2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
It is very easy once we have come to faith to take the blessings of our Lord for granted. This is never wise. Those of us who, like myself, are in the middle of heavy duty spiritual warfare, are not being allowed to nestle down into our comfortable place. In my case I know that God allows such a condition, so that I can share with you our need to stay daily in the Scriptures and have an active prayer life. By doing so and by interacting with love with other believers, we begin to approximate the life that Christ has modeled for us. There is always room for growth spiritually in this life, and the Lord leads me to go on finding new insight into our Kinsman-Redeemer, so we can begin to fully appreciate what has been done for us and what His will is for us to do for others.
By now, I am hoping you can recite the traits of a kinsman-redeemer by heart. In case you aren’t there yet, let me reiterate them. 1) He must be a blood relative; 2) He must be able to pay the price of redemption; 3) He must desire to redeem; 4) He must be willing to redeem; 5) He must be the judicial executioner of his murdered relative; 6) He has been given authority and responsibility to redeem the land and eject squatters and invaders. I listen each day to the news reports of what is going on in Israel now. How can we engage in the kind of basic discussion of God’s teaching that we have in this segment of messages and not have a different view of whether Israel has the right to surround Yasir Arafat’s compound with tanks? The day before yesterday after Arafat had been released from his in-house arrest, 15 more Israeli citizens were blown up by a suicide bomber with the organization, Islamic Jihad, taking credit for this. We have to ask how these events fit into the construct of God’s teaching about Israel’s right to the land by divine decree. For ourselves, we must examine the fallacy of trying to trade land for peace and ask ourselves what we think God’s attitude is. We must ask: should the US be in talks with the PLO?
The basic difference between this fundamentalist Islamic approach to the land and the approach God has toward it is diametrically opposite. The bottom line is that God reveres life, and Islamic fundamentalism doesn’t. That may seem like a pretty harsh statement, but it is the truth. HE 4: 12, “The word of God is alive and active, sharper than an double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of man’s heart.” Christ spoke about His impending death in JN 12: 27-32. Look at the difference in approach these words show from a belief system which teaches it is honorable to commit suicide taking as many of the “infidels” with you as you can, including innocent women and children. [Christ speaking before a crowd] “Now My heart is troubled-and what shall I say? Shall I say, ‘Father, do not let this hour come upon me’? But that is why I came-so that I might go through this hour of suffering. Father, bring glory to Your name!’ Then a voice spoke from heaven, ‘I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again.'’ The crowd standing there heard the voice, and some of them said it was thunder, while others said, ‘An angel spoke to Him!’ But Jesus said to them, ‘It was not for My sake that this voice spoke, but for yours. Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me.’”
His last statement in JN 12: 32 is worthy of examination. What did He mean here? Other Scriptures make it clear. RO 8: 29, “Those whom God has already chose He also set apart to become like His Son, so that the Son would be the first among many brothers.” Christ used the illustration of a grain of wheat to prophesy His own impending death, so that others can be saved. He spoke of it as dying, meaning it was buried, went dormant, only to sprout in the Spring when rained upon to become a wheat plant with many sprigs of wheat upon it. By putting this difficult spiritual concept in plain terms a farmer could understand, Christ found a way to convey God’s perspective on the preservation of life. The spiritual symbolism of being buried and resurrected to life can’t be missed here. This is the meaning of our baptism, the outward sign of our being reborn in the Spirit. RO 12: 2 describes this as being “inwardly transformed by the renewal of one’s mind.” Satan tries to make us value our own lives more than taking up our crosses. LK 9: 23, [Christ speaking] “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must forget himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Me.” JN 12: 26 deserves to be repeated as a reminder of why we should reject any belief system which doesn’t revere life. “Whoever wants to serve Me must follow Me, so that My servant will be with Me where I am. And My Father will honor anyone who serves Me.” My choice is to be honored by the Father, not to die for the sake of a belief system that is evil and led by Satan. What’s yours? We must not lose sight of the fact that when we endure in our faith against the arrows Satan sends at us, we are at work with God on the task of His eventual reclamation of dominion over the earth from Satan. That’s a team I want to be on, because the Scriptures have told us that God is eager to share His glory with us as joint-heirs to the Kingdom with Christ [RO 8: 17]. How about you?
PRAYER: O Lord, You revealed to Abraham in GN 12: 2-3,& 13: 18-21 in a great Covenant You made with him, that he would have many descendants to whom You would give a specific tract of land. Abraham was Your faithful servant and, while not perfect, kept his covenant promises. Like him, his genetic descendants (the Jews), except for One (Christ), were also not perfect. Yet, You continue to this day to love them and to desire that they should occupy the land which is theirs by Your divine decree. You have called for Jerusalem to be Your “city on a hill that cannot be hid” [MT 5: 14]. Abraham didn’t know it at the time, but the promise You made him foreshadowed a greater promise that You have made to us. This promise, the Covenant of Grace, involved grafting in believing Gentiles with believing Jews into one body, the Body of Christ, and reclaiming the land (all of earth) from the control now in Satan’s hands. It is Your will that Your light should shine from every home there, so that people will see the good things you do and praise You [MT 5: 15-16]. We recognize Your will and desire to carry it out. We honor You for Your desire to eradicate evil, which defiles Your land and take joy in serving You toward this end. Your word is the wisdom that provides us with understanding of how crucial this task is and encourages us to stay the course despite Satan’s opposition. We love You for being so consistent and acknowledge You not only as a Promise-Keeper, but as our Sovereign and Supreme God Who we adore, worship, trust, obey praise, and thank. You have our promise of diligence and loyalty as Your servants, and our love as Your friends. We humbly confess our sins and look to You for guidance. In Christ’s name, amen.
The Spirit gives me more to say on the subject of this sixth trait of a kinsman-redeemer. Are you feeling blessed today? I surely am! No matter what challenges I face in my daily life, I always know I can turn to the Lord for help. As PS 46: 1 says, “God is my Refuge and my Strength, a present Help in times of trouble.” Satan is giving me plenty of that, but God has given each believer the same power He used to raise Christ from death to life to combat our enemy and his followers [EPH 1: 18-20]. We must never forget that or the profound love that God has for each of us no matter what our circumstances, as long as we endure in our faith. Bask in the warmth of His grace and hold the treasure of the Gospel close to your hearts. You can’t go wrong doing that. And yes, Dear Ones, we will all inherit the Kingdom together! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn