will consider only a couple of them in this post.

          The first word is “bios“, from which we get our words “biology”, “biosphere”, and “biography”.  It refers to created, natural life that has come to each person through our common ancestor, Adam.  It is finite, or has an ending, and originates in this realm.  There are different levels of “bios”.  Starting with human bios, there is a lower level of animal bios, and below that, plant bios.  In the same way, there is created life higher than human bios, and it is angelic bios or “life”, since angels are also created beings.  (We have for purposes of simplicity combined all forms of angelic life into one level, although we believe there are actually several levels of angelic life.)  The scriptures say that man has been created lower than the angels, for a little while. 

          Now take a look at the ficus tree or ivy in your home.  Let’s say that the ficus knows the words and the tune to the famous Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.  And let’s say that the ficus wants, with all of its being, to sing them.  The ficus has a problem:  it has no lungs with which to draw in air, so that it can expel the air through its vocal cords (that it also doesn’t have) to form words with its lips (that it also doesn’t have).  You see, in our silly example, that the ficus lacks the capacity to sing–the capacity to sing is not indigenous to its species.  The same is true, to a lesser extent, for your dog, even though it is one level of bios higher than the plant.

            The second word we’ll consider is “zoe.”  It refers to life that is NOT created, that is endless and indestructible–in short, it is divine life.  Zoe is higher than angelic bios, since Zoe has no beginning and no end.  Here is the critical point:  it is not from this realm, but is from the heavenly realm–from your heavenly Father, to be precise.  Thus, it is holy, righteous, and perfect.  In the Bible, it is usually referred to with a number of different adjectives, such as “eternal life”, or “everlasting life”, or “abundant life”.  These adjectives do not describe so much Zoe’s duration as they describe its species!

          Just like the ficus in our examle, your bios, dear reader, is at least two life forms lower than the life form that exists in Father and in His son, Jesus the messiah.  Divine life is not indigenous to our species!  Furthermore, our life form simply does not have the capacity needed to be holy, righteous and perfect.  (We sincerely apologize to all who are struggling mightily to be holy, righteous and perfect–if you arrive there, please let us know!  And we also apologize to anyone who has been told by their church or denomination that they CAN get there, if they would just have faith, or try harder, or whatever, but whoever told you it depends upon your effort was wrong.)  Like the ficus, we may know the “words” and the “tune”, and we may want with all of our heart to be holy, but the capacity is simply not there.

          Jesus did not come, live, die, be resurrected, and leave simply to tell you to try harder to live according to divine Zoe.  He knows it is not indigenous to your species–He CREATED your species!  Instead, He came to IMPART HIS ZOE INTO YOUR BIOS.  What we are talking about here is a change roughly comparable to enabling the poor ficus to sing the Hallelujah Chorus, and to sing it better than anyone has ever heard it sung!   Anyone, anywhere, who wants to, can become a partaker of His divine nature!  Now, let’s look at the Hillsong verses again with a better translation:

Jesus, your lovingkindness is life (zoe) that’s changing my heart, drawing me near….to you.  Your love is better than life (bios), I know it well.  And I’ll find all that I need in you. 

          Hasn’t God commanded us to be holy?  Actually, before the cross it was a command; after the cross it is a promise.  And so we come to the Law of the Spirit of Life (zoe) in Christ Jesus.   Look at these amazing words:

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  Romans 8:1-2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

          The author of these words, the apostle Paul, is making the point in the eighth chapter of Romans that the Torah, the comandments given to Moses and Israel at Mount Sanai had a fatal weakness:  it couldn’t do away with sin permanently.  So God sent Jesus as a final offering for sin to accomplish the satisfaction of the law, and at the same time, provided for the imbuement of His own nature into those who believe in Him.  This nature, His own “zoe”, once imparted would inexhorably accomplish the requirement of the Torah within the believer.

For what the Law (of Moses) could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.  Romans 8:3-4

          The Law of the spirit of life (zoe) in Christ Jesus was not a part of the Torah given to Israel, but a higher law, one that did not originate “through the flesh”.   Do we not say:  two things are certain in life (bios)–death and taxes.  Actually, it would be better to say, death and sin.  The laws of Torah were not able to overcome these certainties, because they (sin and death) were higher laws.  In the same way, the law of the spirit of life (zoe) is such a higher law, but one even higher than sin and death.

          Think of the law of gravity as similar comparison:  you can defeat the law of gravity for a period of time, but eventually you must succumb to its inexhorable effects.  In the same way, the law of the spirit of zoe in Christ Jesus cannot be ultimately overcome; instead, IT OVERCOMES.  Its effects are continuous–and those effects are freedom from sin and death.  Moreover, while it is at work, it is changing your heart, drawing you nearer and nearer to Him, and fulfilling the law of Torah, all of God’s commandments, in your heart!  Do you see, dear reader, why we sing of Him and of His lovingkindness?  There is simply nothing more wonderful than this good news–for all who will trust Him to do it, He will give you His own nature, and that nature will eventually change you into His likeness with an unending divine life!  It doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done–choose life, the divine zoe of Jesus.

Blessed are you, O Lord of Life, and blessed are You, Father, for the wonderful gifts of Life You have ordained for all mankind.  Open the eyes and the hearts of our readers–may they have this Life and have it more abundantly!

 

 

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Loving Like Jesus Loves

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August 10, 2011

Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace?  Then learn to know him better and better.  For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life:  he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!  And by that same mighty power he has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings he promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us his own character.

But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough.  For then, you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do.  Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you.  This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply.  2 Peter 1:2-7 The Living Bible (TLB)

          The natural progression of the Christian’s life is to become like his or her Master; so why do so many Christians lament the fact that they do not have the love of Jesus…that is, they do not love like Jesus loves?  They are painfully aware that the love of Christ Jesus, so evident in some, is sorely lacking in their inmost being.  No amount of effort can “gin up” the love of Jesus, because the source of the love of Jesus is neither our efforts nor our vast learning.  This amazing passage from The Living Bible uncovers, for the most part, what is lacking and what actually blocks the love of Jesus from full expression in the lives of many believers.  The problem, dear reader, is in our spirits–we have enthroned a false image of God, and until the image is corrected, one can only reflect the image of God that one has. 

          Therefore, if your image of God (whom, as a matter of fact, Jesus is the exact representation of) is unloving, your image of Jesus is also.  In other words, you can project no more of a loving image than you actually believe God has.  God will not allow you to project an image of Him that you do not believe He has.  The main theological point here is that the Father and Son are one, in nature, in actions, in words, and in attributes.  Do you believe we need a loving Jesus to save us from an angry God?  Then stop! and go no further until your view of Father is corrected.  Listen to Peter’s words:   Then learn to know him better and better.  For as you know him better,…he even shares…his own goodness with us!  The source of the love of Jesus is, in point of fact, your loving Father in heaven. 

          Perhaps you do not view God as angry; instead, you think He is ambivalent, or at the moment placated, but able to become very angry again.  Perhaps, you think He is hopeful, having His fingers crossed that enough people will come to their senses so that He won’t have to unleash great tribulation and punishment on the earth.  Here is the main question:  do you think He is poised to send the vast majority of everyone who has ever lived to hell to be tormented and tortured in fire and flames forever?  Your answer to this question determines whether the love of Jesus is blocked from full expression in your life.

          Father has specifically stated in His laws dealing with man’s punishment of man, a very important limitation on man’s authority:  do not punish to the extent that your brother is degraded in your eyes.  The Bible clearly testifies over and over about the love of God, and at one point the apostle John even says “God is love.”   As the previous link proves, it has been the plan and purpose of God from the beginning to manifest Jesus’ love in us, those who are the first to believe.  The problem has come in, after the time of Constantine, that the angry God of the Old Testament must exact revenge for all the people living in sin and unbelief–as though the blood of Christ did not pay for all sins for all times and absolutely, irrevocably destroy the works of the devil, and conciliate all men to Himself!

          If you think God is indeed going to send millions or even billions to hell for eternity, then you have degraded your brother in your own eyes.  Much more could be said about the ramifications of this judgment that you have formed, but we urge you reconsider–this is the reason the love of Jesus is blocked from full expression in your life.  If you truly desire the love of Jesus to flow out from you as a sweet savor and aroma,  pray that Father’s will be done in the earth as it is in heaven, and believe that some way, some how, He will drag all men to Himself because Christ was lifted up.  He will do this, and He will not violate their free will in the process!      

          The problem is the doctrine of eternal punishment–banish this hideous doctrine from your heart, and here is a wonder you will find:  you can begin to know the true, loving nature of your heavenly Father, and His real character.  You will stop degrading your brother in your own eyes as “going to hell”, and you will begin to see him as your Father sees him:  as a future brother in Christ!  Finally, you will grow to love him deeply.  This is the love of Christ.  It is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!

Blessed are You, O Lord our loving God.  Who is like You O Lord?  Soon everyone will be like You!  Amen, let it be so.

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When We All Get To Heaven

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July 23, 2011

Let not your heart be disturbed.  Believe in God, and believe in Me.  In My Father’s house are many abodes; yet if not I would have told you, for I am going to make ready a place for you.  And if I should be going and making ready a place for you, I am coming again and I will be taking you along to Myself, that where I am, you also may be.  And where I am going you are aware, and of the way you are aware.  Thomas is saying to Him, “Lord, we are not aware whither Thou art going, and how can we be aware of the way?”  Jesus is saying to him “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one is coming to the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.  And henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.”  John 14:1-7 Concordant Version of the New Testament

          It is the prevailing view in the United States, that if one is “good” he will go to “heaven”, and if one is “bad”, his ultimate destination is “hell.”  Each sect and/or denomination has its own definitions of “good” and “bad”, as does each un-churched person.  And the general consensus is that “heaven” is a desirable but largely-unknown utopia, and “hell” is an equally unknown very bad place.  However, anyone with an open heart and an open mind can, with a little study and effort, quickly determine that the origins of each of these propositions is pagan from ancient times.  After the edict of Constantine, when all the pagan temples became Christian cathedrals and all the pagan priests became Christian priests by fiat, the Church incorporated these pagan ideas into mainstream Christianity as doctrines where they have remained firmly entrenched to this day, and scriptures (such as the above passage from the gospel of John) are mistakenly interpreted to justify these wrong ideas.

          Hear the Lord’s words:  don’t trouble your hearts with notions of streets of gold and whether there are golf courses in heaven (as we have heard one man say), or with fears of torture and burning and other ideas associated with that hideous doctrine.  Believe in God and believe in Me. 

          We are not intending to prove the falsity of that which is false, but instead to lift up and magnify that which is true.  So, open your hearts and minds, and ask the Lord Spirit to reveal the truth of these matters to you.  Believe Him, not us.

          The word “abodes” in the above translation is alternatively rendered “dwelling places” (NASB), “mansions” (King James Version), “homes” (Amplified Bible), “rooms” (New International Version), and “dwellings” (Wycliffe Bible).  The problem, however, is NOT with the translation of “abodes”; instead, the problem begins with assuming that “My Father’s house” is in heaven.  The Lord Jesus has never said that His Father’s house is in heaven, nor has it ever been His goal to bring a select few, chosen or believing (according to the Calvinist view or the Arminian view), into heaven and leaving the large majority of humanity behind to endure their “just” reward of “great tribulation” as a preview of eternal torment in hell.  Rightly decide the location of “My Father’s house”, and the Lord’s meaning of what He said above becomes clear and simple.

          Beloved of God, if you are wondering, “Well, where is God’s house?” you are not alone.  Do you notice that Thomas didn’t get it, either?  Let’s begin by speculating what was going through Thomas’ mind and see if it sheds some light for us 2,000 years later.  Notice also how the Lord had previously used the phrase:

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”  Luke 2:19 English Standard Version (ESV)

And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”  John 2:16 ESV

          And so we can see that Thomas believed, like so many since that time have believed, the word “house” referred to Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, or some other man-made structure.  Thomas was naturally curious about where Jesus was referring, if not to Herod’s temple, to which the Lord had previously referred when speaking of “My Father’s house.”  Later, the Holy Spirit began to reveal that God had chosen to place His name not in a structure made by man, but in another place of His own choosing.

          When  Stephen was brought before the Jewish religious judges (the Great Sanhedrin) for allegedly speaking words “against Moses and God“,  he spoke prophetically of God’s ultimate rejection of Herod’s temple, noting that King David had asked to build God a dwelling place but that Solomon his son had carried it out, and that arrangement was not intended to be permanent.  Stephen quoted the prophet Isaiah’s famous passage about the Kingdom of Heaven:

However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:  Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what place is there for My repose? Was it not My hand which made all these things?  Acts 7:48-50  New American Standard Bible (NASB)

          The Lord Jesus had implicitly and explicitly stated that Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the implications of such destruction were revealed by the Spirit to Stephen and others, such as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews.  Many years later, but again prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, the author to the Hebrews discussed the obsolescence of the temple and sacrifice system (the “old covenant”) and its replacement with a new covenant.   He clearly states that the new covenant is based upon the blood of Jesus and a temple “not made with hands”.

When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.  But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear…Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary…But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;  and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption…Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;…  Hebrews 8:13-9:1-2, 11-12, and 23-24 NASB

          We have quoted from this passage at length because some say the place being prepared is in the heavens, where Christ made His offering.  But we wish to point out that the author is referring to “the holy place”, not to “My Father’s house”.  We do not dispute there are heavenlies and that Christ entered there–we contend that Father prefers things that are not “made with hands” and that heaven is not the believer’s final destination.  Instead, “My Father’s house” is the New Jerusalem, a spiritual temple, coming down out of the heavens and ultimately filling the entire earth.  It is a living temple, not made with hands, but made with living stones.  Each stone is an individual who has tasted the kindness of the Lord and whose heart is a dwelling place, an “abode” for Father and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

          Christ in you, the hope of glory….a mystery now revealed, the promise of the Father, that He would indwell each believer, was the “place” referred to by the Lord Jesus in our opening scripture.  And yes, there are many of them.  Later on in the same chapter of John, the Lord said:

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (all)…If anyone loves me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.  John 14:18, 20, 24 NASB

          Every one of these “abodes” has been prepared by Jesus, just as He said.  It was the purpose of His going, as well as the destination of His going.  It is a part of His promise that He would come again and receive each one to Himself.  Thus, those who believe that heaven is the ultimate destination point to passages like 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, contending that the Lord will return, rapture the believers in the air, and proceed directly to heaven. 

          We will indeed “meet” the Lord in the air, just as the scripture says, but the word “meet” in Greek is apantesis, which means to meet a visiting dignitary on the outskirts of town and accompany him back to the visited city, NOT to accompany the dignitary back to the origin of his journey, as is evident from the other two passages in the New Testament using this verb.  (See Matthew 25:1-10 and Acts 28:15-16.)  For example, when Paul was being delivered to Rome for his appeal to Caesar, the brothers came out from Rome some considerable part of the 112 miles to Puteoli to meet Paul and escort him back to Rome.  They did NOT meet Paul and escort him back to Caesarea!  Respectfully, in the same way, we will not meet the Lord in the air and escort Him back to heaven.

          Isaiah also prophesied that Messiah Jesus would be like a nail securely driven into a “place” and it would be a glory to His Father’s house.  Take a look at this remarkable scripture, and understand that it refers to your heart, dear reader.   It is the place where God has caused His name to be remembered and the place which God has chosen.  It has always been His plan, a mystery which was hidden from past ages and generations, to present every man complete in Christ!

          Messiah Jesus intends to take up His throne in the earth, at which time the prayer which He Himself instructed us to pray, will be fulfilled:

Pray then this way:  Our Father who is in heaven–hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Matthew 6:9-10 NASB

          Could there be a prayer that the Lord would teach us to pray, for which Father’s answer would be “No”?  We think not.  Dear reader, if your heart is troubled, or you are searching, look no further.  Your redemption is drawing near–call to Him, He will answer!  Why wait?  Ask Him to make ready your heart NOW.

Blessed are You, O Lord, lover of our souls.  Blessed are You for you have promised better things to come and to prepare the places in our hearts, and if there weren’t MANY, You would have told us so.  How great is Your love and how unfailing is Your purpose! Complete Your preparation in every man!  Make our hearts ready to receive you.  We say Amen to all Your ways. 

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The Release Of The Spirit

Filed Under: God's Laws/Teachings, The Indwelling Christ by admin — Comments Off on The Release Of The Spirit
September 19, 2010

Now if any person sins in error, from among the people of the land, by doing one (thing) regarding the commandments of YHWH that should not be done, and incurs guilt, or it is made known to him the sin that he sinned; he is to bring as his near-offering a hairy-one of goats, wholly-sound, female, for the sin whereby he sinned.  He is to lean his hand on the head of the (sin)-offering and is to slay the (sin)-offering, at the place of the offering-up.  The priest is to take some of the blood of the (sin)-offering with his finger and is to put (it) on the horns of the slaughter-site of offering-up; all (the rest of) its blood he is to pour out at the foundation of the slaughter-site of offering-up.  All of its fat, he is to remove, as was removed the fat from upon the slaughter-offering of shalom, and the priest is to turn it into smoke on the slaughter-site, as a soothing savor for YHWH; thus the priest is to effect-purgation for him, and he shall be granted-pardon.  Leviticus 4:27-31 Schocken Bible

There is not to be for the Levitical priests–the entire tribe of Levi–any portion or inheritance with Israel; the fire-offerings of YHWH, and his inheritance, they may eat.  But a (normal) inheritance he may not have, in the midst of his brothers, YHWH is his inheritance, as He promised him.  Now this shall be the regulated-share of the priests from the people, from the slaughterers of slaughter-offerings, whether of ox or sheep:  the priest is to be given the shankbone, the jawbone and the rough-stomach.  Deuteronomy 18:1-3 Schocken Bible

          In these verses we have a fairly complete foreshadow and type of the intercessory work of Christ Jesus, and all in His body who desire the work of the unending priesthood.  On the cross, He paid the price, once for all, for the hamartia–legal offenses/sin of all of mankind of all ages and times.  His substitionary work of atonement fully satisfied and satisfactorily fulfilled all of God’s laws and commandments.  Having become obedient to the point of death, Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him as our high priest at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty, just as He said. Hebrews 8:1  In this regard, Jesus has received a more excellent ministry than of the Levitical priesthood, being of the Melchizadek priesthood.  He is able also to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25  It is this intercession which we now consider, not only by Christ, the high priest, but also by others of the Melchizadek priesthood.

