2011-10-21
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we ended with the revelation that the shedding of blood shows the intensity of the commitment Christ has made in the Covenant of Grace. His attitude is reflected in JN 15: 13-15, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” We had seen this same attitude in Christ’s metaphor of the Shepherd and his sheep in JN 10: 14-16, “I am the Good Shepherd: I know My sheep and my sheep know Me-just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father-and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice and these shall be on flock and one Shepherd.” When feelings like these exist, it is entirely appropriate to katrath beriyth-the cutting of a covenant. No one forces our Lord to have this kind of heart; He does this out of His love for us and as an expression of His main mission, stated in JN 6: 39-40. When we, His sheep, truly believe in Him, we too are willing to give our lives for Him, should that be necessary.
Andrew Murray, in his book, The Two Covenants, reminds us that covenants are universal. He gives us these advantages of covenants that are made: 1) They end uncertainty. Let’s assume for a minute that no covenant is made. The two parties to a potential agreement don’t have a clear idea of what is expected of each other. This can lead to misunderstandings and a break in the relationship, if allowed to go on. If you are buying a home, you need to know what the present owner wants for his house and what condition it should be in at the transfer of title. On the other hand, the present owner needs to know what is expected of Him as far as repairs goes and price upon which the sale is settled. 2) A statement of services is given. When one buys health insurance, for example, he needs to know exactly what he is buying. So, the services that are covered are listed. It is expected that when he continues paying the premium, he will be covered for those medical procedures and services, should he or someone in his family get sick. 3) There is a bond of amity or good will. When Boas had decided that he would marry, he went to the town gate and spoke to ten elders and Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer. He took off his sandal, a way of sealing the covenant and to offer to settle any estate matters between them. RU 4: 9, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Killon, and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow as my wife.” RU 4: 11, “The elders and all those at the gate said, ‘We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house in Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.’” 4) This gave them a ground for confidence and friendship. We see this in the case of David’s friendship with Jonathan in 1 SAM 18: 1-3. David and Jonathan [Saul’s son, who eventually saved David’s life from Saul’s efforts to kill him in 1 SAM 20] established a God-ordained covenant of friendship. The friendship not only applied to David and Jonathan, but also for their now-united households from thence on [2 SAM 9: 1-13]. 5) We mustn’t forget the that Covenant of Grace is of unspeakable value. This means that no words are sufficient to express its great value. Our Lord gave His physical life on the cross, so that we might be saved, given the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and be deemed “innocent” in God’s sight [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. And to think, all we need to do is to repent of our sins and have faith in the Son!
Gaining eternal life over spiritual death is so valuable to us, that words won’t describe its value. We must understand what it is that we are be saved from to begin to appreciate it. Recently, I’ve been taking a class called simply, “Heaven and Hell.” We have been taught that all the souls of the good people, the saints, will ascend to “paradise” to wait for the second coming of Christ. This is the same place that Christ spoke of to a thief who repented while being crucified with Him [LK 23: 40-43]. Christ’s words to him were, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Once the second coming happens, and only God Himself knows the exact time [MT 24: 36], then they will go to heaven for eternal bliss and fellowship with God. However, those who reject the Lord’s salvation and live with evil motives continually, will die. Their souls will go to “hades” to wait for the last judgment. At that time they will be condemned to hell for eternity. Another name for hell is gehenna, and this is a condition of conscious and eternal torment from which there is no escape. There it will be like a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [MT 13: 40-42; MT 25: 41; LK13: 28], agony [LK 16: 22-24]. One will breathe the smoke of torment forever and ever [REV 14: 9-11], a place where men gnawed their tongues in agony [REV 16: 10]. There is plenty more on hell in the Scriptures, but space won’t permit me to go into it here. Suffice it to say, that those of us who repent, place our faith in the Lord Jesus, and endure in that faith through living God’s word despite whatever the devil tempts or bothers us with won’t have to endure the misery of spiritual death. As wonderful as this is, my words aren’t in any way a precise description of how awesome heaven will be for God and for us. We can’t calculate just how valuable the Covenant of Grace is until we experience seeing our Lord face to face in heaven [PS 17: 15].
PRAYER: O Lord, once again we arrive at Your mighty throne with our heads bowed in reverence to You. Today, we acknowledge that we can’t live righteously and endure in our faith without Your intervention [MT 5: 3]. So, we humbly ask for it, so that we can inherit Your Son’s Kingdom. To begin, we offer You our thanks and praise for all You are and everything You do. There is no good on earth, except what You have brought [PS 16: 2]. When trouble comes to us, we need to look to You for help first. PS 9: 9-10, “The Lord is a Refuge for the oppressed, a Stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.” We already know how You pull us from the pit of despair and have placed us on the Rock of security [PS 40: 1-2]. You have protect us from the snares set for us by the adversary [PS 31: 3-5]. We need to submit to Your direction and Your power. And when we do, You lead us through our trials step by step, strengthening us and teaching us along the way. We recognize, through Your efforts, those of Your Son, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit You have given us, that we can do battle against the evil one in Christ’s name and be victorious. You have given us the same power You used to raise Him from death to eternal life to use against the forces of evil [EPH 1: 18-20]. It is through daily study of Your word and listening to You in frequent prayer, that we have learned these things. We know we can count on You to fulfill Your part of the Covenant of Grace. Now, You stand in readiness to help us doing the same. PS 33: 13, “The lord looks down from heaven and sees every person.” We love You for Your interest in every detail of our lives, and Your willingness to help us up, if we fall [PS 37: 23-24]. So, we make our supplications, offer our praise and thanks, and acknowledge Your superior wisdom and power in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will return to an examination of The Blood Covenant, by H. Clay Trumbull for an overview of the rite of establishing a blood covenant. We’ll be able to see part of the history of this rite and the function it has. In the meanwhile, we need to take the time to examine His word to see the misery from which Christ and our faith in Him have saved us. Then, we might have a better appreciation for just what Christ’s death on the cross has done for those of us who choose to repent from our own sins and to believe in Him. This also requires our submission to God. IS 45: 9, “Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say ‘He has no hands?’” We must remember the advise of the “parent-apostle” James, in JAS 4: 7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” In case you question the validity of this directive, read the story of Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness, in MT 4: 1-11, and see what happens with the devil in the end. True submission to God isn’t easy, because it calls upon us to recognize our need for His presence and intervention. It also calls for us to trust in Him. I will close with this very comforting verse. IS 26: 3, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the Eternal Rock.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15