Hey everybody! Merry Christmas! Thanks and praises be to our Lord Who blessed us abundantly this year. We saw so many miracles, especially cancers and diabetes getting healed. All things are possible for them that believe!
I just have a short message on my heart. We know Jesus wasn't actually born this time of year, but we celebrate His birth now, and His birth is a very significant moment for us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father. This glory is not necessarily glowing light, though it can be, but it is the works of Christ, manifesting the will of God, so that we can see who He is. In Matt 5 Jesus said to let your light so shine, so that all men can see our good works (faith works, not high morals). When there is a demonstration of miracles, the Father is glorified, and He becomes visible. The works of the devil (sickness, poverty, sin, death) is destroyed and God's works are made visible.
Jesus came to shine the light,and destroy the darkness. He broke the chains that ensnared us, and set us free, so that we too could free others by the message of what He did for us.
1Jn3:5 says: And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; in in Him there is no sin.
verse 8b: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
The Son takes away sin, sin not, and destroys the works of the devil.
John 1 says that to as many as did receive Him, gave He the power to become the sons of God. We are here and now the sons of God. When we celebrate the birth of Christ, the manifestation of the Son of God, let us remember that we too are born from the same Seed, and have the same power to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus did it all for us on the cross, now we find our identities in Him, and operate by His Spirit and His power in His will in unison, destroying all the devil has done in people's lives.
May this Christmas remind you of Christ's birth, your rebirth in Him, and Who we as the church are and what power we have by His grace!
Thursday 24 December 2009
Sunday 6 December 2009
Religion and the chuch
I just listened to a podcast about how people of the world see the church and religion as a whole. The conclusion was that you can subscribe to whatever religion you like, as long as you see the goodness in people. The ultimate law therefore that saves man is according to them to recognise goodness in others. Sounds noble, but what about the sacrifice of Christ. Yes undoubtedly most churches are dead and void of any life whatsoever. This is sad, because they are not really part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is the body of Christ: People in which God dwells.
It is impossible to change the nature of man with laws. It is just as impossible to teach a cat not to meow and do its business in a hole in the soil, or a dog not to bark and wee against the wheels of your new car. It stands to reason then that if you don't like the nature of a cat, don't have one. It is ludicrous to expect of a cat to behave like a dog. It can not. It is not programmed to do so, and it is not possible to change the code by which it was made.
The sinful nature of people are part of their make-up and disguising that nature or presenting it as something at least refined or civilized, does not change it, neither does it change how deadly it is to our spirit-man inside us. It is like instinct. A human is programmed to act in a certain way. The basic sinful nature is shared, but it is dressed up in different ways. Man's reaction to sinfulness is different all over the world, but the core sinfulness remains. Reacting to sinfulness makes that sinfulness the object of our attention and even further embeds it in our identities.
For example: If I would have a desire to steal, how could I know what stealing is, if it were not for the law repeatedly prohibiting it. Though the law is good, the sin in me uses the law as a weapon against me, and dictates my movements at gun point. We are therefore by sinning admitting that the law is good, because we can only know sin by knowledge of the law, but our desires are set against the desires of the law by the sin indwelling us so that we keep on doing what we don't want to , and are not free to do what we ought. By the law we were therefore made hostages of sin. If I try to pass this sin off as civilized, it still stays sin, and I am still in bondage, though it is more acceptable to others. This is what religion is trying. The religious tries to disguise their sinfulness of which they could not rid themselves over the years by trying to put blame on others, or by trying to compensate by doing opposite "good" works. This does not save us from our very nature which is systematically killing us.
It all started with Adam. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby getting knowledge of sin. They partook of the law: the distinction between what is good and what is evil. This produced death in the world, of which death God warned them beforehand, but they would not heed. Their make-up, they core values; their code of identity; their very nature was changed from being ignorant of sin, to being conscious of sin. Being ignorant of sin, makes one to be conscious of God. Being conscious of God, makes one to be ignorant of sin. If one has no consciousness of sin, it is near impossible to imagine that such things are possible. If one has a consciousness of sin, it is near impossible to imagine that one can have fellowship with God. We only get a consciousness of sin by the reading of the law.
The law is given to the unrighteous. It presupposes that you are unrighteous. By trying to become righteous by the works of the law, one affirms that one is unrighteous and in need of justification. This very law people look to for justification is actually the very source of the consciousness of sin in their lives. The more we look at the law, the more our hearts are embedded in a sinful identity, because the sinful desire just never goes away. Just disguising it, or focusing on the good, will dress it up nicely, but the judgement and condemnation will remain.
But God has done what the law could not do, its power being weakened by the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh over all who accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus took all the condemnation according to the law upon Himself, and thereby satisfied the wrath and judgement of the law. The wrath of God was completely expressed in Him. Now, in stead of the code of the law (which kills us) He gave us another message, another code, another identity and another nature, which is disclosed and revealed to us by hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believing it.
It's all about realising who we are. If we look to a law to justify us by our acts (be it recognising the "goodness" in others or not), then we are bombarding our hearts with the wrong identity. We keep on hearing something which implies that we are sinners, when in fact by faith we have died to our sinful nature, and have received a whole new nature which is in Christ. This is only deception, which is good news, because it means that we are not really condemnable under the law any more, so we can change everything about us by just accepting the goodness of God in our hearts. We then totally rely on His goodness, and not our own goodness, or the goodness of others. We rely on the unchanging character of God, who is Himself love, and goodness personified. He who does not love, does not know God. So lets introduce them!
The Gospel tells us about what Christ did. Its a new code to which our hearts are programmed. Our instinct changes. The cat becomes the dog. Since the cat has realised that by the death of Christ, it has in fact become a dog, it just lives, and the natural actions of that cat (which has become a dog) is simply that of a dog. The sinner becomes a saint. The sinner will now act as a saint, because by faith he has been justified, so he does not have to seek justification by a law. He is now in fact made holy by grace. This changes the identity of the sinner, and also with it, the desires of his core identity and nature. The same man the was a sinner now prays for the sick, and they recover. He does not desire to steal any more, because that instinct has been deactivated, and removed. He now does holy things simply by living and breathing. Everything he now does is holy, because he has received justification. He just lives, and doesn't try anything. He now doesn't need to deny himself all the time, because the change has taken place and the old evil sinful instinct has been deactivated.
Heb 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Rom6:1 WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that God's grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow?
6:2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
6:3 Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
6:4 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of
the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.
6:5 For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God].
6:6 We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
6:7 For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men].
6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
6:9 Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him.
6:10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].
6:11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
We need to see the goodness of God, then we will be activated for goodness. Yes, let us recognise the goodness in others, so that we can stir each other up towards love, but let's realise that all the goodness comes from God. We can now, because of Christ treat one another as holy people. If one is treated as a holy one, one starts acting holy. The basis of this holiness is not in our minds only, but it is a reality which was given to us by God in His great love. He now treats us as holy people. Please realise that you are not under condemnation, but that your sins are paid for, and now for once, you are free to do the good holy things that you always desired to do.
It is impossible to change the nature of man with laws. It is just as impossible to teach a cat not to meow and do its business in a hole in the soil, or a dog not to bark and wee against the wheels of your new car. It stands to reason then that if you don't like the nature of a cat, don't have one. It is ludicrous to expect of a cat to behave like a dog. It can not. It is not programmed to do so, and it is not possible to change the code by which it was made.
The sinful nature of people are part of their make-up and disguising that nature or presenting it as something at least refined or civilized, does not change it, neither does it change how deadly it is to our spirit-man inside us. It is like instinct. A human is programmed to act in a certain way. The basic sinful nature is shared, but it is dressed up in different ways. Man's reaction to sinfulness is different all over the world, but the core sinfulness remains. Reacting to sinfulness makes that sinfulness the object of our attention and even further embeds it in our identities.
For example: If I would have a desire to steal, how could I know what stealing is, if it were not for the law repeatedly prohibiting it. Though the law is good, the sin in me uses the law as a weapon against me, and dictates my movements at gun point. We are therefore by sinning admitting that the law is good, because we can only know sin by knowledge of the law, but our desires are set against the desires of the law by the sin indwelling us so that we keep on doing what we don't want to , and are not free to do what we ought. By the law we were therefore made hostages of sin. If I try to pass this sin off as civilized, it still stays sin, and I am still in bondage, though it is more acceptable to others. This is what religion is trying. The religious tries to disguise their sinfulness of which they could not rid themselves over the years by trying to put blame on others, or by trying to compensate by doing opposite "good" works. This does not save us from our very nature which is systematically killing us.
It all started with Adam. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby getting knowledge of sin. They partook of the law: the distinction between what is good and what is evil. This produced death in the world, of which death God warned them beforehand, but they would not heed. Their make-up, they core values; their code of identity; their very nature was changed from being ignorant of sin, to being conscious of sin. Being ignorant of sin, makes one to be conscious of God. Being conscious of God, makes one to be ignorant of sin. If one has no consciousness of sin, it is near impossible to imagine that such things are possible. If one has a consciousness of sin, it is near impossible to imagine that one can have fellowship with God. We only get a consciousness of sin by the reading of the law.
The law is given to the unrighteous. It presupposes that you are unrighteous. By trying to become righteous by the works of the law, one affirms that one is unrighteous and in need of justification. This very law people look to for justification is actually the very source of the consciousness of sin in their lives. The more we look at the law, the more our hearts are embedded in a sinful identity, because the sinful desire just never goes away. Just disguising it, or focusing on the good, will dress it up nicely, but the judgement and condemnation will remain.
But God has done what the law could not do, its power being weakened by the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh over all who accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus took all the condemnation according to the law upon Himself, and thereby satisfied the wrath and judgement of the law. The wrath of God was completely expressed in Him. Now, in stead of the code of the law (which kills us) He gave us another message, another code, another identity and another nature, which is disclosed and revealed to us by hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and believing it.
It's all about realising who we are. If we look to a law to justify us by our acts (be it recognising the "goodness" in others or not), then we are bombarding our hearts with the wrong identity. We keep on hearing something which implies that we are sinners, when in fact by faith we have died to our sinful nature, and have received a whole new nature which is in Christ. This is only deception, which is good news, because it means that we are not really condemnable under the law any more, so we can change everything about us by just accepting the goodness of God in our hearts. We then totally rely on His goodness, and not our own goodness, or the goodness of others. We rely on the unchanging character of God, who is Himself love, and goodness personified. He who does not love, does not know God. So lets introduce them!
The Gospel tells us about what Christ did. Its a new code to which our hearts are programmed. Our instinct changes. The cat becomes the dog. Since the cat has realised that by the death of Christ, it has in fact become a dog, it just lives, and the natural actions of that cat (which has become a dog) is simply that of a dog. The sinner becomes a saint. The sinner will now act as a saint, because by faith he has been justified, so he does not have to seek justification by a law. He is now in fact made holy by grace. This changes the identity of the sinner, and also with it, the desires of his core identity and nature. The same man the was a sinner now prays for the sick, and they recover. He does not desire to steal any more, because that instinct has been deactivated, and removed. He now does holy things simply by living and breathing. Everything he now does is holy, because he has received justification. He just lives, and doesn't try anything. He now doesn't need to deny himself all the time, because the change has taken place and the old evil sinful instinct has been deactivated.
Heb 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Rom6:1 WHAT SHALL we say [to all this]? Are we to remain in sin in order that God's grace (favor and mercy) may multiply and overflow?
6:2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?
6:3 Are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
6:4 We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of
the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in newness of life.
6:5 For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection [by a new life lived for God].
6:6 We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin.
6:7 For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men].
6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
6:9 Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him.
6:10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].
6:11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
We need to see the goodness of God, then we will be activated for goodness. Yes, let us recognise the goodness in others, so that we can stir each other up towards love, but let's realise that all the goodness comes from God. We can now, because of Christ treat one another as holy people. If one is treated as a holy one, one starts acting holy. The basis of this holiness is not in our minds only, but it is a reality which was given to us by God in His great love. He now treats us as holy people. Please realise that you are not under condemnation, but that your sins are paid for, and now for once, you are free to do the good holy things that you always desired to do.
Friday 20 November 2009
Sons of God
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are a son of God. Now, as believers we have become accustomed to the words "child of God", and "born again", but do we really understand what it means? If you believe the Word of God of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God died on the cross for the sin of the world, then you are born from God. God becomes your Father, and you don't share in your natural heritage any more, but in a supernatural heritage that you inherit from your real Father, Who is God. Now in Christian tradition it's fine to go around and tell everyone you're a child of God, because people see it as a metaphor, but when you start saying I'm a son of God, people get frightened. What is the difference between a child and a son? A child is someone who do not yet know who he is, and who do not yet recognize his heritage. A son is mature, and has come of age, and has realised who he is.
Gal 4:1 Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
If a child is under age, and he inherits a lot of money, that money can not benefit him until he is of age. It is kept in trust until he is of age. The difference between a child and a son is the Spirit crying Abba Father. The Spirit of God, Who testifies in our hearts that we are sons, and keeps on crying to the Father. If we are not led by the Spirit, we are children, and are kept under tutors and governors. If we are not led by the Spirit, we are under the law.
People reason that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the rituals of the law, and that now we use the ten commandments as a guide so that we don't lose our way. Rom 8:14 says: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If you are led by the ten commandments, you are NOT led by the Spirit and you are under tutors and governors, and you are a child, and you do not yet know your inheritance, though you already are Lord of all and master of the whole estate.
1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
2:10 But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
If you want to know the inheritance we have in God, it needs to be revealed to you by the Spirit of God. It is impossible to know God by the ten commandments. The ten commandments puts YOU in the centre and you only start to know your own sinfulness. By the Law, you will only recognise you sin (Rom3:20, Rom5:20 Rom7:7, Heb 10:4) and be conscious of sin. The law reveals sin, the Holy Spirit reveals God. He knows your inheritance. So if we are to know what Jesus left for us in His Testament before He died, we need to receive the Gospel, and believe in Him, because that gives us the power to become sons of God, and through faith in the cross of Christ we receive the Holy Spirit, Who reveals to us the deep and bottomless things of God and cries Abba Father! He reveals to us who we really are in Him.
2 Cor 3:15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
3:16 But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).
3:18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
Repentance is NOT away from bad works UNTO good works. Repentance IS away from Moses, UNTO Jesus. You can not believe in both. One justifies you, the other accuses you. One saves you, the other condemns you. If you mix law and grace, you will remain a child until you die and only in heaven will you start to experience God. How about we start to experience Him here and now. Look away from the law that places your focus on yourself, and turn to Christ, so that the veil van be lifted from your heart, so that the Spirit can reveal the bottomless things of God to you, and so that we can see Him and behold His face and become transfigured into the very image of the Son of God.
The more you realise that you are already a son, the more your life will look like that of a son.
1 Cor 13:10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
I am now done with tutors and governors, and laws, to try and keep me on track. I am now of age, and van be led by the Spirit Himself.
13:12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
The more we look at the Gospel, the more the veil is stripped of and taken away, and the more we see Him face to face. Then we realise who we are and that we have been perfected and sanctified by His flesh body broken on the cross (Heb 10:10-14)
13:13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith-conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope-joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Colossians says that Love is the Bond of Perfection. If you want to know perfection, you need to know love. God is Love! If you look at the law, you see an imperfect image of yourself. If you look at Christ hanging on the cross, you look at a perfect image of demonstrated love. Look away from all that will distract unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of you faith (Heb 12:1-3).
Believe in what Jesus did on the Cross. Trust in Him and not in Moses. Do not let you heart be accused by the law, but let it be strengthened by means of grace (Heb13:9)
Jesus said in John 5:45 Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you-it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].
Feeling condemned about sin is not at all noble. It is the greatest sign of immaturity in Christ. If you know who you are in Christ, and you know you are forgiven, you will not feel guilty, and you will be free to follow the Spirit. If you are always looking at the accusations of the law, and not the Love of God, you will never ever see any supernatural work of the Father happen through your hands. You will remain immature and a child, and never get to a place where your heart has fellowship with Jesus and the Father. Your condemnation and feelings of guilt is not your friend. It is the greatest source of destruction in you live. Get it out. Believe in the blood. Believe in what Jesus did for you and get the condemnation out, so that the veil van be removed from your heart, and you can see the glory in the face of Jesus, and be changed into that image.
God really loves you. If you realise that, you will live the life of a son, and not the life of an infant heir child who has no idea what he owns.
Bless you.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are a son of God. Now, as believers we have become accustomed to the words "child of God", and "born again", but do we really understand what it means? If you believe the Word of God of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God died on the cross for the sin of the world, then you are born from God. God becomes your Father, and you don't share in your natural heritage any more, but in a supernatural heritage that you inherit from your real Father, Who is God. Now in Christian tradition it's fine to go around and tell everyone you're a child of God, because people see it as a metaphor, but when you start saying I'm a son of God, people get frightened. What is the difference between a child and a son? A child is someone who do not yet know who he is, and who do not yet recognize his heritage. A son is mature, and has come of age, and has realised who he is.
Gal 4:1 Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
If a child is under age, and he inherits a lot of money, that money can not benefit him until he is of age. It is kept in trust until he is of age. The difference between a child and a son is the Spirit crying Abba Father. The Spirit of God, Who testifies in our hearts that we are sons, and keeps on crying to the Father. If we are not led by the Spirit, we are children, and are kept under tutors and governors. If we are not led by the Spirit, we are under the law.
People reason that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the rituals of the law, and that now we use the ten commandments as a guide so that we don't lose our way. Rom 8:14 says: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If you are led by the ten commandments, you are NOT led by the Spirit and you are under tutors and governors, and you are a child, and you do not yet know your inheritance, though you already are Lord of all and master of the whole estate.
1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
2:10 But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
If you want to know the inheritance we have in God, it needs to be revealed to you by the Spirit of God. It is impossible to know God by the ten commandments. The ten commandments puts YOU in the centre and you only start to know your own sinfulness. By the Law, you will only recognise you sin (Rom3:20, Rom5:20 Rom7:7, Heb 10:4) and be conscious of sin. The law reveals sin, the Holy Spirit reveals God. He knows your inheritance. So if we are to know what Jesus left for us in His Testament before He died, we need to receive the Gospel, and believe in Him, because that gives us the power to become sons of God, and through faith in the cross of Christ we receive the Holy Spirit, Who reveals to us the deep and bottomless things of God and cries Abba Father! He reveals to us who we really are in Him.
2 Cor 3:15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
3:16 But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).
3:18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
Repentance is NOT away from bad works UNTO good works. Repentance IS away from Moses, UNTO Jesus. You can not believe in both. One justifies you, the other accuses you. One saves you, the other condemns you. If you mix law and grace, you will remain a child until you die and only in heaven will you start to experience God. How about we start to experience Him here and now. Look away from the law that places your focus on yourself, and turn to Christ, so that the veil van be lifted from your heart, so that the Spirit can reveal the bottomless things of God to you, and so that we can see Him and behold His face and become transfigured into the very image of the Son of God.
The more you realise that you are already a son, the more your life will look like that of a son.
1 Cor 13:10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).
13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.
I am now done with tutors and governors, and laws, to try and keep me on track. I am now of age, and van be led by the Spirit Himself.
13:12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].
The more we look at the Gospel, the more the veil is stripped of and taken away, and the more we see Him face to face. Then we realise who we are and that we have been perfected and sanctified by His flesh body broken on the cross (Heb 10:10-14)
13:13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith-conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope-joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love-true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Colossians says that Love is the Bond of Perfection. If you want to know perfection, you need to know love. God is Love! If you look at the law, you see an imperfect image of yourself. If you look at Christ hanging on the cross, you look at a perfect image of demonstrated love. Look away from all that will distract unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of you faith (Heb 12:1-3).
Believe in what Jesus did on the Cross. Trust in Him and not in Moses. Do not let you heart be accused by the law, but let it be strengthened by means of grace (Heb13:9)
Jesus said in John 5:45 Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you-it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].
Feeling condemned about sin is not at all noble. It is the greatest sign of immaturity in Christ. If you know who you are in Christ, and you know you are forgiven, you will not feel guilty, and you will be free to follow the Spirit. If you are always looking at the accusations of the law, and not the Love of God, you will never ever see any supernatural work of the Father happen through your hands. You will remain immature and a child, and never get to a place where your heart has fellowship with Jesus and the Father. Your condemnation and feelings of guilt is not your friend. It is the greatest source of destruction in you live. Get it out. Believe in the blood. Believe in what Jesus did for you and get the condemnation out, so that the veil van be removed from your heart, and you can see the glory in the face of Jesus, and be changed into that image.
God really loves you. If you realise that, you will live the life of a son, and not the life of an infant heir child who has no idea what he owns.
Bless you.
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Freedom from bondage
Freedom is no longer freedom if we surrender and indulge in bondage. If your heart desires sinful ways, your heart is not yet free. Freedom from bondage was given so that we can enjoy fellowship with Christ in His love. The heart that is free will only yearn for fellowship and intimacy with Jesus Christ.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the law and knowledge of sin is, there is bondage. Grace will never cause man to sin, and be in bondage, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law, and a sinful desire always follows a sin consciousness.
Grace will liberate man from a sin consciousness and set him free to love God in total surrender to His goodness, never fearing the consequences of the sins committed under the law, but fully relying on His sacrifice of atonement and the absolute forgiveness through His blood.
Forgiveness and Grace makes love to abound in our hearts. Perfect love casts out all fear. Fear is the expectation of punishment and judgment. Grace and forgiveness removes the sin from man, and in doing so creates spontaneous love towards God and praises to His glory in the heart of the worshiper.
Bondage is having a consciousness of sin. Freedom is having no consciousness of sin at all, as if sin never existed, but in stead a consciousness of God and His intense and wonderful love towards us. That is trust in the sacrifice of the cross of Christ. That is faith.
There is no freedom outside Christ, only bondage. We were set free from sin to be bound to Him and in Him. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. It is for intimate fellowship with God that Christ has set us free from the law and sin.
If you are free from bondage you are bound to freedom, and if you are free from freedom, you are bound to bondage. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then in you freedom, and do not be hampered again with the yoke of bondage (Gal 5:1)
We are now bond servants of Christ, bound in His love to the eternal bliss of knowing Him. We are slaves of righteousness, forever bound to freedom!
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the law and knowledge of sin is, there is bondage. Grace will never cause man to sin, and be in bondage, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law, and a sinful desire always follows a sin consciousness.
Grace will liberate man from a sin consciousness and set him free to love God in total surrender to His goodness, never fearing the consequences of the sins committed under the law, but fully relying on His sacrifice of atonement and the absolute forgiveness through His blood.
Forgiveness and Grace makes love to abound in our hearts. Perfect love casts out all fear. Fear is the expectation of punishment and judgment. Grace and forgiveness removes the sin from man, and in doing so creates spontaneous love towards God and praises to His glory in the heart of the worshiper.
Bondage is having a consciousness of sin. Freedom is having no consciousness of sin at all, as if sin never existed, but in stead a consciousness of God and His intense and wonderful love towards us. That is trust in the sacrifice of the cross of Christ. That is faith.
There is no freedom outside Christ, only bondage. We were set free from sin to be bound to Him and in Him. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. It is for intimate fellowship with God that Christ has set us free from the law and sin.
If you are free from bondage you are bound to freedom, and if you are free from freedom, you are bound to bondage. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then in you freedom, and do not be hampered again with the yoke of bondage (Gal 5:1)
We are now bond servants of Christ, bound in His love to the eternal bliss of knowing Him. We are slaves of righteousness, forever bound to freedom!
Saturday 3 October 2009
We see Jesus
Jesus said:
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth
whom he will.
5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
5:23 That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
Sometimes we don’t see God moving in our lives, and we think He doesn’t want to. The thing is He lives in you. He can only move on earth through you! He will not move apart from you. He can not move apart from what He does through people. He gave all authority to men (Gen2 & Ps 8). He sent us to be His ambassadors, His representatives on earth. We believe in Jesus. That makes us sons of God. If we are sons, the Father loves us, and shows us His works, and greater works. Why do we not see all things under our feet then? Because we don’t see Jesus, and therefore we don’t see the Father, which implies that we do not realise that we are sons, and we do not experience that the Father loves us.
Heb 2:7-15 says
2:7 For some little time You have ranked him lower than and inferior to the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands,
2:8 For You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside [of man's] control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him [man].
2:9 But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God [to us sinners] He might experience death for every individual person.
2:10 For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.
2:11 For both He Who sanctifies [making men holy] and those who are sanctified all have one [Father]. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren;
2:12 For He says, I will declare Your [the Father's] name to My brethren; in the midst of the [worshiping] congregation I will sing hymns of praise to You.
2:13 And again He says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I am, I and the children whom God has given Me.
2:14 Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death-that is, the devil-
2:15 And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.
Jesus was the only representation of the Father and the sole expression of His glory. If someone wanted to know Who the Father was, they needed to meet Jesus, and He would reveal the Father to them (Heb1:3, Col 1:15,1 Cor4:4). Jesus showed people on the earth the Father and He has given us the glory of the Father (John 17:6, John 17:22). He has revealed the Father by manifesting Him. The Father dwelt in Him and He in the Father, and therefore they had perfect union. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. The difference between Jesus and the rest of the Jews, was that He had fellowship with the Father, and saw Him, and knew Him. Jesus prayed: not My will, but Yours be done! He humbled Himself. He did not do His own will, but only the will of the Father! He was tempted not to die on the cross, but He did the Father’s will. If Jesus hadn’t done the Father’s will, we would never have known the Father, and the Father would never have been revealed to us, but He did, and now we can see Jesus, and therefore we can see the Father, and that means that we can know that the Father loves us, and He shows us His works, and we realise as sons we can do the works that our Father shows us.
Jesus revealed the Father, He did the works of the Father. He knew those works, and could manifest them, because He was one with the Father. Because of His sufferings, we are sanctified in Him. He became the door, and now by believing we have fellowship with Jesus.
1 John 1:3 What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
1:4 And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].
1:5 And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].
1:6 [So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents].
1:7 But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].
We are now one with Jesus. We are in Him, and He in us (John14-17). He is still one with the Father and the Father in Him. Now we have fellowship with the Father through Jesus. We have perfect fellowship with the Father, by means of our union with Christ. Now because we have fellowship with Jesus, we see Him. If we can see Him, we can do His works. This means that the Father can once again move on the earth to help people, to answer prayers. He will do this through His church. If we bear fruit, the Father is glorified (John 15:8).
We do not yet see all things subject to us, but we see Jesus. In seeing Jesus, we see the Father, and in seeing the Father, we see His works, and we are able to do the works that we see Him do. This makes us to be very powerful. Looking unto Jesus is very important for us. Let us look away from every distraction, unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith (Heb 12:1-3). Let us look at Him, then we will realize that all things are under His feet, and we will realize that we are in Him, and all things are under our feet.
We have the authority to rule on the earth. Those who receive the overflowing free gift of grace and righteousness will rule as kings in life (Rom5:17). He has washed us with His blood to make us kings and priests (Rev 1:5-6 & Rev 5:9-10). He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. We are kings and lords. He can only rule on the earth, if we who are in charge on earth humble our hearts and surrender to His will, and let Him rule through us. Jesus surrendered His will to the Father, and did the works of the Father. Pride is therefore to refuse to do miracles.
We need to know who we are. We are kings who are supposed to rule through Jesus Christ. We are kings who are supposed to surrender to Him and let Him take complete rulership in our lives. Present therefore your bodies to God as a living sacrifice, and let Him control it. That gives God the opportunity to control things on the earth. The more I am surrendered to Him, the more my steps will be ordered of the Lord, and I will be led by the Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God (Rom8:14).
Jesus and the Father never changes (Heb 13:8). Jesus is still the sole expression of the glory of God. Jesus is still the exact likeness of the unseen God. No one can see the Father, except through Jesus. Now we see Jesus. Now Jesus can manifest Himself in us, and we can show the Father to the dying world, and do His wonderous works.
We need vision to see Jesus, and His works. We need to let the image of Jesus’ miracles burn into our minds. That is the Father’s image. That is who we are, and what we are about to do!
Acts 10:38 How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.
God is with us! He hasn’t changed! See His works, and go do it! This is who we are!
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth
whom he will.
5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
5:23 That all [men] should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
Sometimes we don’t see God moving in our lives, and we think He doesn’t want to. The thing is He lives in you. He can only move on earth through you! He will not move apart from you. He can not move apart from what He does through people. He gave all authority to men (Gen2 & Ps 8). He sent us to be His ambassadors, His representatives on earth. We believe in Jesus. That makes us sons of God. If we are sons, the Father loves us, and shows us His works, and greater works. Why do we not see all things under our feet then? Because we don’t see Jesus, and therefore we don’t see the Father, which implies that we do not realise that we are sons, and we do not experience that the Father loves us.
Heb 2:7-15 says
2:7 For some little time You have ranked him lower than and inferior to the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor and set him over the works of Your hands,
2:8 For You have put everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to man, He left nothing outside [of man's] control. But at present we do not yet see all things subjected to him [man].
2:9 But we are able to see Jesus, Who was ranked lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because of His having suffered death, in order that by the grace (unmerited favor) of God [to us sinners] He might experience death for every individual person.
2:10 For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.
2:11 For both He Who sanctifies [making men holy] and those who are sanctified all have one [Father]. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren;
2:12 For He says, I will declare Your [the Father's] name to My brethren; in the midst of the [worshiping] congregation I will sing hymns of praise to You.
2:13 And again He says, My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him. And yet again, Here I am, I and the children whom God has given Me.
2:14 Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death-that is, the devil-
2:15 And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.
Jesus was the only representation of the Father and the sole expression of His glory. If someone wanted to know Who the Father was, they needed to meet Jesus, and He would reveal the Father to them (Heb1:3, Col 1:15,1 Cor4:4). Jesus showed people on the earth the Father and He has given us the glory of the Father (John 17:6, John 17:22). He has revealed the Father by manifesting Him. The Father dwelt in Him and He in the Father, and therefore they had perfect union. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. The difference between Jesus and the rest of the Jews, was that He had fellowship with the Father, and saw Him, and knew Him. Jesus prayed: not My will, but Yours be done! He humbled Himself. He did not do His own will, but only the will of the Father! He was tempted not to die on the cross, but He did the Father’s will. If Jesus hadn’t done the Father’s will, we would never have known the Father, and the Father would never have been revealed to us, but He did, and now we can see Jesus, and therefore we can see the Father, and that means that we can know that the Father loves us, and He shows us His works, and we realise as sons we can do the works that our Father shows us.
Jesus revealed the Father, He did the works of the Father. He knew those works, and could manifest them, because He was one with the Father. Because of His sufferings, we are sanctified in Him. He became the door, and now by believing we have fellowship with Jesus.
1 John 1:3 What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
1:4 And we are now writing these things to you so that our joy [in seeing you included] may be full [and your joy may be complete].
1:5 And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].
1:6 [So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents].
1:7 But if we [really] are living and walking in the Light, as He [Himself] is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses (removes) us from all sin and guilt [keeps us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].
We are now one with Jesus. We are in Him, and He in us (John14-17). He is still one with the Father and the Father in Him. Now we have fellowship with the Father through Jesus. We have perfect fellowship with the Father, by means of our union with Christ. Now because we have fellowship with Jesus, we see Him. If we can see Him, we can do His works. This means that the Father can once again move on the earth to help people, to answer prayers. He will do this through His church. If we bear fruit, the Father is glorified (John 15:8).
We do not yet see all things subject to us, but we see Jesus. In seeing Jesus, we see the Father, and in seeing the Father, we see His works, and we are able to do the works that we see Him do. This makes us to be very powerful. Looking unto Jesus is very important for us. Let us look away from every distraction, unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith (Heb 12:1-3). Let us look at Him, then we will realize that all things are under His feet, and we will realize that we are in Him, and all things are under our feet.
We have the authority to rule on the earth. Those who receive the overflowing free gift of grace and righteousness will rule as kings in life (Rom5:17). He has washed us with His blood to make us kings and priests (Rev 1:5-6 & Rev 5:9-10). He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. We are kings and lords. He can only rule on the earth, if we who are in charge on earth humble our hearts and surrender to His will, and let Him rule through us. Jesus surrendered His will to the Father, and did the works of the Father. Pride is therefore to refuse to do miracles.
We need to know who we are. We are kings who are supposed to rule through Jesus Christ. We are kings who are supposed to surrender to Him and let Him take complete rulership in our lives. Present therefore your bodies to God as a living sacrifice, and let Him control it. That gives God the opportunity to control things on the earth. The more I am surrendered to Him, the more my steps will be ordered of the Lord, and I will be led by the Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit are sons of God (Rom8:14).
Jesus and the Father never changes (Heb 13:8). Jesus is still the sole expression of the glory of God. Jesus is still the exact likeness of the unseen God. No one can see the Father, except through Jesus. Now we see Jesus. Now Jesus can manifest Himself in us, and we can show the Father to the dying world, and do His wonderous works.
We need vision to see Jesus, and His works. We need to let the image of Jesus’ miracles burn into our minds. That is the Father’s image. That is who we are, and what we are about to do!
Acts 10:38 How God anointed and consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the [Holy] Spirit and with strength and ability and power; how He went about doing good and, in particular, curing all who were harassed and oppressed by [the power of] the devil, for God was with Him.
God is with us! He hasn’t changed! See His works, and go do it! This is who we are!
Monday 7 September 2009
The Old Glory and the New Glory
Some of it this I have written about, and some I haven’t seen until today, so enjoy the Word. Feel free to go and read the scripture references I have put in if you can, and when you have time, because it is just too much information to expand on all of it in one letter, and still stay on the subject.
The glory of God is indeed the light of God Himself. God is light, and there is no darkness in Him, no not in any way (1 John 1:5). This light can physically shine like it did on the skin of Moses’ face (2 Cor 3:7; Ex 34:29) when he came down from Mount Sinai, and from the presence of God. So the glory is the visible Light glory of God, but the glory was always accompanied with supernatural signs, wonders and miracles.
In Matt 5:14-16 (KJV) Jesus said:
5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
John 11:39-45
11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been [dead] four days.
11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
11:41 Then they took away the stone [from the place] where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up [his] eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said [it], that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
The Glory light of God is manifested in works of glory, and we behold His glory when we see miracles performed in His Name.
This means that the way we are to let the light shine, and to make the glory of the Father known to the world, is by our good deeds, the deeds of the light, the works that Jesus did and even greater (John 14:12). Now these deeds are not helping the little old lady over the street, neither is it to bake a pudding for the church fete, but it is to do the works of Christ, the supernatural works that are impossible for the human nature to produce, which show in our broken vessels of clay, our natural limited bodies, the glory of God, so that it might be clearly known to be from Him and not of us (2 Cor 4:7). I do not mean to discourage you from helping the little old lady, or even to turn off the oven. It is well and good, so feel free to continue if you like, but these works Jesus spoke about are faith works, and not works of duty or law. It is supernatural works of glory done by the Father in us. There is a monumental difference.
The works of the law are works that are demanded of man from a legally written code to establish the righteousness of that man who is under that law, and subscribes to its ideas. By law, one can therefore only establish one’s own righteousness, which is as filthy rags according to the prophet Isaiah (Is 64:6).
When we believe in God, however, we receive His righteousness, and not our own.
Rom 3:21-24
3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,
3:22 Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, [between Jew or Greek – in context]
3:23 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.
3:24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
We all come short of the glory works of God. No man can demonstrate the glory of God out of himself like Jesus did on the earth. No man can do the miraculous works the Holy Spirit does through believers by dependence on the arm of the flesh, by obeying the Law of Moses, which places the onus on man. Glory works only happen by grace, through faith; by dependence on the message of the cross of Christ.
Gal 3:1-6
3:1 O YOU poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom-right before your very eyes-Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?
3:2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?]
3:3 Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?
3:4 Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing (to no purpose)-if it really is to no purpose and in vain?
3:5 Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard?
3:6 Thus Abraham believed in and adhered to and trusted in and relied on God, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (as conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action).
Faith works spring from our belief in the cross of Christ, which is our righteousness. Let me explain. When we believe in the message of the cross, faith in Christ arises; saving faith. Faith in His blood, and broken body means the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our bodies. We have been made righteous by God’s election and according to His righteousness, according to what He had achieved, and not according to what we have achieved. This righteousness becomes ours when we believe. Now that we have been declared righteous, strength arises in us, and the power of God works miraculously through us. This is active faith, and this faith that arises in us, makes all things possible. It only comes by believing the message of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
2 Cor 5:21 says
5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The works of the law depend on man. The works of faith depend on God. Faith and trust in God is therefore needed for Him to do the works through us. These works bring glory to God. Anything supernatural in our lives is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us. The Tree of Life makes His home in us and consequently He bears His fruit through us.
John 15:7-8
15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul relates the glory of the old to the glory of the new. He said that the glory of the ministration of the law, the ministry of condemnation and death, came with such splendor, that the skin of the face of Moses shone (Ex 34:29). This glory, however, was intended to fade and pass away. The Law of Moses was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah (Gal 3:19), Who would come to suffer on the cross, and pay the price for all the sin of all people for all time with a single sacrifice of His body and blood (Heb9:14; Heb14:25-26, Heb 10:10).
Heb 10:9 says that He came to annul the first former order, in order to establish and inaugurate the new, second, latter order. Heb 8:13 says that when God speaks of a new order, He makes the first one obsolete, or out of use, and what is obsolete is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.
Now the point that I want to make, is that the law was only until the Seed should come (Gal3:19), until Christ. Rom 10:4 says that Christ is the end of the law and the fulfillment of all its types. If the glory of the law was intended to fade out, it means that the law now represents darkness. There is now no glory in the law. Looking at the works of the Prophets and the Pharisees clearly proves this point. Moses saw spectacular signs and wonders. So did Elijah and Elisha, but as the time went on, the only thing the Jews had, was the account of what those Prophets did, which was verbally passed on from generation to generation. The works themselves faded and faded until there was no glorious works for 400 years before Jesus Christ was born. In the time of the Pharisees, there was no power at all. No glory was made visible, apart maybe from the angel stirring the water at the bath of Bethesda in John 5. The glory of the law had faded, and they were in complete darkness. Then suddenly a man called John the Baptist appeared, preaching that Israel should repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
John 1:1
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name [was] John.
1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe.
1:8 He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light.
1:9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus was this Light that has come into the world. The very glory of the Father manifested to the world. When John the Baptist recognized and baptized Jesus the Christ, glory appeared:
John 1:29-33
1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Matt 3:13-17
3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
3:14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer [it to be so] now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
To know Jesus Christ and the Father is to know this light and glory which has come into the world.
John 17:3-10
17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
John the apostle testified that ...we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When they saw Him and beheld His glory, they beheld the glory of the Father that Jesus showed to the world. They therefore saw the Father when they saw Jesus, because Jesus only did the works of the Father. He only manifested the will of the Father.
John 14:8-9
14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
Jesus said the following shortly after:
John 14:12-14:
14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it].
This means that in the same way Jesus did the glorious works of the Father, we now do the glorious works of Jesus (which are the same glorious works of the Father). The Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. We are one. In this way the Father is manifested through us, because we are one with Jesus.
John 17:18-22 (Jesus praying to the Father)
17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
His works now become our works, because we believe in Him and He does it through us. The Light has come into the world and was made manifest in Jesus. To as many as believed, He gave the power to also become sons of Light, so that we too might do the works of the Father through Him. Those who believe come out into the Light so that their works might be shown to be what they are, wrought with God; done with God’s power.
John 3:16-21
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Those who believed in Jesus, came out of the darkness of the law, into the Light of God, and God started doing the works of faith, the works of the Light through them. Those who stayed in the law, remained in darkness, and they refused to believe. They insisted on establishing their own righteousness in stead of receiving God’s righteousness by faith. Therefore they remained with a righteousness which is like filthy rags, and everything they did was evil. Today the works of the law has no glory at all. No miracle is possible today through the law. The time of miracles according to the law and commandments is forever over.
To this day, those who love the Light, come out into the Light, and do the works of the Light, and those who hate the Light (Gospel of Grace) and love the darkness (faded glory of the Law of Moses) shrink from the Light in fear of being judged and reproved. This fear actually kindles the wrath of the law on them, because they are condemnable under the law, and even the law testifies about the One that should come, and yet they hide in it from the Light of God which purifies and justifies the ungodly. The law can only judge and condemn people, and no glory is now possible in the law. Shrinking from the light, implies that one doesn’t trust the light, but expect judgment from it. They trusted their own works according to the law more than they trusted the salvation that very same law testified about.
Heb 10:38
10:38 But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.
10:39 But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul.
The law is not of faith. The law and the prophets never produced faith. It has nothing to do with faith. The works of the law doesn’t depend on faith, but on obedience to the law. The law and the prophets testified about Jesus Christ that should come. Therefore the only thing the law could produce in those who believed the testimony of the law and the prophets was hope, not faith. The people under the Old Testament Law had a hope that some day the Messiah would come.
Gal 3:12 & 3:23-35
3:12 But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].
3:23 Now before the faith came, we (the Jews) were perpetually guarded under the Law, kept in custody in preparation for the faith that was destined to be revealed (unveiled, disclosed),
3:24 So that the Law served [to us Jews] as our trainer [our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us] until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith.
3:25 But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a trainer (the guardian of our childhood).
3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.
Now Ps 78 says:
Ps 78:1-4
78:1 Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
The sayings of the law was a parable, and not the truth of the Gospel, in fact, the sayings of the law hides the Truth of the Gospel.
Ps 78:2 in the Amplified translation says
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]-
The old in the Bible refers to the Old covenant, the old order of things, which were dependant on obeying the law, and doing all its rituals, and yet it was incapable of achieving anything for man, because it was only intended to testify about Christ that should come. The new is this New Testament which Christ inaugurated when He died. He established the new, and annulled the old (Heb10:9).
We have looked at the faded glory of the law above in 2 Corinthians 3, and I said that the law is now darkness. Verse 1 of Psalms 78 says give ear to my law; the law which is a parable and dark sayings of old that hide important truth.
The law was a parable, which was uttered. The words of the Law had fading glory, and it was hiding important Truth, so that the rulers of this world might not attain unto it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. If this law had not come, sin would not have been punished in the flesh body of Christ.
Heb 9:9
Seeing that that first tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type pr picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices were offered, and yet are incapable or perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.
Yet 1 John 1:5 says that God is Light and there is no darkness in Him, no not in any way. That means that the law is not God’s message. The law was only intended to bring punishment of sin, which ultimately Jesus Christ would take for the whole of mankind. That was the function. Today, this function has been fulfilled, and the law is now redundant.
The Truth of God, this important Truth of the Glory of God, the Light of the World, the True Word of the Gospel that was manifested to bring salvation was hidden in the time of the law. It was hidden to everyone who read the dark sayings of the law.
2 Cor 3:14-15
3:14 In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.
3:15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
The reading of the law hides the glory of the new, the glory of the Gospel. The more we read the Law, the less we know Jesus, and the more we are blinded by our own guilt and condemnation, and our hearts become hard and calloused, and incapable of believing the forgiveness which comes by the Gospel. The Old Covenant Law and the New Testament Gospel are antagonistic to each other.
2 Cor 4:4-7
4:4 For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.
4:5 For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake.
4:6 For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
4:7 However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.
The god of this world in this context can only be the law of Moses and the reasoning of men whose thoughts are governed by the law (the dark sayings of old), that hides important truth. The god of this world which blinds the eyes of the unbelievers are therefore nothing else than the knowledge of good and evil, which is manifested in the law; the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which brought in deception, sin and death into the world.
There is a good reason for that. If the Law of Moses did not come, God would never have had the jurisdiction to punish sin in the flesh, because Rom 5:13 says: [To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men's account where there is no law [to transgress].
The law therefore had to come to expose to men their guilt and to make known the sinfulness of sin (Rom3:20, Rom 5:20, Rom7:13, Gal 3:19). Exposing sin and guilt to men could however never save them, because no one can be saved by obedience to the Law of Moses.
Rom 3:20
3:20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].
The reason the law could not save man, was because (Rom 7:14) We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.
This means that we would never be able to fully comply with the law. The law demands of fleshly people to live spiritually. It is however impossible to know the ways of the Spirit by the Law, because the law only deal with fleshly things. The law tells fleshly people what they must or may not do. The standard of the law though, is spiritual. Jesus put the real standard of the law back in its place in the sermon on the mountain when He said (speaking to Jews who were not born again, before the cross of Christ): Matt 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The standard was too high for fleshly men to achieve. The law never could save fleshly men, and never was intended to bring salvation. God Himself planned from the beginning to bring salvation through Christ. He was the only one Who could live perfectly as the Father is perfect; the only One Who would not fall short of the glory of God, the works of the Father. He was the only spiritual man Who could bring salvation.
Rom 8:3
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
Sin had to be punished in the flesh. Sin could not be punished without a law. The law was given to reveal sin to man, so that man could be counted guilty and so that sin could be punished. Man could not achieve the spiritual standard to save himself, because the power of the law was weakened by the flesh.
Jesus, the Perfect Representation of the Father, the Perfect reflection of His glory (Col 1:15), came on earth and lived a perfect life so that the glory of the Father would again be seen. Then He took the punishment for all men on His body. The righteous died for the unrighteous; the spiritual perfection of God paid the price for the wicked, fallen, fleshly and ungodly people of the world. Sin was righteously dealt with and punished completely in the perfect body of Christ. He
was our offering for sin.
Now it is impossible for God to punish the same sin twice, therefore, those who believe will never be condemned. Those who believe not, however, will be condemned by their own law, not being saved from under its wrath, for the law speaks only to those who are under it. Those who believe not, will be counted guilty of spilling innocent blood, but those who believe will be counted righteous and sanctified because of the offering of the perfect blood of Christ. The same blood can either save, or act as a testimony against the unbelievers.
Matt 27:25 And all the people answered, Let His blood be on us and on our children!
The law blinds the eyes of the unbelievers, making them think that they can make the standard themselves by trying in their own might. The law hides the Truth of the Gospel to those who read it. If this wonderful Truth were not hidden, the rulers of this world would never have crucified the Lord of Glory.
1 Cor 2:6-8
2:6 Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away.
2:7 But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God-[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence].
2:8 None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
So it was hidden from human understanding, from the sense and reason of man without the Holy Spirit, but now it is revealed by His Spirit to us who believe that we are justified, and forgiven, sanctified and holy. It is revealed to those who believe they are standing in perfection before God because of His sacrifice. It is revealed to those who believe that they are saints. This wisdom brings us to glorification, and makes us fit by the Spirit to do the works of the spirit, the works of glory. It lifts us into the glory of His presence, and we live a supernatural life of miracles, in Christ, in the glory of God.
Col 1:25-27
1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Note that the mystery is revealed to the saints, not to unbelievers, or people who stand under the law, but to people who are justified, and sanctified by Christ; people who believe that they are forgiven. The hope, mystery and wisdom we have is the glory of God; the ever increasing glory of the New Testament which is the abiding glory, and which will forever increase and become brighter and brighter (2 Cor 3:18). Therefore we can know that the works of the New Testament, the miracles will increase and increase, and become more and more glorious. It will abide, and never stop. Our hope is not that Christ must come. He already came. Our Hope is the Glory which now follows His suffering (1 Pet 1:11). The glory or miracles will increase more and more in the church, for it is written:
Hab 2:14
2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
And;
Isaiah 60
60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
60:20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
60:21 Thy people also [shall be] all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
The law was a parable, and the law and prophets testified about Jesus Christ which would come and save the world from sin and damnation through His suffering on the cross, so that we might receive life. The law and the prophets testified about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
1 Pet 1:10-13
1:10 The prophets, who prophesied of the grace (divine blessing) which was intended for you, searched and inquired earnestly about this salvation.
1:11 They sought [to find out] to whom or when this was to come which the Spirit of Christ working within them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow [them].
1:12 It was then disclosed to them that the services they were rendering were not meant for themselves and their period of time, but for you. [It is these very] things which have now already been made known plainly to you by those who preached the good news (the Gospel) to you by the [same] Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Into these things [the very] angels long to look!
1:13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.
The law and the prophets testified about Jesus. The reality of these prophecies did not manifest in their day, but they wrote it for us, the saint, who would become the heirs of God’s glory. The Law people do not even believe their own law, because the law inevitably leads up to Christ, and they do not receive Christ. The law however blinds their eyes, so that they only see themselves and their own sin, not trusting in Christ Who came to sacrifice Himself for our sin.
John 5 38-41 & 45-47 (Jesus speaking to the Pharisees)
5:38 And you have not His word (His thought) living in your hearts, because you do not believe and adhere to and trust in and rely on Him Whom He has sent. [That is why you do not keep His message living in you, because you do not believe in the Messenger Whom He has sent.]
5:39 You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!
5:40 And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.
5:41 I receive not glory from men [I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame],
5:45 Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you-it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].
5:46 For if you believed and relied on Moses, you would believe and rely on Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].
5:47 But if you do not believe and trust his writings, how then will you believe and trust My teachings? [How shall you cleave to and rely on My words?]
So the law could not save any person, neither could it produce faith. If the people in the Old Covenant believed the testimony of the Law and the Prophets, they would’ve recognised Jesus as the Christ. The law didn’t produce faith, but hope in the One Who was to come.
Psalms 78 verse 4 said that they had to carefully tell their children of the miracles that happened when the law still had glory, otherwise their children would have no hope in a Saviour which was still to come. The reason they needed to hear about the former works of glory, is because all the glory had faded, and there were no miraculous works for them to witness themselves at that time. The testimony was supposed to bring hope to Israel. Hope in a Saviour that would come in the future to save mankind.
Verse 7 says:
78:7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments
The law and the prophets was intended to bring hope to Israel. It didn’t bring faith, but hope. Hope is something for the future; something which would surely come in the distant future. If one would believe the testimony of the Law and the Prophets in the time of the Old Covenant, hope would arise of a Saviour that was to come. The people who didn’t believe the testimony of the law and the prophets, had no hope. They therefore saw the law as a means to achieve their own righteousness for themselves, like the Pharisees in John 5, who thought the scriptures would bring them eternal life by doing them in their own strength, in stead of hoping and waiting for the One Who was to come. That is why they did not recognize Him when He came. They were blinded by their consciousness of themselves and their own sin.
1 Cor 1:21-24
1:21 For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).
1:22 For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom,
1:23 We preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified, [preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap], and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense.
1:24 But to those who are called, whether Jew or Greek (Gentile), Christ [is] the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.
Now the hope the people in the old covenant had, was different from the hope we have today as Christians who are born from above. That which they hoped for, we now have. Those who believed the testimony of the law and the prophets, who did not seek to establish their own righteousness, hoped in the Messiah that would come. Their faith in the testimony was counted to them as righteousness. Their faith however, could not produce miracles, but hope.
That which they hoped for has now come. Jesus came and He has made His dwelling in our hearts. We now have Him. We don’t hope for Him to come. He came! So the best the law could do was to produce a hope in the hearts of those who believed the testimony of Moses and the Prophets.
Today, after Christ came, we would be deceived to hope in the Messiah that is to come. We can’t hope for Him to come, because He came already! So we can’t look at the law and think we must do its demands until He comes. The law was intended to keep the Israelites busy until Christ came. He came! The law and the prophets have been fulfilled (Rom 10:4).
The second coming of Christ is very different from the first. The first time around, He came as Messiah to save the world from the dominion of sin. He will not come as Messiah again, because He died once for all for the sin of the world already. He already came as Messiah. He will not have to suffer yet again for our sins, otherwise His first sufferings would be made void (Heb 9:25-26).
Heb 9:28
9:28 Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him.
The message of the Gospel produces glory in our lives. This glory needs to take over. This light needs to swallow up darkness. Life needs to swallow up death. The message of the cross will bring us who believe to full salvation. It will bring the full manifestation of His glory in our lives, so that we might resemble Him, and be like Him. He will not come again before we resemble Him. When Jesus comes, His salvation will have perfected us in manifestation. His second coming will affirm that the salvation is complete in manifestation. He finished His work on the cross already. Now this message of what He had done is working the fruit of the Spirit in us until we are changed into His glory, and revealed as sons of God.
1 John 3:2-3
3:2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God's children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.
3:3 And everyone who has this hope [resting] on Him cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure (chaste, undefiled, guiltless).
So we have a hope that we will be completely saved and brought to complete glory. This hope is turned into reality by faith. Faith is produced by hearing the Gospel. So the more we hear the true Gospel, the more we will resemble Christ. The more we hear what He did the first time He came, the more we will be doing His works, manifesting His glory, and be turned into His image, which will ultimately hasten His second coming. He will not come until we resemble Him. The only way is for the message of the Gospel to change us on the inside.
Our hope is different from the hope of the Old Covenant. They waited for the Messiah to come and deal with sin. We wait for the full redemption of our bodies. We wait for the full manifestation of the glory of God in our bodies, and all over the earth, so that we resemble Him perfectly in manifestation. This is our hope. Christ in us is the hope of Glory!
We now have the realization and manifestation of what the people in the Old Covenant hoped for. Now that He has come, we have Him. We have the realization of the promise. We have the manifestation of that which was hoped for. That’s why Heb 11:1 says
11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith has come (Gal 3:23). We have the Good News of the cross of Christ. He did now come, and the promises are fulfilled, because Christ is the end of the law and the fulfillment of its types (Rom10:4). The message of the cross of Christ now produces faith in Christ. Faith is not something for the future. It is something which is for the present time. Faith operates in the present tense. So if I pray that God will one day use me, I am stuck in the old covenant and the law. If I believe the Gospel, and act in faith, my hands will continually be on the sick, and faith in Christ who has already come will heal the sick. Faith is the substance for the things the old covenant believers hoped for. The evidence of the unseen! This means that the faith we have in the New Testament produces the proof of what God has promised in the Old Covenant. What has He promised?
Isaiah 53
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
For them, believing meant hope, and something to look forward to. For us, it means the reality of the promises. If we believe this scripture now today, and see its fulfillment in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, we will see the sick healed, and condemnation will leave our hearts. It’s for now. Is 53 produced hope for the Old Covenant people, but it produces faith for New Testament Believers; faith which is full of glory, and which produces miracles and healings.
The hope we have in Christ, is different than the hope they had in the Messiah. To us He said that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. This couldn’t have been for the people of old, because He had not visited them yet in the first place, let alone leave them! We have a hope that the ever increasing and abiding glory of the New Testament and grace will take over and change the hearts of people. This hope is manifested and brought to reality by faith in the message of the finished work of Christ on the cross. This hope becomes a reality as we preach Christ crucified, and as faith comes to us by hearing this message of the cross of Christ, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom10:17).
Believing the Gospel will make the New Testament Believer to go into action and act by faith in Christ who already came, to prove and manifest to the world of today that our hope of Glory is true. To bring the things that we do not yet see into the seen realm, so that they can believe that God has sent us.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Rom 10:17). We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23). This Word will produce faith that is able to move mountains and heal the sick. I already experience the reality of this in a certain measure in my own life. Just last night the Lord Jesus Christ did miracles and healed people in the hospital under my hands. Their pains just vanished, and immediately they glorified and praised God! I already see a little bit of the power moving. But this power and glory will abide and it will only increase until the whole world is filled with the glory.
The supernatural life is by faith, not hope. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). Our hopes are brought into reality by faith, which comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the message of Christ crucified. In other words, glory (or miracles) which is our hope, will manifest as we hear the Truth of what Jesus did on the cross.
Doom and gloom is not going to prevail on the earth in the future. We do not have a hope of destruction. We have a hope of glory. The glory of God will take over and fill the earth. That is our hope. God is not going to take us out of the world (John 17:15). God will rather keep us alive in the world, and protect us from evil. He will do signs, wonders and miracles through us, and He will show His power and glory to the world through us, so that all the imperfections of the world can be changed and recreated, and so that the Kingdom of God, and the abiding and ever increasing Glory of Heaven can be established on this earth. This is what creation is groaning for (Rom8:22). This is our hope: that the Glory of God will manifest through us on the earth until we resemble Him in manifestation.
Rom 8:22-32
8:22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.
8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons).
8:24 For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?
8:25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.
8:26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
8:27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
8:28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
8:29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
8:30 And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].
8:31 What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]
8:32 He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?
Our hope is the glory of God which is going to manifest in our bodies, and bring us to complete perfection in manifestation. Our hope is that God will manifest His glory fully in and through us. This hope can only manifest when we believe the Gospel, because when we believe, faith comes to our hearts, and faith is the substance of the glory to come. The faith that arises in us will inevitably produce glorious miracles and will increase until the fullness of the Light of God is expressed through us.
Job 11:16-18
11:16 For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.
11:17 And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
11:18 And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.
Psalms 37:6
37:6 And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.
Zech 2:5
2:5 For I, says the Lord, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.
Eph 1:15-23
1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (the people of God),
1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
1:17 [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
1:18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
1:19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,
1:20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],
1:21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.
1:22 And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],
1:23 Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].
Eph 3:16-19 (Amplified)
3:16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
3:17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
3:18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
3:19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
Eph 3:20-21 (KJV)
3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
3:21 Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Eph 4:11-15
4:11 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
4:12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church),
4:13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
4:14 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
4:15 Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Amen!
Bless you!
The glory of God is indeed the light of God Himself. God is light, and there is no darkness in Him, no not in any way (1 John 1:5). This light can physically shine like it did on the skin of Moses’ face (2 Cor 3:7; Ex 34:29) when he came down from Mount Sinai, and from the presence of God. So the glory is the visible Light glory of God, but the glory was always accompanied with supernatural signs, wonders and miracles.
In Matt 5:14-16 (KJV) Jesus said:
5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
John 11:39-45
11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been [dead] four days.
11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
11:41 Then they took away the stone [from the place] where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up [his] eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said [it], that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
11:45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
The Glory light of God is manifested in works of glory, and we behold His glory when we see miracles performed in His Name.
This means that the way we are to let the light shine, and to make the glory of the Father known to the world, is by our good deeds, the deeds of the light, the works that Jesus did and even greater (John 14:12). Now these deeds are not helping the little old lady over the street, neither is it to bake a pudding for the church fete, but it is to do the works of Christ, the supernatural works that are impossible for the human nature to produce, which show in our broken vessels of clay, our natural limited bodies, the glory of God, so that it might be clearly known to be from Him and not of us (2 Cor 4:7). I do not mean to discourage you from helping the little old lady, or even to turn off the oven. It is well and good, so feel free to continue if you like, but these works Jesus spoke about are faith works, and not works of duty or law. It is supernatural works of glory done by the Father in us. There is a monumental difference.
The works of the law are works that are demanded of man from a legally written code to establish the righteousness of that man who is under that law, and subscribes to its ideas. By law, one can therefore only establish one’s own righteousness, which is as filthy rags according to the prophet Isaiah (Is 64:6).
When we believe in God, however, we receive His righteousness, and not our own.
Rom 3:21-24
3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,
3:22 Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, [between Jew or Greek – in context]
3:23 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.
3:24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
We all come short of the glory works of God. No man can demonstrate the glory of God out of himself like Jesus did on the earth. No man can do the miraculous works the Holy Spirit does through believers by dependence on the arm of the flesh, by obeying the Law of Moses, which places the onus on man. Glory works only happen by grace, through faith; by dependence on the message of the cross of Christ.
Gal 3:1-6
3:1 O YOU poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched or cast a spell over you, unto whom-right before your very eyes-Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified?
3:2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? [Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith?]
3:3 Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?
3:4 Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing (to no purpose)-if it really is to no purpose and in vain?
3:5 Then does He Who supplies you with His marvelous [Holy] Spirit and works powerfully and miraculously among you do so on [the grounds of your doing] what the Law demands, or because of your believing in and adhering to and trusting in and relying on the message that you heard?
3:6 Thus Abraham believed in and adhered to and trusted in and relied on God, and it was reckoned and placed to his account and credited as righteousness (as conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action).
Faith works spring from our belief in the cross of Christ, which is our righteousness. Let me explain. When we believe in the message of the cross, faith in Christ arises; saving faith. Faith in His blood, and broken body means the forgiveness of our sins and the healing of our bodies. We have been made righteous by God’s election and according to His righteousness, according to what He had achieved, and not according to what we have achieved. This righteousness becomes ours when we believe. Now that we have been declared righteous, strength arises in us, and the power of God works miraculously through us. This is active faith, and this faith that arises in us, makes all things possible. It only comes by believing the message of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.
2 Cor 5:21 says
5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The works of the law depend on man. The works of faith depend on God. Faith and trust in God is therefore needed for Him to do the works through us. These works bring glory to God. Anything supernatural in our lives is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us. The Tree of Life makes His home in us and consequently He bears His fruit through us.
John 15:7-8
15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul relates the glory of the old to the glory of the new. He said that the glory of the ministration of the law, the ministry of condemnation and death, came with such splendor, that the skin of the face of Moses shone (Ex 34:29). This glory, however, was intended to fade and pass away. The Law of Moses was intended to be in effect until the Seed should come, referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah (Gal 3:19), Who would come to suffer on the cross, and pay the price for all the sin of all people for all time with a single sacrifice of His body and blood (Heb9:14; Heb14:25-26, Heb 10:10).
Heb 10:9 says that He came to annul the first former order, in order to establish and inaugurate the new, second, latter order. Heb 8:13 says that when God speaks of a new order, He makes the first one obsolete, or out of use, and what is obsolete is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether.
Now the point that I want to make, is that the law was only until the Seed should come (Gal3:19), until Christ. Rom 10:4 says that Christ is the end of the law and the fulfillment of all its types. If the glory of the law was intended to fade out, it means that the law now represents darkness. There is now no glory in the law. Looking at the works of the Prophets and the Pharisees clearly proves this point. Moses saw spectacular signs and wonders. So did Elijah and Elisha, but as the time went on, the only thing the Jews had, was the account of what those Prophets did, which was verbally passed on from generation to generation. The works themselves faded and faded until there was no glorious works for 400 years before Jesus Christ was born. In the time of the Pharisees, there was no power at all. No glory was made visible, apart maybe from the angel stirring the water at the bath of Bethesda in John 5. The glory of the law had faded, and they were in complete darkness. Then suddenly a man called John the Baptist appeared, preaching that Israel should repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
John 1:1
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name [was] John.
1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all [men] through him might believe.
1:8 He was not that Light, but [was sent] to bear witness of that Light.
1:9 [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Jesus was this Light that has come into the world. The very glory of the Father manifested to the world. When John the Baptist recognized and baptized Jesus the Christ, glory appeared:
John 1:29-33
1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Matt 3:13-17
3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
3:14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer [it to be so] now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
To know Jesus Christ and the Father is to know this light and glory which has come into the world.
John 17:3-10
17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
John the apostle testified that ...we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When they saw Him and beheld His glory, they beheld the glory of the Father that Jesus showed to the world. They therefore saw the Father when they saw Jesus, because Jesus only did the works of the Father. He only manifested the will of the Father.
John 14:8-9
14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
Jesus said the following shortly after:
John 14:12-14:
14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it].
This means that in the same way Jesus did the glorious works of the Father, we now do the glorious works of Jesus (which are the same glorious works of the Father). The Father is in Jesus, and Jesus is in us. We are one. In this way the Father is manifested through us, because we are one with Jesus.
John 17:18-22 (Jesus praying to the Father)
17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
His works now become our works, because we believe in Him and He does it through us. The Light has come into the world and was made manifest in Jesus. To as many as believed, He gave the power to also become sons of Light, so that we too might do the works of the Father through Him. Those who believe come out into the Light so that their works might be shown to be what they are, wrought with God; done with God’s power.
John 3:16-21
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Those who believed in Jesus, came out of the darkness of the law, into the Light of God, and God started doing the works of faith, the works of the Light through them. Those who stayed in the law, remained in darkness, and they refused to believe. They insisted on establishing their own righteousness in stead of receiving God’s righteousness by faith. Therefore they remained with a righteousness which is like filthy rags, and everything they did was evil. Today the works of the law has no glory at all. No miracle is possible today through the law. The time of miracles according to the law and commandments is forever over.
To this day, those who love the Light, come out into the Light, and do the works of the Light, and those who hate the Light (Gospel of Grace) and love the darkness (faded glory of the Law of Moses) shrink from the Light in fear of being judged and reproved. This fear actually kindles the wrath of the law on them, because they are condemnable under the law, and even the law testifies about the One that should come, and yet they hide in it from the Light of God which purifies and justifies the ungodly. The law can only judge and condemn people, and no glory is now possible in the law. Shrinking from the light, implies that one doesn’t trust the light, but expect judgment from it. They trusted their own works according to the law more than they trusted the salvation that very same law testified about.
Heb 10:38
10:38 But the just shall live by faith [My righteous servant shall live by his conviction respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, and holy fervor born of faith and conjoined with it]; and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.
10:39 But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul.
The law is not of faith. The law and the prophets never produced faith. It has nothing to do with faith. The works of the law doesn’t depend on faith, but on obedience to the law. The law and the prophets testified about Jesus Christ that should come. Therefore the only thing the law could produce in those who believed the testimony of the law and the prophets was hope, not faith. The people under the Old Testament Law had a hope that some day the Messiah would come.
Gal 3:12 & 3:23-35
3:12 But the Law does not rest on faith [does not require faith, has nothing to do with faith], for it itself says, He who does them [the things prescribed by the Law] shall live by them [not by faith].
3:23 Now before the faith came, we (the Jews) were perpetually guarded under the Law, kept in custody in preparation for the faith that was destined to be revealed (unveiled, disclosed),
3:24 So that the Law served [to us Jews] as our trainer [our guardian, our guide to Christ, to lead us] until Christ [came], that we might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) by and through faith.
3:25 But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a trainer (the guardian of our childhood).
3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.
Now Ps 78 says:
Ps 78:1-4
78:1 Give ear, O my people, [to] my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
78:3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not hide [them] from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
The sayings of the law was a parable, and not the truth of the Gospel, in fact, the sayings of the law hides the Truth of the Gospel.
Ps 78:2 in the Amplified translation says
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable (in instruction by numerous examples); I will utter dark sayings of old [that hide important truth]-
The old in the Bible refers to the Old covenant, the old order of things, which were dependant on obeying the law, and doing all its rituals, and yet it was incapable of achieving anything for man, because it was only intended to testify about Christ that should come. The new is this New Testament which Christ inaugurated when He died. He established the new, and annulled the old (Heb10:9).
We have looked at the faded glory of the law above in 2 Corinthians 3, and I said that the law is now darkness. Verse 1 of Psalms 78 says give ear to my law; the law which is a parable and dark sayings of old that hide important truth.
The law was a parable, which was uttered. The words of the Law had fading glory, and it was hiding important Truth, so that the rulers of this world might not attain unto it. If they had, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. If this law had not come, sin would not have been punished in the flesh body of Christ.
Heb 9:9
Seeing that that first tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type pr picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices were offered, and yet are incapable or perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.
Yet 1 John 1:5 says that God is Light and there is no darkness in Him, no not in any way. That means that the law is not God’s message. The law was only intended to bring punishment of sin, which ultimately Jesus Christ would take for the whole of mankind. That was the function. Today, this function has been fulfilled, and the law is now redundant.
The Truth of God, this important Truth of the Glory of God, the Light of the World, the True Word of the Gospel that was manifested to bring salvation was hidden in the time of the law. It was hidden to everyone who read the dark sayings of the law.
2 Cor 3:14-15
3:14 In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.
3:15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
The reading of the law hides the glory of the new, the glory of the Gospel. The more we read the Law, the less we know Jesus, and the more we are blinded by our own guilt and condemnation, and our hearts become hard and calloused, and incapable of believing the forgiveness which comes by the Gospel. The Old Covenant Law and the New Testament Gospel are antagonistic to each other.
2 Cor 4:4-7
4:4 For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.
4:5 For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves [merely] as your servants (slaves) for Jesus' sake.
4:6 For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
4:7 However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.
The god of this world in this context can only be the law of Moses and the reasoning of men whose thoughts are governed by the law (the dark sayings of old), that hides important truth. The god of this world which blinds the eyes of the unbelievers are therefore nothing else than the knowledge of good and evil, which is manifested in the law; the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which brought in deception, sin and death into the world.
There is a good reason for that. If the Law of Moses did not come, God would never have had the jurisdiction to punish sin in the flesh, because Rom 5:13 says: [To be sure] sin was in the world before ever the Law was given, but sin is not charged to men's account where there is no law [to transgress].
The law therefore had to come to expose to men their guilt and to make known the sinfulness of sin (Rom3:20, Rom 5:20, Rom7:13, Gal 3:19). Exposing sin and guilt to men could however never save them, because no one can be saved by obedience to the Law of Moses.
Rom 3:20
3:20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].
The reason the law could not save man, was because (Rom 7:14) We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin.
This means that we would never be able to fully comply with the law. The law demands of fleshly people to live spiritually. It is however impossible to know the ways of the Spirit by the Law, because the law only deal with fleshly things. The law tells fleshly people what they must or may not do. The standard of the law though, is spiritual. Jesus put the real standard of the law back in its place in the sermon on the mountain when He said (speaking to Jews who were not born again, before the cross of Christ): Matt 5:48 You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The standard was too high for fleshly men to achieve. The law never could save fleshly men, and never was intended to bring salvation. God Himself planned from the beginning to bring salvation through Christ. He was the only one Who could live perfectly as the Father is perfect; the only One Who would not fall short of the glory of God, the works of the Father. He was the only spiritual man Who could bring salvation.
Rom 8:3
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
Sin had to be punished in the flesh. Sin could not be punished without a law. The law was given to reveal sin to man, so that man could be counted guilty and so that sin could be punished. Man could not achieve the spiritual standard to save himself, because the power of the law was weakened by the flesh.
Jesus, the Perfect Representation of the Father, the Perfect reflection of His glory (Col 1:15), came on earth and lived a perfect life so that the glory of the Father would again be seen. Then He took the punishment for all men on His body. The righteous died for the unrighteous; the spiritual perfection of God paid the price for the wicked, fallen, fleshly and ungodly people of the world. Sin was righteously dealt with and punished completely in the perfect body of Christ. He
was our offering for sin.
Now it is impossible for God to punish the same sin twice, therefore, those who believe will never be condemned. Those who believe not, however, will be condemned by their own law, not being saved from under its wrath, for the law speaks only to those who are under it. Those who believe not, will be counted guilty of spilling innocent blood, but those who believe will be counted righteous and sanctified because of the offering of the perfect blood of Christ. The same blood can either save, or act as a testimony against the unbelievers.
Matt 27:25 And all the people answered, Let His blood be on us and on our children!
The law blinds the eyes of the unbelievers, making them think that they can make the standard themselves by trying in their own might. The law hides the Truth of the Gospel to those who read it. If this wonderful Truth were not hidden, the rulers of this world would never have crucified the Lord of Glory.
1 Cor 2:6-8
2:6 Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away.
2:7 But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God-[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence].
2:8 None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
So it was hidden from human understanding, from the sense and reason of man without the Holy Spirit, but now it is revealed by His Spirit to us who believe that we are justified, and forgiven, sanctified and holy. It is revealed to those who believe they are standing in perfection before God because of His sacrifice. It is revealed to those who believe that they are saints. This wisdom brings us to glorification, and makes us fit by the Spirit to do the works of the spirit, the works of glory. It lifts us into the glory of His presence, and we live a supernatural life of miracles, in Christ, in the glory of God.
Col 1:25-27
1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Note that the mystery is revealed to the saints, not to unbelievers, or people who stand under the law, but to people who are justified, and sanctified by Christ; people who believe that they are forgiven. The hope, mystery and wisdom we have is the glory of God; the ever increasing glory of the New Testament which is the abiding glory, and which will forever increase and become brighter and brighter (2 Cor 3:18). Therefore we can know that the works of the New Testament, the miracles will increase and increase, and become more and more glorious. It will abide, and never stop. Our hope is not that Christ must come. He already came. Our Hope is the Glory which now follows His suffering (1 Pet 1:11). The glory or miracles will increase more and more in the church, for it is written:
Hab 2:14
2:14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
And;
Isaiah 60
60:1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
60:3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
60:20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
60:21 Thy people also [shall be] all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
The law was a parable, and the law and prophets testified about Jesus Christ which would come and save the world from sin and damnation through His suffering on the cross, so that we might receive life. The law and the prophets testified about the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
1 Pet 1:10-13
1:10 The prophets, who prophesied of the grace (divine blessing) which was intended for you, searched and inquired earnestly about this salvation.
1:11 They sought [to find out] to whom or when this was to come which the Spirit of Christ working within them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow [them].
1:12 It was then disclosed to them that the services they were rendering were not meant for themselves and their period of time, but for you. [It is these very] things which have now already been made known plainly to you by those who preached the good news (the Gospel) to you by the [same] Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Into these things [the very] angels long to look!
1:13 So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.
The law and the prophets testified about Jesus. The reality of these prophecies did not manifest in their day, but they wrote it for us, the saint, who would become the heirs of God’s glory. The Law people do not even believe their own law, because the law inevitably leads up to Christ, and they do not receive Christ. The law however blinds their eyes, so that they only see themselves and their own sin, not trusting in Christ Who came to sacrifice Himself for our sin.
John 5 38-41 & 45-47 (Jesus speaking to the Pharisees)
5:38 And you have not His word (His thought) living in your hearts, because you do not believe and adhere to and trust in and rely on Him Whom He has sent. [That is why you do not keep His message living in you, because you do not believe in the Messenger Whom He has sent.]
5:39 You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!
5:40 And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.
5:41 I receive not glory from men [I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame],
5:45 Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you-it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].
5:46 For if you believed and relied on Moses, you would believe and rely on Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].
5:47 But if you do not believe and trust his writings, how then will you believe and trust My teachings? [How shall you cleave to and rely on My words?]
So the law could not save any person, neither could it produce faith. If the people in the Old Covenant believed the testimony of the Law and the Prophets, they would’ve recognised Jesus as the Christ. The law didn’t produce faith, but hope in the One Who was to come.
Psalms 78 verse 4 said that they had to carefully tell their children of the miracles that happened when the law still had glory, otherwise their children would have no hope in a Saviour which was still to come. The reason they needed to hear about the former works of glory, is because all the glory had faded, and there were no miraculous works for them to witness themselves at that time. The testimony was supposed to bring hope to Israel. Hope in a Saviour that would come in the future to save mankind.
Verse 7 says:
78:7 That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but might keep His commandments
The law and the prophets was intended to bring hope to Israel. It didn’t bring faith, but hope. Hope is something for the future; something which would surely come in the distant future. If one would believe the testimony of the Law and the Prophets in the time of the Old Covenant, hope would arise of a Saviour that was to come. The people who didn’t believe the testimony of the law and the prophets, had no hope. They therefore saw the law as a means to achieve their own righteousness for themselves, like the Pharisees in John 5, who thought the scriptures would bring them eternal life by doing them in their own strength, in stead of hoping and waiting for the One Who was to come. That is why they did not recognize Him when He came. They were blinded by their consciousness of themselves and their own sin.
1 Cor 1:21-24
1:21 For when the world with all its earthly wisdom failed to perceive and recognize and know God by means of its own philosophy, God in His wisdom was pleased through the foolishness of preaching [salvation, procured by Christ and to be had through Him], to save those who believed (who clung to and trusted in and relied on Him).
1:22 For while Jews [demandingly] ask for signs and miracles and Greeks pursue philosophy and wisdom,
1:23 We preach Christ (the Messiah) crucified, [preaching which] to the Jews is a scandal and an offensive stumbling block [that springs a snare or trap], and to the Gentiles it is absurd and utterly unphilosophical nonsense.
1:24 But to those who are called, whether Jew or Greek (Gentile), Christ [is] the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.
Now the hope the people in the old covenant had, was different from the hope we have today as Christians who are born from above. That which they hoped for, we now have. Those who believed the testimony of the law and the prophets, who did not seek to establish their own righteousness, hoped in the Messiah that would come. Their faith in the testimony was counted to them as righteousness. Their faith however, could not produce miracles, but hope.
That which they hoped for has now come. Jesus came and He has made His dwelling in our hearts. We now have Him. We don’t hope for Him to come. He came! So the best the law could do was to produce a hope in the hearts of those who believed the testimony of Moses and the Prophets.
Today, after Christ came, we would be deceived to hope in the Messiah that is to come. We can’t hope for Him to come, because He came already! So we can’t look at the law and think we must do its demands until He comes. The law was intended to keep the Israelites busy until Christ came. He came! The law and the prophets have been fulfilled (Rom 10:4).
The second coming of Christ is very different from the first. The first time around, He came as Messiah to save the world from the dominion of sin. He will not come as Messiah again, because He died once for all for the sin of the world already. He already came as Messiah. He will not have to suffer yet again for our sins, otherwise His first sufferings would be made void (Heb 9:25-26).
Heb 9:28
9:28 Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him.
The message of the Gospel produces glory in our lives. This glory needs to take over. This light needs to swallow up darkness. Life needs to swallow up death. The message of the cross will bring us who believe to full salvation. It will bring the full manifestation of His glory in our lives, so that we might resemble Him, and be like Him. He will not come again before we resemble Him. When Jesus comes, His salvation will have perfected us in manifestation. His second coming will affirm that the salvation is complete in manifestation. He finished His work on the cross already. Now this message of what He had done is working the fruit of the Spirit in us until we are changed into His glory, and revealed as sons of God.
1 John 3:2-3
3:2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now God's children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God's children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.
3:3 And everyone who has this hope [resting] on Him cleanses (purifies) himself just as He is pure (chaste, undefiled, guiltless).
So we have a hope that we will be completely saved and brought to complete glory. This hope is turned into reality by faith. Faith is produced by hearing the Gospel. So the more we hear the true Gospel, the more we will resemble Christ. The more we hear what He did the first time He came, the more we will be doing His works, manifesting His glory, and be turned into His image, which will ultimately hasten His second coming. He will not come until we resemble Him. The only way is for the message of the Gospel to change us on the inside.
Our hope is different from the hope of the Old Covenant. They waited for the Messiah to come and deal with sin. We wait for the full redemption of our bodies. We wait for the full manifestation of the glory of God in our bodies, and all over the earth, so that we resemble Him perfectly in manifestation. This is our hope. Christ in us is the hope of Glory!
We now have the realization and manifestation of what the people in the Old Covenant hoped for. Now that He has come, we have Him. We have the realization of the promise. We have the manifestation of that which was hoped for. That’s why Heb 11:1 says
11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith has come (Gal 3:23). We have the Good News of the cross of Christ. He did now come, and the promises are fulfilled, because Christ is the end of the law and the fulfillment of its types (Rom10:4). The message of the cross of Christ now produces faith in Christ. Faith is not something for the future. It is something which is for the present time. Faith operates in the present tense. So if I pray that God will one day use me, I am stuck in the old covenant and the law. If I believe the Gospel, and act in faith, my hands will continually be on the sick, and faith in Christ who has already come will heal the sick. Faith is the substance for the things the old covenant believers hoped for. The evidence of the unseen! This means that the faith we have in the New Testament produces the proof of what God has promised in the Old Covenant. What has He promised?
Isaiah 53
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put [him] to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see [his] seed, he shall prolong [his] days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore will I divide him [a portion] with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
For them, believing meant hope, and something to look forward to. For us, it means the reality of the promises. If we believe this scripture now today, and see its fulfillment in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, we will see the sick healed, and condemnation will leave our hearts. It’s for now. Is 53 produced hope for the Old Covenant people, but it produces faith for New Testament Believers; faith which is full of glory, and which produces miracles and healings.
The hope we have in Christ, is different than the hope they had in the Messiah. To us He said that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. This couldn’t have been for the people of old, because He had not visited them yet in the first place, let alone leave them! We have a hope that the ever increasing and abiding glory of the New Testament and grace will take over and change the hearts of people. This hope is manifested and brought to reality by faith in the message of the finished work of Christ on the cross. This hope becomes a reality as we preach Christ crucified, and as faith comes to us by hearing this message of the cross of Christ, for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom10:17).
Believing the Gospel will make the New Testament Believer to go into action and act by faith in Christ who already came, to prove and manifest to the world of today that our hope of Glory is true. To bring the things that we do not yet see into the seen realm, so that they can believe that God has sent us.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Rom 10:17). We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor 1:23). This Word will produce faith that is able to move mountains and heal the sick. I already experience the reality of this in a certain measure in my own life. Just last night the Lord Jesus Christ did miracles and healed people in the hospital under my hands. Their pains just vanished, and immediately they glorified and praised God! I already see a little bit of the power moving. But this power and glory will abide and it will only increase until the whole world is filled with the glory.
The supernatural life is by faith, not hope. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). Our hopes are brought into reality by faith, which comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the message of Christ crucified. In other words, glory (or miracles) which is our hope, will manifest as we hear the Truth of what Jesus did on the cross.
Doom and gloom is not going to prevail on the earth in the future. We do not have a hope of destruction. We have a hope of glory. The glory of God will take over and fill the earth. That is our hope. God is not going to take us out of the world (John 17:15). God will rather keep us alive in the world, and protect us from evil. He will do signs, wonders and miracles through us, and He will show His power and glory to the world through us, so that all the imperfections of the world can be changed and recreated, and so that the Kingdom of God, and the abiding and ever increasing Glory of Heaven can be established on this earth. This is what creation is groaning for (Rom8:22). This is our hope: that the Glory of God will manifest through us on the earth until we resemble Him in manifestation.
Rom 8:22-32
8:22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.
8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons).
8:24 For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?
8:25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.
8:26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
8:27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
8:28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
8:29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
8:30 And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].
8:31 What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]
8:32 He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?
Our hope is the glory of God which is going to manifest in our bodies, and bring us to complete perfection in manifestation. Our hope is that God will manifest His glory fully in and through us. This hope can only manifest when we believe the Gospel, because when we believe, faith comes to our hearts, and faith is the substance of the glory to come. The faith that arises in us will inevitably produce glorious miracles and will increase until the fullness of the Light of God is expressed through us.
Job 11:16-18
11:16 For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.
11:17 And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
11:18 And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.
Psalms 37:6
37:6 And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.
Zech 2:5
2:5 For I, says the Lord, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.
Eph 1:15-23
1:15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints (the people of God),
1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.
1:17 [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him,
1:18 By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
1:19 And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength,
1:20 Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places],
1:21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.
1:22 And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church],
1:23 Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].
Eph 3:16-19 (Amplified)
3:16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
3:17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
3:18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
3:19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
Eph 3:20-21 (KJV)
3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
3:21 Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Eph 4:11-15
4:11 And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.
4:12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church),
4:13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
4:14 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
4:15 Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Amen!
Bless you!
Friday 24 July 2009
Jesus has sympathy with your sinfulness
Jesus came in the guise of sinful flesh to the earth, as an offering for sin, yet He perfectly resisted sin. He knew the onslaught of temptation.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.
4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
God looks at the heart. He knows that you struggle to live right. He knows that your heart really wants to do the right thing, but that your flesh nature is weak in the onslaughts of temptations. He has sympathy, because He was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin. His heart is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. He will never judge you or condemn you, because He knows how it feels to be tempted, but He never gave in. We can't resist sin. It is impossible for a human to resist sin. That is why Jesus did it for us.
His Word is quick and powerful, and works swiftly. Sin is experienced in the soul, and the Word is experienced in the Spirit. The Word brings a quick division, and cuts away the experience of sin as quickly as it happens. The more we dwell in the Word, the less we will be under the power of sin. The Word brings the division between us and sin, and cuts it out of our lives.
Jesus is on our side, and wants to help us. All you need to do is to remain at rest and not start to condemn yourself. If you condemn yourself, you will waste time. The condemnation is a result of the law and sin. The moment we turn to the Word, which says what Jesus did for us on the cross, that same moment, the experience of that sin and condemnation is cut out of your soul. The moment you turn to Christ's sacrifice, that same moment your conscience is cleared from any remembrance of sin.
Jesus is not the one blaming you. You are, so stop it. Jesus is the One Who loves you and gave Himself up for you. What you did can never change the way He feels about you. What you did can never change the fact that He paid for all your sins on the Cross around 2000 years ago.
So I want to leave you with this thought. You can now experience peace, because He went through it for you. He resisted sin for you, and now strengthens you on the inside, so you can experience His love, and not the condemnation of the law. God doesn't care about what you did. He cares about what Jesus did for you!
Bless you
G
Heb 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession.
4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.
4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
God looks at the heart. He knows that you struggle to live right. He knows that your heart really wants to do the right thing, but that your flesh nature is weak in the onslaughts of temptations. He has sympathy, because He was tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin. His heart is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. He will never judge you or condemn you, because He knows how it feels to be tempted, but He never gave in. We can't resist sin. It is impossible for a human to resist sin. That is why Jesus did it for us.
His Word is quick and powerful, and works swiftly. Sin is experienced in the soul, and the Word is experienced in the Spirit. The Word brings a quick division, and cuts away the experience of sin as quickly as it happens. The more we dwell in the Word, the less we will be under the power of sin. The Word brings the division between us and sin, and cuts it out of our lives.
Jesus is on our side, and wants to help us. All you need to do is to remain at rest and not start to condemn yourself. If you condemn yourself, you will waste time. The condemnation is a result of the law and sin. The moment we turn to the Word, which says what Jesus did for us on the cross, that same moment, the experience of that sin and condemnation is cut out of your soul. The moment you turn to Christ's sacrifice, that same moment your conscience is cleared from any remembrance of sin.
Jesus is not the one blaming you. You are, so stop it. Jesus is the One Who loves you and gave Himself up for you. What you did can never change the way He feels about you. What you did can never change the fact that He paid for all your sins on the Cross around 2000 years ago.
So I want to leave you with this thought. You can now experience peace, because He went through it for you. He resisted sin for you, and now strengthens you on the inside, so you can experience His love, and not the condemnation of the law. God doesn't care about what you did. He cares about what Jesus did for you!
Bless you
G
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Remember the sacrifice of Christ
Heb 10:1 FOR SINCE the Law has merely a rude outline (foreshadowing) of the good things to come-instead of fully expressing those things-it can never by offering the same sacrifices continually year after year make perfect those who approach [its altars].
10:2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.
10:3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],
10:4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.
10:5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];
We have heard a message that taught us to confess our sins to receive forgiveness. Now there is nothing wrong with confessing sin in itself. The problem is that it has been taught as a condition for receiving forgiveness. People think that God wants to retain sin, and charge it to our accounts if we don't confess every single one. Forgiveness is the other side of the coin of justification. We are justified freely by His grace through faith. This means, that the moment we believe our sins were indeed carried in the flesh body of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross, our sins disappear.
The whole point was to eradicate sin. Eradicate means to destroy all traces of, to tear up by the roots. The law could not eradicate sin, because it brought a fresh remembrance of sin. Paul wrote in Romans 7
7:5 When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.
7:6 But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].
7:7 What then do we conclude? Is the Law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning. [For instance] I would not have known about covetousness [would have had no consciousness of sin or sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, You shall not covet and have an evil desire [for one thing and another].
7:8 But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing].
7:9 Once I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death).
7:10 And the very legal ordinance which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved [to mean to me] death.
7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me [by taking its incentive] from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it [as a weapon], killed me.
7:12 The Law therefore is holy, and [each] commandment is holy and just and good.
7:13 Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.
Every time a person went to the altar to sacrifice for his sins, the sacrifice offered to atone for that sins stirred up a fresh remembrance of sins, stirring up a fresh desire to do the very thing they desired to eradicate. This is a tricky situation, being taught to bring a sacrifice for a dispicable action, which in turn only proves to sustain the dispicable action by way of remembrance.
God never ment for the confession of sins to take on the form of a religious rite. If you think you will not be forgiven because you did not confess your sins, you have not herd what Christ did for you. If you think confession of sins is a condition to forgiveness, then you will certainly never find forgiveness. You will simply be plagued by specific accurances of fleshly weakness for the rest of you life. The emphasis is then still on you bringing your offering to atone for sin. The standard has only been lowered severely. Saying sorry didn't cut it in the days of the law. Sorry still doesn't cut it. Blood had to flow then, blood has to flow for you too. Jesus Christ paid the price with His own blood, an offering that shall avail for all time.
Heb 10:12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.
God wants our remembrance of sin to disappear. People send their children to their rooms to go and think about what they did wrong. This can only have one effect, that the child will struggle with that problem for the rest of his life. Parents foster a consciousness of sin, and then wonder why their children sin. This is why, the children have a consciousness of sin.
Heb 10:10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).
10:11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away-
10:12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
10:13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.
10:14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
He has done it for us. Believing in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ means this: you believe that He took the punishment of all your sins, and you believe that you are forgiven because of His blood.
Matt 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Your forgiveness lies in His blood, not in your confession. You only sin, because you keep on remembering your past sins. You only sleep around, because you remember that you had done it before, and feel condemned for it. The sin will use that remembrance which the law, and this law of confession brings, and it will stirr up the forbiden desires in you. This will trap you for life.
If you keep on remembering your sins, you will establish yourself to be thus in you own concept of your identity. If you keep on remembering your theft, you will establish yourself to be a thief in you own heart. People act according to their perception of identity. Remember His sacrifice, and your heart will believe that you are holy, and you will establish your identity as a holy man. That will severely influence your life. Your deeds will change spontaneously.
When we ate communion in the past, we were taught that we need to examine ourselves to eat worthily of the body and the blood. We thought that we needed to confess all our sins before partaking of the body and the blood, in which our forgiveness lies. So we did not descern that the communion is supposed to take away our consciousness of sin, we thought we must be conscious of our sins when partaking of communion. Jesus said, take and eat in remembrance of Me, and not your sins. This is the blood in the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins! Remember the blood, not sin!
Paul wrote on this as well. 1 Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord Himself that which I passed on to you [it was given to me personally], that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was treacherously delivered up and while His betrayal was in progress took bread,
11:24 And when He had given thanks, He broke [it] and said, Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
11:25 Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, This cup is the new covenant (the word there is testament) [ratified and established] in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
11:26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until He comes [again].
11:27 So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord.
11:28 Let a man [thoroughly] examine himself, and [only when he has done] so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ's] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself.
11:30 That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason many of you are weak and sickly, and quite enough of you have fallen into the sleep of death.
The damnation only comes when people remember their sins, and not the Body of Jesus which was broken for us, and the Blood of Jesus which was poured out for us. Remember Him, not your sins. Whenever you feel guilty, look at what Jesus did for you, not at what you think you must do to get Him to forgive you. Your conscience is only cleansed with the Blood of Christ. Be conscious of His blood, and let Him purge you from a guilty evil conscience. Let Him convince you of you innocence.
You are perfectly holy, otherwise His blood was perfectly useless.
10:2 For if it were otherwise, would [these sacrifices] not have stopped being offered? Since the worshipers had once for all been cleansed, they would no longer have any guilt or consciousness of sin.
10:3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],
10:4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.
10:5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];
We have heard a message that taught us to confess our sins to receive forgiveness. Now there is nothing wrong with confessing sin in itself. The problem is that it has been taught as a condition for receiving forgiveness. People think that God wants to retain sin, and charge it to our accounts if we don't confess every single one. Forgiveness is the other side of the coin of justification. We are justified freely by His grace through faith. This means, that the moment we believe our sins were indeed carried in the flesh body of Jesus Christ when He died on the cross, our sins disappear.
The whole point was to eradicate sin. Eradicate means to destroy all traces of, to tear up by the roots. The law could not eradicate sin, because it brought a fresh remembrance of sin. Paul wrote in Romans 7
7:5 When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.
7:6 But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].
7:7 What then do we conclude? Is the Law identical with sin? Certainly not! Nevertheless, if it had not been for the Law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning. [For instance] I would not have known about covetousness [would have had no consciousness of sin or sense of guilt] if the Law had not [repeatedly] said, You shall not covet and have an evil desire [for one thing and another].
7:8 But sin, finding opportunity in the commandment [to express itself], got a hold on me and aroused and stimulated all kinds of forbidden desires (lust, covetousness). For without the Law sin is dead [the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing].
7:9 Once I was alive, but quite apart from and unconscious of the Law. But when the commandment came, sin lived again and I died (was sentenced by the Law to death).
7:10 And the very legal ordinance which was designed and intended to bring life actually proved [to mean to me] death.
7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity and getting a hold on me [by taking its incentive] from the commandment, beguiled and entrapped and cheated me, and using it [as a weapon], killed me.
7:12 The Law therefore is holy, and [each] commandment is holy and just and good.
7:13 Did that which is good then prove fatal [bringing death] to me? Certainly not! It was sin, working death in me by using this good thing [as a weapon], in order that through the commandment sin might be shown up clearly to be sin, that the extreme malignity and immeasurable sinfulness of sin might plainly appear.
Every time a person went to the altar to sacrifice for his sins, the sacrifice offered to atone for that sins stirred up a fresh remembrance of sins, stirring up a fresh desire to do the very thing they desired to eradicate. This is a tricky situation, being taught to bring a sacrifice for a dispicable action, which in turn only proves to sustain the dispicable action by way of remembrance.
God never ment for the confession of sins to take on the form of a religious rite. If you think you will not be forgiven because you did not confess your sins, you have not herd what Christ did for you. If you think confession of sins is a condition to forgiveness, then you will certainly never find forgiveness. You will simply be plagued by specific accurances of fleshly weakness for the rest of you life. The emphasis is then still on you bringing your offering to atone for sin. The standard has only been lowered severely. Saying sorry didn't cut it in the days of the law. Sorry still doesn't cut it. Blood had to flow then, blood has to flow for you too. Jesus Christ paid the price with His own blood, an offering that shall avail for all time.
Heb 10:12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.
God wants our remembrance of sin to disappear. People send their children to their rooms to go and think about what they did wrong. This can only have one effect, that the child will struggle with that problem for the rest of his life. Parents foster a consciousness of sin, and then wonder why their children sin. This is why, the children have a consciousness of sin.
Heb 10:10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).
10:11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away-
10:12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
10:13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.
10:14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
He has done it for us. Believing in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ means this: you believe that He took the punishment of all your sins, and you believe that you are forgiven because of His blood.
Matt 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Your forgiveness lies in His blood, not in your confession. You only sin, because you keep on remembering your past sins. You only sleep around, because you remember that you had done it before, and feel condemned for it. The sin will use that remembrance which the law, and this law of confession brings, and it will stirr up the forbiden desires in you. This will trap you for life.
If you keep on remembering your sins, you will establish yourself to be thus in you own concept of your identity. If you keep on remembering your theft, you will establish yourself to be a thief in you own heart. People act according to their perception of identity. Remember His sacrifice, and your heart will believe that you are holy, and you will establish your identity as a holy man. That will severely influence your life. Your deeds will change spontaneously.
When we ate communion in the past, we were taught that we need to examine ourselves to eat worthily of the body and the blood. We thought that we needed to confess all our sins before partaking of the body and the blood, in which our forgiveness lies. So we did not descern that the communion is supposed to take away our consciousness of sin, we thought we must be conscious of our sins when partaking of communion. Jesus said, take and eat in remembrance of Me, and not your sins. This is the blood in the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins! Remember the blood, not sin!
Paul wrote on this as well. 1 Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord Himself that which I passed on to you [it was given to me personally], that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was treacherously delivered up and while His betrayal was in progress took bread,
11:24 And when He had given thanks, He broke [it] and said, Take, eat. This is My body, which is broken for you. Do this to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
11:25 Similarly when supper was ended, He took the cup also, saying, This cup is the new covenant (the word there is testament) [ratified and established] in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.
11:26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until He comes [again].
11:27 So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in a way that is unworthy [of Him] will be guilty of [profaning and sinning against] the body and blood of the Lord.
11:28 Let a man [thoroughly] examine himself, and [only when he has done] so should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discriminating and recognizing with due appreciation that [it is Christ's] body, eats and drinks a sentence (a verdict of judgment) upon himself.
11:30 That [careless and unworthy participation] is the reason many of you are weak and sickly, and quite enough of you have fallen into the sleep of death.
The damnation only comes when people remember their sins, and not the Body of Jesus which was broken for us, and the Blood of Jesus which was poured out for us. Remember Him, not your sins. Whenever you feel guilty, look at what Jesus did for you, not at what you think you must do to get Him to forgive you. Your conscience is only cleansed with the Blood of Christ. Be conscious of His blood, and let Him purge you from a guilty evil conscience. Let Him convince you of you innocence.
You are perfectly holy, otherwise His blood was perfectly useless.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)