2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit leads me on to continue discussing the sixth trait of a kinsman-redeemer. 6) He has been given authority to redeem the land and to evict squatters and invaders from it. LV 25 gives direction on the earthly level for the restoration of land in Israel. This is quite obviously important to the Father, or else He would not have made the specific promises that He did in GN 15: 18-21. Nor would all the rules of the Year of Restoration and for the kinsman-redeemer have been established by Him to see that the land of Israel ends up back in Jewish control. In yesterday’s message, we began looking at the bigger picture, which all these laws foreshadow. I refer here to the fact that Christ is our Kinsman-Redeemer, Who will eventually wrest dominion over the earth from Satan (who had stolen it when he tempted Adam and Eve to commit the original sin [GN 3: 6]). The land in question here is the whole earth, and we have been invited by the Lord to join Him in this work.
Any question of whether Christ is qualified to be our Kinsman-Redeemer has already been answered in the last few messages. However, there is even more support for this which I’m led to cite here. COL 2: 9-10, “For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in His humanity, and you have been given full life in union with Him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority .” Christ is both God and man. Only God could have brought such a thing about. As for His authority, it had been prophesied in DN 7: 13-14 back in the time when Judah was still in the Babylonian Captivity. “During this vision in the night, I saw what looked like a human being. He was approaching me, surrounded by clouds, and He went to the One Who had been living forever and was presented to Him. He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve Him. His authority would last forever, and His Kingdom would never end.” Only Christ, through His death on the cross, was qualified to give us the full measure of spiritual life when we repent and come to faith in Him. No one else could do this.
When we go on in this section of Colossians, we are given illumination on what having eternal life means to us. COL 2: 11-15, “In union with Christ, you were circumcised, not with the circumcision made by men, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self. For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, Who raised him from death. You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God has now brought you to life with Christ. God forgave us all our sins; He canceled the unfavorable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross. And on that cross Christ freed Himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; He made a public spectacle of them as captives in His victory procession.”
Where is our place in all of this? COL 1: 25b-27 answers that question. “It is the task of fully proclaiming His message, which is the secret He had through all the past ages from all mankind but has now revealed to His people. God’s plan is to make known His secret to His people, this rich and glorious secret which He has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.” It is appropriate that I should be citing this particular verse today. As you know, I write these messages a few weeks before you receive them. As the coordinator of a prayer chain with 134 people on it, I will mention that we have been carefully following the story of missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham from Witchita, KS. Martin and Gracia had been held captive for the last year by fundamentalist Muslims with ties to Al Queada, Osama bin Ladin’s terrorist organization. After much effort, U.S. and Philippine government forces finally found them and engaged in a daring rescue attempt. Sadly, Martin, who was suffering from malaria and malnutrition, was killed along with his Filippino nurse. Gracia was wounded on her leg and is now in a hospital expected to live to be reunited with their three children. As tough as it is to live in a world now in Satan’s hands, God has given us a way to put some sense and His perspective on what must be endured. REV 6: 9-11, is a reminder to us that God is not going to allow the murder of those who are martyred go without being avenged. The white linen robes of righteousness and purity will be given those martyrs in heaven, and they will hold a place of honor in His Kingdom. Eternal life to which we can look forward is sufficient motivation for us to stay the course with our faith in Christ, no matter what Satan and His co-horts do to us. When Christ died on the cross, our sins were forgiven. This matters a great deal to us, because the why that Satan gains power over us is through our sins. Thus, when we choose not to sin, we weaken Satan’s power over us.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have always had at the very center of Your plan taking back dominion over the earth from Satan and reclaiming the souls of as many of Your creation as You can. You have asked for our help in this, and we accept Your invitation. For us to do this, we must repent, confess faith in Your Son, resist the evil-doing of the devil and his followers, accept and use the gifts of the Holy Spirit to better understand Your word, and spend our lives in service to You. A part of that service is witnessing to the truth of the Gospel message and engaging in faith-building activities with both fellow believers and potential believers. You have hidden our lives in Christ and pledged to share Your glory with us. We are honored by that, and will not loose sight of it when in the throes of the pain, suffering, and loss caused by Satan. We will remain in Your word daily and have an active prayer life with You. That way, You are able to give us the discernment we need to avoid Satan’s snares laid out to trip us. We know that his followers can appear like godly people and can deliver what sound like godly messages. We turn to You to help us recognize these wolves in sheep’s clothing and reject them [MT 7: 15]. Our service to You can take the form of prayer and intercession, witnessing, nurture, preaching and teaching, and other ministries of service. We acknowledge that You want us not only to be Your servants, but also Your friends. Your grace knows no bounds, and we humbly approach You to confess our sin and offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. We joyfully join You in Your work and experience You through our obedience to Your commands. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow’s message continues the discussion of how our Kinsman-Redeemer has been given authority and responsibility to redeem the land and to evict squatters and invaders from it. What a mighty and righteous plan our Deity has! I witness to the fact that this plan will go forward and will succeed. Our Lord will keep every promise He has made. His Kingdom will be established, and it will be based on the love He has for us. He deserves nothing less than all the love we have to give Him, which is measured by our obedience to His commands. We are truly a blessed people to have the love of a God Whose greatest joy is to see us with Him for eternity in heaven after having done our part to help Christ overthrow Satan’s malevolence and dominion. His love for us can’t be measured. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn