2002-10-23
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Yesterday, I began a this new segment of our series on Spiritual Warfare about salvation. You’ll remember that the Holy Spirit prompted me to remind all of us that our salvation is God’s mark of ownership on each of us. Because of God’s basic goodness, being “owned” by Him is privilege, a symbol of the choice we made to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ, His Son. One of the very early expressions of God’s will to claim us as His own is seen in EX 20: 5-6, “Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate Me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. But I show My love to thousands of generations of those who love Me and obey My laws.” The next one is in the “Shema,” the very foundation of Judaism. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One” [DT 6: 4]. IS 43: 1, “Israel, the Lord Who created you says, ‘Do not be afraid-I will save you. I have called you by name-you are Mine.” One of the most tender statements of this ownership appears in IS 49: 15-16, “So the Lord answers, ‘Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you. Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of My hands.’” Repeatedly, the Lord has made His desire for His treasured children clear as in JER 31: 33-34, “The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow countryman to know the Lord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” When the new covenant, faith in Jesus Christ, is put in our hearts along with the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within our souls, this is accomplished through our willingness to endure in that faith. This is God placing His mark of ownership on us and keeping His covenant promises.
I cited verses from the OT here, because the point must be made that God has had our salvation from slavery to sin on His mind from before the world was created. God, knew the whole plan, which is why He decided to send His Son to die on the cross for us at the time of the pre-Creation council in heaven [COL 1: 19-20; 1 PET: 1: 20-21]. RO 8: 15-16 really makes clear God’s feelings for those who love Him. “For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Abba! My Abba!’ God’s Spirit joins Himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children.” This is illuminated in 1 COR 1: 30, “But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus , and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By Him we are put right with God; we become God’s holy people and are set free.” I love the metaphor used by our Savior in JN 10: 14-15 of the Good Shepherd Who knows His sheep and Whose sheep know Him. Christ has already shown us that He was willing to die for us. God’s love is demonstrated in resurrecting Him and then promising us in RO 8: 29 that He is the “first among many brothers” [to be resurrected]. This concept is supported in 1 COR 8: 3, “But the person who loves God is known by Him.” You see me using God and Christ almost interchangeably here, and I have no reason to apologize for that. It’s because God and Christ are two of the three personalities of the same awesome Entity, our loving Deity.
As this segment continues, I am led to speak more about how this mark of ownership applies to us in our individual lives. But for now, we need to look at more of what God says in the Scriptures that helps us to understand what this means. EPH 1: 13-14, “And you also became God’s people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put His stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit He had promised. The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised His people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are His. Let us praise His glory!” 2 TIM 2: 19 adds even more clarity to God’s mark of ownership on us. “But the solid foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; and on it are written these words: ‘The Lord knows those who are His’ and ‘Whoever says that he belongs to the Lord must turn away from wrongdoing.’” We can listen carefully to the message of REV 3: 5, drawing strength and renewed faith from it. “Those who win the victory will be clothed like this in white, and I will not remove their names from the Book of the Living. In the presence of My Father and of His angels, I will declare openly that they belong to Me.” Dear Ones, the alternative to being claimed by God is so awful as to be unthinkable. There is no question that it is a privilege to be on God’s winning team, cared for, blessed, directed, sometimes corrected, encouraged, protected, provided for, and always loved by Him.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have had so much to save throughout the Scriptures about placing Your mark of ownership on each of us. When we think of how little we deserved to have You do this for us and how vast is the extent of Your grace given to us, we bow down before You in grateful awe of Your kindness. Recently, I learned the difference between kindness and compassion, two wonderful attributes You show us every day. Compassion is the state of Your mind, the factor that motivates You to extend the grace to us that You do. Kindness is the act of carrying out that state of mind. In GA 5: 22-23, You outline, through Paul, the fruits of the Spirit that You already show and that You want us to exhibit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. These are the things You and Your Son model for us every day. While we reject any man claiming ownership on us, because of mankind’s basically evil nature, we don’t have to feel that way about Your claim on us. You are a God Who is always righteous, totally unselfish, and full of goodness. PS 34: 19-22 expresses what we acknowledge today and always. “The good man suffers many troubles, but the Lord saves him from them all; the Lord preserves him completely; not one of his bones is broken. Evil will kill the wicked; those who hate the righteous will be punished. The Lord will save his people; those who go to Him for protection will be spared.” This assertion of David’s is supported in 2 CH 16: 9, “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those who hearts are fully committed to Him.” We offer You heartfelt thanks for the privilege of having Your claim of ownership upon us. Today, we recognize that we are sinners in need of further perfection, perfection which You help us to achieve by working through the circumstances of our lives. We are dedicated to pleasing You with our trust and obedience, to showing You our loyalty and diligence, to making ourselves available to You to help You in Your work, to offering You eternal adoration and worship, to thanking You for what You do for us, and to lifting up Your name in praise for Who You are-Your marvelous attributes. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to write about how we acknowledge that the enemy can’t hurt us and to begin discussing the three aspects of salvation. When a faithful person thinks about it, the opportunity to be saved from certain spiritual death is an act of profound love on God’s part. His grace offered to people, who at that time are His enemies, gives us some idea of just how remarkably loving a God we have as our Creator-the Source of our salvation and eternal Covenant Partner. Without God’s courageous decision before the Creation to send His Son to the cross for us, we would have spent eternity tormented in the lake of fire and sulfur, as a result of Satan having his way. The stakes for God were tremendous in this. And, how many of us would be willing to sacrifice our only sons for enemies? But, that’s what our loving Abba has done for us. We need to remember this in our daily prayers to Him. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn