Just when I thought that I had exhausted all that there was to learn about Christ, GOD shows me even more. Today I will take a peek into a fuller revelation to see what lies just beneath the surface of scripture. But first I will again turn to Pastor Hoekstra and Grace. Then with the use of the ESV translation and the LORD GOD Himself I will look at a fuller revelation.
"The Letter versus the Spirit"
"[God] also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit." (2Corinthians 3:6)
"The "letter versus the Spirit" is another contrast between living by the old covenant of laws or by the New through Grace. This is another choice that determines whether we are functioning by man's sufficiency or by GOD's. If by GOD's we are become One with HIM and HE One within us, again as seen and understood in Genesis 2.
A life that is being developed "of the letter" is one that is built on rules and regulations. Not having the oracle or utterance of GOD within our earthen vessel. For we cannot become a child of GOD by rules and regulations such as mans many forms of religions and religious practices have. We cannot develop our lives as GOD's children by regulations or such practices rite and rituals. No list of demands (including even the old Mosaic Law of God itself) could ever bring us, or develop for us, a Life fit for GOD's occupation. All rules and regulations (including GOD's law) come without resource or recourse. They are a list of requirements, not a supply of Adequacy. They call for an observable response. They provide no power to produce the required effect.
Consider circumcision, which was required by the law of GOD for the Israelites. "And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (Leviticus 12:3). This was to be a sign acting as a reminder to GOD's people that they were His. Implementing that regulation did not inherently change the life of any Hebrew. Physical, external circumcision (that is, circumcision "by the letter") did not make a change in the heart of the one circumcised. It takes an inner working of GOD to produce a true child of GOD (in Romans 2 language, a "true Hebrew," though through the religious traditions of man it reads "Jew," which is wrong, as a Jew is a elitist holier than thou religious figure of external piety bound under law). "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in (by) the Spirit, and not in the letter." (Romans 2:28-29). GOD births His children and develops their lives through a work in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. HE indwells them in Spirit and Truth. HE is the embodiment of their life in light.
The kingdom of heaven is "of the Spirit." It is not about external "do's and dont's" (such as, whether to follow the standard of GOD's law concerning certain foods). "For the kingdom of GOD is not food and drink, but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Entrance into GOD's Family, as well as development as GOD's children, does not hinge on following various regulations, rules, rituals, religious ceremonies or the traditions of man. Rather, it is about the Holy Spirit supplying heavenly blessings in the hearts of those who trust the LORD. Life with GOD is always "of the Spirit " (GOD's sufficiency), not "of the letter" (man's sufficiency)."
Fuller Revelation:
John 13:1-11 "Before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from GOD and was going back to GOD, rose from supper. He laid aside His outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around His waist. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Him. When He came to Simon Peter, Simon said to Him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "LORD! not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For He knew who was to betray Him; that was why He said, "Not all of you are clean."
John 16:12-15 (Jesus is speaking) "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, He Will guide you into all the truth, for He Will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He Will speak, and He Will declare to you the things that are to come. He Will glorify Me, for He Will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He Will take what is Mine and declare it to you."
1Corinthians 13:8-13 "Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
The Oracle (utterance of GOD in man) of GOD, Christ's Revelation:
Deuteronomy 18:15-22 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.' The LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And whoever will not listen to My words that He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."
John 8:12-20, 21-30 "Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light (Oracle of GOD) of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the (Oracle of GOD) Light of Life." So the Pharisees said to Him, "You are bearing witness about Yourself; Your testimony is not true." Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father Who sent Me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about Myself, and the Father Who sent Me bears witness about Me." They said to Him therefore, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also." These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; but no one arrested Him, because Hs hour had not yet come.
He said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come." So the (elitist) Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, since He says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?" He said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM He you will die in your sins." So they said to Him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but He Who sent Me is True, and I declare to the world what I have heard from Him." They did not understand that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM He, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me. And He Who sent Me is with (in) Me. He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." As He was saying these things, many believed in Him."
John 12:44-50 "Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes Me, believes not in Me but in Him Who sent Me. And whoever sees Me sees Him Who sent Me. I have come into the world as (Oracle) light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge; the word that I have spoken Will Judge him on the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is Eternal Life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me."
John 14:8-14 "Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I AM in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father Who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I AM in the Father and the Father is in Me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."
John 17:6-19 and Acts 3:22 (Jesus is speaking) "I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave Me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word (Oracle). Now they know that everything that You have given Me is from You. For I have given them the words (Oracle, light) that You gave Me, and they have received them and have come to know in Truth that I came from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I AM glorified (held in heavy reverence) in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name (Messiah-Christ), which You have given Me, that they may be One, even as We are One. While I was with them, I kept them in Your name, which You have given Me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your (Oracle-light in) word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the Truth; Your word is Truth. As You sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in Truth."
Acts 3:17-26 "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers (the Jews). But what GOD foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has fulfilled (accomplished and ended). Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the LORD, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, even Jesus, Whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which GOD spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago. Moses said, 'The LORD GOD Will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to Him in whatever He tells you (in Deuteronomy 18:18). And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.' And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that GOD made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.' GOD, having raised up His servant, sent Him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness."
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