2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
The Spirit leads me to continue discussing the sixth trait of a kinsman-redeemer: 6) He has the authority and responsibility to redeem the land and evict squatters and invaders from it. We are reminded once again that the laws set down for this in LV 25: 23-25 are a foreshadow of the much larger picture of Christ wresting dominion over earth from Satan’s hands to return it to God. Satan was a thief and a liar when he deceived Adam and Eve into taking the forbidden fruit [GN 3: 1-6]. At that point in time, though his lies he became the ruler of the earth, insuring that anyone born of Adam and Eve (and that means all of us) would inherit a sinful nature and be under Satan’s control. God knew this would happen and came up with a plan to remedy that situation before the earth was created [COL 1; 15-20; 1 PET 1: 20-21]. Christ, as the second personality of God and His visible form, would become as man, serve an earthly ministry in His incarnation, and would be sacrificed on the cross to provide a path to salvation for those of God’s creation who would come to faith in Him [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. To give mankind the ability to exercise free agency to make one’s own choice as to whether or not he will come to faith, God opened Himself to a lot of pain by yielding a portion of His power to us. The pain would come from those who allow Satan to gain a stronghold in their lives and who reject the God Who created them in favor of evil. Yes, I believe that God has feelings and does know real disappointment when this happens. In the same way, I believe that God rejoices when a person repents, comes to faith, and lives “in Christ,” using the power that God gave him to thwart Satan’s attempts to wreck havoc in his life.
There are things that God does that we can’t begin to fully understand, because of the limitations of our human perspective. That is why it is so necessary for us to have faith even when we don’t understand. God has placed a veil in front of the eyes of traditional Jews. In EX 34: 29-35, we are given a description of Moses’ need to wear a veil after seeing God when we was with the Jewish people. That seems like a strange fact, but it was because God must have known the people were not spiritually ready and able to see the truth without the veil. This veil is mentioned again in 2 COR 3: 13-17, “We are not like Moses, who had to put a veil over his face so that the people of Israel would not see the brightness fade and disappear. Their minds, indeed, were closed; and to this very day their minds are covered with the same veil as they read the books of the old covenant. The veil is removed only when a person is joined to Christ. Even today, whenever they read the Law of Moses, the veil still covers their minds. But it can be removed, as the Scripture [EX 34: 34] says about Moses: ‘His veil was removed when he turned to the Lord.’ Now , ‘the Lord’ in this passage is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, Who is the Spirit, transforms us into His likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.” Wow! Those are powerful words! They give us insight into the significance of Christ’s Atonement and our decision to come to faith in Him.
As for the traditional Jews, we are given a hint of God’s intention and compassion for them in RO 11: 25. There were are told that their stubbornness is temporary and that as soon as all the Gentiles who have been called come to faith, that veil will be lifted. This remarkable verse tells us that God never had any intention of giving up on His chosen people, the Jews. He would instead, delay the time of their coming to faith. Of course not all Jews will do this. Just as some Gentiles reject God, some Jews will too. They are the sad cases who are so weak that they give into the adversary and thus buy themselves one-way tickets to the lake of fire and sulfur. God wants us to realize the wonderful blessing that Christ’s Atonement really is. COL 2: 13-15, “You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law. But God 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 the cross Christ freed Himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; He made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.” Yes, Dear Ones, the enemy is defeated and he knows it. This happened the minute Christ’s life was placed into the hands of the Spirit on Calvary. For a believer that is not only the best news he has ever had, but it is sufficient motivation for him to spend the rest of his earthly life witnessing to others about his faith and what great blessings can be gained from their joining him in it.
PRAYER: O Lord, King David boldly pronounced in PS 66: 16-20, the same thought that is in our hearts today. “Come and listen, all who honor God, and I will tell you what He has done for me. I cried to Him for help; I praised Him with songs. If I had ignored my sins, the Lord would not have listened to me. But God has indeed heard me; He has listened to my prayer. I praise God, because He did not reject my prayer or keep back His constant love from me.” Those are words that were spoken from the heart long before anyone knew that You would sacrifice Your only begotten Son on the cross, so that we could be saved, even through we hardly deserved it. When done with wisdom and sensitivity, witnessing can be a tremendous faith-builder. You have allowed many of us to experience this first hand. Sometimes, You have told us to witness with our words, based on those of the Scriptures. Other times, You have guided us to witness by our actions, the examples to non-believers that we set. And sometimes, You have allowed us to experience rejection when we witnessed-all the while rooting for us not to allow this to destroy our faith but to teach us patience and to have Your wisdom imparted to us. That is why You inspired Matthew in MT 5: 16 to say, “In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” You have wanted all along for us to become Your friends. 2 COR 5: 17-20, “When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, Who through Christ changed us from enemies into His friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. Our message is that God was making all mankind His friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and He has given us the message which tells how He make them His friends.” We come before You today to humbly confess our sins and to pledge You our eternal adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
When I begin writing about a subject, I never know how much the Holy Spirit is going to give me to say. On this subject, He gives me even more. The passages I’m led to cite demonstrate to me that I must yield control of a topic to Him. Often I’m surprised at where He takes me and/or how much I’m given to discuss. So, I hope you are not bored by coming along with me for another day on this particular path at His direction. I admit to being in love with the Lord and eager to have His blessings. To date I have never regretting traveling this road with Him leading. Tomorrow, there is more to say on the significance of what Christ achieved by giving His life on the cross for us. All around us, we are surrounded by the love, compassion, patience, guidance, provision and protection of our Abba Who loves us each dearly. I stand amazed, knowing that none of us deserve that kind of love. I also stand eternally grateful that no matter how difficult the circumstances of our lives are, we can always depend on His love and comforting presence in our lives. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn