Removing the veil of falsehood in mans many religious forms, that have held untold millions captive for nearly 2000 years. Continuing with the introduction of the Hebrew letter and righteous by Faith alone. This not at all available in systems of religious laws of self works combined with religious pretenses. All ideologies of this sort, only serve to restrict humanity's knowing GOD and his Son Christ Jesus, in their fullest human form within humanity.
Hebrews 10:38 Righteousness by GOD'S Faith defines life; reverting to the Law of works ignores GOD'S work of Grace. (Instead of reading the curse when disaster strikes, Habakkuk realized the Promise out dated performance as the basis of humanity's acquittal. Deuteronomy 28 would no longer be the motivation or the measure of right or wrong behavior! "Though the fig trees do not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will have joy in the GOD of my salvation (H3444, yeshû‛âh, means deliverance, the Jewish word for Jesus) GOD, and the LORD, is my strength; he makes my feet like hinds' feet, he makes me to tread upon my high places." (Habakkuk 3:17-19 RSV)
In the Gospel, the righteousness of GOD is revealed, from faith to faith. (Romans 1:17) Herein lies the secret of the power of the Gospel; there is no good news in it until the righteousness of GOD is revealed! (The good news is the fact that the cross of Christ was a great success. GOD rescued the life of our origin and design; he redeemed us to our original innocence. Humanity would never again be judged righteous or unrighteous based by our own abilities to obey moral laws! It is not about what a person must or must not do but is about what Jesus has done!) The Prophets wrote and spoke in advance about this fact, what GOD believes righteous unveils the life that he always had in mind for humanity, us. "The just shall live by his (GOD'S) faith. Righteousness by GOD'S faith defines life.
Hebrews 12:1, Look away from the shadow dispensation of the Law and the Prophets and fix your eyes upon (redemption's salvation) Jesus. He is the fountainhead and conclusion of faith. He saw the joy (of humanity's salvation) when he braved the cross and despised the shame of it. As the executive authority of GOD (the right hand of the trinity GOD, sat at his right hand Throne of GOD), he now occupies the highest seat of dominion to endorse humanity's innocence.
The Gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of GOD; it declares how GOD succeeded to put humanity right with him. It is about what GOD did right, not what Adam did wrong, nor is it meant to lay a guilt trip on humanity. The word righteousness comes from the Anglo Saxon word, rightwiseness, wise in that which is right. In Greek, the word means two parties finding likeness in each other. The Hebrew word for righteousness is tzedek, which refers to the beam in a scale of balances.
Colossians 2:9-10, It is in Christ that GOD finds an accurate and complete expression of himself, in a human body! He mirrors our completeness and is the ultimate authority of our true identity.
"GOD desires to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his promise." (Hebrews 6:17---RSV)
If Christ is both the author and perfecter of faith, self-assessment by any other reference is mute and foolish, self-destructive. It would be just as impossible to attempt to measure temperature with a ruler. Christ defines our origin and design in our restored innocence. We find our identity and our destiny there.
We have obtained unrestricted access into the intimate and immediate friendship of GOD.
Sins were dealt with in such a thorough manner that no further offerings would ever be required. Nothing that we might personally sacrifice could ever add any virtue to our innocence.
A brand new way of life has been introduced.
Because of his torn flesh on the cross, our own flesh can no longer be made an excuse for veiling our experience of his grace and presence.
We are free to approach him with absolute confidence, fully persuaded in our hearts that nothing can any longer separate us from him. We are invited to draw near now! We are thoroughly cleansed, inside and out, with no trace of sin's stains on our conscience or conduct. Our inner thought patterns are purged by the sprinkled blood; our bodies also bathed in clean water. Our behavior bears our witness of this.
In traditional church-life we have taught to confine GOD'S Spirit within a narrow scope of predictability in programs and routines.
In Christ, GOD opened new and exciting horizons in a way for us to encounter him without hesitation or restrictions! He is not caged in an historic prophetic picture; he is unveiled in pulsating tangible human life!
This Epistle belongs to every believer.
Agape kindled faith and faith opens our horizon to explore agape's mystery; it is a place where thoughts carve an impression; a place not accessible to the scrutiny of a suspicious academic or religious guilt, and performance-based approach.
It is a document of profound beauty, leading the student beyond insubstantial religious rituals and sentiments into tangible Divine intimacy. (The Mirror)
With our next visit we shall begin our Hebrews encounter. May our LORD bring to you and yours his peace and joy.
No comments:
Post a Comment