          The intercession in the heavenly places is, of course, much better than sacrifices of bulls and goats, which have never been more than a type or shadow of better promises to come.  That there would be wrongdoing that required intercession did not catch God by surprise; in fact, He planned it!  For the duration of the time of resistance to God’s will, men would continue to miss the mark–hamartano–because they are made of dying flesh.  Sin (hamartia) and death entered the world through Adam and on this basis all men have missed the mark (hamartano) and continue to do so.  Romans 5:12  Dear reader, you may feel this is quite a controversial statement, but if you believe sin causes death and not vice versa, ask yourself this:  Is the baby in the womb immortal, and does it have no dying cells?  Without meaning any offense to anyone’s religion, common observation leads to the inescapable conclusion that all who are of flesh (and that is pretty much everyone we know) are afflicted with missing the mark.

          To understand the intercession and its effects, we must look at the pattern shown to Moses on the mountain, and the regulations given to him for the Levitical priesthood as a fore-shadowing of the greater priesthood to come.  In a nutshell, here is how it worked:  the individual brought the animal to the priest, and laid his hand upon the animal’s head.  The sin was thus transferred to the animal.  The sin/animal was then killed, and its blood applied to the altar, foreshadowing Christ.  The fat was turned into smoke by burning on the altar that was a soothing savor to YHWH/Jesus–this is the focus of our post.  Parts of the sin/animal were then cooked by the priest and eaten.  Now the priest has ingested and digested the sin/animal–do you see, dear reader, that the priest has in a sense become the sin brought to him by the individual?  The priest has tasted, in a sense, the sin of the individual, and now may make intercession for the individual by the fat, the surplus, the extravagant extra that it represents, that is offered up in smoke.  

          In Leviticus 10:12 Moses had just instructed Aaron and his sons to eat part of the sin/animal offering, but they failed to do so for reasons that are not important here.  The rebuke of Moses in verse 17 is very instructive for our purposes:

Why did you not eat the sin offering at the holy place?  For it is most holy, and He gave it to you to bear away the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.

          “Tasting” of the sin/animal facilitated the means of intercession by which the guilt of the individual was borne away!  By this the priest made atonement (“effect-purgation” in our passage) (Strong’s Concordance H3722–kaphar).  Literally, this means “to cover” or “to cover over.”  Please notice the all-important outcome:  he shall be granted-pardon.  Do you see now the wonderful outcome of the intercession our ever-living Savior makes for us as our great High Priest?  Praise you, Lord!  

          If your heart is moved by these words to intercede for others, you must be willing to “taste” of the sickness, the disease, or the missing of the mark, or its effects, somehow to identify with the wrongdoing, at least in part, just as Christ took our sins upon Himself (and perhaps, in some cases, to the same extent–this is between you and your Lord).  The world and most of the Church see this as a “waste”, and unnecessary extravagance; some would say it nullifies the effect of the cross.  We will not argue the point–however, in reality it is the fat of the offering, that belongs exclusively to God.  Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-4 prove to us that its smoke is symbolic of the prayers of the saints/holy ones.  It is by these prayers that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him but who dwells in you (John 14:17), is released to effect pardon.  He will glorify the Lord Jesus, but are you aware that He does not speak on his own initiative?  John 16:13  Jesus emphasized that it was for our advantage that the Helper would be sent to us and what His work would be, especially in helping us to pray as we ought.  Romans 8:26-27

          Dear reader, how often are you the recipient of someone else’s wrongdoing, how often are you the offended one?  Have you considered that God especially arranged for you to “taste” of the sin, so that you could by intercession release the Spirit and effectuate the granting of pardon?  Moreover, it is not simply God’s plan to keep granting pardon over and over; instead, it is to release the Spirit of truth so that the offending party can learn it is wrong and come into obedience to the Savior, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  It is a matter of law that only the offended party can release the wrongdoing, and much more could be said about this aspect.  For now, we leave it at this:  the friends of Jesus know the mind of their King, and may be trusted to join in His work and effectuate the release of the Spirit. 

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who allows men to be in the body of Christ and have a part in this Melchizadek ministry of intercession by which Your mercy triumphs over Your judgment.  You do all things well, Father!  Men will praise You joyfully forever.  All blessing, and honor, and glory and power belong to You, our wonderful God.

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