2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
In my last message, I began discussing the conflict between flesh and the Spirit, so that we could see what the problem is and how our Lord deals with it. The citations that really outline the problem clearly are RO 7: 14-25, GA 5 16-17, and 1 COR 15: 46, which I hope you will review. We have ample proof that the Lord knew ahead of time that such a conflict would need to be dealt with in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and others from the OT. That is why IS 53, the chapter about the Suffering Servant was written. It is why Jeremiah makes his great “New Covenant” prophecy in JER 31: 31-34, and it is why Ezekiel is inspired to says God’s words in EZK 36: 23-27. “When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of My great name-the name you disgraced among them-then they will know that I am the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy. I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put My Spirit in you and will see to it that you follow My laws and keep all the commands I have given you.”
When we read over the words in this last passage, we must be reminded that they were said between 593-560 BC, long before Paul’s ministry! John the Baptist had not yet come on the scene to draw our attention to the act of baptism, nor had the Pentecost happened. Yet, here we see our loving Abba introducing these concepts way back in the OT while the Jews were still in captivity in Babylon! More evidence of the fact that giving mankind a way out of slavery to sin was God’s plan all along is that men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel never even met each other. Yet, they were all revealing God’s plan in total consistency with each other. It wasn’t until 60 AD that Paul wrote 2 COR 5: 16-17, “No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no long do so. When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new creation, the old being is gone, the new one has come.” All of these citations reveal our Lord’s compassion and His sovereign choice to give mankind a way out from under the sure-death sentence that comes from an unrepentant lifestyle of sin.
While the concepts of baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit are introduced in Ezekiel, the idea of forgiveness and God’s compassion goes all the way back to GN 3: 15, the Protevangelium, that is the announcement of the conflict between mankind and Satan’s evil. GN 3: 21 is another evidence of God’s plan involving an opportunity for forgiveness. “And the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them .” This is significant because God had to have killed an animal, blood would have been poured, and that is the condition necessary for there to be forgiveness [LV 17: 11 & HE 9: 22]. EX 6: 2-6 is God’s covenant to free the Jews and His acknowledgment of having heard their cries of sorrow while enslaved by the Egyptians. I cite these verses to reveal just how early in mankind’s history we are given evidence of God’s plan and His compassion.
We all know the story of Passover by now. What traditional Jews do not yet see is the supernatural connection between the events of Passover as they foreshadow the “Passover Lamb’s” extraordinary sacrifice on the cross. 1 COR 5: 7, “You must remove the old yeast of sin so that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be like a new batch of dough without any yeast , as indeed I know you actually are. For our Passover Festival is ready, now that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.” I spend a lot of time talking about Christ’s work on the cross, because I can think of no event more significant to mankind’s salvation. I have often spoken of how God supplied manna [EX 16: 31] and made bitter water sweet at Marah [EX 15: 25] as examples of His compassion for mankind. It is critical to our spiritual lives that we see the compelling and truthful connections between OT and NT events and teachings.
EPH 3: 20-21 sizes up the situation here beautifully. “To Him Who by means of His power working in us is able to do so much more than we can ever ask for, or even think of: to God be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever! Amen.” We can see how much God does for us in helping us to be victorious in the battle that goes on between the flesh and the spirit. Of course, what God does is only half of the story. Remember the two parallel truths of the universe: God’s sovereignty and mankind’s responsibility to respond to it. Tomorrow, we will look at the latter, so as to get the full picture.
PRAYER: O Lord, the only way we can really understand the problem, what it does to us, and how it can be solved is to study Your word, engage in prayer, and take righteous action to get rid of the sin in our lives. You love us beyond description to have been willing to sacrifice our only Son on the cross, to inspire OT prophets and NT writers to reveal the way to forgiveness through Him that You make open, and then to indwell believers with the Holy Spirit for teaching, discernment, and guidance. Your patience in waiting for man to be able to understand the messages You sent is nothing short of remarkable. What pain it must cause You to watch our bumbling efforts to obey, our backsliding when it happens, and our faulty, inconsistent trust in You! And yet, You never stop loving us or giving us whatever help we are willing to take to correct ourselves. We do not deserve all this compassion, but we are very thankful for it. You deserve our praise, loyalty, adoration, worship, trust, and willingness to humble ourselves before You. We offer all glory and honor to You for any forward progress that happens in our sanctification. Today, we dedicate ourselves to Your service in the name of Christ. Amen.
As I said above, we will look at the issue of how we should respond to God’s sovereignty in dealing with our conflict between flesh and spirit tomorrow. I do not apologize for reminding you day after day of the love our Abba has for us. It is too easy to get caught up on our struggles and suffering and forget that He is there for us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn